How to Cite a Journal Article in APA, MLA and Chicago

To cite a journal article, give the authors, the year, the article title, the journal name, the volume and issue, the page range, and the DOI if there is one. In APA 7: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, 12(3), 45–67. https://doi.org/… In MLA 9: Last, First. "Title of Article." Journal Name, vol. 12, no. 3, Year, pp. 45-67. In-text, APA uses (Author, Year, p. #) and MLA uses (Author #).

All authors, journals and DOIs below are fictional.

Where to find each part

Open the article's first page or its landing page in the database. Look for:

• Authors, in the order printed.
• Year of publication (for "online first" articles, see the special cases section).
• Article title and subtitle.
• Journal name, written out in full.
• Volume and issue numbers. These are usually in the header, footer or citation box: "Vol. 12, No. 3."
• Page range, such as 45–67, or an article number for online-only journals.
• DOI, a string that starts with "10." The journal page, the PDF's first page or the database record usually shows it.

APA 7th edition

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

Okafor, C. N., & Lin, H. (2022). Sleep timing and homework completion in secondary school students. Journal of Adolescent Learning, 18(4), 211–229. https://doi.org/10.5555/jal.2022.0187

In-text: (Okafor & Lin, 2022)
Narrative: Okafor and Lin (2022)
With a quotation: (Okafor & Lin, 2022, p. 215)

The formatting details that people most often get wrong:

• The article title is plain text in sentence case, with no italics and no quotation marks.
• The journal name is in title case and italic, and so is the volume number. The issue number in parentheses is not italic, and there's no space between them.
• Use an en dash in page ranges (211–229) and don't put "pp." in the reference.
• Write the DOI as a full https://doi.org/ link, with no period after it.

Bergström, A., Mensah, E., & Tran, Q. (2020). Teacher feedback and revision habits in first-year writing. Composition Review Quarterly, 41(2), 77–98.

In-text: (Bergström et al., 2020)

If there's no DOI and you found the article in an academic database, end the reference after the pages. If it's freely available online, add the URL. List up to 20 authors in the reference; in the text, three or more authors become the first surname plus "et al."

Haddad, R. (2023). Urban tree cover and summer surface temperatures. Open Environmental Letters, 9(1), Article e0231. https://doi.org/10.5555/oel.2023.0231

MLA 9th edition

Last, First, and First Last. "Title of Article." Journal Name, vol. #, no. #, Year, pp. #-#. DOI or URL.

Okafor, Chidi N., and Hui Lin. "Sleep Timing and Homework Completion in Secondary School Students." Journal of Adolescent Learning, vol. 18, no. 4, 2022, pp. 211-29, https://doi.org/10.5555/jal.2022.0187.

In-text: (Okafor and Lin 215)

MLA puts the article title in quotation marks and title case, the journal in italics, and labels the numbers ("vol.," "no.," "pp."). Page ranges use a hyphen, and the second number can be shortened to its last two digits when the hundreds are the same (211-29). With three or more authors, write the first author's name followed by "et al." in both the entry and the in-text citation.

If you read the article through a database, MLA treats the database as a second container, written in italics after the journal details:

Bergström, Anna, et al. "Teacher Feedback and Revision Habits in First-Year Writing." Composition Review Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 2, 2020, pp. 77-98. Scholarly Commons Database, https://doi.org/10.5555/crq.2020.0412.

In-text: (Bergström et al. 81)

When a journal lists a season, include it with the year: Spring 2020.

Citation GeneratorAPA, MLA, Chicago and more

Chicago style (notes-bibliography)

Chicago notes give the volume, issue and year in a compact form: Journal 18, no. 4 (2022): 211–29.

Footnote:

1. Chidi N. Okafor and Hui Lin, "Sleep Timing and Homework Completion in Secondary School Students," Journal of Adolescent Learning 18, no. 4 (2022): 215, https://doi.org/10.5555/jal.2022.0187.

Shortened note:

2. Okafor and Lin, "Sleep Timing," 220.

Bibliography:

Okafor, Chidi N., and Hui Lin. "Sleep Timing and Homework Completion in Secondary School Students." Journal of Adolescent Learning 18, no. 4 (2022): 211–29. https://doi.org/10.5555/jal.2022.0187.

The note cites the specific page you used; the bibliography gives the article's full page range. See how to do footnotes for numbering and placement.

In-text citations compared

APA uses "&" inside parentheses and "and" in your sentence. MLA uses "and" in both. For quotations of 40 words or more (APA) or more than four lines (MLA), use a block quote. For page numbers in unusual sources, see how to include a page number in a citation.

Special cases

• Online first / advance online publication. In APA, cite it with the year it appeared online, leave out volume, issue and pages, and add the DOI. Update the citation if the final version comes out before you submit.
• Preprints. A preprint hasn't been through peer review. Cite it with the preprint server's name and link, and check whether a published version now exists.
• Article in press. APA uses "(in press)" in place of the year.
• Journal with no issue numbers. Simply leave the issue out.
• Abstract only. If you only read the abstract, say so or find the full text. Citing the full article when you've only read its summary misrepresents your source.

Common mistakes

1. Italicizing the article title. In APA it's plain; in MLA and Chicago it's in quotation marks.
2. Forgetting to italicize the APA volume number. 18(4), not 18(4).
3. Using the database URL instead of the DOI. If there's a DOI, use it.
4. Mixing up hyphens and en dashes. APA and Chicago use an en dash in page ranges; MLA commonly uses a hyphen.

For which style fits your subject, read the APA vs. MLA vs. Chicago guide.

Key takeaways

• Collect authors, year, title, journal, volume, issue, pages and DOI before you start.
• APA: plain sentence-case article title, italic journal and volume, (issue), en-dash pages, DOI as a link.
• MLA: "Quoted Title-Case Title," italic journal, vol., no., year, pp., DOI.
• Chicago: Journal 18, no. 4 (2022): pages, with a footnote and bibliography entry.