How to Cite a Journal Article in MLA 9 — Free Generator

To cite a journal article in MLA 9: Author. "Article Title." Journal Name, vol. X, no. Y, Year, pp. A–B. DOI. Example: Lee, Sarah J. "Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Academic Performance." Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 45, no. 3, 2022, pp. 12–28. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000123.

The free citation generator handles the formatting. Below are specific rules for scholarly, popular, and database-accessed journals.

MLA 9 journal article format

Author. "Article Title." Journal Name, vol. #, no. #, Year, pp. XX–XX. DOI.

• Author: Last, First.
• Article Title: In quotation marks, title case.
• Journal Name: Italicized, title case.
• vol. X: Volume number with "vol." prefix.
• no. Y: Issue number with "no." prefix. Include when available.
• Year: Publication year only.
• pp. A–B: Page range with "pp." prefix. Use en-dash (12–28, not 12-28).
• DOI: Full URL format (https://doi.org/...) or just the DOI string.

DOI vs URL in MLA 9

MLA 9 prefers DOI over URL when available. DOIs are permanent identifiers that survive website changes.

With DOI: Lee, Sarah J. "Effects of Sleep Deprivation." Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 45, no. 3, 2022, pp. 12–28. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000123.

Without DOI (use URL): Lee, Sarah J. "Effects of Sleep Deprivation." Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 45, no. 3, 2022, pp. 12–28. ournal.com/article.

Only include ONE — either DOI or URL, not both. MLA 9 lets you shorten "https://" in URLs, though including it is fine.

For articles accessed through databases (JSTOR, EBSCO, ProQuest), prefer DOI. If only a database URL exists, MLA 9 allows citing the database name: ..., 2022, pp. 12–28. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/12345.

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Multiple authors

• 1 author: Lee, Sarah J.
• 2 authors: Lee, Sarah J., and Robert T. Smith.
• 3+ authors: Lee, Sarah J., et al.

In-text citations mirror this: (Lee 45), (Lee and Smith 45), (Lee et al. 45).

The generator supports one author. For multiple, generate with the first and manually add the rest.

In-text citations for journal articles

MLA 9 in-text: (Author page-number). For journal articles:

• (Lee 18) — standard paraphrase or quote.
• (Lee 18–20) — for a paraphrase spanning multiple pages.
• (Lee, "Sleep Deprivation" 18) — if you cite multiple works by the same author.

Unlike APA, MLA 9 doesn't include the year. Just author and page.

For quoting multiple pages: (Lee 18–20). Use an en-dash, not hyphen.

Popular magazines vs scholarly journals

MLA 9 treats popular magazines (Time, The Atlantic, The New Yorker) and scholarly journals similarly, with minor differences:

Scholarly journal: Include volume and issue number. Example: Lee, Sarah J. "Research Article." Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 45, no. 3, 2022, pp. 12–28.

Popular magazine: Omit volume/issue; include specific date if available. Example: Smith, John. "Climate Change." The Atlantic, Mar. 2024, pp. 45–60.

Online-only publications: Skip page range if unavailable. Include URL or DOI.

The generator produces the scholarly journal format. For popular magazines, generate the base citation and adjust (remove volume/issue, add specific date if applicable).

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I include issue number if the journal has continuous pagination?

MLA 9 recommends always including the issue number when it's available, regardless of pagination style. That's a change from older MLA versions where "issue required only for certain journals" was the rule.

Should I include the database name (JSTOR, EBSCO)?

Only if there's no DOI. MLA 9 recommends DOI first, database-with-URL second. If the article has a DOI, skip the database name.

Do I use "http" or "https" for DOI URLs?

MLA 9 recommends https://doi.org/[DOI]. The generator includes the full https:// prefix.

What if the article is "forthcoming" or "online first" (no page numbers yet)?

Cite what's available. Use "forthcoming" in place of page numbers if not yet published: ..., vol. 45, no. 3, 2022, forthcoming. https://doi.org/.../.