Use the following template or our MLA Citation Generator to cite a journal article. For help with other source types, like books, PDFs, or websites, check out our other guides. To have your reference list or bibliography automatically made for you, try our free citation generator.
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Author Surname, Author Forename. "Title." Publication Title, Volume number, Issue number, Publication date, Page numbers, Website or Database (if applicable), DOI/Permalink/URL.
Cano, Marina. "Transnational Feminism and Spanish Magazines at the Turn of the Century." Modernism/Modernity, vol. 28, no. 1, Jan. 2021, pp. 47-65. Project Muse, https://doi.org/10.1353/mod.2021.0016.
**Note that if using a DOI, new MLA 9th Edition guidelines state that "https://" should be included as part of the DOI address.
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
(Author Surname)
"The importance of such international connections for a better understanding of the history of modern feminism has already been established," (Cano).
MLA uses the author’s or authors’ names (in the case of two authors) in in-text citations. If there is no author, the citation includes the title. Unlike other reference styles, the year of publication is not included in the text in MLA style. However, the specific page number or numbers from which information has been taken are included. There are two types of in-text citations in MLA style: citation in prose and parenthetical citation.
The in-text citation style is the same for any type of publication (journal, book, or report). Below shows both types of in-text citations in MLA style for one author.
Citation in prose
Include the full name of the author at the first mention of the work in the text. Use only the surname in subsequent occurrences. Do not use middle initials in citations. Put the page number or numbers at the end of a reference to something specific in the author’s work.
Example
First occurrence: Henry Boss talks about the role of the printing press in the twentieth century.
Subsequent occurrences: Boss claims that digital media is the main reason for the declination of printing presses (248.)
Parenthetical citation
Include only the surname of the author in all occurrences.
Example
The introduction of e-publishing resulted in a decrease in print books (Boss 248).
To format a works-cited entry for a journal article in MLA style include the name of the author(s), title of the article, journal title, volume no., issue no., date, pages, and if from an Internet source, database/website and URL if no DOI.
Below is an example of a journal article in MLA style.
Format
Author’s Surname, First Name. “Title of the Article.” Journal Title, vol. #, no. #, date, pp. #–#.
Example
Conway, Paul. “Digital Transformations and the Archival Nature of Surrogates.” Archival Science, vol. 15, no. 1, 2015, pp. 51–69.
Below are examples of journal articles from a database in MLA style.
Format
Author’s Surname, First Name. “Title of the Article.” Journal Title, vol. #, no. #, date, pp. #–#. Database, DOI, or URL (if no DOI).
Examples
Cain, William E. “American Dreaming: Really Reading The Great Gatsby.” Society, vol. 57, no. 4, Aug. 2020, pp. 453-70. Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-020-00510-6.
Molina, Michael R. “Buchan and Modernity.” English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920, vol. 58 no. 1, 1 Jan. 2015, pp. 123-26. Ebscohost, search.ebscohost.com.
Notes
• The article title is inside quotation marks.
• The journal title is in italics.
• Use “pp.” before the page range.