How do you cite a journal article in MLA 9th edition?

Author. "Article Title." Journal Title, vol. #, no. #, Date, pp. #-#, then a DOI, permalink, or URL. The Style Center's current database example is Goldman, Anne. “Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante.” The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, spring 2010, pp. 69-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.

Do I write doi: or https://doi.org/ in MLA 9?

Write https://doi.org/ plus the identifier. Handbook 5.93 says DOIs should always be preceded by https://doi.org/. The compact doi:10. form appears on some older Style Center posts, including the Kormelink early-access examples; follow 5.93 for a ninth-edition paper.

Do I include the database name if the article has a DOI?

You can, and the official Bockelman example does: Project Muse, then https://doi.org/10.1353/mod.2016.0011. Name the database you used as the second container, then give the DOI or permalink as that container's location. Do not paste a proxied search URL.

Should I include volume, issue, and month for every journal?

Include every number and date element the issue prints. Baron keeps Jan. 2013; Goldman keeps spring 2010; Adams keeps fall 2009; Berman has a year only. Skip no. when there is no issue number. Do not invent a month for a year-only issue.

How do I cite an online journal article with no page numbers?

Omit pp. and end with the DOI or URL. The 2016 Style Center Berman pair is the location model: DOI only, or pages plus DOI when a paginated copy helps. In the text, cite the author only: (Berman). If a PDF or a database record supplies the original pages, you may add them. For an HTML database copy, Frycek keeps pp. 16+ in Works Cited and drops the page in the sentence.

How do I cite a journal article with two authors in MLA?

Invert the first name, then write and and the second name in normal order. The Style Center's example is Kormelink, Tim Groot, and Irene Costera Meijer. In parentheses, write (Kormelink and Meijer 640). For three or more authors, use the first name plus et al., as in Adams, Peter, et al.

Do MLA journal citations need an access date?

Usually no. A DOI or a permalink is enough to recover the article. Add an access date only if your instructor requires one or the work is likely to change and has no stable identifier. Do not cite the day you saved the PDF as the publication date.

How is an MLA journal citation different from APA?

MLA puts the article title in quotation marks and title case, writes vol. and no., uses pp., and cites (Author 194) with no year and no comma. APA sentence-cases the article title, italicizes the volume, drops pp. in the reference, writes article numbers, and cites (Author, Year, p. 194). Use the APA journal guide if that is the assigned style.

What if I read an early-access article that later got volume and issue numbers?

Cite the version you consulted. The Style Center's Kormelink pair shows the difference: 5 Feb. 2019 with no volume while the article is ahead of print, then vol. 41, no. 5, 1 July 2019, pp. 637-53 once the issue exists. Update the entry if you later use the issue version. Convert doi: to https://doi.org/ in a ninth-edition paper.

How to Cite a Journal Article in MLA (9th Edition) [2026]

How to Cite a Journal Article in MLA: Quick Answer

Name the author, put the article title in quotation marks and title case, italicize the journal, and fill only the slots the issue actually prints. Write vol. before the volume and no. before the issue. If the issue is dated with a month or a season, keep that word with the year — lowercase the season. Add p. or pp. when the copy is paginated. For an online article, end with a DOI written as https://doi.org/... whenever one exists. If there is no DOI, use a permalink; if there is no permalink, use a URL and usually drop https://. Pair every Works Cited line with an in-text citation that uses the author and a page number when the source has pages.

MLA 9 journal templates

Works Cited, print journal:

Last, First. "Article Title." Journal Title, vol. #, no. #, Mon. Year, pp. #-#.

Works Cited, article with a DOI:

Last, First. "Article Title." Journal Title, vol. #, no. #, Mon. Year, pp. #-#. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Works Cited, database article with a DOI:

Last, First. "Article Title." Journal Title, vol. #, no. #, Mon. Year, pp. #-#. Database, https://doi.org/xxxxx

Works Cited, database article with a permalink and no DOI:

Last, First. "Article Title." Journal Title, vol. #, no. #, Season Year, pp. #-#. Database, www.example.org/stable/xxxxx

Works Cited, two authors:

Last, First, and First Last. "Article Title." Journal Title, vol. #, no. #, Day Mon. Year, pp. #-#. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Works Cited, three or more authors:

Last, First, et al. "Article Title." Journal Title, vol. #, no. #, Season Year, pp. #-#.

Parenthetical citation:

(Baron 194)

Citation in prose:

Naomi Baron argues that reading is "just half of literacy" (194).

MLA 9 journal articles at a glance
What you opened	Works Cited ends with	In-text locator
Print issue in hand	Volume, issue, date, pages. No URL.	Author and print page
Publisher site or PDF with a DOI	`https://doi.org/...`, plus pages if they help	Author and page if the PDF is paginated
JSTOR, Project Muse, or another database	Database name, then DOI or permalink	Author and original page range when the record supplies one
HTML copy with no on-screen pages	Original print pages in the first container; author only in the text	Author only — Frycek is the model
Online-only article, no pages	DOI or URL; omit `pp.`	Author only
Journal that uses article numbers	Volume, issue, date; omit the article number	Author only, unless a PDF supplies pages you actually used

An earlier draft of this page invented 2024–2025 Cognitive Science Review, Physics Today, and Environmental Science Quarterly articles, and it told readers to write doi:10.1234/... without https://doi.org/. Those fabricated citations and that DOI prefix are gone. The 2026 refresh also stops copying the 2016 Style Center shortening of Russell A. Berman’s title. Use the official Style Center and MLA Handbook strings below.

The Official Rule, from the MLA Handbook

A journal article uses the same nine core elements as a book. The article title is the source. The journal is the first container. Volume and issue go in the Number slot as vol. 64, no. 1, not 64.1. The publisher slot is usually empty for a periodical. The Style Center's citations-by-format page says to fill only the elements that apply, in template order. For anything you opened online, the location test is in Handbook 5.84 and 5.93, restated on the library-database-no-DOI post (updated 30 October 2024) and the page-range-and-DOI post. Seasons and nonconsecutive pages are 5.79 and 5.92, printed on the Closer Look page.

MLA Handbook wording the Style Center reprints

To use the template, evaluate the work you’re citing to see which elements apply to the source. Then, list each element relevant to your source in the order given on the template.

the location, in order of preference, is the DOI, permalink, or URL.

For online works, the location, in order of preference, is the DOI, permalink, or URL

DOIs should always be preceded by https://doi.org/

http:// and https:// can usually be omitted in permalinks and URLs

Seasons included as part of a publication date should be lowercased (5.79).

If a work in a periodical (e.g., a journal, a magazine, or a newspaper) is nonconsecutively paginated, include only the first page number, followed by a plus sign (5.92).

A DOI should be preceded by “https://doi.org/” (5.93).

Those sentences are why a DOI beats a JSTOR session link, why doi:10.1353/... is the old compact form rather than current Handbook 5.93, why an ordinary permalink can start at www., and why Goldman is spring 2010 rather than Spring 2010. The Style Center's current journal-in-a-database example is still Goldman.

Official Style Center journal-in-a-database example

Works Cited (Citations by Format, still current):

Goldman, Anne. “Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante.” The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, spring 2010, pp. 69-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.

Journal vs Magazine vs Newspaper vs Webpage

MLA uses one core-element template for every periodical, but the extras change. A scholarly journal usually prints a volume and an issue and is dated by year, month, or season. A magazine often wants a cover date and may skip volume numbering. A newspaper wants the day and often a section-letter page such as A1. A news-site story or a blog post is a website, not a journal: italicize the site, not a volume. PMLA, The Georgia Review, Journal of Basic Writing, Modernism/Modernity, and ADFL Bulletin stay journals even when you download the PDF. The Atlantic feature in the Style Center's website example is not a journal article. Pollution Engineering in the Frycek example is a trade periodical the Style Center still treats with the periodical template, including vol. and no.

Which MLA 9 format the piece actually uses
What you opened	Treat it as	Italicize	Typical extras
PMLA, The Georgia Review, Journal of Basic Writing	Journal article	The journal title	`vol.` / `no.`, season or month, pages, DOI or database permalink
Time, The New Yorker, Washington Monthly	Magazine article	The magazine title	Cover date; volume and issue only when printed
The New York Times, a campus daily	Newspaper article	The newspaper title	Day Month Year, section pages, URL if online
A news-site story or a standalone web essay	Work on a website	The website name	Publisher if it differs from the site, date, URL

Anatomy of an MLA 9 Journal Works Cited Line

Read the PDF first page, the HTML landing page, or the database record — not a citation generator's first guess. Journal titles keep The when the journal uses it (The Georgia Review). Seasons are lowercase (spring 2010, fall 2009). Months longer than four letters are abbreviated (Jan., Sept., Nov.). Page ranges may be shortened (pp. 637-53) the way the Style Center printed Kormelink. Do not write the publisher of a journal unless you are citing something other than the periodical itself.

Where each MLA 9 journal element comes from
Element	What to write	Where students go wrong
Author	Byline inverted; first of two names inverted, second in normal order; three or more as First Last, et al.	Listing every name after two, or writing the journal in the author slot
Article title	Title case, quotation marks, period after the closing quote	Sentence-casing the title as APA would, or italicizing the article
Journal title	Italic title case, including The when the masthead uses it	Dropping The, writing the database name here, or using the ISSN
Number	`vol. 23, no. 1`	Writing `23.1`, `#1`, `issue 1`, or an article number such as `e12345`
Date	Year, plus month or season when the issue prints one	Using only the year on a monthly, inventing a day, or citing the date you downloaded the PDF
Pages	`p.` or `pp.` plus the range from the version you used; `16+` if pages are not continuous	Omitting pages that exist, inventing pages for an HTML reflow, or repeating pages after the database name
Online location	DOI as `https://doi.org/...`, else permalink, else URL	Writing `doi:10.` or pasting a proxied search-session link
Second container	Database or platform name, italic, then its location	Skipping JSTOR when that is how you recovered the article, or repeating the page range there

Print Journal Article: Baron and Hallamore

Naomi S. Baron's PMLA essay is the Style Center's current in-text demonstration piece and a real January 2013 article (vol. 128, no. 1, pp. 193–200; DOI 10.1632/pmla.2013.128.1.193). If you held the print issue, the Works Cited line stops after the pages. If you opened the same essay online, add the DOI or the database you used. Do not add both a DOI and a second ordinary URL. The Closer Look page uses G. Joyce Hallamore's September 1959 PMLA essay to show the month abbreviation: Sept., not September.

Official Style Center print-journal strings

Works Cited (In-Text Citations: An Overview):

Baron, Naomi S. “Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media.” PMLA, vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193–200.

Works Cited (Closer Look, month abbreviation):

Hallamore, G. Joyce. “The Symbolism of the Marble Muse in Stifter’s Nachsommer.” PMLA, vol. 74, no. 4, Sept. 1959, pp. 398–405.

Journal Article with a DOI

Handbook 5.93 wants the DOI written as a URL. The library-database-no-DOI post uses Bockelman to show a Project Muse article that still ends with https://doi.org/. The Closer Look page reprints the same DOI rule with Russell A. Berman’s ADFL Bulletin essay. Crossref lists that essay as “The Necessity of Second-Language Learning,” vol. 43, no. 2, 2015, pp. 11-14, DOI 10.1632/adfl.43.2.11. The older page-range-and-DOI post (11 August 2016) still teaches the two legal location options — DOI only, or pages plus DOI — but it shortens the title to “The Necessity of Language Learning” and drops the middle initial. Quote that 2016 pair for the location lesson; write the Crossref / Closer Look title in your own paper.

Official Style Center DOI examples

Database plus DOI (Bockelman):

Bockelman, Brian. “Buenos Aires Bohème: Argentina and the Transatlantic Bohemian Renaissance, 1890–1910.” Modernism/Modernity, vol. 23, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 37–63. Project Muse, https://doi.org/10.1353/mod.2016.0011.

Ninth-edition title (Closer Look / Crossref):

Berman, Russell A. “The Necessity of Second-Language Learning.” ADFL Bulletin, vol. 43, no. 2, 2015, pp. 11–14, https://doi.org/10.1632/adfl.43.2.11.

2016 post, DOI only (shortened title):

Berman, Russell. “The Necessity of Language Learning.” ADFL Bulletin, vol. 43, no. 2, 2015, https://doi.org/10.1632/adfl.43.2.11.

2016 post, pages plus DOI (shortened title):

Berman, Russell. “The Necessity of Language Learning.” ADFL Bulletin, vol. 43, no. 2, 2015, pp. 11-14, https://doi.org/10.1632/adfl.43.2.11.

Journal Article from a Database

When the first container is the journal and the second is the database, put pages with the journal and the DOI or permalink with the database. Do not repeat the page range after JSTOR. Goldman is the Style Center's current no-DOI database model. The practice-template quiz walks through J. Adam Johns's real November 2010 Science Fiction Studies essay on JSTOR (vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 382-400, stable/25746440); the finished line below is assembled from those official facts, not copied from a printed Style Center sample. If a database record gives the original print pages for an HTML copy, keep those pages in the first container — the database page-range post says the database is not a new edition.

Database journal examples

Official Style Center (Goldman, no DOI):

Goldman, Anne. “Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante.” The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, spring 2010, pp. 69-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.

Assembled from Style Center practice-template facts (Johns):

Johns, J. Adam. “Becoming Medusa: Octavia Butler’s Lilith’s Brood and Sociobiology.” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 37, no. 3, Nov. 2010, pp. 382-400. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25746440.

HTML Copy, Original Pages, and No In-Text Page

The database page-range post uses a real June 2004 Pollution Engineering article by James G. Frycek and colleagues. Academic OneFile supplied the original print start page, so the Works Cited line keeps pp. 16+. The HTML copy itself has no page numbers, so the in-text citation names the authors and stops. Copy the official Gale URL only as a Style Center specimen: it is a session link (u=nysl_li_jhsch). In your own paper, prefer a DOI or a stable permalink.

Official Style Center HTML-from-database example

They generally are not considered a republished version of the work, and so it is insufficient to provide information only about the database version.

But since the version quoted has no page numbers, no page number is given in the in-text citation

In prose (Style Center):

James G. Frycek and colleagues argue that “[o]xygen delivery is an important factor in promoting the proliferation and growth of aerobic microorganisms when biologically degrading chemical contaminants such as petroleum hydrocarbons.”

Works Cited (Style Center):

Frycek, James G., et al. “Aerobic Bioremediation: Progresses to the Next Level.” Pollution Engineering, vol. 36, no. 6, June 2004, pp. 16+. Academic OneFile, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A118494258/AONE?u=nysl_li_jhsch&sid= AONE&xid=a5cefcec.

Two Authors and Three or More Authors

Invert only the first name. Two authors take a comma and and before the second name in normal order. Three or more authors take the first name plus et al. in the Works Cited line and in parentheses. In prose, the Style Center prefers the first author's name plus "and colleagues" or "and others," not et al. The early-access post — flagged as eighth-edition content — gives a real two-author article by Tim Groot Kormelink and Irene Costera Meijer. That post still prints the older doi: prefix; Handbook 5.93 now wants https://doi.org/ if you are following the ninth edition rather than copying the post's punctuation. The Closer Look page gives the current three-or-more model: Adams, Peter, et al., Journal of Basic Writing, fall 2009 (DOI 10.37514/jbw-j.2009.28.2.04).

Official Style Center two-author and three-author strings

Early-access version (Style Center, 8th-ed. post):

Kormelink, Tim Groot, and Irene Costera Meijer. “Material and Sensory Dimensions of Everyday News Use.” Media, Culture, and Society, 5 Feb. 2019. Sage Journals, doi:10.1177/0163443718810910.

Same article after the issue appeared (Style Center):

Kormelink, Tim Groot, and Irene Costera Meijer. “Material and Sensory Dimensions of Everyday News Use.” Media, Culture, and Society, vol. 41, no. 5, 1 July 2019, pp. 637-53. Sage Journals, doi:10.1177/0163443718810910.

Ninth-edition DOI form of the published version:

Three or more authors (Closer Look / 5.79):

Adams, Peter, et al. “The Accelerated Learning Program: Throwing Open the Gates.” Journal of Basic Writing, vol. 28, no. 2, fall 2009, pp. 50–69.

Official Style Center wording on et al. in prose

Reserve the use of the abbreviation et al. for the list of works cited and parenthetical citations. In the text, spell out the authors’ names or, if you are referring to a work by several authors, state the name of the first-listed author, followed by “and others.”

Journals That Use Article Numbers

Many STEM journals paginate each article from page 1 and give an article number or eLocator instead of a continuous issue range. APA 7 writes Article e12345 in that slot. MLA does not. The Style Center's article-number post — flagged as eighth-edition content, and still the live answer — says to omit the article number and the restart-at-1 pages. The official example is James W. Boyd and Tetsuya Nishimura's October 2004 Journal of Religion and Film essay in Digital Commons@UNO. If a later paginated PDF is the copy you actually read, you may add those pages the way Berman's optional page form does. Do not invent Art. 12345 to look more complete.

Official Style Center article-number example

Omit the article number and page numbers, as shown in the example below, because the name of the author and the title of the journal are sufficient to lead your reader to the article.

Works Cited (Style Center):

Boyd, James W., and Tetsuya Nishimura. “Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki’s Anime Film Spirited Away.” Journal of Religion and Film, vol. 8, no. 3, Oct. 2004. Digital Commons@UNO, digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol8/iss3/.

In-Text Citations for Journal Articles

The in-text overview uses Baron to show the two legal shapes: name the author in the sentence and put only the page in parentheses, or put author and page together with no comma. Do not repeat the author in both places. There is no year in a standard MLA parenthetical citation. If the article has no page or other part number, the unpaginated-works post quotes the Handbook: no number should be given in a parenthetical citation.

Official Style Center in-text wording

Naomi Baron broke new ground on the subject.

At least one researcher has broken new ground on the subject (Baron).

According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (194).

Reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (Baron 194).

All in-text references should be concise. Avoid, for instance, providing the author’s name or title of a work in both your prose and parentheses.

When a source has no page numbers or any other kind of part number, no number should be given in a parenthetical citation

In-text patterns for the official journal examples

Correct, author in prose:

According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (194).

Correct, author in parentheses:

Reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (Baron 194).

Incorrect (author twice):

According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (Baron 194).

Two authors:

(Kormelink and Meijer 640)

Three or more authors:

(Adams et al. 55)

Three or more, in prose:

Peter Adams and others describe the Accelerated Learning Program (50–69).

HTML copy with no on-screen pages:

(Frycek et al.)

Online article with no pages:

(Berman)

Months, Seasons, Volumes, and Missing Issues

Since the eighth edition, an issue dated with a month or season always keeps that word with the year. Goldman is spring 2010, Adams is fall 2009, Baron is Jan. 2013, Hallamore is Sept. 1959, Bockelman is Jan. 2016. Do not upgrade a season to a fake day. If the journal numbers only volumes, write vol. 44 and skip no. If there is no volume, skip vol. Do not invent a volume from a database accession number. A special-issue title is extra information, not a substitute for volume, issue, and pages; cite the article you used.

Date and numbering as the Style Center printed them

Season plus year (Goldman):

vol. 64, no. 1, spring 2010, pp. 69-88

Season plus year (Adams):

vol. 28, no. 2, fall 2009, pp. 50–69

Abbreviated month plus year (Baron):

vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193–200

Abbreviated month plus year (Hallamore):

vol. 74, no. 4, Sept. 1959, pp. 398–405

Year only (Berman):

vol. 43, no. 2, 2015

Full issue date after publication (Kormelink):

vol. 41, no. 5, 1 July 2019, pp. 637-53

Nonconsecutive pages (Frycek):

vol. 36, no. 6, June 2004, pp. 16+

Failure Modes Students Actually Hit

Writing `doi:10.` in a ninth-edition paper. Handbook 5.93 wants https://doi.org/. Keep that prefix on DOIs even though ordinary URLs usually drop https://.
Pasting a proxied database URL. Prefer the DOI, then a stable/permalink such as www.jstor.org/stable/41403188. The official Frycek Gale link is a teaching specimen, not a model to copy: a search-session URL with your campus proxy will die.
Omitting the database you actually used. Goldman and Bockelman both name JSTOR or Project Muse as a second container. The DOI does not erase that container.
Treating a journal like APA. MLA uses title case and quotation marks for the article, vol./no., pp., and no year in the parenthetical citation. APA uses sentence case, italic volume, and (Author, Year). APA also writes article numbers; MLA's live Style Center answer is to omit them.
Copying the 2016 shortened Berman title. Crossref and the 9th-edition Closer Look page use “The Necessity of Second-Language Learning” and Russell A. Berman. The 2016 location post is still useful for DOI-only versus pages-plus-DOI.
*Dropping The from The Georgia Review. Keep the article on the masthead. PMLA has no The*; do not add one.
Inventing pages or an article number. If the PDF has pages, you may include them, as Berman shows. If it does not, omit pp. Do not write Art. 12345 to fill the slot. Boyd is the official omit-the-number model.
Citing the date you downloaded the file. Use the issue date. Access dates are optional and usually unnecessary once a DOI or permalink is present.
Repeating pages in the second container. Pages belong with the journal. The database location is the DOI or permalink.
A comma between author and page. MLA writes (Baron 194), not (Baron, 194) and not (Baron 2013).
Using `et al.` in the sentence. Works Cited and parentheses take et al.; prose takes “and others” or “and colleagues,” as the Frycek sentence does.
Citing a magazine, newspaper, or web essay as a journal. Match the publication type. This URL is only for scholarly journal articles in MLA.

Where to Find the Facts

The article PDF or first HTML page. Author, title, journal, volume, issue, date, and DOI are usually in the header or the footer.
The database record. Use it to confirm the original page range and to copy a stable URL, not to invent a volume.
Crossref or the journal site. If the PDF hides the DOI, find the DOI and learn how DOIs work before you fall back to a URL. Crossref is also how this page restored Berman’s full title.
The Style Center examples on this page. Copy their punctuation: period after the article title, commas inside the container, lowercase spring and fall, vol. and no.
The copy you actually read. A print Baron line and a JSTOR Goldman line are different sources even when the essay also exists in another format.

This Page versus APA and Chicago Journal Guides

This URL teaches one task: a scholarly journal article in MLA 9. The APA journal guide uses sentence-case titles, an italic volume, a parenthetical year, https://doi.org/ with no pp. in the reference, and an article number when the journal uses one. The Chicago journal guide splits Notes-Bibliography from Author-Date. The MLA book, website, and newspaper guides cover those source types. If your instructor assigned APA or Chicago, do not force these MLA slots into that paper.

Finish the citation in the MLA generator

Paste a DOI, URL, or title into the MLA citation generator and check the result against Goldman, Baron, Adams, and Bockelman. Database names and https://doi.org/ still need a human look, because a catalog record may hide the issue date, invent pages, or shorten a title the way the 2016 Berman post does. For the assigned style landing page, start at MLA.

Open the MLA generator MLA style overview

MLA journal article citation FAQs

How do you cite a journal article in MLA 9th edition?: Author. "Article Title." Journal Title, vol. #, no. #, Date, pp. #-#, then a DOI, permalink, or URL. The Style Center's current database example is Goldman, Anne. “Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante.” The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, spring 2010, pp. 69-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.
Do I write doi: or https://doi.org/ in MLA 9?: Write https://doi.org/ plus the identifier. Handbook 5.93 says DOIs should always be preceded by https://doi.org/. The compact doi:10. form appears on some older Style Center posts, including the Kormelink early-access examples; follow 5.93 for a ninth-edition paper.
Do I include the database name if the article has a DOI?: You can, and the official Bockelman example does: Project Muse, then https://doi.org/10.1353/mod.2016.0011. Name the database you used as the second container, then give the DOI or permalink as that container's location. Do not paste a proxied search URL.
Should I include volume, issue, and month for every journal?: Include every number and date element the issue prints. Baron keeps Jan. 2013; Goldman keeps spring 2010; Adams keeps fall 2009; Berman has a year only. Skip no. when there is no issue number. Do not invent a month for a year-only issue.
How do I cite an online journal article with no page numbers?: Omit pp. and end with the DOI or URL. The 2016 Style Center Berman pair is the location model: DOI only, or pages plus DOI when a paginated copy helps. In the text, cite the author only: (Berman). If a PDF or a database record supplies the original pages, you may add them. For an HTML database copy, Frycek keeps pp. 16+ in Works Cited and drops the page in the sentence.
How do I cite a journal article with two authors in MLA?: Invert the first name, then write and and the second name in normal order. The Style Center's example is Kormelink, Tim Groot, and Irene Costera Meijer. In parentheses, write (Kormelink and Meijer 640). For three or more authors, use the first name plus et al., as in Adams, Peter, et al.
How do I cite a journal that uses article numbers instead of a page range?: Omit the article number and the restart-at-1 pages. The Style Center's example is Boyd, James W., and Tetsuya Nishimura. “Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki’s Anime Film Spirited Away.” Journal of Religion and Film, vol. 8, no. 3, Oct. 2004. Digital Commons@UNO, digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol8/iss3/. That post is flagged as eighth-edition content; it is still the live Style Center answer. APA's Article eLocator pattern does not transfer.
Do MLA journal citations need an access date?: Usually no. A DOI or a permalink is enough to recover the article. Add an access date only if your instructor requires one or the work is likely to change and has no stable identifier. Do not cite the day you saved the PDF as the publication date.
How is an MLA journal citation different from APA?: MLA puts the article title in quotation marks and title case, writes vol. and no., uses pp., and cites (Author 194) with no year and no comma. APA sentence-cases the article title, italicizes the volume, drops pp. in the reference, writes article numbers, and cites (Author, Year, p. 194). Use the APA journal guide if that is the assigned style.
What if I read an early-access article that later got volume and issue numbers?: Cite the version you consulted. The Style Center's Kormelink pair shows the difference: 5 Feb. 2019 with no volume while the article is ahead of print, then vol. 41, no. 5, 1 July 2019, pp. 637-53 once the issue exists. Update the entry if you later use the issue version. Convert doi: to https://doi.org/ in a ninth-edition paper.