How to Cite an Article in a Scholarly Journal Using MLA Style

When you are writing a term paper or working on a longer term research project, you must keep track of your sources of information so that you can credit them for contributing to your conclusions. Traditionally this type of credit has been given via footnote, but newer citation formats actually are placed within the text of the paper in abbreviated form and refer a reader to a more detailed reference at the end of the document. One of the most popular forms of this type of citation is MLA style, which enables a writer to use a parenthetical note in the text that directs a reader to a simple resource reference on a "Works Cited" page. This type of citation is simple to implement and use as a resource, and is the ideal method for citing works in scholarly journals and other academic publications. Read on to learn how to cite an article in a scholarly journal using MLA style.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Author(s)
• Title of the article
• Title of the journal
• Volume number
• Issue number
• Year of publication
• Page numbers

1. Begin with the names of the authors, followed by a period. Generally, articles in scholarly journals will have more than one author. In this event, you should list the authors in the order that they appear on the title page of the article, as this order often indicates the magnitude of their contributions. The first author's name should be listed in the order "last name, first name, middle initial," while the rest of the authors are listed with their first names first. If there are more than three authors, you can simply list the primary author and follow that name with the phrase ""et.al." For this example, let us say that there are three authors, Jenny Longtree, Joseph Mingren and Linda Gennsel. Your citation should begin: Longtree, Jenny, Joseph Mingren and Linda Gennsel.

2. Enclose the title of the article in quotation marks. You can use either single or double quotes, but you must be consistent throughout the paper. The title should end with another period. For example, if the title of the article is "Marine mannitol and its effects on fungal callusing," then your citation will now appear like this: Longtree, Jenny, Joseph Mingren and Linda Gennsel. "Marine mannitol and its effects on fungal callusing." Notice that the article does not appear to have traditional capitalization. This is common in research publications.

3. Underline the title of the journal. If your word processor will not support this type of formatting, then use underscore symbols to indicate that the title should be underlined. For example, if the journal is called "Hyphal Times," then your citation should read:Longtree, Jenny, Joseph Mingren and Linda Gennsel. "Marine mannitol and its effects on fungal callusing." _Hyphal Times_

4. Follow up with the volume and issue numbers and the year of publication. The volume and issue should be separated by a period, and the year should be enclosed in parentheses and followed by a hyphen. For example, if the article was published in volume 45 of the journal in the fourth issue in 2003, then your citation should now read: Longtree, Jenny, Joseph Mingren and Linda Gennsel. "Marine mannitol and its effects on fungal callusing." _Hyphal Times_ 45.4 (2003):

5. Finish with the page numbers and a period. In MLA style, page numbers should always be stated as briefly as possible. Therefore, if the article was published on pages 145 through 167, your finished citation should read: Longtree, Jenny, Joseph Mingren and Linda Gennsel. "Marine mannitol and its effects on fungal callusing." _Hyphal Times_ 45.4 (2003): 145-67.

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