Check out our Citing Sources Guide for helpful resources on how to cite your sources in APA, MLA, and Chicago formats. Purdue OWL and Excelsior College OWL also have helpful guides for each style with examples. Always check with your instructor on what style they want you to use and if there are any specific modifications they would like.

If you're still unsure of how to cite something, contact a librarian.

APA Format for a Journal Article

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy

Example

Gottvall, M., Brunell, C., Eldebo, A., Metso, F. J., Jirwe, M., & Carlsson, T. (2023). Post‐migration psychosocial experiences and challenges amongst LGBTQ+ forced migrants: A meta‐synthesis of qualitative reports. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 79(1), 358–371. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.15480

Notes

• Author's names are ordered: Last, First Initial
• Only include the year for the date
• The title of the article is in sentence case: Only the first letter and any proper nouns are capitalized
• The journal title is italicized and in Title Case
• The volume number is also italicized
• The issue number is in (parentheses)
• The DOI can be formatted as a link (https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.15480) or as a number (DOI: 10.1111/jan.15480). If there is no DOI, use a permalink from the Library Search item record or the database you found it in.
• Create a half-inch hanging indent

MLA Format for a Journal Article

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

Example

Gottvall, Maria, et al. "Post‐migration Psychosocial Experiences and Challenges Amongst LGBTQ+ Forced Migrants: A Meta‐synthesis of Qualitative Reports." Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol. 79, no.1, 2023, pp. 358–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.15480

Notes

• The first author's name is structured as last name, first name. Following authors are listed as first name last name.
  • If there are 3 or more authors, only list the first author followed by et al. (Latin for "and others").
• The title of the article is in Title Case
  • Refer to this page for information on titles within titles
• The title of the journal is in italics and Title Case
• The volume number is noted with vol.
• The issue number is noted with no.
• Only the year is included for academic journal articles
• Page numbers are noted with pp.
  • Omit the first sets of repeated digits. Pages 225 to 251 would be notated as pp. 225-51
  • A single page is notated as a single p.
• The DOI can be formatted as a link (https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.15480) or as a number (DOI: 10.1111/jan.15480). If there is no DOI, use a permalink from the Library Search item record or the database you found it in.
• Create a half-inch hanging indent

Chicago Format for a Journal Article

1. First name Last name, “Title of Article,” Journal Title volume number, no. # (Year): page number, DOI or permalink.

Last name, First name. “Title of Article.” Journal Title volume number, no. # (Year): page numbers. DOI or permalink.

Example

1. Johannes Schulz, “'Vergangenheitsbewältigung' Revisited: Distinguishing Two Paradigms of Working Through the Past," Philosophy & Social Criticism 50, no. 2 (2024): 391-415. https://doi.org/10.1177/01914537221117562

Schulz, Johannes. “'Vergangenheitsbewältigung' Revisited: Distinguishing Two Paradigms of Working Through the Past." Philosophy & Social Criticism 50, no. 2 (2024): 391-415. https://doi.org/10.1177/01914537221117562

Notes

• All author's names are First M. Last. Only the first author is Last, First M. for the bibliography
  • If there are 3-6 authors, only list the first one followed by et al. in the footnote but list all in the bibliography
  • If there are 7 or more authors, only list the first one followed by et al. in the footnote and list only the first three followed by et al. in the bibliography.
• The title of the article is in Title Case
• The title of the Journal is in italics and in Title Case
• The volume number is only the number
• The issue number is noted with no.
• Year of publication is in parenthesis
• In the footnote, only include the page number of what is being cited but the full page numbers for the bibliography.
• URL format for the DOI is preferred