Scientific and mainstream journal articles, both in print and online, are sources commonly used in academic papers. Provide an in-text citation every time you paraphrase or quote text from an article, and include a full citation in a bibliography at the end of the paper. Although the basic information in the citation will be the same, the format varies depending on whether you use the Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA) style. or Chicago.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: MLA
Step 1. Start an entry for the Works Cited part with the author's name
Write the author's last name first, followed by a comma and a space. Then write their first and middle names, if included. Put a period at the end of the author's name.
- For example: Buchman, Dana.
- If there are 2 authors, separate their names with a comma and write the word "y" before the last author's name. Just reverse the name of the first one, for example: Martin, Johnathan A., and Christopher Jackson.
- For 2 or more authors, write the name of the first author followed by a comma and the abbreviation "et. Al.". For example: Fontela, Pablo, et. to the.
Step 2. Write the name of the article in quotation marks
Write it with the capital letters of a title, that is, capitalize the first word and proper names. Place a period at the end of the title, outside the closing quotation marks.
- For example: Buchman, Dana. "A special education".
- If the article has a subtitle, include a colon and a space after the title, then write it in capital letters as the title. Place a period at the end of the subtitle, outside the closing quotation marks.
Step 3. Include the title of the post and the date
Write it in italics, followed by a comma and a space. Write the publication date in the format of day, month, and year, with a 3-letter abbreviation for all months that have more than 4 letters. Put a comma after the date.
- Example: Buchman, Dana. "A special education". Good housework, mar. 2006,
- For scientific journals, include the volume and number after the name of the publication. Separate items with commas. For example: Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Nationalisms in Conflict": The Subaltern's Voice in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu. "Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, vol. 15, no. 1, 1996,
- If the article appears in a regional or local minor publication, enclose the location in brackets after the publication title. For example: Trembacki, Paul. "Brees hopes to win Heisman for the team." Purdue exponent [West Lafayette, IN], Dec 5 2000,
Step 4. Write where the article can be found
For printed articles, include the page number or page range where the article appears. For articles on the Internet, include the URL or DOI. If you are using a URL, do not include the "http:" part of the address. Write a period at the end of the quote.
- Example of a printed version: Buchman, Dana. "A special education". Good housework, March 2006, pp. 143-148.
- Example of an online version: Trembacki, Paul. "Brees hopes to win Heisman for the team." Purdue Exponent [West Lafayette, IN], Dec 5 2000, www.purdueexponent.org/sports/article_b6f722b8-9595-58b8-849b-5a8447bbf793.html.
MLA Works Cited Format
Lastname name. "Title of the article in capital letters type title". Publication title, day month year, pp. ## - ##. URL or DOI.
Step 5. Use the author's last name and page number for in-text citations
When you paraphrase or quote a part of the article verbatim, place a quotation in parentheses at the end of the sentence, within the closing punctuation. Include only the car's last name if it is not present in the text.
- For example, you could write the following: "For a woman who encountered few obstacles on her way to success, having a daughter with a learning disability presented challenges and an opportunity to grow as a person (Buchman 147)."
- If the source does not have page numbering, it will only be necessary to include the author. If you mentioned the author's name in the body of the text and the source does not have page numbers, a parenthetical citation will not be necessary.
Method 2 of 3: APA
Step 1. Write the name of the author and the date of publication
Write the last name first and then a comma. Include the initial of the author's first name. If there is, add the initial of the middle name. Leave a space after the period and enclose the publication date in parentheses. First enter the year, followed by a comma and the day and month (if you have the information). Write a period after the closing parenthesis.
- For example: Will, G. F. (July 5, 2004).
- If there are multiple authors, separate the names with commas. Use an ampersand before the author's last name.
Step 2. Provide the title of the article
Write the title of the article with title type capitals, that is, capitalize only the first word and proper names. If there is a subtitle, write a colon after the title and capitalize the subtitle in sentence type. Put a period at the end.
Example: Will, G. F. (July 5, 2004). Making war on Wal-Mart
Step 3. Include the title of the post
Write it in italics. If it has a volume number, put a comma after the title and add the volume also in italics. Then enter a comma or period for Internet postings.
- Example of a printed version: Will, G. F. (July 5, 2004). Making war on Wal-Mart. Newsweek, 144,
- For Internet-only sources, include the domain extension (such as ".com" or ".org) in the title of the publication. For example: Romm, J. (February 27, 2008). The Crude Truth About Climate Change Salon.com.
Step 4. Close with the page numbers or the URL or DOI
For print publications, include the page number or page range where the article appears. If you found the article on the Internet, type the words "Retrieved from" and copy the URL or DOI of the article. Don't put a period after the URL or DOI.
- Print version example: Will, G. F. (July 5, 2004). Making war on Wal-Mart. Newsweek, 144, 64.
- Example of an Internet version: Romm, J. (February 27, 2008). The stark truth about climate change. Salon.com.
Format for APA Reference List
Last name, First initial. Middle initial. (day month Year). Title of the article with appropriate capital letters. Post title, page #. Retrieved from URL.
Step 5. For in-text citations, put the author and year in parentheses
The quotation is usually placed in parentheses at the end of each sentence in which the article is paraphrased or cited. If you included the author's name in the text, put a parenthesis with the year of publication right after the author's name.
- For example, you can write the following: "Romm (2008) concluded that international reports underestimated the threat of climate change."
- If you don't include the author's name in the body of the text, use a conventional parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence, within the closing punctuation. For example, you could write the following: "Many climate change deniers misrepresent the scientific consensus as groupthink (Romm, 2008)."
Method 3 of 3: Chicago
Step 1. Begin the bibliographic entry with the author's name
Write the last name first, followed by a comma and a space. Then enter their first name and second or initial, if you have this information. Put a period at the end of the author's name.
For example: Goldman, Jason G
Step 2. Include the title of the article in quotation marks
Write it with title type capitals, that is, capitalize the first word and proper names. Place a period at the end of the title, outside the closing quotation marks.
- For example: Goldman, Jason G. "Lizards learn foolish walking after losing their tails."
- If the article has a subtitle, put a colon after the title, then write the subtitle in capital letters such as title. Put a period at the end of the subtitle.
Step 3. List the title of the post and the date it was published
Write the title of the post in italics, followed by a comma and a space. Then write the date in a day, month, and year format. Write a period at the end of the date.
- For example: Goldman, Jason G. "Lizards learn foolish walking after losing their tails." Scientific American, December 1, 2017.
- In the case of articles that appear in scientific journals, include the volume and number of the publication, then the date of publication is placed in parentheses. Put a colon after the date. For example: Bunce, Valerie. "Rethinking Recent Democratization: Lessons from the Post-Communist Experience". World Politics 55, no. 2 (2003):
Step 4. Close with the page range or URL of the article
For printed articles, enter the page number or page range where the articles can be found, and then put a period. If you found the article on the Internet, include a direct URL or DOI of the text, followed by a period.
- Print version example: Bunce, Valerie. "Rethinking Recent Democratization: Lessons from the Post-Communist Experience". World Politics 55, no. 2 (2003): 167-192.
- Internet example: Goldman, Jason G. "Lizards learn foolish walking after losing their tails." Scientific American, December 1, 2017.
Chicago Bibliography Format
Lastname name. "Title of the article in capital letters type title". Publication title, day month year. URL.
Step 5. Set the format for the footnotes that go into the text
Put a superscript number at the end of any sentence in which you paraphrase or quote the article verbatim. The corresponding footnote includes the same information as the bibliography entry. However, the author's name is not reversed and commas are used instead of periods to separate the parts of the citation.
- Print version example: Valerie Bunce, "Rethinking Recent Democratization: Lessons from the Post-Communist Experience", World Politics 55, no. 2 (2003): 167-192.
- Sample Written Version: Jason G. Goldman, "Lizards Learn Foolish Walk After Losing Their Tail," Scientific American, December 1, 2017, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lizards-learn-a -silly-walk-after-losing-their-tail /.