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Citing Sources: Citing journal articles, newspapers, and other documents

A guide to citing sources in MLA, APA, and Chicago format.

General Tips

General rules

If your source lacks one of the ingredients in the reference, you can ignore that ingredient and continue. For instance, if your book doesn‟t list an author, you can skip it and go on to the title.

Pay close attention to capitalization and italicized text.

For correct information, such as the book title, place of publication, and publisher, consult the title page of the book (not the book‟s cover). The copyright date is found on the page after the title page, next to the © symbol. For example, © 2009.

  • Book titles – Capitalize the first word of the title and the first word of the subtitle that comes after a colon. Capitalize proper nouns. Italicize entire title. 
    • Example: Making learning whole: How seven principles of teaching can transform education.
  • Article titles – capitalize first word of the title and subtitle only. No italics. No quotation marks. No underlining.
    • Example: Appraising, researching and conceptualizing criminal thinking: A personal view.
  • Journal titles – capitalize and italicize all significant words of the title.
    • Example: Journal of Psychology
  • Author names - When listing the author(s) of a source, a number of general rules should be followed across all publication formats. List an author‟s last name and use initials for the first and middle names. Include a space between the first and middle initial.

One Author                      
Lopez, M. T.

Two Authors                     
Lopez, M. T., & Fox, J.

Three or more Authors         
List each name for up to 19 authors. For 20 or more authors, after the 19th name use an ellipsis (three dots) … then put the final name after the ellipsis.

Organization as Author      
Pima Community College.

No Author                        
Skip the author and begin with title.

Examples

General Format for Articles

 The digital object identifier (DOI) link has a specific code which makes published articles easier to identify and retrieve online. If possible, always use the DOI instead of the url.

 Electronic or print journal article with DOI

  Author Surname, Initials. (Year). Title of article. Title of Publication, volume number(issue number), pages.

DOI or url

 Electronic or print journal article without DOI

  Author Surname, Initials. (Year). Title of article. Title of Publication, volume number(issue number), pages.

url

 

Note: Links can be either active or inactive (ask your instructor if they have a preference)

 

Print Journal Article

Walters, G. (2006, June). Appraising, researching and conceptualizing criminal thinking: A personal view.

Criminal Behaviour & Mental Health, 16(2), 87-99.

 

Journal Article from a library database

Klein, A. (2018). Creative people have more mental health issues. New Scientist, 238(3177), 6. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0262-4079(18)30819-4

Use the DOI link rather than the url. You can use the PDF version of the article (if available) to get the correct page range.

 

Electronic Journal Article without a DOI

Viemero, V. (1996). Factors in childhood that predict later criminal behavior. Aggressive Behavior,

22(2), 87-97. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/32356/home

 

Newspaper Article (from a library database)

Birt, L., & Smith, T. (2017, August 20). How parking meters are helping to fund programs for the homeless.

       Arizona Republic, C1. http://0-search.proquest.com.library2.pima.edu/docview/1930223284? 

       accountid=13194

 

Online Newspaper Article from a website

Jayson, S. (2014, June 21). Gender loses its impact with the young. USA Today. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/21/gender-millennials-dormitories-sex/10573099/

 

Editorial article

Kennedy, M. S. (2014). Nursing homes: A misnomer [Editorial]. American Journal of Nursing, 114(11), 7.

       https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000456406.24376.9a

 

Conference paper

Karmel, T. (2009, November 5-6). Skilling and reskilling for our (greener) future [Paper presentation].

       Economic and Social Outlook Conference, Melbourne, Australia.

 

Government document

National Cancer Institute. (2011). Anyone can get skin cancer (NIH Publication No. 11-7682). U.S. Department

       of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health.

       https://pubs.cancer.gov/ncip/detail_aspx?prodid=P237i​

 

Items in green indicate variations in the citation based on the format.