Cite journal articles in MLA
Learn how to cite journal articles in MLA style. Use correct templates for single and multiple authors, print and online articles, with or without DOIs to reference sources accurately in your writing.
In-text citations
Place direct quotes between double quotation marks (" ") and provide the page number(s) from the journal.
| Citation format | Example |
| Paraphrasing | Grosvenor analyses the history of film adaptation of comics by studying …. (53). |
| Direct quote | Many of the early comic series have created “origin stories of key characters and superhero teams, including Superman, the Suicide Squad, and Batgirl” (Grosvenor 52). |
Works cited
- Give the title of the article in quotation marks.
- If the source is an abstract, letter or review, add ‘Abstract’, ‘Letter to the editor’ or ‘Review of … (name the work being reviewed)’ after the author’s name.
- Give journal name in italics.
- DOI is preferred, if available. Your DOI link should start with: https://doi.org/
Online
Add the website name if it's different from the name of the journal.
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. “Title of Article.” Journal Name, volume, issue, year, page range. Database, doi/URL. |
| Works cited entry |
Taber, Nancy. “Detectives and Bail Bonds ‘Persons’ as Fairy Tale Hero/ines: A Feminist Antimilitarist Analysis of Grimm and Once Upon a Time.” Gender Forum, no. 44, 2013, pp. 13-27, www.genderforum.org/index.php?id=731. |
Database
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. “Title of Article.” Journal Name, volume, issue, year, page range. Database, doi/URL. |
| Works cited entry |
Speed, Lesley. “Transnational Suburbia: Suburban Settings in Australian Video Games”. Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, vol. 37, no. 2, 2023, pp. 169-181. Taylor & Francis Online, https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2023.2215973 |
| Reference format | Example |
| Template |
Author. “Title of Article.” Journal Name, volume, issue, year, page range. Database, doi/URL. |
| Works cited entry |
Grosvenor, Chris. “Secret Origins: The Disavowal of the Comics Medium within the Promotional Rhetoric of Film Trailers.” Adaptation: The Journal of Literature on Screen Studies, vol. 17, no. 1, 2024, pp. 52–75. Markoff, Gabriel H. H. “The Invisible Barrier: Issue Exhaustion as a Threat to Pluralism in Administrative Rulemaking.” Texas Law Review, vol. 90, no. 4, 2012, pp. 1065–1092. |
In-text citations
Place direct quotes between double quotation marks (" ") and provide the page number(s) from the journal.
| Citation format | Example |
| Paraphrasing | Social media plays an important part in teaching media because (Currie and Kelly 406). |
| Direct quote | Currie and Kelly write, “The meanings we ascribe in everyday contexts are important because they guide our interactions with others, as well as how we engage with the experienced reality of our situation” (408). |
Works cited
- Give the title of the article in quotation marks.
- Give journal name in italics.
- DOI is preferred if available. Your DOI should start with https://doi.org/
Online
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. “Title of Article.” Journal Name, volume, issue, year, page range. Database, doi/URL. |
| Works cited entry |
Kuykendal, Leslee Farish, and Brian W. Sturm. “We Said Feminist Fairy Tales, Not Fractured Fairy Tales! The Construction of the Feminist Fairy Tale: Female Agency over Role Reversal.” Children and Libraries, vol. 5, no. 3, 2007, pp. 38-41, www.michelepolak.com/3003spring2014/Weekly_Schedule_files/Kuykendal%20.pdf. |
DOI
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. “Title of Article.” Journal Name, volume, issue, year, page range. Database, doi/URL. |
| Works cited entry |
"Smith, Margaret E., and Drew Bird. “Fairy Tales, Landscapes and Metaphor in Supervision: An Exploratory Study.” Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, vol. 14, no. 1, 2014, pp. 2–9. CINAHL, https://doi.org/10.1080/14733145.2013.779732. |
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. “Title of Article.” Journal Name, volume, issue, year, page range. Database, doi/URL. |
| Works cited entry |
Currie, Dawn H., and Deirdre M. Kelly. “Critical Social Literacy: Media Engagement as an Exercise of Power.” The Review of Education/Pedagogy/Cultural Studies, vol. 44, no. 5, 2022, pp. 406–446. Hsieh, Ivy, and Haoyin Matoush. “Filial Daughter, Woman Warrior, or Identity-Seeking Fairytale Princess: Fostering Critical Awareness Through Mulan.” Children's Literature in Education, vol. 43, no. 3, 2012, pp. 213–222. |
In-text citations
Place direct quotes between double quotation marks (" ") and provide the page number(s) from the journal.
| Citation format | Example |
| Paraphrasing | Characters in Caldecotts' works are … (Koss 26) |
| Direct quote | Foreman et al. explain, “If the source and the target are too incomparable, high conceptual tension may be evoked, overwhelming the consumer such that the metaphor is not resolved” (170). |
Works cited
- Give the title of the article in quotation marks.
- Give journal name in italics.
- DOI is preferred, if available. Your DOI should start with: https://doi.org/
Online
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. “Title of Article.” Journal Name, volume, issue, year, page range. Database, doi/URL. |
| Works cited entry |
Featherston, Rachel, et al. “Seeking Greener Pages: An Analysis of Reader Response to Australian Eco – Crime Fiction.” Australian Humanities Review, no. 71, pp. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.56449/14233338. |
Database
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. “Title of Article.” Journal Name, volume, issue, year, page range. Database, doi/URL. |
| Works cited entry |
Foreman, Jeffrey R., et al. “The Role of Imagination in Consumers' Processing of Visual Metaphors in Prescription Drug Advertising.” Health Marketing Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 3, 2019, pp. 169–185. Taylor & Francis, https://doi.org/10.1080/07359683.2019.1618006. Luckman, Susan, et al. “'The Devil Is in the Level': Understanding Inequality in Australia's Film, TV and Radio Industries.” Media International Australia, vol. 176, no. 1, 2020, pp. 3–18. SAGE Journals, https://doi.org/1177/1329878X19892772. |
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. “Title of Article.” Journal Name, volume, issue, year, page range. Database, doi/URL. |
| Works cited entry |
Koss, Melanie D., et al. “Meeting Characters In Caldecotts: What Does This Mean For Today's Readers?” Reading Teacher, vol. 70, no. 1, 2016, pp. 19–28. |
Abstract
Add ‘Abstract.’ after the author’s name.
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Author. “Title of Article.” Journal Name, volume, issue, year, page range. Database, doi/URL. |
| Works cited entry |
Tesar, Marek, et al. Abstract. “Forever Young: Childhoods, Fairy Tales and Philosophy.” Global Studies of Childhood, vol. 6, no. 2, 2016, pp. 222–233. Sage Premier 2017, https://doi.org/10.1177/2043610616647642. |
In-text citations
Place direct quotes between double quotation marks (" ") and provide the page number(s) from the journal.
| Citation format | Example |
| Paraphrasing |
Smith and Bird's view on collaborative supervision … (2). Mark-Elliot Finley argues that the Harry Potter novel is very similar to a poem about … (137). |
| Direct quote |
"In conclusion, a collaborative supervision relationship can be used to enhance a therapist’s ability to …" (Smith and Bird 10). The Harry Potter novel “Goblet of Fire, if read in parallel with Beowulf, presents us with mirrors and inversions of the Beowulfian duel sequence, highlighting thematic and characterological analogues between Harry and Beowulf” (Finley 138). |
Works cited
- Give the title of the article in quotation marks.
- Give journal name in italics.
| Reference format | Example |
| Template | Authors. “Title of Article.” Journal Name, volume, number, year, page range. Database, DOI/URL. |
| Works cited entry |
Finley, Mark-Elliot. “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Beowulf: Rowling’s Beowulfian Allusions, Analogues, and Inversions.” Mythlore, vol. 43, no. 2, 2025, pp. 137–60. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/48820334. Moran, W., "Enhancing understanding of teaching and the profession through school innovation rounds." Australian Journal of Teacher Education, vol. 39, no.3, 2014, pp. 68-85, ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/. Taber, Nancy. “Detectives and Bail Bonds ‘Persons’ as Fairy Tale Hero/ines: A Feminist Antimilitarist Analysis of Grimm and Once Upon a Time.” Gender Forum, no. 44, 2013, pp. 13-27, www.genderforum.org/index.php?id=731. |