Bibliography

How to cite a journal article

Journal articles are the source you’ll cite most in college. Here is each element, where it goes, and what to do about article numbers and missing DOIs.

Cite it now

Smart detection works out the source type from what you paste.

Source details
Source type
Authors (or an organisation)
Publication date (leave blank if none)

Reference list entry · APA 7th edition

Your citation appears here as you type, set exactly as it will look in your paper.

In-text citation

Fill in the author and date to see the in-text version.

Journal article templates

APA 7

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxx

MLA 9

Author, First, and First Last. “Title of Article.” Journal Name, vol. #, no. #, Year, pp. #–#, https://doi.org/xxxx.

Chicago

Author, First, and First Last. “Title of Article.” Journal Name volume, no. issue (Year): pages. https://doi.org/xxxx.

Harvard

Author, A. and Author, B. (Year) ‘Title of article’, Journal Name, volume(issue), pp. #–#. Available at: https://doi.org/xxxx.

APA 7th edition

Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159–1168. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614524581

In-text: (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014, p. 1160) or Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014, p. 1160)

MLA 9th edition

Mueller, Pam A., and Daniel M. Oppenheimer. “The Pen Is Mightier than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand over Laptop Note Taking.” Psychological Science, vol. 25, no. 6, Apr. 2014, pp. 1159-1168, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614524581.

In-text: (Mueller and Oppenheimer 1160) or Mueller and Oppenheimer (1160)

Chicago notes & bibliography

Mueller, Pam A., and Daniel M. Oppenheimer. “The Pen Is Mightier than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand over Laptop Note Taking.” Psychological Science 25, no. 6 (April 2014): 1159–1168. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614524581.

Footnote: Pam A. Mueller and Daniel M. Oppenheimer, “The Pen Is Mightier than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand over Laptop Note Taking,” Psychological Science 25, no. 6 (April 2014): 1160, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614524581.

Harvard (Cite Them Right)

Mueller, P.A. and Oppenheimer, D.M. (2014) ‘The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking’, Psychological Science, 25(6), pp. 1159–1168. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614524581.

In-text: (Mueller and Oppenheimer, 2014, p. 1160) or Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014, p. 1160)

The details that trip people up

  • Volume in italics (APA): the journal name and the volume number are italic; the issue number in brackets is not.
  • Article numbers: many online journals use an article number (e.g. e0215487 or 1258096) instead of pages. Put it where the pages would go; APA writes “Article 1258096”.
  • No DOI: if a database article has no DOI, APA 7 says to end the reference after the page range; don’t add the database URL. For open-access articles, use the journal’s URL.
  • Capitals: APA uses sentence case for the article title but title case for the journal name.

An article with an article number

APA 7th edition

Doudna, J. A., & Charpentier, E. (2014). The new frontier of genome engineering with CRISPR-Cas9. Science, 346(6213), 1258096. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1258096

In-text: (Doudna & Charpentier, 2014) or Doudna and Charpentier (2014)

MLA 9th edition

Doudna, Jennifer A., and Emmanuelle Charpentier. “The New Frontier of Genome Engineering with CRISPR-Cas9.” Science, vol. 346, no. 6213, 28 Nov. 2014, p. 1258096, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1258096.

In-text: (Doudna and Charpentier) or Doudna and Charpentier

Questions students ask

Where do I find the volume and issue?

On the first page of the article PDF, usually in the header or footer, or on the article’s web page. Paste the DOI and CiteForge fetches them from Crossref.

Do I include the database name (JSTOR, EBSCO)?

Not in APA 7. MLA 9 lets you add the database as a second container: JSTOR, followed by the DOI or stable URL.

What about preprints?

Cite the preprint server as the source (e.g. arXiv, PsyArXiv), and switch to the published version once there is one.