- 3-minute read
- 1st April 2016
APA Referencing – How to Cite a Journal Article
Developed by the American Psychological Association, APA referencing is used in many subject areas for citing academic sources. Moreover, since referencing is a key part of academic writing, it’s important to know how to use different source types. Herein, we cover the basics of how to cite a journal article using APA (7th edition).
In-Text Citations for a Journal Article
All in-text citations in APA use a parenthetical ‘author–date’ format, so citing a source requires the author name and year of publication:
Reflection is intrinsic to objectification (Ricoeur, 1976).
When the author is named in the text already, simply provide the year of publication in parentheses:
According to Ricoeur (1976), objectification is a prerequisite for being understood.
Multiple Authors
When a source has more than one author, you should give all authors’ names in the first citation:
Kissell, Nagel and Zabetakis (1973) discuss gas explosions in coal mines.
However, if the source has three or more authors, subsequent citations can be shortened to just the first listed author name plus ‘et al.’ (meaning ‘and others’):
A lack of adequate moisture may increase the severity of dust explosions (Kissell et al., 1973).
Make sure to name all authors in the reference list, though.
Quoting a Source
When quoting a journal article, make sure to include page numbers in the citation:
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Dust explosions in mines ‘may or may not be triggered by a gas explosion’ (Kissell et al., 1973, p. 891).
If you have named author in the text, though, you should give the year of publication immediately afterwards. You can then give the page numbers in brackets after the quote:
For Ricoeur (1976), objectification occurs ‘as soon as life is no longer simply lived, but begins to understand itself’ (p. 693).
Journal Articles in an APA Reference List
All journal articles cited in your work must appear in a reference list at the end of your document. Entries in this list should include full publication information, with sources sorted by author surname. For instance:
Author Name(s) and Initial(s) (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, Volume Number (Issue Number), Pages.
The Ricoeur essay cited above would therefore appear as:
Ricoeur, P. (1976). History and hermeneutics. The Journal of Philosophy, 73(19), 683-695.
Finally, if you’re citing an online version of a journal article, the reference list should also provide a relevant URL or DOI. For example:
Kissell, F. N., Nagel, A. E., and Zabetakis, M. G. (1973). Coal mine explosions: Seasonal trends. Science, 179(4076), 891-892. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1735346
