How to Cite an Article

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Articles in scholarly journals and magazines, both in print and online, are common sources for research papers. Provide an in-text citation every time you paraphrase or quote from the article, and include a full citation in a bibliography at the end of your paper. While the basic information in your citation will be the same, the format varies depending on whether you're using the Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA), or Chicago style of citation.

Sample Citations

Method 1
Method 1 of 3:

MLA

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  1. List the author's last name first, followed by a comma and a space. Type the author's first name and middle name or initial, if provided. Place a period at the end of the author's name. [1]
    • Example: Buchman, Dana.
    • If there are 2 authors, separate their names with a comma, typing the word "and" before the last author's name. Only invert the first author's name. For example: Martin, Johnathan A., and Christopher Jackson.
    • For 3 or more authors, list the first author's name, followed by a comma and the abbreviation "et. al." For example: Fontela, Pablo, et. al.
  2. Type the title of the article in title case, capitalizing the first word along with all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and words with more than 4 letters. Place a period at the end of the title, inside the closing quotation marks. [2]
    • Example: Buchman, Dana. "A Special Education."
    • If the article has a subtitle, type a colon and a space after the title, then type the subtitle in title case. Place a period at the end of the subtitle, inside the closing quotation marks.
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  3. Type the title of the periodical in italics, followed by a comma and a space. Type the date of publication in day-month-year format, using a 3-letter abbreviation for all months with names more than 4 letters long. Place a comma after the date. [3]
    • Example: Buchman, Dana. "A Special Education." Good Housekeeping , Mar. 2006,
    • For scholarly journals, include the volume and issue numbers after the name of the publication. Separate these elements with commas. For example: Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms": The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu ." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature , vol. 15, no. 1, 1996,
    • If the article appears in a smaller regional or local publication, type the location in brackets after the title of the publication. For example: Trembacki, Paul. "Brees Hopes to Win Heisman for Team." Purdue Exponent [West Lafayette, IN], 5 Dec. 2000,
  4. For print articles, list the page number or page range where the article appears. For online articles, include a URL or DOI. If you use a URL, do not include the "http://" portion of the address. Place a period at the end of your citation. [4]
    • Print example: Buchman, Dana. "A Special Education." Good Housekeeping , Mar. 2006, pp. 143-148.
    • Online example: Trembacki, Paul. "Brees Hopes to Win Heisman for Team." Purdue Exponent [West Lafayette, IN], 5 Dec. 2000, www.purdueexponent.org/sports/article_b6f722b8-9595-58b8-849b-5a8447bbf793.html.

    MLA Works Cited Format

    Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article in Title Case." Title of Publication , Day Month Year, pp. ##-##. URL or DOI.

  5. When you paraphrase or quote from the article, place a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence, inside the closing punctuation. Include the author's last name only if it wasn't incorporated in your text. [5]
    • For example, you might write: "For a woman who had encountered few obstacles on the road to success, having a daughter with learning disabilities presented challenges and an opportunity to grow as a person (Buchman 147)."
    • If the source was not paginated, only the author's name is needed. If you incorporated the author's name in the body of your paper and the source is not paginated, you don't need a parenthetical citation.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 3:

APA

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  1. Type the author's last name first, followed by a comma. Then type the author's first initial. Add their middle initial, if given. Type a space after the period, then type the date of publication in parentheses. Include the year first, followed by a comma, then the month and day (if provided). Place a period after the closing parentheses. [6]
    • Example: Will, G. F. (2004, July 5).
    • If there are multiple authors, separate their names with commas. Use an ampersand (&) before the last author's name.
  2. Type the title of the article in sentence case, capitalizing only the first word and any proper nouns in the title. If the article has a subtitle, place a colon after the title and type the subtitle in sentence case. Place a period at the end. [7]
    • Example: Will, G. F. (2004, July 5). Waging war on Wal-Mart.
  3. Type the title of the publication in italics. If the publication has a volume number, place a comma after the publication's title and add the volume number, also in italics. Place a comma after the volume number and include the issue number. Add a comma for print publications or a period for online publications. [8]
    • Print example: Will, G. F. (2004, July 5). Waging war on Wal-Mart. Newsweek, 144 ,
    • For online-only sources, include the domain extension (such as ".com" or ".org) in the publication title. If the source also exists in print, leave the domain extension out of the publication title. For example: Romm, J. (2008, February 27). The cold truth about climate change. Salon.com .
  4. For print publications, include the page number or page range where the article appears. If you found the article online, type the words "Retrieved from," then copy the URL or DOI for the article. Place a period after page numbers. Do not place a period at the end of the URL or DOI. [9]
    • Print example: Will, G. F. (2004, July 5). Waging war on Wal-Mart. Newsweek, 144 , 64.
    • Online example: Romm, J. (2008, February 27). The cold truth about climate change. Salon.com . http://www.salon.com/2008/02/27/global_warming_deniers/

    APA Reference List Format

    Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year, Month Day). Title of article in sentence case. Title of Publication , Page#. Retrieved from URL.

  5. Generally, place a parenthetical citation at the end of each sentence in which you paraphrase or quote the article. If you included the author's name in your text, place a parenthetical with the year of publication immediately after the author's name. [10]
    • For example, you might write: "Romm (2008) concluded that international reports actually underestimated the threat of climate change."
    • If you don't include the author's name in the body of your paper, use a standard parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence, inside the closing punctuation. For example, you might write: "Many climate change deniers misinterpret scientific consensus as groupthink (Romm, 2008)."
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Method 3
Method 3 of 3:

Chicago

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  1. List the author's last name first, followed by a comma and a space. Then type the author's first name and middle name or initial, if provided. Place a period at the end of the author's name. [11]
    • Example: Goldman, Jason G.
  2. Type the title in title case, capitalizing the first word and all nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adverbs. Place a period at the end of the title, inside the closing quotation marks. [12]
    • Example: Goldman, Jason G. "Lizards Learn a Silly Walk after Losing Their Tail."
    • If the article has a subtitle, type a colon and a space after the title, then type the subtitle in title case. Place a period at the end of the subtitle.
  3. Type the title of the periodical in italics, followed by a comma and a space. Then type the date in month-day-year format. Place a period at the end of the date.
    • Example: Goldman, Jason G. "Lizards Learn a Silly Walk after Losing Their Tail." Scientific American , December 1, 2017.
    • For articles in scholarly journals include the volume and issue numbers, then place the date of publication in parentheses. Place a colon after the date of publication. For example: Bunce, Valerie. "Rethinking Recent Democratization: Lessons from the Postcommunist Experience." World Politics 55, no. 2 (2003):
  4. For print articles, type the page number or page range where the article can be found, followed by a period. If you found the article online, include a full direct URL or DOI for the article, followed by a period.
    • Print example: Bunce, Valerie. "Rethinking Recent Democratization: Lessons from the Postcommunist Experience." World Politics 55, no. 2 (2003): 167-192.
    • Online example: Goldman, Jason G. "Lizards Learn a Silly Walk after Losing Their Tail." Scientific American , December 1, 2017. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lizards-learn-a-silly-walk-after-losing-their-tail/.

    Chicago Bibliography Format

    Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article in Title Case." Title of Publication , Month Day, Year. URL.

  5. Place a superscripted number at the end of any sentence in which you paraphrase or quote from the article. The corresponding footnote includes the same information as your bibliography entry. However, the author's name is not inverted and commas are used instead of periods to separate the parts of the citation. [13]
    • Print example: Valerie Bunce, "Rethinking Recent Democratization: Lessons from the Postcommunist Experience," World Politics 55, no. 2 (2003): 167-192.
    • Online example: Jason G. Goldman, "Lizards Learn a Silly Walk after Losing Their Tail," Scientific American , December 1, 2017, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lizards-learn-a-silly-walk-after-losing-their-tail/.
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Expert Q&A

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  • Question
    How do I cite book titles?
    Noah Taxis
    English Teacher
    Noah Taxis is an English Teacher based in San Francisco, California. He has taught as a credentialed teacher for over four years: first at Mountain View High School as a 9th- and 11th-grade English Teacher, then at UISA (Ukiah Independent Study Academy) as a Middle School Independent Study Teacher. He is now a high school English teacher at St. Ignatius College Preparatory School in San Francisco. He received an MA in Secondary Education and Teaching from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education. He also received an MA in Comparative and World Literature from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a BA in International Literary & Visual Studies and English from Tufts University.
    Noah Taxis
    English Teacher
    Expert Answer
    When citing book titles in an essay, whether to italicize them depends on the specific style guide in use, such as APA, MLA, or Chicago style. Additionally, the formatting of the author's name, punctuation, and use of quotes may vary according to the style guide. Each guide provides distinct rules for citation formatting, so it's essential to know what style you're following to ensure accurate and consistent citation practices in your writing.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html
      2. ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html
      3. ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_periodicals.html
      4. ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html
      5. ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_in_text_citations_the_basics.html
      6. ↑ http://guides.libraries.psu.edu/apaquickguide/articles
      7. ↑ http://guides.libraries.psu.edu/apaquickguide/articles
      8. ↑ http://guides.libraries.psu.edu/apaquickguide/articles
      9. ↑ https://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/apa-referencing/7JournalArticles
      1. ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html
      2. ↑ https://libguides.heidelberg.edu/chicago/article
      3. ↑ https://libguides.heidelberg.edu/chicago/article
      4. ↑ https://libguides.heidelberg.edu/chicago/article

      About This Article

      Article Summary X

      To cite an article in MLA, start with the authors last name, followed by a comma, their first name, and a period. Then, add the title of the article in quotation marks with a period at the end of the title inside the quotes. Next, include the title of the periodical in italics, followed by a comma and the date of publication written in a day-month-year format. Finally, put a comma after the year, followed by the page number or URL where the article can be found and a period. To learn how to cite an article using Chicago or APA style, keep reading!

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