Library Resources for Centers & Online Students

This video tutorial will demonstrate how to cite journal articles using the APA citation style.

In this tutorial, you will learn the basics for citing journal articles with and without a DOI and how to cite open access journal articles.

Every APA reference needs four parts: author, date, title, and source. As you go through these examples, you will learn how to identify these four parts and how to place and format them into a proper APA reference.

Example 1: A Journal Article with a DOI

For the first example, you will learn how to cite a journal article with a DOI. Often, you will find journal articles online using the library's databases or other online resources. This article was found online using the database Academic Search Complete.

The first step is to identify the author of the article. The author of this article is Alon Confino.

To list an author, write the last name, a comma, and the first and middle initials.

Example:
Confino, A.

Next, identify when this article was published. For journal articles, you typically only need the year. In this case, this article was published in 2012. You can usually find the date at the top of the article, the cover of the journal, or, for online articles, the article's record.

List the date after the author(s), in parentheses, followed by a period.

Example:
Confino, A. (2012).

Now, identify the title of the article. The title will usually be at the very top of the article, in a larger size font.

List the title of the article after the date. Make sure you only capitalize the first word of the title, the first word of the subtitle, which comes after a colon, and any proper nouns. End with a period. In this title, only the words Miracles, Palestine, Israel, and Tantura are capitalized.

Example:
Confino, A. (2012). Miracles and snow in Palestine and Israel: Tantura, a history of 1948.

For the last component, you need the source. For an article, this is the title of the journal, volume, issue, which is sometimes called number, and page numbers of the article. Usually this information can be found on the cover of the journal, on the table of contents, or at the top of the article. For the page numbers, you should look at the first and last pages of the article. For online articles, this information is usually found in the article's record.

Type the journal title, in italics, capitalizing all major words, a comma, the volume, also in italics, the number or issue in parentheses, a comma, and then the page numbers of the article.

Example: Confino, A. (2012). Miracles and snow in Palestine and Israel: Tantura, a history of 1948. Israel Studies, 17(2), 25–61.

The last element of the source is the DOI, which stands for Digital Object Identifier. A DOI can be found in the article’s record or on the first page of the article.

Type the DOI, using the prefix https://doi.org/. There is no period after the DOI.

Example: Confino, A. (2012). Miracles and snow in Palestine and Israel: Tantura, a history of 1948. Israel Studies, 17(2), 25–61. https://doi.org/10.2979/israelstudies.17.2.25

If you refer to a work in your paper, either by directly quoting, paraphrasing, or by referring to main ideas, you will need to include an in-text parenthetical citation. There are a number of ways to do this. In this example, a signal phrase is used to introduce a direct quote. The author's name is given in the text, and the publication date and page number(s) are enclosed in parentheses at the beginning and end of the sentence.

Example:
Confino (2012) notes "For Jews during the 1948 war sentiments of post-extermination existential anxiety mixed with a sense of wonder that was connected, but not reduced, to the foundation of the state of Israel" (p. 25).

Example 2: Multiple Authors and No DOI

In this example, most of the components needed for the reference can be found in the article’s record. This article, however, has multiple authors and does not have a DOI listed in its record or in the article itself.

Format all the citation components of this journal article like the first example. For multiple authors, list the authors in the order they are listed in the article. Use a comma to separate each author and an ampersand (&) should be placed before the last author’s name. This applies for articles with up to twenty authors. Since there is no DOI listed for this article, simply omit that element. The reference will conclude after the page numbers.  

Example:
Penprase, B., Mileto, L., Bittinger, A., Hranchook, A. M., Atchley, J. A., Bergakker, S., Eimers, T., & Franson, H. (2012). The use of high-fidelity simulation in the admissions process: One nurse anesthesia program’s experience. AANA Journal, 80(1), 43–48.

If you refer to a work in your paper that has three or more authors, the in-text citation will include the first author's name only, followed by et al. which means "and all the rest."

Example:
Penprase et al. (2012) states that "Admission into nurse anesthesia programs is known to be a competitive process among a diverse pool of candidates" (p. 43).

Example 3: An Open Access Journal Article

This article was found in PLOS One which is an open access journal. Open access journal articles are articles with the full text freely available online and do not require logging in.

You will need all of the same information from the previous examples to cite an open access article. In this example, most of this information can be found at the top of the article.

In this example, the article's volume, issue, and the article number are found in the citation provided by the journal. Article numbers are used in place of page numbers in some online journals.

The format for open access journals is the same as the other examples. In this example, an article number is used in place of the page numbers. After the issue number, type Article and then the article number. If an open access journal does not provide a DOI, you may provide the URL of the article instead. Only include the URL if it directly brings you to the full text of the article without logging in.

Example:
Francis, H. M., Stevenson, R. J., Chambers, J. R., Gupta, D., Newey, B., & Lim, C. K. (2019). A brief diet intervention can reduce symptoms of depression in young adults – A randomised controlled trial. PLOS ONE, 14(1), Article e0222768. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222768

For more examples and additional situations you may encounter when citing articles, visit the Tyree Library’s APA Citations research guide. This can be found by visiting the Library’s website and clicking Guides and then Citation Guides.

This concludes the video tutorial on citing journal articles using APA style. If you still have questions, please contact a librarian:

352-395-5409
reference@sfcollege.edu
Building Y, NW Campus
sfcollege.edu/library

Hello! In this video tutorial, we will learn how to cite journal articles in MLA style.

MLA citations may include a variety of components. Sources may be part of a larger source, called a container. Examples of containers may be a database, website, or a book. The following examples will show you how to identify these components and how to place and format them into a proper MLA citation.

The examples in this tutorial include journal articles with and without a DOI and open access journal articles.

Example 1: A Journal Article without a DOI

As you research, you will often find journal articles online using the library's databases. This article was found online using the database Academic Search Complete.

The first step is to identify the author of the article. You can find this on the first page of the article or in the database record.

To list an author, type the name in reverse order. Type the last name, a comma, and the first name, followed by a period. If the author's middle name or initial is given, include it after the first name.

Example:
Orme, Jennifer.

Next, identify the title of the article. The title will usually be at the top of the article, in a font that is larger than the text.

Type the title of the article, enclosed in quotation marks, after the author. Capitalize the first word of the title, the first word of the subtitle, which comes after a colon, and all important words. Place a period after the title, but within the quotation marks. In this example, Pan's Labyrinth is italicized because it is the name of a film.

Example:
Orme, Jennifer. "Narrative Desire and Disobedience in Pan’s Labyrinth."

Next, identify the publication information. This includes the title of the journal; the volume, issue, and page numbers; and the year of publication. The issue may be referred to as the number. This information can be located most easily on the database record. In this example, all the publication information is located in the Source line.

Type the journal title, in italics. Then, type a comma, the abbreviation vol., the volume number, a comma, the abbreviation no. and then the issue number. Type a comma, then give the year of publication. Type another comma, the abbreviation pp. and the page numbers. End this section with a period. If there is no issue number, omit that component.

Example:
Orme, Jennifer. "Narrative Desire and Disobedience in Pan's Labyrinth." Marvels & Tales, vol. 24, no. 2, 2010, pp. 219–234.

Finally, you will need to include the name of the database that the article was found in and either a DOI or a permalink. DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier and can be found in the article's record or on the first page of the article. Not all articles have a DOI. If no DOI is present, as in this example, use a database permalink instead.

Format the title of the database in italics, type a comma, and then copy and paste the URL. Remove the https:// from the beginning of the URL. End the citation with a period. This concludes the citation.

Example:
Orme, Jennifer. "Narrative Desire and Disobedience in Pan's Labyrinth." Marvels & Tales, vol. 24, no. 2, 2010, pp. 219–234. Academic Search Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=a9h&AN=54969134&site=ehost-live&scope=site&custid=sfcc.

If you refer to a work in your paper, by directly quoting, paraphrasing, or by referring to main ideas, you will need to include an in-text parenthetical citation. There are a number of ways to do this. In this example, a signal phrase is used to introduce a direct quote. The author's name is included in the text, and the page number is enclosed in parentheses at the end of the sentence.

Example:
Orme disputes the idea that Pan's Labyrinth is a mere 'adult fairy tale,' instead referring to it as a "juxtaposition of the fairy tale with [a] period film of civilian political resistance" (224).

Example 2: DOI and Multiple Authors

In this article, there are four authors, and a DOI is present. Many newer research articles include DOIs. Always look carefully at the first page of an article and the database record to determine if a DOI is present.

MLA guidelines state that for works with three or more authors, only list the first author, a comma, and then the abbreviation et al., which means ‘and all the rest.’

Example:
Berry, Devon, et al.

Continue with the article title, journal title, volume, issue, year, and page numbers as in the previous example.

Example:
Berry, Devon, et al. "Risk, Religiosity, and Emerging Adulthood: Description of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim University Students at Entering the Freshman Year." Mental Health, Religion & Culture, vol. 16, no. 7, 2013, pp. 695–710.

As before, include the database name in italics. Because this article has a DOI, that will be included instead of a link. Format the DOI as a URL, with the prefix https://doi.org/. End the citation with a period. Unlike other URLs, leave the https:// in the DOI.

Example:
Berry, Devon, et al. "Risk, Religiosity, and Emerging Adulthood: Description of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim University Students at Entering the Freshman Year." Mental Health, Religion & Culture, vol. 16, no. 7, 2013, pp. 695–710. Academic Search Complete, https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2012.715145.

In-text citations for articles with three or more authors similarly use the et al. abbreviation within the narrative.

Example:
Berry et al. found that religious or spiritual undergraduate students were less likely to engage in risky behaviors.

Example 3: An Open Access Journal Article

You may encounter open access full-text journal articles while searching online via search engines or other websites. This article is from the online-only journal Australian Humanities Review.

Look for the information needed to cite the article at the top of the page or on the journal's table of contents page. In this example, the journal does not have volumes. Instead there are only issues. Also, since the articles are presented as HTML files, there are no page numbers.

For articles with two authors, list the first author's name in reverse order, followed by a comma and the word and. Then, list the second author in normal order.

Example:
Robinson, Alice, and Dan Tout.

Cite the journal article as before. Since this article does not have a volume number, the issue number stands alone. There are no page numbers, so that element is skipped. Add the URL, omitting the http://. Place a period after the URL to complete the citation.

Example:
Robinson, Alice, and Dan Tout. "Only Planet: Unsettling Travel, Culture and Climate Change in Settler Australia." Australian Humanities Review, no. 52, 2012. australianhumanitiesreview.org/2012/05/01/only-planet-unsettling-travel-culture-and-climate-change-in-settler-australia/.

For more examples and additional situations you may encounter when citing journal articles, visit the Tyree Library's MLA Citations research guide. This can be found by visiting the Library's website, clicking Guides and then How-To Guides.

This concludes the video tutorial on citing journal articles using MLA style. If you have any questions, please contact a librarian:

352-395-5409
reference@sfcollege.edu
Building Y, NW Campus
sfcollege.edu/library