How to Cite Journals in MLA Style

Articles published in academic journals have identifying features you will not find in your other references, such as the volume and issue numbers. The extra information can make citing journals confusing, but you should follow a format similar to that for other types of references. The Modern Language Association dictates a standard format for journal references in a paper written using MLA style.

Instructions

    • 1

      Place the citation in the reference list alphabetically by the last name of the first author.

    • 2

      Begin the citation with the author's last name, then a comma, then the author's first name and the middle name or initial if it is included. If there is more than one author, list the other authors' names with the first name first. Separate the authors' names with commas and use "and" between the last two authors. For example, "Smith, John A., Mary Jones, and Robert White."

      If there are more than three authors, you may either list all the authors' names or use "et al." after the first author's name.

    • 3

      Place the title of the article in quotation marks and capitalize all the words except conjunctions, prepositions and articles with fewer than four words.

    • 4

      Give the title of the journal in italics and list the volume number, issue number, year of publication and page numbers for the article in the same sentence. It should look like this: Journal Title 10.5 (2010): 50-55.

    • 5

      List the name of the database followed by a period if you retrieved the article from an online database of academic journals such as JSTOR or PubMed. Italicize the database name.

    • 6

      Give the medium of publication for the article: either "Web" or "Print." List the date you accessed the article if it is a Web publication; for example, "Web. 5 Jan. 2010."

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