what is a journal style essay

This document originally came from the Journal of Mammalogy courtesy of Dr. Ronald Barry, a former editor of the journal.

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How to format and use a journal template for your research paper

When writing your research paper it is crucial to understand what format your target journal requires, and what journal template you should use (if one at all). Although many of our journals have the basic elements of style in common, each journal can have its own guidelines for formatting. This defines how an article will look when it is published online or in print.

Read on to find out how to format your research paper for submission to your target journal.

How to format your research paper

Go to  Taylor & Francis Online  and search for the title of your chosen journal using the search bar.

Select the relevant journal and click on the instructions for authors tab.

Read your target journal’s instructions for authors, and find out about its formatting guidelines.

Below are a list of Word templates which can be used for many of our journals. Please download the relevant template and apply it to your research paper format.

Each version of the template has its own instructions file. Read the instructions to learn how to save and use the template.

Get familiar with the journal’s instructions for authors

Be prepared, speed up your submission, and make sure nothing is forgotten by understanding the journal’s individual requirements.

Using Taylor & Francis word templates for journal articles

Check to see which version of Word is installed on your computer

Read the instructions for the relevant version of the template in the list below

Download and save the template file to your computer

Apply these styles to your paper as appropriate

Taylor & Francis templates

Format-free submission

Many Taylor & Francis journals allow format-free submission .

If you use a consistent citation format and include all the necessary information, you may be able to submit your work without worrying about formatting your manuscript.

To find out if your journal allows format-free submission, go to your journal’s homepage on Taylor & Francis Online .

Read the instructions for authors’ for your chosen journal to find out if it operates format-free submission.

Submitting your article format-free?

Read our guide for more information on how to submit your article format-free.

Other journal format options

Latex templates.

Some of our journals accept manuscripts that use a LaTeX template.

Please check the instructions for authors on your chosen journal’s homepage on Taylor & Francis Online to know if LaTeX is an accepted format.

Your journal may provide a link to its specific template in the instructions for authors’ section of the journal’s homepage on Taylor & Francis Online.

If no template is provided, please  contact us  for advice.

What is LaTex?

LaTeX is a software system used to design documents for typesetting. It is most often used for mathematicians and researchers in the physical sciences, but it can be used for almost any form of publishing.

It permits advanced formatting of symbols and variables and structuring of formula. LaTeX has to be converted during the document structuring process during typesetting.”

F1000Research

F1000Research publishes different article types offering flexibility in format and structure, although specific requirements may apply to some article types.

You can find out more about article type-specific instructions for submission with F1000Research in the F1000Research Article Guidelines .

To submit to F1000Research, your manuscript can be submitted as:

Word (DOC or DOCX)

Rich text format (RTF) files

What is F1000Research?

This is an Open Research publishing platform offering rapid article publication and other research outputs without editorial bias.

Save time – let us help format your manuscript

Consider using expert editors to help you meet deadlines and make sure your manuscript complies to your target journal’s requirements.

Related resources

Journal manuscript layout guide

Journal submission support

Your submission checklist

Guide to improve your submission experience

Introduction To Journal-Style Scientific Writing

The format and style of a scientific paper is quite different from that of humanities paper. A rigid format is required to effectively communicate scientific findings to the journals. Most journal-style scientific papers comprises of the following sections in the order prescribed here: a title that briefs the contents of the paper, names of authors and institutional affiliation, abstract that sums up the content of paper, introduction that defines the research problem , materials and methods used to solve the problem, results or key findings of the study, discussion that interprets the results, and references of in-text citations. Acknowledgements and appendices are optional sections.

Each of these main sections of the paper has its own formatting style. To begin with, the main sections heading should be capitalized and given at the center with a double space from the preceding and succeeding lines. Whereas subheadings should be capitalized either in bold italics or underlined.

Title should be in the center at the top of first page in bold and with each word capitalized. Title should preferably contain all the keywords of the paper as it facilitates most of the online searches. This is followed by authors names and institutional affiliation distanced from the title by double spacing and center aligned. In case of more than one author, the list of names should start with the primary investigator/ primary author first followed by other names separated by commas.

An abstract summarizes the key information of the research limiting its length to a maximum of 200-300 words. Ideally, it should contain the definition of research problem, experimental design or methods used to solve the problem, key finding of the research and interpretation of those findings. It should contain information only in the form of text but not graphs, tables or figures. Though this section appears first in the paper, it is often written last by taking key phrases from each of the sections and reorganizing them.

An introduction broadly answers questions like why a particular research is being carried out? What literature is already available on the problem being investigated? What contribution does this study make to the subject? This section should contain an overview of all the keywords used in the title.

Next section gives a clear explanation of materials and methods used to carry out the study. It consists of details like the sample(s) under study, description of the study site, experimental design, experiments conducted for collecting data and procedures used to analyze the data. It is to be noted that only past tense should be used throughout this section.

The objective of the results section is to present the key findings of the study in a sequence in the form of text as well as illustrations such as tables and figures. To start with, this section initially contains results in the form of text mentioning the numbers followed by illustrations. Results do not necessarily mean positive ones. It is important to report negative results as well since they significantly help to arrive at an answer to the question being investigated.

Interpretation of the results should be made in the discussion with respect to the previous reports published to show whether they are in agreement with the already existing data or not. Interpretation should always justify the introduction where the problem was initially defined and methods to solve it were mentioned.

Any significant help in terms of service and materials received to carry out the research should be mentioned and thanked for in acknowledgement . This section should always be brief and placed between discussion and references.

A list of in-text cited references in a chronological order follows all these sections.

Appendix is often an optional section that contains information which further clarifies a point mentioned in the body of the paper. To name a few, raw data, explanation of formulas, list of abbreviations, diagrams of specialized apparatus are examples of material that can be included under this section.

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How to Format a Scientific Paper

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Written by  Joanna Kimmerly-Smith

You've done the research. You've carefully recorded your lab results and compiled a list of relevant sources. You've even written a draft of your scientific, technical, or medical paper, hoping to get published in a reputable journal. But how do you format your paper to ensure that every detail is correct? If you're a scientific researcher or co-author looking to get your research published, read on to find out how to format your paper.

While it's true that you'll eventually need to tailor your research for your target journal, which will provide specific author guidelines for formatting the paper (see, for example, author guidelines for publications by Elsevier , PLOS ONE , and  mBio ), there are some formatting rules that are useful to know for your initial draft. This article will explore some of the formatting rules that apply to all scientific writing, helping you to follow the correct order of sections ( IMRaD ), understand the requirements of each section, find resources for standard terminology and units of measurement, and prepare your scientific paper for publication.

Format Overview

The four main elements of a scientific paper can be represented by the acronym IMRaD: introduction, methods, results, and discussion. Other sections, along with a suggested length,* are listed in the table below.

* Length guidelines are taken from https://www.elsevier.com/connect/11-steps-to-structuring-a-science-paper-editors-will-take-seriously#step6 .

Now, let's go through the main sections you might have to prepare to format your paper.

On the first page of the paper, you must present the title of the paper along with the authors' names, institutional affiliations, and contact information. The corresponding author(s) (i.e., the one[s] who will be in contact with the reviewers) must be specified, usually with a footnote or an asterisk (*), and their full contact details (e.g., email address and phone number) must be provided. For example:

Dr. Clara A. Bell 1, * and Dr. Scott C. Smith 2

1 University of Areopagitica, Department of Biology, Sometown, Somecountry

2 Leviathan University, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, Sometown, Somecountry

*[email protected]

FORMATTING TIPS:

• If you are unsure of how to classify author roles (i.e., who did what), guidelines are available online. For example, American Geophysical Union (AGU) journals now recommend using Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT), an online taxonomy for author contributions.

In this summary of your research, you must state your subject (i.e., what you did) and encapsulate the main findings and conclusions of your paper.

• Do not add citations in an abstract (the reader might not be able to access your reference list).
• Avoid using acronyms and abbreviations in the abstract, as the reader may not be familiar with them. Use full terms instead.

Below the abstract, include a list of key terms to help other researchers locate your study. Note that "keywords" is one word (with no space) and is followed by a colon:

Keywords : paper format, scientific writing.

• Check whether "Keywords" should be italicized and whether each term should be capitalized.
• Check the use of punctuation (e.g., commas versus semicolons, the use of the period at the end).
• Some journals (e.g., IEEE ) provide a taxonomy of keywords. This aids in the classification of your research.

Introduction

This is the reader's first impression of your paper, so it should be clear and concise. Include relevant background information on your topic, using in-text citations as necessary. Report new developments in the field, and state how your research fills gaps in the existing research. Focus on the specific problem you are addressing, along with its possible solutions, and outline the limitations of your study. You can also include a research question, hypothesis, and/or objectives at the end of this section.

• Organize your information from broad to narrow (general to particular). However, don't start too broad; keep the information relevant.
• You can use in-text citations in this section to situate your research within the body of literature.

This is the part of your paper that explains how the research was done. You should relate your research procedures in a clear, logical order (i.e., the order in which you conducted the research) so that other researchers can reproduce your results. Simply refer to the established methods you used, but describe any procedures that are original to your study in more detail.

• Identify the specific instruments you used in your research by including the manufacturer’s name and location in parentheses.
• Stay consistent with the order in which information is presented (e.g., quantity, temperature, stirring speed, refrigeration period).

Now that you've explained how you gathered your research, you've got to report what you actually found. In this section, outline the main findings of your research. You need not include too many details, particularly if you are using tables and figures. While writing this section, be consistent and use the smallest number of words necessary to convey your statistics.

• Use appendices or supplementary materials if you have too much data.
• Use headings to help the reader follow along, particularly if your data are repetitive (but check whether your style guide allows you to use them).

In this section, you interpret your findings for the reader in relation to previous research and the literature as a whole. Present your general conclusions, including an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the research and the implications of your findings. Resolve the hypothesis and/or research question you identified in the introduction.

• Use in-text citations to support your discussion.
• Do not repeat the information you presented in the results or the introduction unless it is necessary for a discussion of the overall implications of the research.

This section is sometimes included in the last paragraph of the discussion. Explain how your research fits within your field of study, and identify areas for future research.

• Keep this section short.

Acknowledgments

Write a brief paragraph giving credit to any institution responsible for funding the study (e.g., through a fellowship or grant) and any individual(s) who contributed to the manuscript (e.g., technical advisors or editors).

• Check whether your journal uses standard identifiers for funding agencies (e.g., Elsevier's Funder Registry ).

Conflicts of Interest/Originality Statement

Some journals require a statement attesting that your research is original and that you have no conflicts of interest (i.e., ulterior motives or ways in which you could benefit from the publication of your research). This section only needs to be a sentence or two long.

Here you list citation information for each source you used (i.e., author names, date of publication, title of paper/chapter, title of journal/book, and publisher name and location). The list of references can be in alphabetical order (author–date style of citation) or in the order in which the sources are presented in the paper (numbered citations). Follow your style guide; if no guidelines are provided, choose a citation format and be consistent .

• While doing your final proofread, ensure that the reference list entries are consistent with the in-text citations (i.e., no missing or conflicting information).
• Many citation styles use a hanging indent and may be alphabetized. Use the styles in Microsoft Word to aid you in citation format.
• Use EndNote , Mendeley , Zotero , RefWorks , or another similar reference manager to create, store, and utilize bibliographic information.

Appendix/Supplementary Information

In this optional section, you can present nonessential information that further clarifies a point without burdening the body of the paper. That is, if you have too much data to fit in a (relatively) short research paper, move anything that's not essential to this section.

• Note that this section is uncommon in published papers. Before submission, check whether your journal allows for supplementary data, and don't put any essential information in this section.

Beyond IMRaD: Formatting the Details

Aside from the overall format of your paper, there are still other details to watch out for. The sections below cover how to present your terminology, equations, tables and figures, measurements, and statistics consistently based on the conventions of scientific writing.

Terminology

Stay consistent with the terms you use. Generally, short forms can be used once the full term has been introduced:

• full terms versus acronyms (e.g., deoxyribonucleic acid versus DNA);
• English names versus Greek letters (e.g., alpha versus α); and
• species names versus short forms (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus versus S. aureus ).

One way to ensure consistency is to use standard scientific terminology. You can refer to the following resources, but if you're not sure which guidelines are preferred, check with your target journal.

• For gene classification, use GeneCards , The Mouse Genome Informatics Database , and/or genenames.org .
• For chemical nomenclature, refer to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the Gold Book ) and the  IUPAC–IUB Combined Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature .
• For marine species names, use the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) or the European Register of Marine Species (ERMS) .

Italics must be used correctly for scientific terminology. Here are a couple of formatting tips:

• Species names, which are usually in Greek or Latin, are italicized (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus ).
• Genes are italicized, but proteins aren't.

Whether in mathematical, scientific, or technical papers, equations follow a conventional format. Here are some tips for formatting your calculations:

• Number each equation you present in the text, inserting the number in parentheses.

X + Y = 1                                                                                                                                               (1)

• Check whether your target journal requires you to capitalize the word "Equation" or use parentheses for the equation number when you refer to equations within the text.

In Equation 1, X represents . . .

In equation (1), X represents . . .

(Note also that you should use italics for variables.)

• Try using MathType or Equation Editor in Microsoft Word to type your equations, but use Unicode characters when typing single variables or mathematical operators (e.g., x, ≥, or ±) in running text. This makes it easier to edit your text and format your equations before publication.
• In line with the above tip, remember to save your math equations as editable text and not as images in case changes need to be made before publication.

Tables and Figures

Do you have any tables, graphs, or images in your research? If so, you should become familiar with the rules for referring to tables and figures in your scientific paper. Some examples are presented below.

• Capitalize the titles of specific tables and figures when you refer to them in the text (e.g., "see Table 3"; "in Figure 4").
• In tables, stay consistent with the use of title case (i.e., Capitalizing Each Word) and sentence case (i.e., Capitalizing the first word).
• In figure captions, stay consistent with the use of punctuation, italics, and capitalization. For example:

Figure 1. Classification of author roles.

Figure 2: taxonomy of paper keywords

Measurements

Although every journal has slightly different formatting guidelines, most agree that the gold standard for units of measurement is the International System of Units (SI) . Wherever possible, use the SI. Here are some other tips for formatting units of measurement:

• Add spaces before units of measurement. For example, 2.5 mL not 2.5mL.
• Be consistent with your units of measure (especially date and time). For example, 3 hours or 3 h.

When presenting statistical information, you must provide enough specific information to accurately describe the relationships among your data. Nothing is more frustrating to a reviewer than vague sentences about a variable being significant without any supporting details. The author guidelines for the journal Nature recommend that the following be included for statistical testing: the name of each statistical analysis, along with its n value; an explanation of why the test was used and what is being compared; and the specific alpha levels and P values for each test.

Angel Borja, writing for Elsevier publications, described the statistical rules for article formatting as follows:

• Indicate the statistical tests used with all relevant parameters.
• Use mean and standard deviation to report normally distributed data.
• Use median and interpercentile range to report skewed data.
• For numbers, use two significant digits unless more precision is necessary.
• Never use percentages for very small samples.

Remember, you must be prepared to justify your findings and conclusions, and one of the best ways to do this is through factual accuracy and the acknowledgment of opposing interpretations, data, and/or points of view.

Even though you may not look forward to the process of formatting your research paper, it's important to present your findings clearly, consistently, and professionally. With the right paper format, your chances of publication increase, and your research will be more likely to make an impact in your field. Don't underestimate the details. They are the backbone of scientific writing and research.

One last tip: Before you submit your research, consider using our academic editing service for expert help with paper formatting, editing, and proofreading. We can tailor your paper to specific journal guidelines at your request.

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Joanna's passion for English literature (proven by her M.A. thesis on Jane Austen) is matched by her passion to help others with their writing (shown by her role as an in-house editor with Scribendi). She enjoys lively discussions about plot, character, and nerdy TV shows with her husband, and she loves singing almost as much as she loves reading. Isn't music another language after all?

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Journal Paper

A journal paper is a written work that presents an original research outline , or ideas in a specific field. Journal papers are typically published in academic or professional report  journals and follow a specific format to ensure consistency and clarity. The format of a journal paper typically includes a title page , abstractionism content, introduction , methodology, manuscript results, text structure , script , discussion, conclusion , and reference list . The purpose of this format is to provide a clear structure for the reader and to ensure that the paper contains all the necessary information. In this article, we will explore the key features of a journal paper format and offer some tips for using this format effectively in academic writing.

1. Journal Paper Format Template

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2. Reviewing Journal Paper Article Format

Size: 76 KB

3. Journal Paper of Scientific & Industrial Research

Size: 105 KB

What is Journal Paper Format?

A journal paper format is a standardized way of structuring and presenting academic research in a written format. The format typically includes several key elements that are required to ensure clarity and consistency in the presentation of the research.

Journal paper format can vary depending on the specific journal’s guidelines and requirements. It is important to carefully read and adhere to these guidelines when preparing a paper for submission.

How to write in Journal Paper Format

The journal paper format provides a clear and structured way of presenting academic research that ensures consistency and clarity across different fields and publications. To write in journal paper format, follow these tips:

Step 1: Read and understand the journal requirements

Before you begin writing, carefully read the journal’s guidelines and requirements for formatting and submission. This will help ensure that your paper meets the specific requirements of the journal.

Step 2: Plan your paper

Decide on the research question, hypothesis, or argument that you want to address in your paper. Outline the structure of your paper, including the introduction, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion.

Step 3: Write the introduction

Begin with an opening sentence that provides context for the research. State the research question or hypothesis, provide an overview of the methods used to conduct the research, and outline the key findings.

Step 4: Write the methodology section

Describe the research methods used in detail, including the sample population, data collection methods, and statistical analysis. Be sure to explain why these methods were chosen and how they were used to address the research question.

Step 5: Present the results

Use tables, graphs, and charts to present the findings of the research in a clear and concise manner. Be sure to explain the significance of the results in relation to the research question.

Step 6: Interpret the results

In the discussion section, interpret the results of the research and explore their implications, limitations, and potential areas for future research. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the study and suggest potential improvements.

Step 7: Write the conclusion

Summarize the key findings of the research and their implications. Discuss the significance of the results and suggest potential areas for future research.

Step 8: Include references

Provide a list of references cited in the paper using a specific citation style as required by the journal.

Step 9: Review and revise

Before submitting your paper, review and revise it carefully for clarity, accuracy, and adherence to the journal’s guidelines and requirements.

What are some common citation styles used in journal papers?

Common citation styles used in journal papers include APA, MLA, and Chicago Style.

What is a peer review in the context of journal papers?

Peer review is the process of having the research paper reviewed and evaluated by experts in the same field prior to publication. This process helps ensure the quality and validity of the research.

Can journal paper format vary depending on the specific journal?

Yes, journal paper format can vary depending on the specific journal’s guidelines and requirements. It is important to carefully read and adhere to these guidelines when preparing a paper for submission.

Writing a research paper in journal paper format is an important skill for scholars and researchers in various fields. Following the guidelines and requirements of the specific journal, including the structure and citation style, is crucial for the successful publication of a paper. By adhering to the guidelines and presenting research in a clear and concise manner, scholars can effectively communicate their findings and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in their respective fields.

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• MJC Library & Learning Center
• Research Guides

Format Your Paper & Cite Your Sources

• Harvard Style
• Citing Sources
• Avoid Plagiarism
• MLA Style (8th/9th ed.)
• APA Style, 7th Edition
• Chicago Style

What is Harvard Style?

What you need to know, harvard style tutorial.

• Other Styles
• Annotated Bibliographies
• How to Create an Attribution

Harvard Style

The Harvard referencing system is known as the Author-Date style . It emphasizes the name of the creator of a piece of information and the date of publication, with the list of references in alphabetical order at the end of your paper.

Unlike other citation styles, there is no single, definitive version of Harvard Style. Therefore, you may see a variation in features such as punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, and the use of italics. 

Always check with your instructor and follow the rules he or she gives you.

• Harvard Style Guidelines Your class handout
• Harvard Referencing Quick Guide From Staffordshire University

Harvard Style will affect your paper in two places:

• In-text citations in the body of your paper, and
• The reference list at the end of your paper
• All in-text citations should be listed in the reference list at the end of your paper.
• Reference list entries need to contain all the information that someone reading your paper would need in order to find your source.
• Reference lists in Harvard Style are arranged alphabetically by first author.
• Begin your Reference list on a new page after your text and number it consecutively.

Sample References List:

Click on the Links Below to See Additional Examples:

• Sample Paper Paper provided by Kurt Olson
• Harvard Citation Examples Document created by The University of Western Australia

Click on the image below to launch this tutorial that was created by the University of Leeds. The section on Citing in Text is especially useful.

• << Previous: Chicago Style
• Next: Other Styles >>
• Last Updated: Jul 10, 2024 5:03 PM
• URL: https://libguides.mjc.edu/citeyoursources

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 and CC BY-NC 4.0 Licenses .

Preparing a journal-style thesis

A journal-style thesis incorporates one or more chapters in a format suitable for publication (but not necessarily published) in a peer-reviewed title, with a supporting commentary. 

Examples of suitable formats include journal papers, book chapters, or any discipline-specific alternatives.

A journal-style thesis must be a coherent body of interrelated work (not a series of disconnected papers or other works) and present research of an equivalent originality, quality and volume as a monograph thesis.

Can I submit a journal-style thesis?

If your school, department or centre permits journal-style theses this will be noted within your departmental PGR handbook. The handbook should also include any additional department-specific requirements or guidance, eg with respect to publication status, the number of papers, choice of journals, and co-authorship.   Unless specified by your school, department or centre there is no requirement for papers in a journal-style thesis to be published (or in progress towards publication). 

You should make the decision about whether to submit a journal-style thesis in consultation with your supervisor(s) and Thesis Advisory Panel (TAP). You can change your mind about the nature of your thesis up to the point of submission.   

[email protected] +44 (0)1904 325962 Student Hub, Information Centre Basement, Market Square

Related links

• How to format a journal-style thesis
• How a journal-style thesis is examined
• Guidance on journal-style theses for schools, departments or centres

For you, as a PGR, the potential benefits of submitting a journal-style thesis may include:

• getting your research into the public domain as early as possible, which can be important when working in a fast-moving and competitive research area
• having published papers, increasing motivation and enhancing competitiveness within the academic job market 
• writing your thesis throughout your PGR programme, reducing the need for a long continuation (‘writing up’) period at the end and speeding up submission
• providing greater opportunities to practise academic writing and learn other skills associated with writing and submitting papers
• receipt of referee critique on aspects of your work which may help to improve your research and/or academic writing 
• demonstrating the quality of your work where papers have been through a robust peer-review process (although this cannot predict the outcome of your final examination).

A journal-style thesis will not be appropriate for all disciplines (such as those where a monograph thesis is still the benchmark), nor for all types of research projects (for example where the bulk of publishable results/material is likely to come towards the end of a PGR programme). Currently, journal-style theses are not uncommon in certain sub-disciplines in the sciences and social sciences, but are rare in the majority of the arts and humanities.

You and your supervisor(s) should also be aware of the possible dangers of focusing on published or accepted papers as this could potentially slow down the research and/or writing process if you have to undergo several rounds of revisions and/or focus on a single paper (and associated research) to the exclusion of your wider research project. 

Items to consider

If you are considering a journal-style thesis you should:

• Check that this option is permitted within your department.
• Read the University requirements for journal-style theses (this webpage).
• Note any department-specific requirements (you must adhere to these) or guidance (recommended practice you are encouraged to follow).
• You should also check if your funder/sponsor has an open access policy, which may influence which journals you are able to submit to.
• Discuss your plans at the earliest opportunity (ideally before the first review of progress if a PhD or MPhil PGR) with your supervisor(s) and Thesis Advisory Panel (TAP).
• Look at examples of journal-style and monograph theses produced within your department (if available).
• Read the University's guidance on how to correctly format a journal-style thesis .
• Explore any training needs (normally as part of your   Training Needs Analysis ).
• Consider drafting an outline publication strategy to inform your thinking.
• Ensure that any discussion about the nature of your thesis is recorded on SkillsForge.
• Note that you are submitting a journal-style thesis on your intention to submit form.

Additional guidance for journal-style theses

Guidance for departments

Journal Article References

This page contains reference examples for journal articles, including the following:

• Journal article
• Journal article with an article number
• Journal article with missing information
• Retracted journal article
• Retraction notice for a journal article
• Abstract of a journal article from an abstract indexing database
• Monograph as part of a journal issue
• Online-only supplemental material to a journal article

1. Journal article

Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture , 8 (3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

• Parenthetical citation : (Grady et al., 2019)
• Narrative citation : Grady et al. (2019)
• If a journal article has a DOI, include the DOI in the reference.
• Always include the issue number for a journal article.
• If the journal article does not have a DOI and is from an academic research database, end the reference after the page range (for an explanation of why, see the database information page ). The reference in this case is the same as for a print journal article.
• Do not include database information in the reference unless the journal article comes from a database that publishes works of limited circulation or original, proprietary content, such as UpToDate .
• If the journal article does not have a DOI but does have a URL that will resolve for readers (e.g., it is from an online journal that is not part of a database), include the URL of the article at the end of the reference.

2. Journal article with an article number

Jerrentrup, A., Mueller, T., Glowalla, U., Herder, M., Henrichs, N., Neubauer, A., & Schaefer, J. R. (2018). Teaching medicine with the help of “Dr. House.” PLoS ONE , 13 (3), Article e0193972. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193972

• Parenthetical citation : (Jerrentrup et al., 2018)
• Narrative citation : Jerrentrup et al. (2018)
• If the journal article has an article number instead of a page range, include the word “Article” and then the article number instead of the page range.

3. Journal article with missing information

Missing volume number.

Lipscomb, A. Y. (2021, Winter). Addressing trauma in the college essay writing process. The Journal of College Admission , (249), 30–33. https://www.catholiccollegesonline.org/pdf/national_ccaa_in_the_news_-_nacac_journal_of_college_admission_winter_2021.pdf

Missing issue number

Sanchiz, M., Chevalier, A., & Amadieu, F. (2017). How do older and young adults start searching for information? Impact of age, domain knowledge and problem complexity on the different steps of information searching. Computers in Human Behavior , 72 , 67–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.02.038

Missing page or article number

Butler, J. (2017). Where access meets multimodality: The case of ASL music videos. Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy , 21 (1). http://technorhetoric.net/21.1/topoi/butler/index.html

• Parenthetical citations : (Butler, 2017; Lipscomb, 2021; Sanchiz et al., 2017)
• Narrative citations : Butler (2017), Lipscomb (2021), and Sanchiz et al. (2017)
• If the journal does not use volume, issue, and/or article or page numbers, omit the missing element(s) from the reference.
• If the journal is published quarterly and the month or season (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer) is noted, include that with the date element; see the Lipscomb example.
• If the volume, issue, and/or article or page numbers have simply not yet been assigned, use the format for an advance online publication (see Example 7 in the Publication Manual ) or an in-press article (see Example 8 in the Publication Manual ).

4. Retracted journal article

Joly, J. F., Stapel, D. A., & Lindenberg, S. M. (2008). Silence and table manners: When environments activate norms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 34 (8), 1047–1056. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208318401 (Retraction published 2012, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38 [10], 1378)

• Parenthetical citation : (Joly et al., 2008)
• Narrative citation : Joly et al. (2008)
• Use this format to cite the retracted article itself, for example, to discuss the contents of the retracted article.
• First provide publication details of the original article. Then provide information about the retraction in parentheses, including its year, journal, volume, issue, and page number(s).

5. Retraction notice for a journal article

de la Fuente, R., Bernad, A., Garcia-Castro, J., Martin, M. C., & Cigudosa, J. C. (2010). Retraction: Spontaneous human adult stem cell transformation. Cancer Research , 70 (16), 6682. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-10-2451

The Editors of the Lancet. (2010). Retraction—Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. The Lancet , 375 (9713), 445. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60175-4

• Parenthetical citations : (de la Fuente et al., 2010; The Editors of the Lancet, 2010)
• Narrative citations : de la Fuente et al. (2010) and The Editors of the Lancet (2010)
• Use this format to cite a retraction notice rather than a retracted article, for example, to provide information on why an article was retracted.
• The author of the retraction notice may be an editor, editorial board, or some or all authors of the article. Examine the retraction notice to determine who to credit as the author.
• Reproduce the title of the retraction notice as shown on the work. Note that the title may include the words “retraction,” “retraction notice,” or “retraction note” as well as the title of the original article.

6. Abstract of a journal article from an abstract indexing database

Hare, L. R., & O'Neill, K. (2000). Effectiveness and efficiency in small academic peer groups: A case study (Accession No. 200010185) [Abstract from Sociological Abstracts]. Small Group Research , 31 (1), 24–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/104649640003100102

• Parenthetical citation : (Hare & O’Neill, 2000)
• Narrative citation : Hare and O’Neill (2000)
• Although it is preferable to cite the whole article, the abstract can be cited if that is your only available source.
• The foundation of the reference is the same as for a journal article.
• If the abstract has a database accession number, place it in parentheses after the title.
• Note that you retrieved only the abstract by putting the words “Abstract from” and then the name of the abstract indexing database in square brackets. Place this bracketed description after the title and any accession number.
• Accession numbers are sometimes referred to as unique identifiers or as publication numbers (e.g., as PubMed IDs); use the term provided by the database in your reference.

7. Monograph as part of a journal issue

Ganster, D. C., Schaubroeck, J., Sime, W. E., & Mayes, B. T. (1991). The nomological validity of the Type A personality among employed adults [Monograph]. Journal of Applied Psychology , 76 (1), 143–168. http://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.76.1.143

• Parenthetical citation : (Ganster et al., 1991)
• Narrative citation : Ganster et al. (1991)
• For a monograph with an issue (or whole) number, include the issue number in parentheses followed by the serial number, for example, 58 (1, Serial No. 231).
• For a monograph bound separately as a supplement to a journal, give the issue number and supplement or part number in parentheses after the volume number, for example, 80 (3, Pt. 2).

8. Online-only supplemental material to a journal article

Freeberg, T. M. (2019). From simple rules of individual proximity, complex and coordinated collective movement [Supplemental material]. Journal of Comparative Psychology , 133 (2), 141–142. https://doi.org/10.1037/com0000181

• Parenthetical citation : (Freeberg, 2019)
• Narrative citation : Freeberg (2019)
• Include the description “[Supplemental material]” in square brackets after the article title.
• If you cite both the main article and the supplemental material, provide only a reference for the article.

Journal article references are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Section 10.1 and the Concise Guide Section 10.1

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Associated Press Style

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Introduction

Associated Press style provides guidelines for news writing. Many newspapers, magazines and public relations offices across the United States use AP style. Although some publications such as the New York Times have developed their own style guidelines, a basic knowledge of AP style is considered essential to those who want to work in print journalism.

This Web page is intended to provide an introduction to AP style and a summary of some AP style rules; however, the Associated Press Stylebook includes more than 5,000 entries – far more than can be covered here. For a complete guide to AP style, writers should consult the most recent edition of the Associated Press Stylebook or visit the AP Stylebook website .

The content of newspapers and other mass media is typically the result of many different writers and editors working together. AP style provides consistent guidelines for such publications in terms of grammar, spelling, punctuation and language usage. Some guiding principles behind AP style are:

• Consistency

AP style also aims to avoid stereotypes and unintentionally offensive language.

Common Style Guidelines

The Associated Press Stylebook provides an A-Z guide to issues such as capitalization, abbreviation, punctuation, spelling, numerals and many other questions of language usage. What follows are summaries of some of the most common style rules.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Some widely known abbreviations are required in certain situations, while others are acceptable but not required in some contexts. For example, Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Rep., the Rev. and Sen. are required before a person’s full name when they occur outside a direct quotation. Please note, that medical and political titles only need to be used on first reference when they appear outside of a direct quote. For courtesy titles, use these on second reference or when specifically requested. Other acronyms and abbreviations are acceptable but not required (i.e. FBI, CIA, GOP). The context should govern such decisions.

As a general rule, though, you should avoid what the Associated Press Stylebook calls “alphabet soup.” Consult the Associated Press Stylebook for specific cases.

For numbered addresses, always use figures. Abbreviate Ave., Blvd., and St. and directional cues when used with a numbered address. Always spell out other words such as alley, drive and road . If the street name or directional cue is used without a numbered address, it should be capitalized and spelled out. If a street name is a number, spell out First through Ninth and use figures for 10th and higher. Here are some examples of correctly formatted addresses: 101 N. Grant St., Northwestern Avenue, South Ninth Street, 102 S. 10th St., 605 Woodside Drive.

For ages, always use figures. If the age is used as an adjective or as a substitute for a noun, then it should be hyphenated. Don’t use apostrophes when describing an age range. Examples: A 21-year-old student. The student is 21 years old. The girl, 8, has a brother, 11. The contest is for 18-year-olds. He is in his 20s.

Books, Periodicals, Reference Works, and Other Types of Compositions

Use quotation marks around the titles of books, songs, television shows, computer games, poems, lectures, speeches and works of art. Examples: Author Porter Shreve read from his new book, “When the White House Was Ours.” They sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the game.

Do not use quotations around the names of magazine, newspapers, the Bible or books that are catalogues of reference materials. Examples: The Washington Post first reported the story. He reads the Bible every morning.

Do not underline or italicize any of the above.

Dates, Months, Years, Days of the Week

For dates and years, use figures. Do not use st, nd, rd, or th with dates, and use Arabic figures. Always capitalize months. Spell out the month unless it is used with a date. When used with a date, abbreviate only the following months: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.

Commas are not necessary if only a year and month are given, but commas should be used to set off a year if the date, month and year are given. Use the letter s but not an apostrophe after the figures when expressing decades or centuries. Do, however, use an apostrophe before figures expressing a decade if numerals are left out. Examples: Classes begin Aug. 25. Purdue University was founded May 6, 1869. The semester begins in January. The 1800s. The ’90s.

If you refer to an event that occurred the day prior to when the article will appear, do not use the word yesterday. Instead, use the day of the week. Capitalize days of the week, but do not abbreviate. If an event occurs more than seven days before or after the current date, use the month and a figure.

Newspapers use datelines when the information for a story is obtained outside the paper’s hometown or general area of service. Datelines appear at the beginning of stories and include the name of the city in all capital letters, usually followed the state or territory in which the city is located. The Associated Press Stylebook lists 30 U.S. cities that do not need to be followed by the name of a state. See states and cities below. Examples:

• DENVER – The Democratic National Convention began...
• ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Republican National Convention began...
• YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – President Bush spoke to a group...

When writing about height, weight or other dimensions, use figures and spell out words such as feet, miles, etc. Examples: She is 5-foot-3. He wrote with a 2-inch pencil.

Use figures for any distances over 10. For any distances below 10, spell out the distance. Examples: My flight covered 1,113 miles. The airport runway is three miles long.

Always use a person’s first and last name the first time they are mentioned in a story. Only use last names on second reference. Do not use courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. unless they are part of a direct quotation or are needed to differentiate between people who have the same last name.

Never begin a sentence with a figure, except for sentences that begin with a year. Examples: Two hundred freshmen attended. Five actors took the stage. 1776 was an important year.

Use roman numerals to describe wars and to show sequences for people. Examples: World War II, Pope John Paul II, Elizabeth II.

For ordinal numbers, spell out first through ninth and use figures for 10th and above when describing order in time or location. Examples: second base, 10th in a row. Some ordinal numbers, such as those indicating political or geographic order, should use figures in all cases. Examples: 3rd District Court, 9th ward.

For cardinal numbers, consult individual entries in the Associated Press Stylebook. If no usage is specified, spell out numbers below 10 and use figures for numbers 10 and above. Example: The man had five children and 11 grandchildren.

When referring to money, use numerals. For cents or amounts of $1 million or more, spell the words cents, million, billion, trillion etc. Examples: $26.52, $100,200, $8 million, 6 cents.

Punctuation

Use a single space after a period.

Do not use commas before a conjunction in a simple series. Example: In art class, they learned that red, yellow and blue are primary colors. His brothers are Tom, Joe, Frank and Pete. However, a comma should be used before the terminal conjunction in a complex series, if part of that series also contains a conjunction. Example: Purdue University's English Department offers doctoral majors in Literature, Second Language Studies, English Language and Linguistics, and Rhetoric and Composition.

Commas and periods go within quotation marks. Example: “I did nothing wrong,” he said. She said, “Let’s go to the Purdue game.”

States and Cities

When the name of a state name appears in the body of a text, spell it out. State abbreviations should also be avoided in headlines where possible. States should be abbreviated when used as part of a short-form political affiliation. Examples: He was travelling to Nashville, Tenn. The peace accord was signed in Dayton, Ohio. The storm began in Indiana and moved west toward Peoria, Ill. Updated guidance to AP style notes that state names can also be abbreviated for the following purposes:

• Naming states in dateline text
• Naming states in photo captions
• Naming states in lists or tables
• Naming states in in editor's notes and credit lines

Here is how each state is abbreviated in AP style (with the postal code abbreviations in parentheses):

You will notice that eight states are missing from this list. That is because Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah are never abbreviated.

AP style does not require the name of a state to accompany the names of the following 30 cities:

The exact time when an event has occurred or will occur is unnecessary for most stories. Of course, there are occasions when the time of day is important. In such cases, use figures, but spell out noon and midnight . Use a colon to separate hours from minutes, but do not use :00 . Examples: 1 p.m., 3:30 a.m.

Generally, capitalize formal titles when they appear before a person’s name, but lowercase titles if they are informal, appear without a person’s name, follow a person’s name or are set off before a name by commas. Also, lowercase adjectives that designate the status of a title. If a title is long, place it after the person’s name, or set it off with commas before the person’s name. Examples: President Bush; President-elect Obama; Sen. Harry Reid; Evan Bayh, a senator from Indiana; the senior senator from Indiana, Dick Lugar; former President George H.W. Bush; Paul Schneider, deputy secretary of homeland security.

Technological Terms

Here are the correct spelling and capitalization rules for some common technological terms:

• BlackBerry, BlackBerrys
• eBay Inc. (use EBay Inc. when the word begins a sentence)
• e-book reader
• Google, Googling, Googled
• IM ( IMed, IMing ; for first reference, use instant messenger )
• iPad, iPhone, iPod (use IPad, IPhone, or IPod when the word begins a sentence)
• social media
• Twitter, tweet, tweeted, retweet
• World Wide Web, website (see the AP's tweet about the change) , Web page

• Career Advice

Writing Effective Journal Essay Introductions

By  James Phelan and Faye Halpern

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Istockphoto.com/Ranjltsinh Rathod

Authors and editors in the humanities know that journals are more likely to accept scholarly essays with strong introductions and that such essays are more likely to influence academic conversations. Yet from our experiences as journal editors and authors, we also know that writers often struggle with introductions.

That’s understandably so: not only is a lot riding on an essay’s introduction, but it also needs to accomplish multiple rhetorical tasks efficiently. And while everyone knows the general purpose of the introduction -- to state the essay's thesis -- many people have trouble determining how best to get to that statement. In this article, our thesis is threefold. First, there are many effective strategies for building up to that statement. Second, underlying these strategies is a smaller set of common purposes. And finally, working with an awareness of both the first and second principles is a sound way to write strong introductions.

Strategies and Purposes

Here is an illustrative list of strategies, neither comprehensive nor mutually exclusive.

The Problem-Solution Strategy. You start by identifying a problem and unpacking its key dimensions and then propose your solution in the thesis statement or statements. (You no doubt recognize that we have just used this strategy.) For another example, see Catherine Gallagher, “ The Rise of Fictionality .”

The Question-Answer Strategy. You interweave descriptions of noteworthy phenomena and questions that they raise; you then propose answers in your thesis statement or statements. Some examples include Peter J. Rabinowitz’s “ Truth in Fiction: A Re-Examination of Audiences ” and Sarah Iles Johnston’s " The Greek Mythic Storyworld ."

The Revision of Received Wisdom Strategy. You begin by respectfully setting out a plausible and generally accepted view about the essay's central issue; you then point out flaws in this view and formulate an alternative view in your thesis statement or statements. Examples are Gerald Graff’s “ Why How We Read Trumps What We Read ” and John Hardwig’s “ The Role of Trust in Knowledge .”

The Bold Pronouncement Strategy. You announce an especially arresting thesis in your opening sentence or sentences. You then proceed to provide the relevant context for that thesis. For examples, see Brian McHale, “ Beginning to Think About Narrative in Poetry ” and Susan Wolf, “ Moral Saints .”

The Storytelling Strategy. You use an anecdote that illustrates salient aspects of the essay's central issue and then link the anecdote to your thesis about that issue. This strategy is often combined with one of the others, especially No. 1 and No. 2. Examples are Miriam Schoenfield’s “ Permission to Believe: Why Permissivism Is True and What It Tells Us About Irrelevant Influences on Belief ” and Jane Tompkins’s “ Sentimental Power: Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the Politics of Literary History .”

These strategies are ultimately means to accomplish three interrelated rhetorical purposes of strong introductions. All three are concerned with your readers, but the second also pays attention to your dialogic partners: the other scholars whose work you engage. Those three purposes are to:

• Immediately garner your audience’s interest. You and your readers know that problems beg for solutions, questions for answers. Revising received wisdom promises your audience something fresh and even perhaps contrarian. Making bold pronouncements invites your audience to see whether you can back them up. Telling stories asks your audience to engage in their instabilities and complications and to look for their resolution in your thesis and its supporting arguments.
• Situate yourself in the relevant scholarly conversations. Introductions aren’t the place for extensive reviews of previous scholarship, but they are the place for combining attention to issues raised by earlier commentators with giving your writing an argumentative edge. Questions, problems, revisions, pronouncements and storytelling in the service of argument -- all these rhetorical acts arise from the intersection between your distinctive take on your object of study and the takes of previous commentators. Consequently, regardless of your particular strategies, your introduction should orient your audience to the general intervention your essay wants to make in the scholarly conversation. Are you intervening by saying “yes and,” “yes but,” “no” or some combination of those responses?
• Help provide what Gordon Harvey calls a “motive,” which underlies and drives your argument. To put it another way, the strategies push you toward answering the “So what?” question. A strong introduction will signal to your readers that you’re aware of what’s at stake in your argument and why it matters. Although you can work with problems, questions, revisions, pronouncements and storytelling without addressing the “So what?” question, you are more likely to address it, at least implicitly, by pursuing the first two purposes. By pursuing all three, you are more likely not only to have your essay accepted but also to have it make a difference in your field.

Applying the Strategies

In practical terms, the main challenge of writing effective introductions is finding the sweet spot in which you properly balance your presentation of others’ work with your own ideas. We have two main suggestions for hitting that spot. The first involves a general approach to the challenge, and the second builds on it with more specific advice.

First, think of your introduction as needing both “a hook and an I,” a precept that becomes clearer when you think of introductions that have only one of those components. The “all hook and no I” introduction has paragraph upon paragraph (or even page upon page) describing how other scholars have viewed the issue the article addresses with little indication of how the author’s thesis fits into this conversation. Conversely, “the no hook and all I” introduction immediately launches into the author’s argument without establishing the current scholarly conversation that makes it meaningful.

This advice about avoiding the no hook and all I introduction may initially seem to run counter to the bold-pronouncement strategy we outlined above, but a closer look reveals that it is a distinctive variation, a “first I and then hook” progression. The strategy involves moving from your arresting assertion to the context that sharpens its stakes. At the same time, this possible objection helps clarify the situations in which it makes sense to employ the bold-pronouncement strategy: those in which readers of the journal will immediately recognize the striking quality of the thesis, the ways it seeks to take the scholarly conversation in a substantially new direction.

Why might authors go for just the hook or just the I? You might opt for the all-hook intro because you want to demonstrate up front your mastery of a body of relevant scholarship. A noble rationale, but one that often has the unfortunate effect of suggesting to readers that you are so immersed in that scholarship that you haven’t figured out your own point of view.

You might opt for the all-I intro because you want to give your readers credit for knowing a lot about the relevant scholarly conversation rather than rehearsing points you believe they are already familiar with. Another honorable justification, but one that often has the unfortunate effect of suggesting that you are actually not familiar with what other scholars have said.

We also want to note that using the hook and an I approach is ultimately less a matter of sheer quantity -- X number of sentences or paragraphs to others, and Y number to your ideas -- than of argumentative quality. Good introductions do not just repeat what other scholars have said; they analyze it and find an opening in it for their contribution.

Effective uses of the hook and an I can create that opening in numerous ways: they can point to significant aspects of your object or objects of study that previous work has overlooked; they can indicate how previous work explains some phenomena well but others less well; they can point to unrecognized but valuable implications or extensions of previous work; or they can begin to make the case that previous work needs to be corrected. The list could go on, but the key point is that you want to make your audience see the same opening you do and pique their interest in how you propose to fill it.

Consequences

This approach to introductions has ripple effects on the larger activity of writing an effective essay.

Introductions and abstracts. We often find that authors use their first paragraphs for their abstracts. We do not recommend this tactic, because, as we have discussed in a related article , introductions and abstracts have different purposes. As we say, abstracts are spoilers not teasers, because they give your audience a condensed version of your whole article: what your claim is, why it matters and how you will conduct your argument for it. Introductions, by contrast, are teasers that soon stop teasing. The tease comes with the hook, the construction of the opening for your argument, and ends with the full expression of the I, the articulation of your thesis statement or statements.

Order of composition. We have all heard the advice that one should write the introduction last. But as with most rhetorical matters, one size does not fit all. “Intro last” can be good advice when you’re writing an argument with many moving parts, and you need to write in some detail about all the parts before you are ready to craft your hook and I. “Intro first” can be good advice when you recognize that you need to do for yourself the kinds of things that we’re recommending your introduction needs to do for your reader. Beginning to write by constructing the opening you want to fill and how you want to fill it can be a productive way to guide your whole argument.

Two-way traffic between the introduction and the rest of the argument can also be an effective strategy. In such cases, the draft of the introduction guides the conduct of the argument, and then the details and directions of the argument lead you to revise that draft. And so on for as many rounds as you need to make everything as clear and compelling as possible.

Choosing a strategy. As for the issue of how to choose among viable strategies, again we say that there’s no one right answer. In other words, for most scholarly arguments more than one strategy can be adopted in the service of a strong introduction. Thus, you can try out different strategies in order to decide which one will be most likely to help you to convince your audience of the significance of your answer to the “So what?” question.

Introductions are often difficult to write. Some of the difficulty comes with the territory: writing an effective introduction requires you to have a thorough grasp of your own argument and why it matters for your audience. But we hope we can lessen that difficulty: our ideas about the underlying purposes of introductions and about the various ways to achieve those purposes aim to show you that good introductions are neither random nor mysterious. There are principles and patterns to follow, even if there’s no magic formula. We hope that your work with those principles and patterns can help you construct introductions that both you and your readers will regard as strong and appealing.

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APA Style (7th Edition) Citation Guide: Journal Articles

• Introduction
• Journal Articles
• Magazine/Newspaper Articles
• Books & Ebooks
• Government & Legal Documents
• Biblical Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Films/Videos/TV Shows
• How to Cite: Other
• Additional Help

Table of Contents

Journal article from library database with doi - one author, journal article from library database with doi - multiple authors, journal article from a website - one author.

Journal Article- No DOI

Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

This Microsoft support page contains instructions about how to format a hanging indent in a paper.

• APA 7th. ed. Journal Article Reference Checklist

If an item has no author, start the citation with the article title.

When an article has one to twenty authors, all authors' names are cited in the References List entry. When an article has twenty-one or more authors list the first nineteen authors followed by three spaced ellipse points (. . .) , and then the last author's name. Rules are different for in-text citations; please see the examples provided.

Cite author names in the order in which they appear on the source, not in alphabetical order (the first author is usually the person who contributed the most work to the publication).

Italicize titles of journals, magazines and newspapers. Do not italicize or use quotation marks for the titles of articles.

Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the article title. If there is a colon in the article title, also capitalize the first letter of the first word after the colon.

If an item has no date, use the short form n.d. where you would normally put the date.

Volume and Issue Numbers

Italicize volume numbers but not issue numbers.

Retrieval Dates

Most articles will not need these in the citation. Only use them for online articles from places where content may change often, like a free website or a wiki.

Page Numbers

If an article doesn't appear on continuous pages, list all the page numbers the article is on, separated by commas. For example (4, 6, 12-14)

Library Database

Do not include the name of a database for works obtained from most academic research databases (e.g. APA PsycInfo, CINAHL) because works in these resources are widely available. Exceptions are Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, ERIC, ProQuest Dissertations, and UpToDate.

Include the DOI (formatted as a URL: https://doi.org/...) if it is available. If you do not have a DOI, include a URL if the full text of the article is available online (not as part of a library database). If the full text is from a library database, do not include a DOI, URL, or database name.

In the Body of a Paper

Books, Journals, Reports, Webpages, etc.: When you refer to titles of a “stand-alone work,” as the APA calls them on their APA Style website, such as books, journals, reports, and webpages, you should italicize them. Capitalize words as you would for an article title in a reference, e.g., In the book Crying in H Mart: A memoir , author Michelle Zauner (2021) describes her biracial origin and its impact on her identity.

Article or Chapter: When you refer to the title of a part of a work, such as an article or a chapter, put quotation marks around the title and capitalize it as you would for a journal title in a reference, e.g., In the chapter “Where’s the Wine,” Zauner (2021) describes how she decided to become a musician.

The APA Sample Paper below has more information about formatting your paper.

• APA 7th ed. Sample Paper

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi.org/doi number

Smith, K. F. (2022). The public and private dialogue about the American family on television: A second look. Journal of Media Communication, 50 (4), 79-110. https://doi.org/10.1152/j.1460-2466.2000.tb02864.x

Note: The DOI number is formatted as a URL: https://doi.org/10.1152/j.1460-2466.2000.tb02864.xIf

In-Text Paraphrase:

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Smith, 2000)

In-Text Quote:

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

Example: (Smith, 2000, p. 80)

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi.org/doi number

Note: Separate the authors' names by putting a comma between them. For the final author listed add an ampersand (&) after the comma and before the final author's last name.

Note: In the reference list invert all authors' names; give last names and initials for only up to and including 20 authors. When a source has 21 or more authors, include the first 19 authors’ names, then three ellipses (…), and add the last author’s name. Don't include an ampersand (&) between the ellipsis and final author.

Note : For works with three or more authors, the first in-text citation is shortened to include the first author's surname followed by "et al."

Reference List Examples

Two to 20 Authors

Case, T. A., Daristotle, Y. A., Hayek, S. L., Smith, R. R., & Raash, L. I. (2011). College students' social networking experiences on Facebook. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 3 (2), 227-238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2008.12.010

21 or more authors

Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetma, A., . . . Joseph, D. (1996). The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society , 77 (3), 437-471. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1996)077<0437:TNYRP>2.0.CO;2

In-Text Citations

Two Authors/Editors

(Case & Daristotle, 2011)

Direct Quote: (Case & Daristotle, 2011, p. 57)

Three or more Authors/Editors

(Case et al., 2011)

Direct Quote: (Case et al., 2011, p. 57)

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any.  Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number if given). URL

Flachs, A. (2010). Food for thought: The social impact of community gardens in the Greater Cleveland Area.  Electronic Green Journal, 1 (30). http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6bh7j4z4

Example: (Flachs, 2010)

Example: (Flachs, 2010, Conclusion section, para. 3)

Note: In this example there were no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers; in this case you can cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from. If there are no page or paragraph numbers and no marked section, leave this information out.

Journal Article - No DOI

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any.  Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. URL [if article is available online, not as part of a library database]

Full-Text Available Online (Not as Part of a Library Database):

Steinberg, M. P., & Lacoe, J. (2017). What do we know about school discipline reform? Assessing the alternatives to suspensions and expulsions.  Education Next, 17 (1), 44–52.  https://www.educationnext.org/what-do-we-know-about-school-discipline-reform-suspensions-expulsions/

Example: (Steinberg & Lacoe, 2017)

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page number)

Example: (Steinberg & Lacoe, 2017, p. 47)

Full-Text Available in Library Database:

Jungers, W. L. (2010). Biomechanics: Barefoot running strikes back.  Nature, 463 (2), 433-434.

Example: (Jungers, 2010)

Example: (Jungers, 2010, p. 433)

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• How to Cite a Journal Article | APA, MLA, & Chicago Examples

How to Cite a Journal Article | APA, MLA, & Chicago Examples

Published on March 9, 2021 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on January 17, 2024.

To cite an article from an academic journal, you need an in-text citation and a corresponding reference listing the name(s) of the author(s), the publication date, the article title and journal name, the volume and issue numbers, the page range, and the URL or DOI .

Different citation styles present this information differently. The main citation styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago style .

You can use the interactive example generator to explore the format for APA and MLA journal article citations.

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Table of contents

Citing an article in apa style, citing an article in mla style, citing an article in chicago style, frequently asked questions about citations.

In an APA Style journal article reference , the article title is in plain text and sentence case, while the journal name appears in italics, in title case.

The in-text citation lists up to two authors; for three or more, use “ et al. ”

When citing a journal article in print or from a database, don’t include a URL. You can still include the DOI if available.

You can also cite a journal article using our free APA Citation Generator . Search by title or DOI to automatically generate a correct citation.

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In an MLA Works Cited entry for a journal article , the article title appears in quotation marks, the name of the journal in italics—both in title case.

List up to two authors in both the in-text citation and the Works Cited entry. For three or more, use “et al.”

A DOI is always included when available; a URL appears if no DOI is available but the article was accessed online . If you accessed the article in print and no DOI is available, you can omit this part.

You can also use our free MLA Citation Generator to create your journal article citations.

Generate accurate MLA citations with Scribbr

In Chicago notes and bibliography style, you include a bibliography entry for each source, and cite them in the text using footnotes .

A bibliography entry for a journal article lists the title of the article in quotation marks and the journal name in italics—both in title case. List up to 10 authors in full; use “et al.” for 11 or more.

In the footnote, use “et al.” for four or more authors.

A DOI or URL (preferably a DOI) is included for articles consulted online; for articles consulted in print, omit this part.

Chicago also offers an alternative author-date style of citation. Examples of how to cite journal articles in this style can be found here .

The elements included in journal article citations across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the name(s) of the author(s), the title of the article, the year of publication, the name of the journal, the volume and issue numbers, the page range of the article, and, when accessed online, the DOI or URL.

In MLA and Chicago style, you also include the specific month or season of publication alongside the year, when this information is available.

The DOI is usually clearly visible when you open a journal article on an academic database. It is often listed near the publication date, and includes “doi.org” or “DOI:”. If the database has a “cite this article” button, this should also produce a citation with the DOI included.

If you can’t find the DOI, you can search on Crossref using information like the author, the article title, and the journal name.

The abbreviation “ et al. ” (Latin for “and others”) is used to shorten citations of sources with multiple authors.

“Et al.” is used in APA in-text citations of sources with 3+ authors, e.g. (Smith et al., 2019). It is not used in APA reference entries .

Use “et al.” for 3+ authors in MLA in-text citations and Works Cited entries.

Use “et al.” for 4+ authors in a Chicago in-text citation , and for 10+ authors in a Chicago bibliography entry.

Check if your university or course guidelines specify which citation style to use. If the choice is left up to you, consider which style is most commonly used in your field.

• APA Style is the most popular citation style, widely used in the social and behavioral sciences.
• MLA style is the second most popular, used mainly in the humanities.
• Chicago notes and bibliography style is also popular in the humanities, especially history.
• Chicago author-date style tends to be used in the sciences.

Other more specialized styles exist for certain fields, such as Bluebook and OSCOLA for law.

The most important thing is to choose one style and use it consistently throughout your text.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2024, January 17). How to Cite a Journal Article | APA, MLA, & Chicago Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 21, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/cite-a-journal-article/

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