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Science Resource Guide

Reference List -- Articles

Below, you will find step-by-step instructions for citing journal and magazine articles in the APA citation style.

Articles

Basic Formatting For Articles

 

Here is the basic format for citing an article in APA format:

Author, F. M. (Year). Article title. Journal title: Subtitle, volume(issue), pages. DOI.

Let's break the citation down.

 
Author

The author's name is listed as their last name, first initial, and middle initial (if they have one.)  So an author named John Paul Jones would be listed as:

Jones, J. P.

If you have multiple authors, you will need to list them all.  Put them in the order that they appear in the article.  Separate them with a comma, and put an ampersand (&) before the last one.  So an article written by John Paul Jones, John Quincy Adams, and Thomas Paine would look like this:

Jones, J. P., Adams, J. Q., & Paine, T.

 

Year

The year is simply the date of publication for that issue.  If it is listed, the month and date of publication may be added after the year.  Spell out the month.  For example, a magazine or newspaper published on January 1, 2019 would be formatted as (2019, January 1).  If the date is not listed, simply list the month (2019, January).

 
Article Title

Type in the entire title of the article, along with the subtitle if there is one.  However, whenever you type in the title, you should only capitalize the first letter of the title, the first letter of the subtitle (the part that follows after the colon), and any proper nouns (the names of individual people, places, and organizations.)  So, the article "How To See Giraffes In Kenya" would have its title written like this:

How to see giraffes in Kenya

If you had an article with a subtitle, for example "Riding Horses: Tips For Equestrian Fun In Texas and Oklahoma," it would have its title written like this:

Riding horses: Tips for equestrian fun in Texas and Oklahoma

 

Journal Title and Subtitle

Type in the entire title of the journal, along with the subtitle if there is one. Unlike books, use the capitalization that the journal uses itself.  Italicize the entire title.  So, the journal "Equestrian Studies" would have its title written like this:

Equestrian Studies

If you had a journal with a subtitle, for example "Athletic Studies: Research In Sports Performance" would have its title written like this:

Athletic Studies: Research In Sports Performance

 

Volume and Issue

The volume and issue of the article are listed as numbers, without typing "volume" or "issue."  The proper format is to italicize the volume, and put the issue in parentheses. Don't put a space between them.  For example, an article that appears in Volume 5, Issue 4 would be written as:

5(4)

Sometimes the issue number is not provided.  If this happens, just leave it off.  Be sure to give it a good search for the issue number before you decide to leave it off, though.

 

Pages

After the volume and issue, type the page numbers that the article appears on.  Do not type "pages," "p.," or "pp." before the numbers.  For example, an article that starts on page 54 and ends on page 78 would be written:

54-78.

 
DOI

If you are using a print journal, skip this step.

Most articles in databases will have a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) located somewhere on the record for the article, or on the article itself.  It will look like a long stream of numbers and letters.  All you need to do is copy the DOI and paste it into your references page.  Do not put a period at the end.  For example, if the DOI of the article you are citing is https://doi.org/10.2744/CCB-1300.1, your citation will look like:

https://doi.org/10.2744/CCB-1300.1

If the article does not have a DOI, skip this step.

Please note that some instructors do not want the DOI in citations, so ask them about it before submitting assignments.

 
An Example Of A Cited Paper

The article titled "Sea Turtle Education Program Development, Implementation, and Outcome Assessment in St. Kitts, West Indies" was written by Kimberly M. Stewart, Terry M. Norton, Mark A. Mitchell, and Darryn L. Knobel. It was published in 2018, in volume 17, issue 2 of the journal "Chelonian Conservation & Biology." The DOI is https://doi.org/10.2744/CCB-1300.1.  The citation would look like this:

Stewart, K. M., Norton, T. M., Mitchell, M. A., & Knobel, D. L. (2018). Sea turtle education program development, implementation, and outcome assessment in St. Kitts, West Indies. Chelonian Conservation & Biology, 17(2), 216–226. https://doi.org/10.2744/CCB-1300.1