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APA 7th Referencing: Journal Articles

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Basic format to reference journal articles.

• Referencing journal articles: Examples

APA Referencing: journal articles from Victoria University Library on Vimeo .

Select the 'cc' on the video to turn on/off the captions.

A basic reference list entry for a journal article in APA must include:

• Author or authors.  The surname is followed by first initials.
• Year of publication of the article (in round brackets).
• Article title.
• Journal title (in italics ).
• Volume of journal (in italics ).
• Issue number of journal in round brackets (no italics).
• Page range of article.
• DOI  or URL
• The first line of each citation is left adjusted. Every subsequent line is indented 5-7 spaces.

Example:  

Ruxton, C. (2016). Tea: Hydration and other health benefits. Primary Health Care , 26 (8), 34-42. https://doi.org/10.7748/phc.2016.e1162

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Cite a Journal

Don't let plagiarism errors spoil your paper, citing journal articles in apa.

A journal is a scholarly periodical that presents research from experts in a certain field. Typically, but not always, these journals are peer-reviewed in order to ensure that published articles are of the highest quality. That is one reason why journals are a highly credible source of information. 

Journal articles in print:

Author Last name, First initial. Middle initial. (Year Published). Title of article. Title of Periodical, Volume (Issue), page range.

Gleditsch, N. P., Pinker, S., Thayer, B. A., Levy, J. S., & Thompson, W. R. (2013). The forum: The decline of war. International Studies Review, 15 (3), 396-419.

Journal articles online:

• If your source is found online, but there is no DOI provided, you can include the URL instead.
• A DOI (digital object identifier) is basically a number that links a source to its location on the Internet. This number isn’t always provided, but if it is, you should include it in your citation rather than including a URL.
• Unlike previous editions, the current edition does not require including a retrieval date or date accessed for online sources. A retrieval date is only necessary if the source is likely to change (ex. Wikipedia, encyclopedia entry, Facebook homepage, etc.).

Author Last name, First initial. Middle initial. (Year Published). Title of article. Title of Periodical, Volume (Issue), page range. https://doi.org/xxxx or URL

Burnell, K. J., Coleman, P. G., & Hunt, N. (2010). Coping with traumatic memories: Second World War veterans’ experiences of social support in relation to the narrative coherence of war memories. Ageing and Society, 30 (1), 57-78. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X0999016X

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• How to cite a journal article in APA Style

How to Cite a Journal Article in APA Style | Format & Example

Published on November 5, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on June 21, 2023.

An APA Style citation for a journal article includes the author name(s), publication year, article title, journal name, volume and issue number, page range of the article, and a DOI (if available). Use the buttons below to explore the format.

Generate accurate APA citations with Scribbr

Table of contents, basic format for an apa journal citation, citing an article with an elocator or article number, citing unpublished journal articles, special issue of a journal, frequently asked questions about apa style citations.

The article title appears in plain text and sentence case, while the journal name is italicized and in title case (all major words capitalized).

When viewing a journal article online, the required information can usually be found on the access page.

Linking to online journal articles

A DOI should always be used where available. Some databases do not list one, but you may still find one by looking for the same article on another database. You don’t need to include the name of the database in your citation.

If no DOI is available and the article was accessed through a database, do not include a URL.

If the article is not from a database, but from another website (e.g. the journal’s own website), you should ideally use a stable URL: this is often provided under a “share” button. Otherwise, copy the URL from your browser’s address bar.

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The AI-powered Citation Checker helps you avoid common mistakes such as:

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Articles published only in PDF form may provide an article number or “eLocator” instead of a page range; in this case, include the number in your citation, preceded by the word “Article.”

When citing from an article that has not yet been formally published, the format varies depending on whether or not it has already been submitted to a journal. Note that different formats are used for unpublished dissertations and raw data .

Unpublished article

The text of an article which has not yet appeared online or in publication (i.e. which is only available directly from the author) should be cited as an “Unpublished manuscript.” The title is italicized and information about the author’s university is included if available:

Article submitted for publication

An article that has been submitted to a journal but not yet accepted is cited as a “Manuscript submitted for publication.” The title is italicized, and the name of the journal to which it was submitted is not included:

Article in press

An article that has been submitted and accepted for publication in a journal is cited as “in press.” Here, the name of the journal is included, university information is omitted, and “in press” is written in place of the year (both in the reference list and the in-text citation):

If you want to cite a special issue of a journal rather than a regular article, the name(s) of the editor(s) and the title of the issue appear in place of the author’s name and article title:

Note that if you want to cite an individual article from the special issue, it can just be cited in the basic format for journal articles.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

In an APA journal citation , if a DOI (digital object identifier) is available for an article, always include it.

If an article has no DOI, and you accessed it through a database or in print, just omit the DOI.

If an article has no DOI, and you accessed it through a website other than a database (for example, the journal’s own website), include a URL linking to the article.

Include the DOI at the very end of the APA reference entry . If you’re using the 6th edition APA guidelines, the DOI is preceded by the label “doi:”. In the 7th edition , the DOI is preceded by ‘https://doi.org/’.

• 6th edition: doi: 10.1177/0894439316660340
• 7th edition: https://doi.org/ 10.1177/0894439316660340

APA citation example (7th edition)

Hawi, N. S., & Samaha, M. (2016). The relations among social media addiction, self-esteem, and life satisfaction in university students. Social Science Computer Review , 35 (5), 576–586. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439316660340

The abbreviation “ et al. ” (meaning “and others”) is used to shorten APA in-text citations with three or more authors . Here’s how it works:

Only include the first author’s last name, followed by “et al.”, a comma and the year of publication, for example (Taylor et al., 2018).

You may include up to 20 authors in a reference list entry .

When an article has more than 20 authors, replace the names prior to the final listed author with an ellipsis, but do not omit the final author:

Davis, Y., Smith, J., Caulfield, F., Pullman, H., Carlisle, J., Donahue, S. D., James, F., O’Donnell, K., Singh, J., Johnson, L., Streefkerk, R., McCombes, S., Corrieri, L., Valck, X., Baldwin, F. M., Lorde, J., Wardell, K., Lao, W., Yang, P., . . . O’Brien, T. (2012).

In an APA reference list , journal article citations include only the year of publication, not the exact date, month, or season.

The inclusion of volume and issue numbers makes a more specific date unnecessary.

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If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2023, June 21). How to Cite a Journal Article in APA Style | Format & Example. Scribbr. Retrieved November 29, 2023, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-examples/journal-article/

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What is a journal citation?

Journal citations are used mainly in the sciences and social sciences to inform the reader about the source you have quoted or paraphrased in your work.

When you cite a journal, the exact format will depend on the style you use, for example, Harvard, APA or MLA. Check with your academic institution to ensure you provide the journal citations in the format they are expecting as this is the criteria you’ll be marked on.

How to write a journal citation

In most cases, a citation for a journal consists of the author’s name, article title, journal name, volume number, year of publication and page numbers. Some styles will ask you to specify the medium of publication, which is ‘Print’ for hard copy journals and ‘Web’ for online journals.

Against the clock? Try the RefME web tool and mobile app, and have the whole thing done for you in seconds, automatically. With over 7,000 styles to choose from, we’re sure to have the one you need.

Journal citation example

APA in-text citation:

(Darley & Latane, 1968)

APA bibliography example:

Darley, J. M., & Latane, B. (1968). Bystander Intervention in Emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology ,  108 . Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/8/4p1/377

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / MLA Format / MLA Journal Article Citation

How to Cite a Journal Article in MLA

This page is a how-to guide for using scholarly journals as sources and citing them correctly in your papers. Academic journals publish scholarly, peer-reviewed articles written by experts in a specific field. This guide will help you understand what journals are and why they are valuable for your research.

Quickly cite a journal article by using our online form here .

Citing a journal article in mla:, the importance of peer-reviewed academic journals, how journals are organized, where to find journal articles.

• In-text citations
• Works cited references
• Citation with one author
• Citation with two authors
• Citation with three or more authors
• Citation with no known author
• Citation Structures and Examples: Web
• Citation Structures and Examples: Print

Our guide will show you how to cite the journal article both in the text and in the Works Cited page following the guidelines of the Modern Language Association Handbook, 9th Edition.

What is an Academic Journal?

Academic or scholarly journals are periodicals published by universities and other research organizations to present the findings of original research conducted in a particular field. These journals contain highly specific knowledge and are written by experts in that field.

Journals are different from other periodicals such as newspapers or magazines, which cover a broad range of topics and are written in easy to read prose.

Because  journals are written by experts for other experts, they can be difficult to read. The writers often use jargon and other complex language that students may not understand. But that doesn’t mean you should not use journals in your research. Journals are where the most recent research is published and provide in-depth information on a topic.

Tip : Reading the abstract and the conclusion first may help you to understand the article as you read.

Journals are good sources for academic research not only because they are written by experts, but because most (but not all) are also reviewed by other experts before the article is published.

Journals that are peer-reviewed have a board of experts in the field that review articles submitted to the journal. The peer reviewers scrutinize every article closely to validate its findings and ensure that the research was done properly. The process of peer review gives credibility to the journal because it means that every article published has been approved by other experts in the field.

Academic journals are organized in volumes and issues.

• Volume: The volume is all of the editions of the journal published in a calendar year.
• Issue(s):   The issues are all the specific editions of the journal published in that year.

Tip : Journals frequently publish issues around a certain theme, so all of the articles in that issue will relate to a certain topic. This means that there may be other articles in a particular issue that you can use for your research. It pays to check the table of contents for the issue when you find an article that fits your needs.

You will need to include the volume and the issue numbers, and the page numbers in your citations so make sure to write those down when you take notes from a journal.

When you are doing scholarly research, you can’t use popular search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. These will lead you to popular sources that may not work for a school paper. You need to search for information using an academic database which will lead you to scholarly articles.

Databases are organized computer-based collections of data that allow researchers to find a large number of articles quickly and easily.

Examples of popular general academic databases include:

• Academic Search Premier
• Google Scholar

Examples of popular academic databases focused on specific subjects:

• MEDLINE, PubMed Central — focus on biomedical and life sciences
• Lexis Web — focus on legal information
• Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) — focus on education

Many of these databases charge fees for use. The good news? Many can be accessed through a school or university library. Check your library’s website to see what databases it subscribes to and how you can access them.

Using a Journal Article in a Paper

You can use information from your research in three ways:

• Paraphrase: Take the information from a specific paragraph or section of the article and rewrite it in your own words.
• Summarize: Write a broad overview of the section or the article in your own words.
• Quote: Repeat the exact words used by the author using quotation marks.

Whenever you quote, paraphrase, or summarize information in your paper, you need to follow that information with an in-text citation and create a corresponding reference for the source (in the Works Cited).

Journal Article In-text Citations

Citations within your text are important. Each in-text citation:

• Alerts your reader that you are using information from an outside source.
• Usually appears in parentheses at the end of a sentence.
• Is short and only has enough information to help the reader find the complete reference listed in the Works Cited page at the end of the paper.

A MLA style in-text citation has two parts (MLA Handbook 227-228):

• If there is no author listed, include a shortened version of the title
• While many online sources do not have a page number, academic journals almost always do, even when they are available online.

In most cases, the in-text citation is at the end of the sentence in parentheses. If you use the author’s name in the text, you don’t have to repeat it in the parenthesis at the end. Do not separate the author’s name and the page number with a comma. See below for examples.

Works Cited References for Journal Articles

A Works Cited page is included at the end of your paper. It lists full references/citations for all of the sources mentioned in your paper via your in-text citations.

MLA Containers

In the 9th edition of the official Handbook, MLA includes a new term for citing references, which was first introduced in the 8th edition — containers (134). Periodicals like journals are considered “containers” because they contain the articles that are part of a larger whole.

The container holds the source article and is crucial in identifying the source. The title of the first container, the journal name, is printed in italics and follows the article name. When accessing journals through a database, the database is considered the second container. This title is also printed in italics.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Another feature in citing sources is the DOI (Handbook 188) . DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier, which is used to permanently identify an article or document and link to it on the web.

Although a website or database may change names, the DOI will not change and will help your readers locate the document from your citation. Whenever possible, list the DOI in place of the URL. When you have a DOI, you do not need to give the URL of the website. Indicate that a reference is a DOI by adding “https://doi.org/” before the DOI number of your source.

Another way to identify an online location is with a permalink. Permalinks are URLs that are identified as a stable link that the publisher promises not to change.

For journal references, the following elements need to be included in your Work(s) Cited entries: 

• The name of the author or authors. Since journal articles often have more than one author, it is helpful to know when to use et al. in MLA .
• Title of article
• Title of journal (the container)
• Volume and issue number
• Date of publication
• Page numbers
• Database (the 2nd container)
• DOI, permalink, or URL
• Date of access (supplemental, but should be included if the information has no publication date listed)

Citing a Journal Article in MLA (found in databases)

The following are examples of how to cite a journal in MLA 9, both in text and as a full reference in the Works Cited. These were all found via a database.

Note that “Date Accessed” is the day that the journal article was found and read. This information is supplemental and does not always need to be included.

Journal Article Citation With One Author

Cite your source

Journal Article Citation With Two Authors

*Note:  When a source has multiple authors, you should always list them in your citation in the same order they are listed in the source.

Journal Article Citation With Three or More Authors

Journal article citation with no known author, citing a journal article in mla (print).

Citing a journal from a print source requires less information than an online source. For a print source, you need the following information:

• The name of the author or authors for articles with one or two authors. For articles with three or more authors, only the first author’s name is used followed by et al.
• The name of the article in quotation marks
• The name of the journal in italics
• The volume and issue numbers of the journal
• The year of publication
• The page number(s)

View Screenshot | Cite your source

Citing an Online Journal Article (not found using a database)

Some journal articles are accessible online without the use of a database. Citing an online journal article not found in a database requires that you cite the website that you used to access the article as the second container. Do not include the https:// in the web address.

*Note : Since journals are usually stable and credible sources, including an access date is supplemental and not required (“When Should I Include an Access Date for an Online Work”).

• Works Cited

MLA Handbook . 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.  

“When should I include an access date for an online work?” MLA Style Center , Modern Language Association, 29 Dec. 2016, style.mla.org/access-dates/.

Published October 31, 2011. Updated June 6, 2021.

Written by Catherine Sigler. Catherine has a Ph.D. in English Education and has taught college-level writing for 15 years.

MLA Formatting Guide

MLA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Sample Paper
• MLA 8 Updates
• MLA 9 Updates
• View MLA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all MLA Examples

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It’s 100% free to create MLA citations. The EasyBib Citation Generator also supports 7,000+ other citation styles. These other styles—including APA, Chicago, and Harvard—are accessible for anyone with an EasyBib Plus subscription.

No matter what citation style you’re using (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) the EasyBib Citation Generator can help you create the right bibliography quickly.

Yes, there’s an option to download source citations as a Word Doc or a Google Doc. You may also copy citations from the EasyBib Citation Generator and paste them into your paper.

Creating an account is not a requirement for generating MLA citations. However, registering for an EasyBib account is free and an account is how you can save all the citation you create. This can help make it easier to manage your citations and bibliographies.

Yes! Whether you’d like to learn how to construct citations on your own, our Autocite tool isn’t able to gather the metadata you need, or anything in between, manual citations are always an option. Click here for directions on using creating manual citations.

If any important information is missing (e.g., author’s name, title, publishing date, URL, etc.), first see if you can find it in the source yourself. If you cannot, leave the information blank and continue creating your citation.

It supports MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, and over 7,000 total citation styles.

To cite a magazine with multiple authors and no page numbers in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the authors, the article’s title, the magazine’s title, the publication date, and the DOI, permalink, or URL. The templates and examples for in-text citations and a works-cited-list entry of a book written by multiple authors are given below:

In-text citation template and example:

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues” for sources with three or more authors. In subsequent citations, use only the surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues.” In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the first author followed by “et al.”

Citation in prose:

First mention: Han Ong and colleagues…. or Han Ong and others ….

Subsequent occurrences: Ong and colleagues…. or Ong and others ….

Parenthetical:

….( Ong et al.).

Works-cited-list entry template and example:

The title of the article is in plain text and title case; it is placed inside double quotation marks. The title of the magazine is set in italics and title case. Follow the format given in the template and example for setting the day, month, and year.

Surname, First., et al. “Title of the Article.” Title of the Magazine , Publication Date, DOI/permalink/URL.

Ong, Han, et al. “The Monkey Who Speaks.” The New Yorker , 13 Sept. 2021, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/13/the-monkey-who-speaks.

Use only the first author’s name in surname–first name order in the entry followed by “et al.”

To cite an online journal or magazine article in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the author, the article’s title, the journal or magazine’s title, the publication date, and the DOI, permalink, or URL. If available, also include a volume and an issue number of the journal or magazine. The templates for in-text citations and a works-cited-list entry of an online journal article and examples are given below for a source with one author:

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the author on the first occurrence. In subsequent citations, use only the surname. In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the author.

First mention: Elizabeth Garber ….

Subsequent occurrences: Garber ….

….(Garber).

The title of the journal or magazine article is set in plain roman text and title case; it is placed inside double quotation marks. The title of the journal or magazine is set in italics and title case. Follow the format given in the template and example for writing the publication month or season and year.

Surname, First. “Title of the Article.” Journal or Magazine Title , Volume, Issue, Publication Date, DOI/permalink/URL.

Garber, Elizabeth. “Craft as Activism.” The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education , vol. 33, no.1, spring 2013, www.scholarscompass.vcu.edu/jstae/vol33/iss1/6/ .

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Referencing journal articles

A reference to a journal article will look like this:

Author(s) (Year) Article title.  Journal Title  Volume(Issue), Page numbers.

Examples of references

Foreman, J. L. and Gubbins, E. J. (2015) Teachers see what ability scores cannot: predicting student performance with challenging mathematics.  Journal of advanced academics  26(1), 5-23.

Johnes, M. (2008) A prince, a king, and a referendum: rugby, politics, and nationhood in Wales, 1969–1979.  Journal of British studies  47, 129-148.

Examples of citing in the text of your work:  Foreman and Gubbins (2015) or (Foreman and Gubbins 2015).

See the section on  Citing within the text of written work  for a complete guide to doing your citations.

If you find it difficult to work out what bits of information are the author’s names, article title and journal title, you can email your subject librarian with the information you have and ask how to tell what to use where.

Here are the full rules about each piece of information:

• Author(s) of the article. Use family name, followed by initial(s).
• Year of publication (in round brackets).
• Title of the article.
• Title of the journal, which must be  in italics
• Volume and issue number (issue number in brackets).
• First and last page numbers of the article (separated by a dash -).
• You may see an "issue" called a 'part' or 'number' instead; it may be shown with a number, a month name, or a letter. All of those are ways of showing which bit of the volume you are looking at. For example, you may see "Volume 5, issue 6"; "Volume 5, number 6", or  "Volume 5, part 6". All these mean the same thing and should be referenced as 5(6). If you see "Volume 5, June issue" you reference it as 5(June). "Volume 5, supplement VI" is referenced as 5(supp VI).
• You can usually find the issue number and volume on the front cover of a physical journal, or towards the top of a PDF of an online journal article.
• Some journals have strange-looking page numbers such as "e240-249". Include these in your reference as the journal gives them.
• If you cannot find an author for a journal article (for instance in an editorial), you can either use the name of the journal as the author or cite it as "Anonymous".

EndNote reference type - use Journal Article

Electronic journal articles

Usually you ignore the web address and give the reference as you would for a printed journal article.

You should only use this electronic journal article format when the journal:

• Has no volume, issue and page numbers, or
• Is not available as a print version at all (or you’re not sure)

or when the article is "forthcoming”, “in press” or “online ahead of print” ,   so that it is available electronically but has not yet been given a place in a print issue and assigned page numbers. In that case you put “Epub ahead of print” where the volume, issue and page numbers normally go.

A reference to an electronic journal article will look like this:

Author(s) (Year) Article title.  Journal title . Volume(Issue), Page numbers. Web address/DOI and date accessed.

Some ejournals assign a single “page number” to each article within the journal, even though each individual article is many pages long. If you find an article that is more than one page long but the journal’s information about it only gives it one page number:

Use the page number that the journal gives you, but add the number of pages that the article really has in square brackets so that you can cite individual pages inside the article if you need to. It will look like this “19(6), 5 [10 pages].”

Day, L., Fildes, B., Gordon, I., Fitzharris, M., Flamer, H. and Lord, S. (2002) Randomised factorial trial of falls prevention among older people living in their own homes.  BMJ  325(7356), 128 [6 pages].  https://www.bmj.com/content/325/7356/128 Accessed 9 September 2019.

License, S., Smith, R., McGuigan M.P. and Earnest, C.P. (2015) Gait pattern alterations during walking, texting and walking and texting during cognitively distractive tasks while negotiating common pedestrian obstacles.  PLOS one 0133281 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0133281 Accessed 12 August 2015.

Sacchi, M., Serafino, M., Villani, E., Tagliabue, E., Luccarelli, S., Bonsignore, F. and Nucci, P. (2019) Efficacy of atropine 0.01% for the treatment of childhood myopia in European patients. Acta ophthalmologica Epub ahead of print https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aos.14166 Accessed 20 August 2019. 

Examples of citing in the text of your work:  Heyden et al. (2018) or (Heyden et al. 2018).

• Title of the journal, which must be  in italics.
• Volume number and issue number, if available (issue number in brackets).
• First and last page numbers of the article, if available (separated by a dash -).
• Web address, or doi if available
• "Accessed" followed by the date you looked at the article.

EndNote reference type - use Electronic Journal Article. You may have to change the type in EndNote from Journal article. Ensure that the Access Date is entered in the Date Accessed field

Sections of journal articles

For appendices or forewords written by different authors to the main body of the article.

A reference to a portion of a journal article will look like this:

Author(s) (Year) Title of this author’s contribution, Page numbers of the part of the article  in  Author(s) of article. Article title.  Journal title  Volume (Issue), Page numbers of article.

Example of reference

Bond, J. and Worley, F. (2004) Cremated animal bone, 79-81 in Richards, J.D. Excavations at the Viking barrow cemetery at Heath Wood, Ingleby, Derbyshire.  Antiquarians journal  84, 23-116.

Example of citing in the text of your work:  Bond and Worley (2004) or (Bond and Worley 2004).

• Author(s) of the part you are using. Use family name, followed by initial(s).
• Title of this author’s contribution to the article,
• First and last page numbers of this author’s contribution to the article.
• The word “in”
• The volume and issue number (issue number in brackets).

EndNote cannot create a correct article section reference - you will need to edit the reference manually (see  Manually updating Endnote citations or references ) We suggest using the section authors as the authors’ names in the EndNote record (as this is what you need the citation to be) but otherwise to use the details of the whole article, then edit the Word document to add the section title, the section page numbers, and the article authors’ names.

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Citation Styles: A Brief Guide to APA, MLA and Turabian

• Journal Articles

Citing Journal Articles

• Magazine Articles
• Newspaper Articles
• Government Publications
• Other Materials
• In Text Citations
• Sample Bibliography: APA
• Sample Bibliography: MLA
• Sample Bibliography: Turabian
• Creating an Annotated Bibliography This link opens in a new window

The basic format for an article from a journal requires the author’s name, the article title, the name of the journal, the date of the article, and the volume, issue number, and inclusive page numbers. Not all journals use issue numbers. APA recommends providing both volume and issue number if each issue of the journal paginates separately, that is, if each issue begins with page 1. Turabian suggests that more is better – if the journal provides both volume and issue numbers, include them both in the citation.

JOURNAL ARTICLE WITH VOLUME – ONE AUTHOR The example used is an article by author Truly Learned, entitled “The Web-Toed Bibliosaurus: Cranial Measurements Indicate a Smarter Than Average Lizard,” published in volume 85 of the Journal of the Paleocranial Society in 1995 on pages 566-592. The journal does not paginate each issue separately, but numbers continuously over the entire volume.

Learned, T. (1995). The Web-Toed Bibliosaurus: Cranial measurements indicate a smarter than average lizard. Journal of the Paleocranial Society , 85 , 566-592.

Learned, Truly. “The Web-Toed Bibliosaurus: Cranial Measurements Indicate a Smarter than Average Lizard.” Journal of the Paleocranial Society , vol. 85, 1995, pp. 566-592.

Learned, Truly. “The Web-Toed Bibliosaurus: Cranial Measurements Indicate a Smarter than Average Lizard.” Journal of the Paleocranial Society 85 (1995): 566-592.

JOURNAL ARTICLE WITH VOLUME & NUMBER – MULTIPLE AUTHORS The example used is an article by authors Adam Bisantz and Bea Biserk entitled “Adaptivity and Genetic Predisposition to Temper Tantrums.” The article was published in 2000 in volume 35, issue number 3, of the journal Misbehavior and Medication on pages 34-48. Each issue of the journal has its own pagination beginning with page 1.

Bisantz, A. & Biserk, B. (2000). Adaptivity and genetic predisposition to temper tantrums. Misbehavior and Medication , 35 (3), 34-48.

Bisantz, Adam and Bea Biserk. “Adaptivity and Genetic Predisposition to Temper Tantrums.” Misbehavior and Medication, vol. 35, no. 3, 2000, pp. 34-48.

Bisantz, Adam and Bea Biserk. “Adaptivity and Genetic Predisposition to Temper Tantrums.” Misbehavior and Medication 35, no. 3 (2000): 34-48.

JOURNAL ARTICLE WITH VOLUME & NUMBER – FOUR OR MORE AUTHORS

The example used is an article authored by Otto Nomick, Rhea Flecks, Kaye Tschin, Nye Dzherk, and Nobbie Knease, entitled “Reaction Times in White Mice Which have Been Administered Large Doses of MSG.” The article was published in 1998 in volume 33, issue number 1, of the Journal of Reflexology & Reactivity, on pages 22-43. Each issue of the journal has its own pagination. APA requires listing all authors up to seven. For references with more than seven authors, give the first six authors, followed by an ellipsis, and followed by the last author. (Example: Adams, B., Brown, C., Cook, D., Davis, E., Edge, F., Francis, G., Green, H., ... Zabriskie, A. ) Turabian bibliography style calls for listing all the authors, regardless of how many.

Nomick, O., Flecks, R., Tschin, K., Dzherk, N., & Knease, N. (1998). Reaction times in white mice which have been administered large doses of MSG. Journal of Reflexology & Reactivity , 33 (1), 22-43.

Nomick, Otto, et al. “Reaction Times in White Mice Which Have Been Administered Large Doses of MSG.” Journal of Reflexology & Reactivity , vol. 33, no. 1, 1998, pp. 22-43.

Nomick, Otto, Rhea Flecks, Kaye Tschin, Nye Dzherk, and Nobbie Knease. “Reaction Times in White Mice Which Have Been Administered Large Doses of MSG.” Journal of Reflexology & Reactivity 33, no. 1 (1998): 22-43.

JOURNAL ARTICLE – ELECTRONICALLY PUBLISHED JOURNAL (No DOI listed) This example is based on an article published in an online journal. The article, written by author C.B. Cybernaught, is entitled “Hyper Over Hypertext” and was published online in volume 39, issue number 4, April 1995, in the electronic journal World Wide Wanderer. The article is not paginated and was retrieved on 25 May 2008.

Cybernaught, C.B. (1995, April). Hyper over hypertext. World Wide Wanderer , 39 (4). http://www.ccu.edu/wwwander/

Cybernaught, C.B. “Hyper Over Hypertext.” World Wide Wanderer , vol. 39, no. 4, April 1995, www.ccu.edu/wwwander/april95.html. Accessed 25 May 2008.

Cybernaught, C.B. “Hyper Over Hypertext.” World Wide Wanderer 39, no. 4 (April 1995). http://www.ccu.edu/wwwander/april95.html (accessed May 25, 2008).

JOURNAL ARTICLE – ELECTRONICALLY PUBLISHED JOURNAL (DOI listed) This example is based on an article published in an online journal that assigns DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) to each of its articles. Most publishers are now assigning DOIs to make it easier to link back to electronically published articles. The article, written by author Cosette Cremedelacreme, is entitled “An Examination of Gastronomic Imagery in the Later Poetry of Fifi LaRue. The article was published in 2008 in volume 13, issue number 2, on pages 23-43 of the journal Poetry Parisienne. The URL for the article is http://www.parisienne.com/13_2/cremedelacreme.html. The DOI for the article is 29.1027/00013- 2893.13.2.23. The article was retrieved June 13, 2008. Note: APA recommends using both volume and issue numbers for all electronic journal articles when both are available, regardless of pagination.

Cremedelacreme, C. (2008). An examination of gastronomic imagery in the later poetry of Fifi LaRue. Poetry Parisienne , 13 (2), 23-43. https://doi.org/29.1027/00013-2893.13.2.23

Cremedelacreme, Cosette. “An Examination of Gastronomic Imagery in the Later Poetry of Fifi LaRue.” Poetry Parisienne , vol. 13, no. 2, 2008, pp. 23-43. doi: 29.1027/00013- 2893.13.2.23. Accessed 13 June 2008.

Cremedelacreme, Cosette. “An Examination of Gastronomic Imagery in the Later Poetry of Fifi LaRue.” Poetry Parisienne 13, no. 2 (2008): 23-43. doi:29.1027/00013- 2893.13.2.23 (accessed June 13, 2008).

JOURNAL ARTICLE FROM AN ONLINE FULL-TEXT DATABASE (No DOI or Journal URL listed) The example is based on the 2007 article “Entanglements in Wonderland: Children’s Stories and Their Underlying Adult Themes,” by author Silvester Stiltskin. The article was published in the journal Studies in Children’s Fiction in the March 2007 issue, volume 37, number 3, on pages 123-145. The journal has no online equivalent but it has been reproduced electronically in Literature Online. The database is available at the Thomas G. Carpenter Library at UNF and was retrieved on August 28, 2008. Note: APA advises that it is generally not necessary to provide retrieval information for journal articles pulled from databases, since coverage in the database might change. When no DOI or website is available, the citation will take the format of the print journal article.

Stiltskin, S. (2007). Entanglements in Wonderland: Children’s stories and their underlying adult themes. Studies in Children’s Fiction , 37 (3), 123-145.

Stiltskin, Sylvester. “Entanglements in Wonderland: Children’s Stories and Their Underlying Adult Themes.” Studies in Children’s Fiction , vol. 37, no. 3, 2007, pp. 123-145. Literature Online, gateway.lion.com/scf/2007_37_03_stiltskin.html. Accessed 28 Aug. 2008.

Stiltskin, Sylvester. “Entanglements in Wonderland: Children’s Stories and Their Underlying Adult Themes.” Studies in Children’s Fiction 37, no. 3 (2007): 123-145. http://gateway.lion.com/scf/2007_37_03_stiltskin.html (Accessed August 28, 2008).

JOURNAL ARTICLE FROM AN ONLINE FULL-TEXT DATABASE (Journal URL listed) The example is based on the 2006 article authored by Rubio Buttons entitled “Send in the Clowns: Political Misadventures of 21st Century America.”  The article was published in volume 3, issue number 2, of the journal Political Profundity on pages 47-62. The journal also maintains electronic copies of the articles and provides the URL on the article title page (http://www.polprof.com/2006/buttons.html). The article is available in the database PoliSci Online and was retrieved from the database on September 3, 2008.

Buttons, R. (2006). Send in the clowns: Political misadventures of 21st century America. Political Profundity , 3( 2), 47-62. http://www.polprof.com/

Buttons, Rubio. “Send in the Clowns: Political Misadventures of 21st Century America.” Political Profundity , vol. 3, no. 2, 2006, pp. 47-62. PoliSci Online, http://text.poliscionline.com/2006_3_2_47.html. Accessed 3 Sep. 2008.

Buttons, Rubio. “Send in the Clowns: Political Misadventures of 21st Century America.” Political Profundity 3, no. 2 (2006): 47-62. http://text.poliscionline.com/2006_3_2_47.html (accessed September 3, 2008).

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Penn State University Libraries

Apa quick citation guide.

• In-text Citation
• Citing Generative AI
• Citing Web Pages and Social Media
• Citing Articles
• Citing Books
• Citing Business Reports
• Other Formats
• APA Style Quiz

Note: Citations with more than one line of text should have a hanging indent of 1/2 inch or 5 spaces.

Important Elements:

• Author (last name, initials only for first & middle names)
• Date of publication of article (year and month for monthly publications; year, month and day for daily or weekly publications)
• Title of article (capitalize only the first word of title and subtitle, and proper nouns)
• Title of publication in italics (i.e.,  Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Newsweek, New York Times )
• Volume number in italics and issue number, if given
• Page numbers of article, if given
• For articles retrieved online, include DOI, if available. Includes URLs only if they will work for readers. For articles retrieved through a database, do not include the database information or URL in the reference. For more information, see the APA Style and Grammar Guidelines pages on databases and DOIs and URLs.  

For more examples, see the APA Style and Grammar Guidelines entries for magazine , newspaper, and scholarly journal articles. 

Magazine article:

Swedin, E. G.  (2006, May/June). Designing babies: A eugenics race with China? The Futurist , 40, 18-21.

Will, G. F. (2004, July 5). Waging war on Wal-Mart.  Newsweek ,  144 , 64.

Duhigg, C. (2019, October 10). Is Amazon unstoppable? The New Yorker.   https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/21/is-amazon-unstoppable

Newspaper article:

Dougherty, R. (2006, January 11). Jury convicts man in drunk driving death. Centre Daily Times , p. 1A.

Laber-Warren, E. (2019, October 17). You're only as old as you feel. The New York Times.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/17/well/mind/age-subjective-feeling-old.html

Scholarly journal article:

Blattner, J., & Bacigalupo, A. (2007). Using emotional intelligence to develop executive leadership and team and organizational development. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 59 (3), 209-219. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1065-9293.59.3.209

Book Review:

Rifkind, D. (2005, April 10). Breaking their vows. [Review of the book The mermaid chair, by S.M. Kidd]. Washington Post , p. T6.

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Citation Guide: Scholarly Journal Articles

• Citations Home
• Title of Source
• Title of Container
• Other Contributors
• Publication Date
• Optional Elements
• In-Text Citations
• Books & eBooks
• Scholarly Journal Articles
• Dissertations/Theses
• Additional Resources/Web Pages
• In-Text Citation
• APA Paper Format
• Online Databases
• Commentaries
• Books, Encyclopedias, Theses, Dissertations
• Conferences, Data, Patents, Software, Standards, & Technical Reports
• Websites, Newspapers, Magazines, Federal Agency Publications, & Streaming Media
• Safety Data Sheets (SDS)
• Journal Abbreviations
• How to Format Bibliographical Entries for the Cited Reference Page
• Sample CSE/CBE Paper
• Other Guides
• Additional Resources
• MC Writing Center

Essential Elements

Scholarly article citations should include the following information:

• Authors names
• Year of publication
• Title of article
• Title of journal
• Volume of journal
• Page number(s) of article

For electronic sources, you may also need:

• The DOI (if available)
• The URL address of the journal publisher

- Only the first word of the article's title and subtitle should be capitalized, except for proper nouns.

- Do not use quotation marks around article titles.

- Italicize journal titles. All of the main words should be capitalized.

- If your citation includes a DOI or URL, do not end the citation with a period.

Sample Citations - Scholarly Articles

Scholarly Article in a Print Journal with no DOI present

Note that if a DOI is available for an article whether in print or electronic format it should be included at the end of the citation

Scholarly Article by Multiple Authors

Two to Twenty Authors

List each author in the same order they appear in the article's byline. Use the ampersand (&) rather than the word "and."

Wenneker, C.P., Wigbolus, D.H., & Spears, R. (2005). Biased language use in

         stereotype maintenane: The role of encoding and goals. Journal of Personality

         and Social Psychology, 89 (4), 504-516. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.89.4.504

Twenty-one or More Authors

List the first nineteen authors. Insert an ellipses (...) after the name of the nineteenth author followed by the name of the last author listed .

Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M.,

          Saha, S., White, G., Woollen, J., Zhu, Y., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki, W., Higgins, W.,

         Janowiak, J., Mo, K.C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetmaa, A., ... Joseph, D. (1996).

         The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological

         Society, 77 (3), 437-471. http://doi.org/fg6rf9

Scholarly Article Accessed Online

APA style does not distinguish between articles accessed through a database and articles accessed via the Web. The exact citation formation will depend on whether the article has a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) available.

• If the article information DOES include a DOI, place it at the end of the citation.
• If the article information DOES NOT include a DOI, then consider how you accessed the article. If you accessed the article via a Database then no URL is necessary. If the article is only accessible via a website then include the URL at the end of the citation.

Example - Journal Article with DOI :

  Martens, S., & Valchev, N. (2009). Individual differences in teh attentional blink: The

          important role of irrelevent information. Experimental Psychology, 56(1), 18-26.

          https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169.56.1.18

Example - Journal Article without DOI :

  Montgomery, M.B. (2009). Historical and comparative perspectives on a-prefixing in the

          English of Appalachia. American Speech, 84 (1), 5-26.

If you accessed an article from a database and there is no DOI present, cite it as if it is a print source with no DOI. 

   Ahmann, E., Tuttle, L.J., Saviet, M. & Wright, S. D. (2018). A descriptive review of ADHD

          coaching research: Implications for college students. Journal of Postsecondary Education

          and Disability, 31 (1), 17-39. http://www.ahead.org/professional-resources/publications/jped/

          archived-jped/jped-volume-31

 If the article is only available on a website you include the URL at the end of the citation and not widely available in databases.

DOI Tutorial

Check out the link below to view APA's 3-minute video tutorial on how to find DOI's in your sources.

• APA's How to Find a DOI

Digital Object Identifiers

What Is a Digital Object Identifier?

A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique set of numbers and letters that can be assigned to a particular article to help identify it. Unlike a URL or Web address, an article's DOI always remains the same. Each article has a unique DOI - think of it as a "digital thumbprint."

How are DOIs used in APA citations?

DOIs are used in APA citations to help scholars find cited articles more efficiently. Unlike URL links and Web addresses, which can break or change, a DOI provides a consistent way to look up a referenced article. If you have a DOI for your article, include it at the end of the citation.

Where can I find an article's DOI?

Not all articles are assigned DOIs yet, but if available, the DOI will usually be included with the rest of the electrontic citation information for your article. This may be on the first or last page of the article, or there may be a separate link to citation information. You can also check the CrossRef database to see if a DOI is available for your article.

More about DOIs

DOI Flowchart

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