PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Journal article

How to Cite a Journal Article in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for a journal article gives the author's last name and first name, the article title in quotation marks, the journal name in italics, then vol., no., the date, pp. and the page range, and the DOI as a link. The in-text citation is the author's last name and the page, with no comma: (Benner 405).

The format

Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Article." Journal Name, vol. #, no. #, Month Year, pp. #–#. https://doi.org/xxxx.

PERRLA MLA Experts · Updated October 27, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Paste the article's DOI or PubMed ID into PERRLA's reference search. PERRLA finds the article, fills in the authors, the title, the journal, the volume, the issue, the date, the pages, and the DOI, and puts the finished entry on your Works Cited page in alphabetical order, hanging indent and all.

Adding one by hand? Choose Journal, then Journal article and A single published article. Found it in a database like JSTOR or EBSCOhost? Choose An article in a database instead and type the database's name in Database Name. PERRLA handles the capitalization, the italics, and the punctuation.

Look up
Paste a DOI, get the reference

10.2307/3462928

Benner, Patricia. "From Novice to Expert." American Journal of Nursing, vol. 82, no. 3, Mar. 1982, pp. 402–07, https://doi.org/10.2307/3462928.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Author

Start with the first author's last name, a comma, and their first name as the article prints it, with any middle initial. End with a period.

Benner, Patricia.

Two authors: invert only the first name, then write and and the second author's name in normal order. Three or more: give the first author, a comma, and et al.

Aiken, Linda H., et al.

2. Article title

Put the article title in quotation marks and capitalize it in title case, even when the journal uses sentence case. The period goes inside the closing quotation mark.

"From Novice to Expert."

3. Journal name

The journal is the container, so its name goes in italics, in title case, followed by a comma.

American Journal of Nursing,

4. Volume and issue

Write vol. and the volume number, then no. and the issue number, each followed by a comma. If the journal has no issue numbers, leave no. out.

vol. 82, no. 3,

5. Date

Give the date as fully as the journal gives it: a season or month and the year, or the year alone. Abbreviate months longer than four letters (Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.).

Mar. 1982,

6. Pages

Write pp. before a page range, or p. before a single page. Up to 99, give both numbers in full. After that, the second number keeps only its last two digits, unless more are needed to make the range clear.

pp. 402–07

7. DOI or database

End with the DOI as a full https://doi.org/ link, followed by a period. If you read the article in a database such as JSTOR or EBSCOhost, the database is a second container: its name in italics and a comma come before the DOI.

JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3462928.

Examples

A journal article with one author

Patricia Benner's article on the stages of nursing skill, published in the March 1982 issue of the American Journal of Nursing.

  • In-text citation(Benner 405)
  • Narrative citationAs Benner explains, … (405).

A journal article with three or more authors

A widely cited JAMA study with five authors. MLA names only the first author, then et al., in both the Works Cited entry and the in-text citation.

  • In-text citation(Aiken et al. 1990)
  • Narrative citationAiken et al. found that … (1990).

A journal article you found in a database

The same Benner article, read on JSTOR. The journal stays the first container, and JSTOR becomes a second container, set in italics before the DOI.

  • In-text citation(Benner 405)
  • Narrative citationAs Benner explains, … (405).

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation gives the author's last name and the page number, with no comma and no p. between them. Leave the page out only when the article has no page numbers.

  • One author: (Benner 405)
  • Two authors: both last names joined by and: (Benner and Tanner 25)
  • Three or more authors: the first author and et al.: (Aiken et al. 1990)
  • Name in your sentence: give the page alone in parentheses at the end of the sentence: Benner describes five stages of skill (405).

If you cite two works by the same author, add a short version of the title: (Benner, "From Novice" 405).

Common mistakes

  • (Benner, 405)(Benner 405)MLA puts no comma between the name and the page number.
  • (Benner p. 405)(Benner 405)The in-text citation never takes p. or pp. Those belong in the Works Cited entry only.
  • Benner, P. (1982). From novice to expert.Benner, Patricia. "From Novice to Expert."That's APA. MLA spells out the first name, puts the article title in quotation marks and title case, and moves the date after the volume and issue.
  • Aiken, Linda H., Sean P. Clarke, Douglas M. Sloane, et al.Aiken, Linda H., et al.With three or more authors, MLA names only the first, then et al.
  • pp. 402–407pp. 402–07Past 99, MLA shortens the second page number to its last two digits.

Quick checklist

  • First author inverted, full first name as printed
  • Three or more authors: first author, et al.
  • Article title in quotation marks and title case
  • Journal name in italics, then vol., no., date, and pp.
  • Database name in italics before the DOI, if you used one
  • DOI as a https://doi.org/ link, ending with a period

Questions students ask

Do I need to include the database name in MLA?

If you read the article in a database, yes: MLA treats the database as a second container. Put its name in italics after the page range, then the DOI or the article's stable link.

What if the journal article has no DOI?

Use the stable link (permalink) the database or journal gives the article. If you read it in print, end the entry after the page range.

Does MLA 9 use et al. for journal articles?

Yes, for three or more authors. Give the first author's name inverted, then a comma and et al., in the Works Cited entry. Use the first author's last name and et al. in the text too.

Do I write vol. and no. in MLA?

Yes. MLA labels the volume vol. and the issue no., each followed by a comma. If the journal has volumes but no issues, write vol. alone.

How is MLA different from APA for a journal article?

MLA spells out first names, uses title case and quotation marks for the article title, labels vol., no., and pp., and puts the date after the issue. In the text, MLA uses the page number (Benner 405) where APA uses the year.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapters 5 and 6 (the core elements, containers, and in-text citations), and the MLA Style Center. Example sources verified against PubMed (PMIDs 6917683 and 12387650), Crossref, and each article's DOI.

PERRLA builds the Works Cited entry from the DOI, with every container in the right place.

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