The pattern at a glance
- Article with a DOILast, First. "Title of Article." Journal Name, vol. 32, no. 4, Year, pp. 365-87, https://doi.org/xxxx.
- Article from a database, no DOI... Journal Name, vol. 10, no. 2, Year, pp. 1-20. Database Name, URL.This two-container pattern comes from the MLA Style Center's example for a library database.
- In-text(Last page), e.g. (Flower and Hayes 370)
One article, one or two containers
The journal is the first container of an article. Its details follow the article title in a set order: journal name, volume, issue, date and pages, all separated by commas. MLA writes "vol." and "no." in full lower case before the numbers, unlike APA and Chicago.
When you read the article inside a database such as JSTOR or EBSCO, the database is a second container. MLA's guidance is to add it after the page range, in italics, followed by a DOI or a stable URL. If the article has a DOI, the DOI is enough, because it works regardless of where you found the article.
Authors: one author is inverted, two authors are written "Flower, Linda, and John R. Hayes", and three or more shorten to the first author plus "et al." in the Works Cited entry itself.
Checks after a DOI lookup
- Journal name: Crossref lists Flower and Hayes's journal with an HTML entity ("College Composition & Communication"); the printed name is College Composition and Communication.
- Title capitalisation: MLA uses title case. The engine converts English titles, but check names and acronyms.
- Year: use the year of the issue, not the date the publisher uploaded an older article.
- Page range: MLA shortens the second number, so 365-387 prints as 365-87.
Placing journal entries in your Works Cited list
Works Cited is ordered alphabetically by the first element of each entry, so Dunlosky comes before Flower and Sweller. Entries with et al. are alphabetised by the first author's surname only. Use a hanging indent and double spacing, as for every MLA entry.
If you cite two articles by the same author, give the name in the first entry and three hyphens followed by a period in the second, and order them by title. Co-authored articles are not grouped with single-author articles by the same person.
Field by field: MLA journal entry
What each generator field becomes in an MLA 9 entry.
| Field | What to enter | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Authors | Author element; three or more become et al. automatically. | Under the title. |
| Title | Title of source, in quotation marks. | Article's first page. |
| Journal | Title of container, italic. | Running head or cover. |
| Volume and issue | Number element: vol. and no. | First-page footer. |
| Year | Publication date of the issue. | Footer or issue page. |
| Pages and DOI | Location: pp. range, then DOI. | Article page and landing page. |
MLA journal article examples
Three classic articles on writing and learning, retrieved by DOI and formatted by the generator's MLA 9 style.
Two authors, writing studies
MLA 9th: Reference entry
Flower, Linda, and John R. Hayes. “A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 32, no. 4, 1981, pp. 365–87, https://doi.org/10.58680/ccc198115885.
In-text citation: (Flower and Hayes)
Linda Flower is inverted; John R. Hayes is not. The journal name was corrected from the registry's encoded "&" form to the printed title.
Checked against DOI record (checked on 25 October 2026). Crossref (NCTE) stores the journal name with an HTML entity, "College Composition & Communication"; the printed journal title is College Composition and Communication.
Five authors become et al.
MLA 9th: Reference entry
Dunlosky, John, et al. “Improving Students’ Learning with Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions from Cognitive and Educational Psychology.” Psychological Science in the Public Interest, vol. 14, no. 1, 2013, pp. 4–58, https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266.
In-text citation: (Dunlosky et al.)
MLA lists only the first author followed by et al. for three or more authors, so four co-authors disappear from the entry but not from the DOI record.
Checked against DOI record (checked on 25 October 2026). Crossref record: five authors, volume 14, issue 1, pages 4-58, subtitle in a separate field.
Single author, older article with a later DOI
MLA 9th: Reference entry
Sweller, John. “Cognitive Load during Problem Solving: Effects on Learning.” Cognitive Science, vol. 12, no. 2, 1988, pp. 257–85, https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog1202_4.
In-text citation: (Sweller)
The issue appeared in 1988; the digital copy and DOI came later. MLA cites the original issue year.
Checked against DOI record (checked on 25 October 2026). Crossref record: print issue April 1988, online copy added in 2010. The print year is the one to cite.
Formatted by the same citation engine that runs the generator above (citeproc-js with the official CSL style file). Italics follow the style.
MLA in-text citations for articles
MLA uses the author and the page you are referring to, without a comma.
- Two authors: (Flower and Hayes 370)
- Three or more: (Dunlosky et al. 12)
- Author in the sentence: Sweller argues that means-ends analysis loads working memory (261).
- Two sources at once: (Flower and Hayes 370; Sweller 262)
MLA journal citation mistakes
- Writing Vol. or Volume. MLA uses lower-case vol. and no. in the entry.
- Listing every author. With three or more authors, MLA 9 gives only the first plus et al.
- Adding the database when there is a DOI. A DOI already locates the article; the database container is optional then.
- Putting the year in parentheses. That is APA. In MLA the year follows the issue number.
MLA journal article FAQ
How do I cite a journal article in MLA 9?
Last, First. "Article Title." Journal Name, vol. #, no. #, Year, pp. #-#, DOI. Use the author and page in the in-text citation.
How do I cite an article from JSTOR in MLA?
Add JSTOR in italics as a second container after the pages, then the stable URL or DOI.
Should the DOI include https://doi.org/?
MLA 9 accepts the DOI with or without the prefix. The generator writes the full link.
What if the journal has no issue numbers?
Give the volume and year only; leave out no.
Style guides used on this page
Rules on this page were checked against these pages on 25 October 2026.