Formatting a Journal Article Reference in APA 7

Let's create a reference for a journal article, one of the most common sources in academic writing.

What to find first

For a journal article, try to find:

• The authors' names
• The year the article was published
• The title of the article
• The title of the journal
• The volume and issue numbers
• The page numbers of the article
• The article's DOI (Digital Object Identifier), or its URL if it has no DOI

Here's what we found for the made-up article we'll cite:

Title

An analysis of recent biological evidence

Authors

Jonathon Strange and Kathy H. Weber

Published in

Sasquatch Today, 2020

Volume

14

Issue

2

Pages

34–57

DOI

10.1000/sasquatch.2020.004

Step by step

1. Author names

List the authors in the same order they appear on the article, even if that isn't alphabetical:

Strange, J., & Weber, K. H.

• Last name first
• Initials for first and middle names
• An ampersand (&) before the final author
• End with a period and a single space

With more than two authors, separate each one with a comma, and put a comma and an ampersand before the last.

A few special cases for names:

• Hyphenated first names like James-Michael: Brown, J.-M.
• Suffixes like Jr. or III go at the end: Brown, J.-M., III.
• Academic or professional titles, like Dr. or PhD, are not included.
• Two different authors with the same last name and initials? Add their full first names in square brackets: Reynolds, R. [Ryan]. and Reynolds, R. [Richard].

2. Year of publication

Put the year in parentheses, followed by a period and a space:

(2020).

Even if the article lists a more specific date, you only need the year. If there's no date, write (n.d.)

3. Article title

Next comes the title of the article. It:

• Is not italicized
• Uses sentence case: capitalize only the first word of the title and of any subtitle, and proper nouns
• Ends with a period

An analysis of recent biological evidence.

4. Journal name

For the journal's name, switch to italics and Title Case:

Sasquatch Today,

Capitalize every major word, which is any word that isn't a short conjunction (like and, or, or but) or a short preposition (like to, of, and for). Add a comma and a single space after the journal name.

5. Volume, issue, and pages

Now add the volume, the issue, and the page range:

• The volume number is italicized.
• The issue number goes right after the volume, in parentheses, and is not italicized.
• There's no space between the volume and the issue.
• A comma and a space follow, then the page numbers.

14(2), 34–57.

For the page numbers:

• Use an en dash (–) between numbers, not a hyphen (-).
• Give the full range, from the page where the article starts to the page where it ends.
• If the article is split across separate runs of pages, list every range, separated by commas: 34–57, 61–65

End with a period and a space.

6. DOI or URL

This is the last part of the reference.

If the article has a DOI, write it as a link with no period at the end: start with https://doi.org/ and add the DOI with no spaces. Active links are preferred, but whether the link is blue or underlined is up to you.

https://doi.org/10.1000/sasquatch.2020.004

If there's no DOI and you found the article on the journal's own website, use that URL instead:

https://sasquatchtodayjournal.org/2020/004

If there's no DOI and the article came from a library database, end the reference after the page range.

Never include both a DOI and a URL. Use one, and when there's a DOI, it always wins.

The finished reference

1. AuthorsIn the article's order, with an ampersand before the last.
2. YearIn parentheses, then a period.
3. Article titleSentence case, not italic.
4. Journal nameItalic, Title Case, then a comma.
5. Volume, issue, pagesVolume italic, issue in parentheses, then the page range with an en dash.
6. DOIAs a link, with no period after it.

It takes a few more pieces than a book reference, but once you know each part, it's manageable.

Quick checklist

• Authors inverted, with an ampersand before the last author
• Year in parentheses, with a period after
• Article title in sentence case, not italicized
• Journal title and volume number italicized; issue number in parentheses
• Page range written with an en dash
• DOI written as a link, with no period after it

How PERRLA handles journal articles

PERRLA can look an article up by its DOI. The reference builds itself, and the entry lands on your references page with the right italics and punctuation.

Related APA 101 lessons

• Formatting a book reference: author, year, italic title, and publisher.
• Formatting a webpage reference: dates, website names, retrieval dates, and pages with no author.
• The references page: alphabetical order, hanging indents, and the References label.
• In-text citations: author, year, and page, and when et al. applies.
• All 18 lessons in APA 101