top of page

HOW TO REFERENCE A JOURNAL ARTICLE

 

How to distinguish between an electronic and a printed journal article

 

  • Most journal articles, even if accessed online, are also available in print, therefore it is acceptable to reference them as printed journal articles. For example, if you are using a PDF version you have downloaded, you can usually treat this as a printed journal article for referencing purposes, but check with your module tutor whether this is acceptable.

 

  • If it is clear from the data you have that the journal is available only electronically as part of a website or a database, then reference it as an electronic journal article.                                  

 

How to reference a printed journal article

 

In-text citation

 

Write the surname of the author of the article and the year the journal was published in brackets.

  • Whenever you make reference to a specific point in the article, add the page number/s preceded by a colon.

  • For sources with more than three authors, use the surname of the first author followed by ‘et al.’

 

Examples

The majority of undergraduates interviewed reported positively on the use of online marking tools (Jones et al. 2012:23).

Interviews conducted by Jones et al. (2012:23) found that the majority of undergraduates have positive views of online marking tools.

 

Reference

 

Write the author’s surname and initials then the year in brackets then put the title of the article within single quotation marks, followed by a full stop. Give the title of the journal in italics then the volume number followed by the issue number in brackets if there is one, then the pages in between which the article is found after a comma. When you are giving in-text citations you can use ‘et al.’ for more than three authors , but in the List of References you should give all the authors in order to credit them fully.

 

Example

Jones. A., Smith, C., Carolson, B.R., Hong, A., and Michaelson, V. (2012) ‘Online Marking Tools’. Journal of Education  

2 (3),56-99

 

STILL PUZZLED?

WATCH THIS BRIEF VIDEO DEMONSTRATION

© 2016 by Centre for Academic Writing and Coventry University

Based on Deane, M. (2006) Coventry University Harvard Reference Style Guide. Unpublished booklet. Coventry: Coventry University. Version 3.0.4. September 2016. Produced in collaboration with Ray Summers (Illustrations), edited by Catalina Neculai with the assistance of Lisa Ganobcsik- Williams and Erik Borg, and with input from the Coventry University Harvard Reference Style Working Party.

​

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License and cannot be reproduced, edited, or distributed without the prior permission of CAW, Coventry University.

 

    bottom of page