One of the most important skills in academic writing is referencing sources correctly, and APA referencing is one of the most common citation styles around. It is, therefore, pretty handy to know how to cite a journal article with APA referencing (7th edition), especially since academic journals are some of the most useful sources for university work.
Luckily for you, dear reader, you’re looking at a blog post explaining exactly how to do that.
In APA, citing a journal article requires you to provide the author surname and year of publication in parentheses, along with relevant page numbers if quoting directly:
The meaning of an action depends on ‘intentions and thoughts’ (Brodbeck, 1963, p. 309).
This changes when the author is named in the text, since there’s no need to duplicate it in the citation. Instead, simply provide the year of publication immediately after the author name (page numbers still appear after quoted text):
According to Brodbeck (1963), concepts ‘do not themselves refer to anything’ (p. 311).
When citing texts with three or more authors, you should just cite the first listed author’s name and ‘et al.’, which means ‘and others’:
Researchers should use specific devices to measure posture (Kozey-Keadle et al., 2011).
However, you should provide all author names in the reference list.
Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.
APA referencing requires all cited sources to be included in a reference list at the end of your document (with texts listed alphabetically by author surname). The information needed for a journal article is:
Author Surname, Initial(s). (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, Volume (Issue), page range.
Note that APA uses a ‘sentence case’ format in reference lists, so titles require capitalisation for the first word and proper nouns, but should be lower case throughout otherwise.
As such, the Brodbeck article cited above would appear as:
Brodbeck, M. (1963). Meaning and action. Philosophy of Science, 30 (4), pp. 309-324.
If you’re citing an online article, give a DOI or URL in the reference list, too:
Kozey-Keadle, S., Libertine, A., Staudenmayer, J., & Freedson, P. (2011). The feasibility of reducing and measuring sedentary time among overweight, non-exercising office workers. Journal of Obesity, 2012 (12), pp. 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/282303
Δ
3-minute read
Google Docs is a powerful collaborative tool, and mastering its features can significantly enhance your...
2-minute read
If you’re writing about health issues, you might need to reference the Centers for Disease...
5-minute read
Introduction If you’re involved with ecommerce, you’re likely familiar with the often painstaking process of...
Are you interested in learning more about the role of a content editor and the...
4-minute read
Proofreading is important to ensure your writing is clear and concise for your readers. Whether...
Creating presentations can be time-consuming and frustrating. Trying to construct a visually appealing and informative...