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Young people pick different education directions once they leave high school. Some choose popular universities like Harvard or Stanford while others prefer something more specialized, like medical colleges or Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But there is one thing all these places have in common despite their fundamental differences: they use the MLA formatting style and require students to know its basics. In research, students tend to use peer-reviewed academic articles because they offer invaluable information. How to cite a journal article in MLA, though, and why do it at all?
Referencing is essential for avoiding plagiarism, which is a tough issue that can result in drastic negative consequences. You might even be suspended if you fail to cite where you took your info from properly! That’s why knowing MLA essentials is so important.
MLA 8 is the latest version of this formatting style. When it comes to citing a journal article in MLA, students should remember that there are many types of them and logically, all of them must be referenced differently. The good news is, these differences are minor! In most cases, all MLA citations will require identical elements.
? Author’s name. If there are several of them, all their credentials are needed. If an organization has created a source, then cite its title.
? Article’s title. Note that it has to be put in quotation marks.
? Journal’s title, which should be in italics.
? Other contributors. This can include editors, translators, etc.
? Details about your chosen journal: its version, if there is any of them mentioned, volume, issue, as well as publication year.
? Location of your info, which is usually page #, database, link to the electronic source or DOI, a sort of unique referencing code for identifying it.
General MLA journal article citation requires quite a standard formula. When you are using in-text citation by mentioning some information in the text of essay itself, you should follow (Author’s last name Page number) model. Journals have page numbers in most cases, so finding one won’t be a problem. This is how it should look like for MLA citation.
no commas are needed.
When making a reference for Works Cited page, you’ll need to point out some of the elements mentioned in a list above.
Now, let’s see other, more detailed examples of MLA citation.
If you’ve found your scholarly article in some online database, this is the structure you should follow.
When you are going to library database, you are going to need a DOI number. Take a look at how research article should look in this case.
When there is one author, rules described above stay the same.
At the same time, you might wonder how to cite a journal article in MLA if there are two authors of an article taken from library database. Rules are still simple here, just use comma as well as conjunction “and.” Note that credentials of the second author are mentioned in another order for MLA citation.
Similar situation can be encountered when you are using library database but there is no DOI number assigned. Mention the same elements as above, just without including DOI. Also, make publication date as clear as possible — for example, mention a month when academic article was published, even if it’s just a season. This is important for MLA citation.
In case there are two authors, see the rules above. Don’t forget about the swapped order and punctuation:
When you need MLA citation for journal article found on a website, you will need to point out its URL as well as access date.
For two authors, everything stays the same, just mention authors in the order shown above:
For print versions, rules become even simpler, losing some of location elements. MLA citation for journal article like this with one author will follow such model:
Source with two authors will follow same model as above: “Author 1 Last Name, First Name, and Author 2 First Name Last Name”. If there are three contributors, on the other hand, requires some exceptions. Look at the model below.
Some scientific publications might be published in special issues. In such instances, citing journal articles in MLA should be done in the following way.
As you can see, you should mention special edition’s title in addition. Put it in italics.
If entry is found online, mention URL or DOI as in the previous examples for MLA citation.
There can be other minor intricacies when you’re learning how to cite a journal article in MLA. Check list below. You might find additional useful info there.
If you still feel unsure about learning how to cite a journal article in MLA, you can always use EduBirdie’s generator helper. It will reference everything for you, and it includes both in-text citations as well as final references. Here’s why you should pick it:
That’s it! Your citation will be ready in seconds.
With EduBirdie’s citation generator, you can be certain that your references will be done correctly, you will never again wonder how to cite a journal article in MLA. We care about your assignments and our reputation, so we check our generator regularly to make sure it works properly. It’s considered one of the best because of all benefits we’ve included in it, so visit EduBirdie’s site now and start composing your Works Cited list!
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