How to Reference a Journal Article in a Research Paper

Placing a reference to a journal article in a research paper is an essential part of the formal writing process, and it's important to master this basic skill of academic life. This task can be a little finicky, particularly given the wide range of styles that this reference should take: American Psychological Association, Modern Language Association, Chicago Manual of Style all have slightly different citation requirements. Fortunately, modern word processing software programs, like Microsoft Word, take the guesswork out of this task.

Things You'll Need

  • Computer with word processing software (such as Microsoft Word)
  • Journal article
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Instructions

    • 1

      Open your word processing software and move your cursor to the place where the citation should appear. Navigate to the command area for citations. In Microsoft Word, this is located in the "References" tab, which may be found in the horizontal ribbon at the top of the page.

    • 2

      Select the citation style required for your paper. In Microsoft Word, the options are listed in a drop-down box. Consult the syllabus of the course you are writing for or contact the instructor to find out which style is expected.

    • 3

      Click "Insert Citation" followed by "Add New Source." A pop-up box called "Create Source" will appear, populate the fields with the correct information. Be sure the "Type of Source" drop-down box is set to "Journal Article."

    • 4

      Populate the fields as required. Note that the "Author" field refers to the author of the individual article and "Title" is the article title. You'll also need the name of the journal, the year of its publication (both should be listed on the front cover of the journal, or on the front page of the article), as well as the pages for the article.

    • 5

      Click "OK" and the citation will appear.

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