What is an Article Citation and Why is it Important?


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What is an Article Citation?

An article citation contains the basic information about an article—information not always included in the article itself. Article citations are found in the results you retrieve from your search in a database.

Why is an Article Citation Important?

The citation provides you with the information you need to:

Locate the article in a journal, magazine, or newspaper located in the library
Request a copy via Interlibrary loan if the journal, magazine, or newspaper is not available in the library or online full text through a library database
Cite the article in the bibliography or "Works Cited" section of your research paper

The article citation contains the following information:

Author name
Article title
Journal title
Journal volume and issue number
Article publication year, and sometimes month
Article page numbers

Click here for an example of an article citation & its key elements

(4) Do You Know How?

Click here to view a citation of an article from a database, then answer these questions:
(a) What is the title of the article?
(b) What is the title of the journal?

Read correct answer

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