LibGuides: APA Citation Guide (6th ed.): Journal Articles

How do I cite...

What is a DOI?

DOI Numbers in Library Databases

Some electronic content is assigned a unique number called a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). If a DOI is provided for a journal article, include it after the page numbers of the article as "doi:doi number". You have a choice of how to include the doi information either doi:0000000/000000000000 or http://dx.doi.org/10.0000/0000 - please see examples for clarification. Remember that your faculty may have a preference and should be consulted.

You do not need to put a period after a DOI number.

If no DOI number is given, Seneca Libraries recommends that you add Retrieved from ______________ database as opposed to the URL for an entry or database. This is to avoid difficulties with links.

If you have a DOI and would like to look up an item with it, click here and enter the doi number where indicated.

Formatting

Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

How Do I Know If It's a Journal?

Photo from Flickr under Creative Commons license, created by the.Firebottle

Not sure whether your article is from a journal? Look for these characteristics:

Main purpose is often to report results of original search
Articles usually have a very specific subject focus
May see sections such as abtract, discussion, results, and conclusion
Author of the article is an expert or specialist in the field and often their credentials are listed
Article is intended for students, scientists, researchers and/or professionals instead of the general public
Usually includes a References list at the end

Articles may also come from magazines or newspapers.

Serials Directory
Use to investigate if your journal is peer reviewed by searching for the title of the journal, clicking on the title and scrolling down to the category of "peer reviewed" to see if it says yes or no.

Tips

Author

If an item has no author, start the citation with the article title.

When an article has one to seven authors, all authors' names are cited in the References List entry. When an article has eight or more authors list the first six authors followed by three spaced ellipse points (. . .) , and then the last author's name. Rules are different for in-text citations; please see the examples provided.

Titles

Italicize titles of journals, magazines and newspapers. Do not italicize the titles of articles.

Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the article title. If there is a colon in the article title, also capitalize the first letter of the first word after the colon.

Dates

If an item has no date, use the short form n.d. where you would normally put the date.

Volume and Issue Numbers

Italicize volume numbers but not issue numbers

Retrieval Dates

Most articles will not need these in the citation. Only use them for online articles from places where content may change often, like a free website or a wiki.

Page Numbers

If an article doesn't appear on continuous pages, list all the page numbers the article is on, separated by commas. For example (4, 6, 12-14)

Journal Article From Library Database with D O I - One Author

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number if Page Numbering Begins at 1 for Each Issue in the Volume), first page number-last page number. doi:doi number or http://dx.doi.org/10.0000/0000

Reference List Example

Bailey, N. W. (2012). Evolutionary models of extended phenotypes. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 27(3), 561-569. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2012.05.011

Bailey, N. W. (2012). Evolutionary models of extended phenotypes. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 27(3), 561-569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2012.05.011

In-Text Paraphrase

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Bailey, 2012)

In-Text Quote

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

(Bailey, 2012, p. 562)

Journal Article From Library Database with D O I - Two to Seven Authors

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number if Page Numbering Begins at 1 for Each Issue in the Volume), first page number-last page number. doi:doi number or http://dx.doi.org/10.0000/0000

Note: Separate the authors' names by putting a comma between them. For the final author listed add an ampersand (&) after the comma and before the final author's last name.

Reference List Example

Pempek, T. A., Yermolayeva, Y. A., & Calvert, S.L. (2009). College students' social networking experiences on Facebook. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 3(2), 227-238. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2008.12.010t

Pempek, T.A., Yermolayeva, Y.A., & Calvert, S.L. (2009). College students' social networking experiences on Facebook. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 3(2), 227-238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2008.12.010

In-Text

See chart here

Journal Article From Library Database no D O I - One Author

Note: The APA Manual (6th ed.) requires the URL of the journal home page for online articles without a DOI. Seneca Libraries suggests that the database name be used instead.

Reference List Example

Carlisle, D. (2012). In the line of fire. Nursing Standard, 26(39), 18-19. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

In-Text Paraphrase

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Carlisle, 2012)

In-Text Quote

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

Example: (Carlisle, 2012, p. 18)

Journal Article From Library Database no D O I - Two to Seven Authors

Note: The APA Manual (6th ed.) requires the URL of the journal home page for online articles without a D O I. Seneca Libraries suggests that the database name be used instead.

Reference List Example	Bogan, E., & Paun, E. (2011). The assimilation of immigrants into the British labor market. Geopolitics, History, and International Relations, 3(2), 272. Retrieved from Diversity Studies Collection database.
In-Text	See chart here

Journal Article From a Website - One Author

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number if given), first page number-last page number if given. Retrieved from URL

Reference List Example

Flachs, A. (2010). Food for thought: The social impact of community gardens in the Greater Cleveland Area. Electronic Green Journal, 1(30). Retrieved from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6bh7j4z4

In-Text Paraphrase

(Author's Last Name, Year)

(Flachs, 2010)

In-Text Quote

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

Example: (Flachs, 2010, Conclusion section, para. 3)

Note: In this example there were no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, in this case you can cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from. If there are no page or paragraph numbers and no marked section, leave this information out.

Journal Article From a Website - Two to Seven Authors

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number if given), first page number-last page number if given. Retrieved from URL

Reference List Example	Davidson, J. E., Burnell, L., Devin, L., Rochon, R., VanWyk, C., & Virgen, M. (2012). Poetric transcription to explore the concept of caring. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 5(6), 120-128. Retrieved from http://www.caringsciences.org/volume005/issue2/7.Poetic%20Caring.pdf
In-Text	See chart here

Journal Article In Print - One Author

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number if Page Numbering Begins at 1 for Each Issue in the Volume), first page number-last page number.

Reference List Example

Jungers, W. L. (2010). Biomechanics: Barefoot running strikes back. Nature, 463(2), 433-434.

In-Text Paraphrase

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Jungers, 2010)

In-Text Quote

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page number)

Example: (Jungers, 2010, p. 433)

Journal Article In Print - Two to Seven Authors

Last Name of First Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given, & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Article title: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number if Page Numbering Begins at 1 for Each Issue in the Volume), first page number-last page number.

Note: Separate the authors' names by putting a comma between them. For the final author listed add an ampersand (&) after the comma and before the final author's last name.

Reference List Example	Falls, S. W., Neal, R. B., & Torres, S. (2008). Doing it better: Cap off to this sewing project. Nursing, 38(5), 17.
In-Text Paraphrase	See chart here

When You Have Eight or More Authors

When a journal article has eight or more authors:

References List

List the first six authors followed by three spaced ellipse points (. . .) , and then the last author's name.

Reference List Example

Nilsson, J., Johansson, E., Carlsson, M., Florin, J., Leksell, J., Lepp, M., . . . Gardulf, A. (2016). Disaster nursing: Self-reported competence of nursing students and registered nurses, with focus on their readiness to manage violence, serious events and disasters. Nurse Education In Practice, 17, 102-108. Retrieved from ScienceDirect database.

In-Text Paraphrase

(First author's last name et al., Year)

Example: (Nilsson et al., 2016)

In-Text Quote

(First author's last name et al., Year, p. Page number quote is from)

Example: (Nilsson et al., 2016, p. 103)

In-Text Citation For Two or More Authors/Editors

Number of Authors/Editors	First Time Paraphrased	Second and Subsequent Times Paraphrased	First Time Quoting	Second and Subsequent Times Quoting
Two	(Case & Daristotle, 2011)	(Case & Daristotle, 2011)	(Case & Daristotle, 2011, p. 57)	(Case & Daristotle, 2011, p. 57)
Three to Five	(Case, Daristotle, Hayek, Smith, & Raash, 2011)	(Case et al., 2011)	(Case, Daristotle, Hayekm, Smith, & Raash, 2011, p. 57)	(Case et al., 2011, p. 57)
Six or More	(Case et al., 2011)	(Case et al., 2011)	(Case et al., 2011, p. 57)	(Case et al., 2011, p. 57)

Works by the Same Author with the Same Year

When you are citing two different sources that share the same author and year of publication, assign lowercase letters after the year of publication (a, b, c, etc.). Assign these letters according to which title comes first alphabetically. Use these letters in both in-text citations and the Reference list.

Example In-Text:

Paraphrasing content from first source by this author (Daristotle, 2015a). "Now I am quoting from the second source by the same author" (Daristotle, 2015b, p. 50).

Example Reference List entries:

Daristotle, J. (2015a). Name of first article. Made Up Journal, 26(39), 18-19. Retrieved from Pretend Library database.

Daristotle, J. (2015b). Title of second article. Another Made Up Journal, 35(1), 48-55. Retrieved from Another Pretend Library database.