English 104: College Composition

One of the most common citations used in academic writing is that of journal articles. In this video, we will learn all about putting journal article citations into our text and works cited pages. The citations in this video are in APA style; before you sit down to make a works cited page, make sure to check what style your discipline requires.

Journal Article Citations

One of the most common citations found in academic writing is information from journal articles. There are hundreds of different types of journals available for review. The journals you use will depend on the topic you are writing about. In this video, we will be learning about citing journal articles often used in academic writing. While there are many types of formats in which academic writing is cited, from APA to MLA to Chicago, for this video we will be using APA formatting for our examples. Although the core elements are the same between most styles, keep in mind that each formatting style has its own specific rules for the order in which information is cited, so make sure to check a style guide if you're using something other than APA for your essay.

What Is A Journal Article?

Let's start with the basics. A journal article is a work published in a written or electronic medium. Journals are released on a consistent schedule - some monthly, some quarterly, some annually. The most common type of journal you will use in academic writing is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal. Apeer reviewed scholarly journal is a journal in which all the articles published have first been reviewed by a panel of the author's peers. These peers are often individuals that work in the field that is the focus of the journal. For instance, the reviewers from the Journal for the American Medical Association are often clinicians, scientists, or researchers that work extensively and often times exclusively in the medical field.

Citing In The Text

An in-text citation is a citation utilized in the body of your writing. When citing in the text, you need two pieces of information from your journal article: the name of the author or authors and the year of publication. You will be using the last name of the author only. If there are two authors, you will list both names separated by the word 'and.' Make sure to list the names in the order in which they are written in the article itself. So, an article written in 2009 by Smith and James would look like this:

(Smith & James, 2009)

You could also use the name of the authors in a sentence. For instance:

Research by Smith and James (2009) states that...

If there are three or more authors, you will use the last name of the first author, then the words 'et al.' Your citation would look like this:

(Smith et al., 2009)

If you are using a direct quote, meaning you will be listing what the author has written word-for-word, also include the page number on which the quote can be found. It is important to get context correct when citing any source, but it is extremely important to also get every word in the correct order when citing a direct quote. Including the page number allows your readers to look the direct quote up for themselves.

Citing In Your Reference Page

Now that we have learned to cite a journal article in our text, let's move on to citing within your reference page. There are several pieces of information you will need to locate to prepare for your entry.

1. The name of the author(s).
2. The year of publication.
3. The title of the article.
4. The title of the journal.
5. The volume and issue number.
6. The pages in the journal where the article is located.

Let's take a look at what a citation would look like in our reference page.

Cook, D. A. & Dupras, D. M. (2004). A practical guide to developing web-based learning. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 19(6), 698-707.

The first thing you will see is the name of the authors. We are using the last name as well as the first and middle initial (if available). The second thing we will list is the year the article was published. The third piece of information is the title of the article. Remember, just the first word and proper nouns are capitalized in the title. Our next step is to list the name of the journal. Remember we capitalize all the words of the journal title except for words such as 'of.' We then move on to list the volume number and issue number, if available. Finally, we list the pages on which the article can be found.

Lesson Summary

Let's wrap things up by revisiting what we learned. One of the most common types of reference you will be using in academic writing comes from peer-reviewed scholarly journals.

When you are citing in the text of your writing, you will need the author's last name and the year in which the article was published. If you are using a direct quote instead of paraphrasing, you will also need the page number on which the quote can be found.

When putting the citation in your reference page you will need the last name, first name, and middle initial of each of the authors. You will also need the year the article was published, the exact title of the article, the name of the journal, the volume and issue number of the journal, and the pages on which the article can be found.

Following these steps, you will be on your way to easily citing journal articles within the text as well as within your reference page. Happy citing!