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APA Citation and Formatting: Journal Articles

Attention Students!

This guide is a starting point. For full details on correctly citing resources and creating references, please consult
the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th Ed.) (2020), or Cites & Sources (6th Ed.) (2021).

Please Note! Library staff do not teach APA, and cannot evaluate or correct work. If you need help with APA Style, please contact your instructor.

How Do I Cite Journal Articles?

  A screenshot of a journal article by one author. The article is titled, "Mind the Gap! The Challenges and Limits of (Global) Business Ethics", by George G. Brenkert. Blue arrows point to the title of the article, the name of the journal, the date, the pages, the volume and issue, and the DOI.

Reference List Entry: Format (10.1)
Author, A. (Date). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), Page numbers. DOI

Example:
Brenkert, G. G. (2019). Mind the gap! The challenges and limits of (global) business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 155(4), 917–930. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3902-6

Hint! Download the PDF version of the article to confirm the publication information, and to find everything you need. The screenshot above includes an image from a database and a PDF of the article. Only the PDF includes page numbers.

Please Note! The DOI for this article appears at the top, but some journals add DOIs at the end of articles. It is important to read thoroughly in order to find all of the information required for the reference list entry. 

Parenthetical Citation (Paraphrase)
(Author, Date), e.g.: (Brenkert, 2019)

Parenthetical Citation (Direct Quotation)
(Author, Date, Page number), e.g.: (Brenkert, 2019, p. 920)

Narrative Citation (Paraphrase)
Author (Date), e.g.: Brenkert (2019)

Narrative Citation (Direct Quotation)
Author (Date, Page Number), e.g.: Brenkert (2019, p. 920)

 

Publication information for a journal article. The article is titled, “No gains with plasma-first resuscitation in urban settings?”, and the authors are D. N. Naumann, H. Doughty, and A. B. Cotton. It was published in the Lancet in 2018. Blue arrows point to the article title, the authors, the journal title, the date of publication, the volume and issue, and the page numbers.

Reference List Entry: Format (10.1)
Author, A., Author, B., & Author, C. (Date). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), Page numbers. DOI

Hint! Download the PDF version of the article to confirm the publication information, and to find everything you need. The screenshot above includes an image from a database and a PDF of the article. Only the PDF includes page numbers.

Example:
Naumann, D. N., Doughty, H., & Cotton, B. A. (2018). No gains with plasma-first resuscitation in urban settings? The Lancet, 392 (10144), 255-256. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31565-4

Remember! In a reference list entry, up to 20 authors' names can be listed. Each name is separated by a comma, with an ampersand (&) used before the final author's name (9.8).

Parenthetical Citation (Paraphrase)
(Author & Author, Date) or (Author et al., Date) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: (Naumann et al., 2018)

Parenthetical Citation (Direct Quotation)
(Author & Author, Date, Page number) or (Author et al., Date, Page number) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: (Naumann et al., 2018, p. 394)

Narrative Citation (Paraphrase)
Author & Author (Date) or Author et al. (Date) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: Naumann et al. (2018)

Narrative Citation (Direct Quotation)
Author & Author (Date, Page number) or Author et al. (Date, Page number) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: Naumann et al. (2018, p. 394)

Remember! For in-text citations of works with two authors, list the last names of both authors. For works with three authors or more, list the last name of the first author followed by et al.

Publication information for a journal article. The article is titled, “A comparative analysis of practitioners' experience in sediment remediation projects to highlight best practices”, and the authors are Z. Jawed and G. Krantzberg. It was published in the Water Quality Research Journal in 2019. This article includes a D. O. I. Blue arrows point to the article title, the authors, the journal title, the date of publication, the volume and issue, the page numbers, the URL, and the D. O. I.

Reference List Entry: Format (10.1)
Author, A. (Date). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), Page numbers. DOI

Please Note! If an online work has both a DOI and a URL, include only the DOI (9.34).

Example:
Jawed, Z., & Krantzberg, G. (2019). A comparative analysis of practitioners' experience in sediment remediation projects to highlight best practices. Water Quality Research Journal, 54 (1), 10-33. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wqrj.2018.020

Parenthetical Citation (Paraphrase)
(Author, Date), or (Author & Author, Date), or (Author, et al., Date) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: (Jawed & Krantzberg), 2019)

Parenthetical Citation (Direct Quotation)
(Author, Date, Page number), or (Author & Author, Date, Page number), or (Author, et al., Date, Page number) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: (Jawed & Krantzberg, 2019, p. 119)

Narrative Citation (Paraphrase)
Author (Date), or Author and Author (Date), or Author et al. (Date) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: Jawed and Krantzberg (2019)

Narrative Citation (Direct Quotation)
Author (Date, Page number), or Author and Author (Date, Page number), or Author et al. (Date, Page number) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: Jawed and Krantzberg (2019, p. 119)

Remember! For in-text citations of works with two authors, list the last names of both authors. For works with three authors or more, list the last name of the first author followed by et al.

The publication information for an article with a DOI. The article is titled, “Evidence-Based Care for People with Unhealthy Alcohol Use—Still Elusive”, and the authors are Marcus A. Bachhuber and Katharine A. Bradley It was published in the Journal of general internal medicine in 2016. This article also has a DOI. Blue arrows point to the article title, the authors, the journal title, the date of publication, page numbers, and the DOI.

Reference List Entry: Format (10.1)
Author, A. (Date). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), Page numbers. DOI

Please Note! If an online work has both a DOI and a URL, include only the DOI (9.34).

Example:
Bachhuber, M. A., & Bradley, K. A. (2016). Evidence-based care for people with unhealthy alcohol use—still elusive. Journal of General Internal Medicine : JGIM, 31(7), 710–711. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-016-3695-1

Parenthetical Citation (Paraphrase)
(Author, Date), or (Author & Author, Date), or (Author, et al., Date) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: (Bachhuber & Bradley, 2016).

Parenthetical Citation (Direct Quotation)
(Author, Date, Page number), or (Author & Author, Date, Page number), or (Author, et al., Date, Page number) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: (Bachhuber & Bradley, 2016, p.710)

Narrative Citation (Paraphrase)
Author (Date), or Author and Author (Date), or Author et al. (Date) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: Bachhuber and Bradley (2016)

Narrative Citation (Direct Quotation)
Author (Date, Page number), or Author and Author (Date, Page number), or Author et al. (Date, Page number) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: Bachhuber and Bradley (2016, p. 710)

Remember! For in-text citations of works with two authors, list the last names of both authors. For works with three authors or more, list the last name of the first author followed by et al.

Publication information for a journal article. The article is titled, “Out-of-control biases have one solution”, and the author is Daniel Staider. It was published in Psychology Today in 2020. This article is on a website and has a URL. Blue arrows point to the article title, the author, the journal title, the date of publication, and the URL.

Reference List Entry: Format (10.1)
Author, A. (Date). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), Page numbers. URL

Example:
Stalder, D.R. (2020). Out-of-control biases have one solution. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/bias-fundamentals/202001/out-context-biases-all-have-one-solution

Please Note! If a piece of information cannot be found, omit it and move on to the next piece of information required for the reference list entry. In the example above, the volume and issue number and the page numbers are not provided. Therefore, they are omitted from the reference list entry.    

Parenthetical Citation (Paraphrase)
(Author, Date), (Author & Author, Date), or (Author, et al., Date) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: (Stalder, 2019)

Parenthetical Citation (Direct Quotation)
(Author, Date, Page number), (Author & Author, Date, Page number), or (Author, et al., Date, Page number) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: (Stalder, 2019, p. 109)

Narrative Citation (Paraphrase)
Author (Date), Author and Author (Date), or Author et al. (Date) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: Stalder (2019)

Narrative Citation (Direct Quotation)
Author (Date, Page number), Author and Author (Date, Page number), or Author et al. (Date, Page number) for articles with three or more authors, e.g.: Stalder (2019, p. 109)

Remember! For in-text citations of works with two authors, list the last names of both authors. For works with three authors or more, list the last name of the first author followed by et al.

Please Note!

This guide is based on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (2020). Library staff have reviewed the information in this guide, and to the best of our knowledge, it is accurate. However, mistakes do occur. Students bear sole responsibility for ensuring that their citations are correct, and that their assignments meet the criteria laid out by their instructor. Students are encouraged to contact Peer Tutoring or the Writing Clinic for assistance.