how to introduce an article title in an essay

The Correct Way to Write an Article Title in a Paper

It is a cardinal rule to cite scholarly sources when writing a paper. Most professors will specify the approximate number of sources for a paper, essay, or assignment. A well-written academic paper is objective and has references or works cited page where you list the references used. However, how do you write the title of an article when writing a paper?

When you mention an online or magazine article in your essay, do not just do it as you please. There is a formula you need to follow depending on the referencing style. This post looks at how to title an article in an essay following the APA, Harvard, MLA, and Chicago.

Let’s commence.

How to Title an Article in APA

APA stands for American Psychological Association. The association published the first APA stylebook in the late 1920s. Over the years, the stylebook has been widely adopted beyond psychology. It has also been updated many times. The stylebook meticulously describes how to format every aspect of your essay.

Whenever you mention the name of a source in an APA essay, there are rules you need to follow. This is true for all sources, including articles, books, webpages, reports, chapters, etc.

The rules you need to follow depend on the type of source (standalone source or part of a greater thing). For some sources, you simply capitalize and italicize the main words; for others, you have to capitalize the main words and put them in double quotation marks.

You need to italicize and capitalize their names when you mention standalone sources. Standalone sources include a podcast, a TV series, a dissertation, a movie, and an e-book.

Examples showing how to write larger works in APA

• Morbid: A True Crime Podcast (podcast title)
• The Last of Us (TV series title)
• Canadian Legal System Versus US Legal System: A Comparative Study (dissertation title)
• The Pirates of the Caribbean (movie title)
• For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America (e-book title)

On the other hand, when you mention sources that are part of a greater work, you need to capitalize them and put them in double quotation marks. Examples of these sources include a magazine article, a newspaper article, a blog post, and a journal article. This means mentioning any article must capitalize its title and put it in double quotations.

Examples showing how to write article titles in APA

• “Study of Correlation between Criminality and Population” (journal article title)
• “Effective Active Ingredients Obtained through Biotechnology” (journal article title)
• “Doping in Cycling: Everything You Need to Know” (magazine article title)
• “Do you know what is in Your Cosmetics?” (newspaper article title)
• “35 Best Ways to Make Money Online in 2023” (blog post title)

Titling an article in a Harvard Style Format Paper or Essay

The Harvard referencing system was invented late in the nineteenth century by a Harvard University professor. The system has been widely adopted beyond the lecture halls of Harvard. It is popularly used to reference various works in the following fields: philosophy, behavioral sciences, and humanities.

When you name or mention an article in a Harvard essay, there are rules you must follow. There are rules you need to follow when you mention any work in a Harvard essay.

The rules you need to follow depend mainly on the size of the work. The titles of large works are formatted differently compared to the titles of small works.

Large works include books and journals. When you mention a book or journal in a Harvard essay, you must italicize the entire title and capitalize the major words.

Examples showing how to write large works in Harvard

• The Lucifer Effect (book title)
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (book title)
• Games People Play (book title)
• Comparative Studies in Society and History (journal title)
• Journal of American History (journal title)

The titles of smaller works are written differently in contrast to the title of large works. They are written by putting them inside single quotation marks.

Smaller works include journal articles, blog posts, web pages, web articles, etc. Whenever you mention these things in your essay, you must put them inside quotes.

Examples showing how to write smaller works in Harvard

• ‘Sex, Military Brothels, and Gender Violence during the Italian Campaign in the USSR, 1941-3’ (journal article title)
• ‘Hitler’s Worldview and the Interwar Kulturkamf’ (journal article title)
• ’10 POC-Owned Advisory Businesses With Insanely Great Marketing’ (blog post title)
• ‘How to Use Instagram for Your Financial Planning Business’ (blog post title)
• ‘These 9 Decorative Accessory Trends Are About to Pop Off in Your Group Text’ (web page title)

How to Title an Article in MLA

MLA is an acronym for Modern Language Association. The association started in 1883 to promote the study of modern languages and literature. It published the first stylebook in 1953 and has made major updates to it a number of times. The MLA style is widely used in the following fields: cultural studies, comparative literature, literary criticism, foreign languages, and English studies. It is also used in humanities disciplines.

When you mention an article or any other source in MLA, there are rules you need to follow. The rules largely depend on the type of source you mention.

When you mention a large standalone work (a book, a film, a journal, a website, a magazine, or a movie), you must italicize it and then capitalize all major words. (You should capitalize articles in the middle of the title, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions.

Examples showing how to write large works in MLA

• Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (book title)
• Literary Theory: An Introduction (book title)
• Fast Company (magazine title)
• Library Philosophy and Practice (journal title)
• Teens Dealing with Death; When Someone Dies: Understanding Grief (movie title)

When you mention a singular article (journal or otherwise) or any other smaller work, you must put it in double quotation marks. No italicizing as in the case of larger works. Examples of smaller works that need to be put in quotes include journal articles, web articles, news articles, book chapters, songs, short stories, TV episodes, magazine articles, and poems.

Examples showing how to write smaller works in MLA

• “Collaborative writing among young EFL learners in a school context: product and process” (journal article title)
• “Investigating cohort effects of early foreign language learning” (journal article title)
• “Studying French is easy: 10 tips to learn French fast” (web article title)
• “ChatGPT Gets Dartmouth Talking” (news article title)
• “Do not go gentle into that good night” (poem title)

How to Title an Article in a Chicago Format Essay/Paper

Chicago format is an American English formatting style invented by the University of Chicago in 1906. It is widely used in many academic disciplines (fine arts, history, and business) and book publishing.

When writing an essay according to the Chicago stylebook, you must follow everything recommended in it. How you are supposed to write the title of a journal or a book is not the same way you are supposed to write the title of a journal article or a book chapter.

The Chicago Manual of Style requires you to italicize the title of all standalone works you mention in your essay. Standalone works that you must italicize include journals, books, plays, and so on.

Examples showing how to write the titles of standalone works in Chicago

• Internal Journal of Art & Design Education (journal-title title)
• Studies in Art Education (journal title)
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (book title)
• Rich Dad Poor Dad (book title)
• Long Day’s Journey Into Night (play title)

The Chicago Manual requires you to enclose the title of short works in double quotation marks. Examples of short works that need to be enclosed include journal articles, magazine articles, news articles, book chapters, etc.

• “Frank Gehry’s non-trivial drawings as gestures” drawdlings and kinaesthetic approach to architecture” (journal article title)
• “The Saka ‘Animal Style’ in Context: Material, Technology, Form and Use” (journal article title)
• “An Abandoned, Industrial Ruin Bursts With New Life in Delaware” (magazine article title)
• “The Unfinished Business of International Business Tax Reform” (news article title)
• “The Technologies Behind Bitcoin” (book chapter title)

On a Final Note!

You now know how to format standalone and shorter works in APA, MLA, Harvard, and Chicago. Therefore, when asked to write an essay following any of these formatting styles, you should be able to correctly mention or talk about any article or larger work in your essay.

Try our paper editing service if you need help editing your essay to conform to APA, MLA, Harvard, or Chicago standards. We offer essay editing services at affordable rates. We can edit any work to meet any academic requirements. Check out our other writing and homework help services .

Contact us today for fast and professional assistance.

Gradecrest is a professional writing service that provides original model papers. We offer personalized services along with research materials for assistance purposes only. All the materials from our website should be used with proper references. See our Terms of Use Page for proper details.

How to Add an Article Title Into the Text Using APA Format

Catherine bowers.

Including an article title in the text of your writing serves a different purpose than including it in the Works Cited section of a paper. You may want to include the title of an article in your paper when it is the main subject you’re writing about, a subject you’re discussing that you’re referring to simply as an example, or if the research for your writing isn’t extensive enough to require a citation page. The American Psychological Association (APA) has specific guidelines on how to include an article title in the text of your writing.

Consider section 4.21 of the APA Publication Manual "Use of Italics;" according to it, italics should be used for titles of books, periodicals, films, videos, television shows, and microfilm. Make an exception if words in the title are usually italicized and set them in normal type instead; this is called reverse italicization.

Consider section 4.07 of the APA Publication Manual, “Quotation Marks;” according to it, quotes should be used to set off the title of books, articles, and chapters when you are including it in the text.

Check your writing to make sure you’re following the previous two guidelines; the article you mention in your text should be formatted as follows:

Ms. Bond published her controversial piece, “Housebreaking the Habit” in (italics)Dogfancy(/italics) magazine in June of 2010.

• 1 “Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed.”; American Psychological Association; 2010

About the Author

In 1998 Catherine Bowers began writing articles for newspapers, including "The Daily Collegian" at Pennsylvania State University. She also edited a Spanish-language journal and wrote product and patent descriptions for inventors. Bowers assists with the Gutenberg Project and graduated from Pennsylvania State with a Bachelor of Arts in English.

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How to Introduce a Journal Article in an Essay

Last Updated: June 18, 2024

This article was co-authored by Noah Taxis and by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD . Noah Taxis is an English Teacher based in San Francisco, California. He has taught as a credentialed teacher for over four years: first at Mountain View High School as a 9th- and 11th-grade English Teacher, then at UISA (Ukiah Independent Study Academy) as a Middle School Independent Study Teacher. He is now a high school English teacher at St. Ignatius College Preparatory School in San Francisco. He received an MA in Secondary Education and Teaching from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education. He also received an MA in Comparative and World Literature from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a BA in International Literary & Visual Studies and English from Tufts University. This article has been viewed 37,048 times.

Using a journal article in your essay can add to your credibility and make your points more persuasive. When you introduce an article to your readers, you help them understand why you're using it as a source. We've gathered a number of different ways you can introduce the journal article and transition between your thoughts and those of the other author. Pick the one that works best for you and your personal writing style.

List the title and the author.

• For example, you might write: "Albus Dumbledore describes the origin of the four Hogwarts houses in his article 'Separating Hogwarts Fact and Fiction.'"
• Put the title of the article in double-quotation marks in your text. [1] X Research source
• If you're quoting directly from the source, include the author's full name the first time you quote them. [2] X Research source

Summarize the article.

• For example, you might write: "The history of Hogwarts makes clear that the houses were never intended to be seen as 'good' or 'evil.' Rather, each house emphasizes and nurtures specific traits students have—how they use those traits is up to them."
• Paraphrasing from the article is similar to summarizing. However, when you summarize, you're covering the entire article in a sentence or two. A paraphrase typically only covers a small portion of the article.

Provide any necessary background.

• For example, you might write: "Professor Slughorn was one of the longest-serving teachers at Hogwarts, schooling generations of students in potions until his retirement."
• You might also include some background if the author of the article is controversial or the article's conclusions have been seriously questioned. If you're doing this, go on to explain why you're using the article in your essay.

Explain the purpose of the source in your essay.

• For example, you might write: "Although this essay doesn't discuss defenses against the dark arts, Gilderoy Lockhart's article provides an example of how you can't learn anything by plagiarizing the work of others."

Frame the source in the context of your own essay.

• For example, you might write: "This article demonstrates broad support for the idea that Hogwarts should continue to sort students into four houses."

Add a signal phrase to distinguish ideas from the source.

• For example, you might write: "McGonagall argues that Slytherin House should be disbanded after the Battle of Hogwarts."

Discuss the source's limitations.

• For example, you might write: "While McGonagall makes a compelling argument that Slytherin House should be disbanded, she was biased by her experiences. In this essay, I will show that the personality traits emphasized by Slytherin are positive traits that can be used for good."

Expert Q&A

• Remember to include an in-text citation for the source if required by your citation guide. You'll also need an entry for the source in your reference list at the end of your paper. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• In an academic essay, you typically introduce a journal article in the first sentence of a paragraph. Then, use the sentences that follow to show how the material from the article relates to the rest of your essay. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about academic writing, check out our in-depth interview with Noah Taxis .

• ↑ https://rasmussen.libanswers.com/faq/32501
• ↑ https://www.ursinus.edu/live/files/1160-integrating-quotespdf
• ↑ https://www.una.edu/writingcenter/docs/Writing-Resources/Source%20Integration.pdf

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Mastering how to write an article title in an essay.

Updated: Feb 28, 2024

Crafting the perfect article title in an essay can be a game-changer in how your work is perceived.

Many students struggle with formatting and styling their article titles correctly, often leading to confusion and reduced impact.

In academic writing, journal or magazine titles should be italicised and major words capitalised, while article titles should be enclosed in quotation marks with major words capitalised.

This blog will guide you through the importance of a well-crafted article title, provide a how-to guide, offer a checklist, and show examples to help you master the art of article titling in your essays.

Start Writing Your Free Essay!

The importance of a well-crafted article title in essays.

The importance of a well-crafted article title cannot be overstated in the realm of academic essays. It serves as the initial point of interaction between your essay and its readers, setting the stage for the content that follows. An effective title not only captures attention but also encapsulates the essence of your essay, guiding readers towards the underlying theme or argument. It acts as a precursor, providing a glimpse into the depth and scope of your analysis, thereby influencing the reader's decision to delve deeper into your work.

Furthermore, a compelling article title can enhance the overall presentation of your academic work, distinguishing it in a sea of scholarly texts. It should be both informative and intriguing, balancing clarity with creativity. This delicate equilibrium ensures that the title is accessible yet thought-provoking, inviting readers to explore the complexities of your essay. In essence, the title of your article is not just a label, but a strategic tool that can significantly impact the perception and reception of your academic insights.

Drafting Effective Article Titles: A How-To Guide

Drafting an effective article title is a critical skill that demands consideration of both content and audience. The first step is to ensure clarity by choosing words that directly relate to the main thesis or argument of your essay. This involves selecting key terms that are both precise and relevant to the subject matter. It's essential to integrate these terms creatively to form a coherent and engaging statement that promises a deeper exploration of the topic.

Additionally, the process of drafting a title should involve a brainstorming session where multiple title options are considered. This allows you to evaluate different combinations of words and phrases, assessing their impact and effectiveness. Consider the following strategies to enhance your title:

• Employ a catchy hook that piques curiosity without being misleading.
• Use active voice to convey a strong, clear message.
• Keep the title concise, ideally under ten words, to ensure it is punchy and to the point.

By adhering to these guidelines, you can craft a title that is both informative and captivating.

Checklist for Crafting the Perfect Article Title

To ensure your article title is effective, here’s a quick checklist to guide you:

• Relevance : Does the title accurately reflect the content of the essay?
• Clarity : Is the title straightforward and free from jargon?
• Length : Is the title concise, avoiding unnecessary words?
• Impact : Does the title grab the reader’s attention?
• Keywords : Have you included terms that are pivotal to the essay’s topic?
• Tone : Does the title suit the tone of your essay, whether it’s analytical, argumentative, or descriptive?

Reviewing these points after drafting your title can help refine its quality, ensuring it meets academic standards and effectively represents your essay.

Examples of Effective vs. Ineffective Article Titles

Understanding the difference between effective and ineffective article titles can markedly improve how you title your own essays. Consider these examples of ineffective titles and why they fail:

• 'The History of Everything' : This title is overly broad and vague, providing no clear indication of the essay’s focus.
• 'Complex Theories Explained' : While intriguing, this title is too generic and doesn’t specify what theories or context are being discussed.
• 'An Analysis of Data' : This title lacks specificity and fails to mention what data is analyzed or why it’s significant.

Conversely, effective titles directly convey what the essay is about and why it matters. Here are examples of well-crafted titles:

• 'Rethinking Sustainability: Innovative Approaches to Environmental Conservation' : This title is specific, informative, and hints at a fresh perspective within the essay.
• 'The Impact of Social Media on Teenage Communication Skills' : Clear and to the point, this title immediately informs the reader of the essay’s focus and the demographic being studied.
• 'Navigating Economic Crises: Lessons from the 2008 Financial Meltdown' : This title effectively sets the historical context and suggests that the essay will offer valuable insights.

These examples illustrate how a well-thought-out title can enhance the essay's appeal and clarity, guiding the reader’s expectations accurately.

Exploring Different Types of Article Titles for Essays

When crafting an article title for an essay, understanding the different types that can be employed is crucial. Each type of title serves a unique purpose and suits different academic contexts, making the choice of title an integral part of your essay's success. For instance, descriptive titles aim to give a straightforward preview of the essay’s content, such as 'The Effects of Global Warming on Coral Reefs'. On the other hand, analytical titles reflect on the deeper analysis contained within the essay, like 'Evaluating the Long-term Impacts of Global Warming on Marine Biodiversity'. Choosing the right type of title helps in setting the correct expectation for your readers.

Beyond descriptive and analytical titles, there are provocative titles that are crafted to spark curiosity and interest, such as 'Is Global Warming an Inconvenient Truth?'. These titles are particularly effective for essays intended to challenge or introduce controversial viewpoints. Additionally, question-based titles like 'How Does Global Warming Affect Marine Life?' directly engage the reader by posing a query. This type of title is effective for essays that aim to explore and answer specific questions. Understanding these different types can help you tailor your title to not only match the content of your essay but also to attract the right audience, enhancing the overall impact of your work.

Creative Title Ideas for Impactful Essays

Crafting a creative and impactful title for your essay is essential in capturing the reader's interest right from the start. A well-thought-out title sets the tone and preps the reader for what to expect. Some strategies for creating such titles include using powerful adjectives or unexpected phrases that resonate with the essay’s theme. For example, titles like 'Unveiling the Shadows: The Silent Crisis of Mental Health' or 'Beyond the Echo: Voices of the Unheard' use evocative language to intrigue and pull the reader into the essay’s narrative.

Another effective approach is to incorporate a rhetorical question or a bold statement that challenges common beliefs. Titles such as 'What If We Are Wrong About Climate Change?' or 'The Myth of Progress: Revisiting Our Steps Towards Sustainability' can provoke thought and debate, encouraging readers to engage deeply with the essay content. Remember, the goal of a creative title is not just to attract attention, but also to reflect the depth and perspective of the essay. It should be a beacon that guides the reader into the heart of your writing, promising them a journey worth their time.

Formatting Article Titles in Essays: MLA Style Guide

When it comes to formatting article titles in essays according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines, there are specific rules that must be adhered to ensure clarity and consistency. In MLA style, the title of an article is not italicised but is instead placed in quotation marks . This rule applies to articles sourced from journals, newspapers, websites, or any other publication. For example, an article titled 'Understanding Climate Change' would be formatted as "Understanding Climate Change" in the body of your essay. Moreover, it's crucial to capitalise the principal words of the article title. Here are some key points to remember:

• Always place the article title in double quotation marks .
• Capitalise major words in the title, including the first word and any principal words thereafter.
• Use italics for the title of the source where the article was published, such as a journal or a book.

Consistency in applying MLA style for article titles not only enhances the professional appearance of your essay but also adheres to academic standards. When referencing the article in your 'Works Cited' page, the same formatting rules apply. The title should appear in quotation marks with appropriate capitalisation. For instance, if you are citing an article titled 'New Approaches to Renewable Energy', it should be entered as "New Approaches to Renewable Energy" in your list of works cited. Here are additional tips to ensure your formatting is spot-on:

• Double-check that all principal words in the title are capitalised in your essay and in your Works Cited list.
• Maintain a consistent style throughout the document to avoid confusion.
• Refer to the latest MLA guidelines or trusted academic resources if unsure about formatting specifics.

By carefully following these MLA formatting guidelines, you can enhance the readability and credibility of your academic writing.

APA Style Guide for Article Titles in Essays

When writing an academic essay using the American Psychological Association (APA) style, it's crucial to format article titles correctly to adhere to strict academic standards. In APA style, the titles of articles are not italicised but are instead enclosed in quotation marks . This rule helps differentiate the titles of articles from titles of larger works like books or journals, which are italicised. For example, when referencing an article within your essay, you would format the title as "The Impact of Climate Change on Polar Bears." Additionally, ensure that you capitalise all major words in the article title. Here are some key points to remember when formatting article titles in APA style:

• Do not italicise the article title; italicisation is reserved for titles of longer works such as books and journals.

Consistency in applying APA style for article titles not only enhances the professional appearance of your essay but also adheres to academic standards. When referencing the article in your reference list, the same formatting rules apply. The title should appear in quotation marks with appropriate capitalisation. For instance, if you are citing an article titled 'Innovative Strategies for Renewable Energy', it should be entered as "Innovative Strategies for Renewable Energy" in your reference list. Here are additional tips to ensure your formatting is spot-on:

• Double-check that all principal words in the title are capitalised in your essay and in your reference list.
• Refer to the latest APA guidelines or trusted academic resources if unsure about formatting specifics.

By carefully following these APA formatting guidelines, you can enhance the readability and credibility of your academic writing.

Enhance Your Essay Titles with Samwell.ai's Writing Assistant

Crafting the perfect essay title is crucial for making a strong first impression and guiding your reader's expectations. This is where Samwell.ai steps in with its AI-powered writing assistant, designed to enhance your academic writing experience. The tool not only helps in creating engaging and accurate titles but also ensures they align with academic standards. For instance, if you're working on an essay about climate change, Samwell.ai can suggest titles that are both captivating and relevant to your content. This process involves:

• Analyzing the main themes and arguments of your essay
• Suggesting keywords and phrases that capture the essence of your topic
• Offering a variety of title formats that suit the tone and style of your academic work

Moreover, Samwell.ai 's capabilities extend beyond just title generation. The AI assistant also provides guidance on structuring your essay effectively, ensuring that each part, from the introduction to the conclusion, supports the title and central thesis. This holistic approach to essay writing not only saves time but also enhances the quality of your work, making it more coherent and impactful. Whether you are dealing with descriptive titles or need to formulate a provocative question-based title, Samwell.ai tailors its suggestions to meet the specific requirements of your essay. By integrating this advanced tool into your writing process, you can:

• Ensure consistency and relevance throughout your essay
• Enhance the readability and appeal of your academic papers
• Gain confidence in your writing abilities, knowing that each component is crafted to professional standards

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you italicize article titles.

In academic writing, article titles should not be italicised. Instead, they should be placed in quotation marks. The titles of journals or magazines, however, should be italicised.

What is an example of an article title?

An example of an effective article title is 'Rethinking Sustainability: Innovative Approaches to Environmental Conservation', which is specific, informative, and hints at a fresh perspective within the essay.

What is the format of article title?

The format for article titles in essays involves placing the title in quotation marks and capitalising the major words. The title should not be italicised, but the source of the article, such as a journal or book, should be in italics.

How do I format a title in an essay?

To format a title in an essay, ensure that it is concise, usually under ten words, and placed in quotation marks if it is an article title. Major words in the title should be capitalised, and it should not be italicised unless it is the title of a source like a journal or a book.

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How do I actually write the names of the article and the journal/magazine in my paper?

To write the name of a journal/magazine title in the body of your paper:

• The title of the journal should be in italics - Example:  Journal of the American Medical Association
• Capitalize all of the major words.

To write the the name of an article title in the body of your paper:

• The title of the article should be in quotation marks - E xample: "Tiger Woman on Wall Street"

For more information, please see the following pages on the APA Style Blog :

• Title Case Capitalization
• Use of Italics
• Use of Quotation Marks

Thank you for using ASK US.  For more information, please contact your Baker librarians .

• Last Updated May 05, 2023
• Views 543831
• Answered By Baker Librarians

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Comments (8)

• Do articles contain address? by Danny on Mar 20, 2017
• On the APA References page add Retrieved from and the website address at the end of the citation. See the APA Help page for examples-https://guides.baker.edu/apahelp by ASK US on Mar 20, 2017
• Is this information the same for scientific research journals and articles (still within APA)? by Haley on Apr 03, 2017
• Yes, it is. See the APA Help guide for examples. guides.baker.edu/apahelp by ASK US on Apr 03, 2017
• Do I have to put the name of the author of the article or website the article was from? by Hailee on May 01, 2017
• The answer given was for the body of your paper. Here's how to cite an article both on the References page and in-text: Author Last Name, First & Middle Initials. (Date). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of Source, Volume(Issue), Page numbers. Retrieved from... In-text: Paraphrase: (Author Last Name, Year). Quotation: (Author Last Name, Year, p. Page Number). by ASK US on May 02, 2017
• Do I put the title of essay in single quotation marks if I write in UK English (APA)? by joseph on Mar 25, 2019
• See the APA Style Blog's post on How to Capitalize and Format Reference Titles in APA Style: https://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2012/03/how-to-capitalize-and-format-reference-titles-in-apa-style.html by Patrick Mullane on Mar 25, 2019

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How To Introduce An Article In An Essay (APA Style)

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Writing is easy, writing well that can get the message across is hard. From students and novice writers to seasoned professionals, writers struggle with getting the right tone, language, and content in their writing. In academic writing, the most common issue is the authenticity of what was written in the essay or a journal. This is where referencing style and methods come in handy.

Multiple referencing styles are used by academia, by both novice writers and skilled authors. Through special development, these referencing styles have matured and covered multiple bases for the writers and assessors of the articles and essays.

In this blog, we will explore the idea of referencing in journals and essays, some popular referencing styles, and then help you with introducing an article in an essay through APA style .

Referencing In Journals And Essays

When you are writing a narrative or descriptive essay, there is hardly a need to provide any proof or reference as to where a specific idea or thought came from. Much of the contents of the essays will be personal and subjective and the quality of writing will be determined by other factors. However, things will be different when the focus of the essay will be neutral or objective.

For instance, argumentative and expository essays do not have any space for emotions, personal opinions, and views. Their sole focus is to convey factual information through arguments and evidence. This is where writers may need another established source to strengthen their positions. This is where the need for referencing comes to the fore.

Still, it is not enough to personally write the name of the book and that of its author to settle the matter. The practice should follow a standard so that any scholar from anywhere around the world can access the source.

Popular Referencing Styles

The need for a specific standard has produced more than one result. These days, there are many referencing styles in practice where writers follow the instructions of their teachers and instructors. Again, the need for references and a style comes at a more advanced stage of academic life. That’s why students are often more capable and able to master the craft with ease. In this section, we will cover some of the most common referencing styles that are used in academia.

American Psychological Association (APA)

American Psychological Association (APA) is the most sophisticated and developed method of referencing. It is widely used in science and technical subjects. The practice was first developed and started by psychologists in American universities – hence the name! The most common subjects that take advantage of the system include Psychology, Chemistry, and so on. It consists of both in-line and dedicated bibliography with all the relevant citations and references.

Modern Language Association (MLA)

Chicago-turabian citation style.

Chicago-Turabian style of referencing is another major player in the citations game. It is often favored by teachers and instructors in schools and colleges. When it comes to the difficulty and complexity of the system, it comes somewhere between APA and MLA styles. There are many universities across the world that follow this style of journals and essays. Students can learn the craft using tutorials online.

Structure & Formatting For Journal Article References

In this section, we will cover the structure and formatting of journals for article references. Students in colleges and universities need to cover essential ground before finalizing their essays. As for the APA style, it is consistent and standardized across the board.

If students find it hard to rise to the challenge, PerfectEssay provides exceptional essay-writing services to its clients. You can pay a nominal price to get a submission-ready article or essay with clear and relevant references.

So, without further ado, let’s get started!

Magazine Articles

When you are writing an article for a magazine, the structure and formatting of that article are similar to a specialist journal. All the general formatting rules and guidelines will also apply. The main difference comes with the date of publication – the addition of a month in the reference.

Newspaper Articles

There are hardly any differences between journal and newspaper articles in referencing styles. The name of the author, the title of the article, and all the things in the reference remain the same. However, writers need to add the page number of the newspaper along with the name of the newspaper.

Articles With Two Authors

It might be confusing for students to cover a reference with multiple authors. In APA style, the way to cover the names of both authors is to add the first initial of one author, then add an ampersand and add the last name and initial of the other author.

Up To Twenty Authors

The format to cover the references for articles with up to twenty authors is the same as that of two authors. All students need to know to add a comma between the names of different authors, preceded by an ampersand. The format is the same for up to twenty authors for a journal.

When compared with other referencing styles, APA is the most difficult and complex referencing and citation style in academia. The most common issue that scholars face revolves around switching the format and length of the title based on the size of the work. Also, it is necessary to mention the names of all the authors in references, even up to 20, but that is not the case with MLA.

The process for mentioning an article in an essay has been covered in the body of our blog. There are many similarities in the style but with a major difference – the journal article needs to mention the date of publication and volume, whereas the newspaper article needs to state the page number for the said article.

The introduction is the most important section of an essay or an article. When you are working on an APA article, it is necessary to start the introduction with a new page. There is no need to provide any heading to that and ensure that the title of the article or essay is stated in upper and lower cases. Then the text should start with no break between the sections, except the paragraphs.

This is one of the perplexing things that students face in writing essays and journal articles. We have gone through the whole process in the relevant section of the blog. Still, if you are not satisfied, here is the key: introduce with the author’s last name and then the initial of the first name. Then comes the date of publication in parentheses. The rest of the structure for the reference remains the same.

APA format is rigid in its approach and application. When a teacher or instructor asks students to follow a certain style, they must abide by the rules to ensure maximum scores. Otherwise, they will end up with deducted marks leading to overall poor grades.

The italicization of article titles is not necessary for APA style. Capitalization is a must and you need to italicize titles for works with longer names, including books and journals. As for the shorter works such as journal articles and essays, there is no need to bother and use standard formatting for them.

Closing Remarks

Writing an essay alone is hard, but when we add referencing and citation to the mix, it becomes something else altogether. That’s the main reason many students do not even bother to learn the referencing style for both in-line and bibliography references. This blog has shed ample light on the structure, formatting, and different iterations of the APA referencing style. It is a complex one, compared to its counterparts. That’s why it is limited to the more sophisticated and technical lines of study and research.

For scholars who are interested in learning the foundations or familiarizing themselves with the APA style, this is the perfect source to get started. However, for those who are looking for a way out, PerfectEssay can be the ultimate savior of the day. We have a team of writers with advanced degrees in their relevant disciplines and extensive experience in writing for the best colleges and universities across the nation. So, place your order now and save big on your first purchase!

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Formatting Titles

by Purdue Global Academic Success Center and Writing Center · Published October 2, 2020 · Updated November 5, 2020

Let’s face it: For whatever reason, formatting titles can be confusing, especially if you think about all the titles that need proper formatting–the title placed on the title page of a paper, the title of a journal article mentioned in the body of a paper, the title of a newspaper or a website on the list of references. There are titles of books and titles of chapters in those books; titles of blogs and titles of blog entries. Some titles are italicized and some are put in quotation marks. Titles on the list of references require formatting–some titles use title case, some sentence case; some titles are italicized and some are not. And then there are those situations where titles are used in in-text citations–some titles are truncated and italicized; some are put in quotation marks–you get the idea. 

First off, I am not going to address how to format titles when citing in the paper or listing on the list of references—those are formatting guidelines for another time. I am going to focus on titles on the title page, the first page of the paper, and within a paper. Here is what you need to keep straight:

Titles require special capitalization called title case. Title case requires one to

• capitalize the first letter of the first and last words of a title;
• capitalize the first letter of all verbs;
• capitalize all words of four or more letters;
• capitalize the first letter of all other words except a, an, the, short conjunctions such as “for, and, but,” and prepositions of fewer than four letters (words like “up, in, off”);
• capitalize the first letter of a word following a colon or dash;
• capitalize the first letter of a subtitle. 

When a title appears on the title page of an APA Style 7th edition student paper, that title should be centered, bolded, and in title case—no need to use all caps, no need to italicize or underline, and no need to use quotation marks or place a period at the end. 

Simply type out the title using title case and bold it–that’s it.

On the first page of the essay, center and repeat the title, bold it, and use title case. Again, do not use any special formatting. Do not use a bigger font size or style. Do not underline or italicize and so forth. Just use title case, bold, and center the title on the first page of the essay.

Easy enough, right?

Titles that appear within an essay require special formatting in addition to title case. If the title is for an article—content that is part of a greater whole—then the title should have quotation marks around it. If the title is for a book, journal, newspaper, or some other whole work, then the title is italicized.

Let’s say you have an article titled “The New Coffee Culture” that appears in the journal Studies in Popular Culture . Let’s also say that for whatever reason, you name both titles in the body of your paper. The article “The New Coffee Culture” appears in the journal Studies in Popular Culture , so the article is content that appears in a greater whole, right? 

Both titles would be in title case. The article “The New Coffee Culture” would have quotation marks around it, and the title of the journal, Studies in Popular Culture , would be italicized. 

I hope this blogcast clarifies exactly what you need to do when formatting titles in typical usage situations in APA style. 

Until next week–

Kurtis Clements

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Title, Abstract and Keywords

The importance of titles.

The title of your manuscript is usually the first introduction readers (and reviewers) have to your work. Therefore, you must select a title that grabs attention, accurately describes the contents of your manuscript, and makes people want to read further.

An effective title should:

• Convey the  main topics  of the study
• Highlight the  importance  of the research
• Be  concise
• Attract  readers

Writing a good title for your manuscript can be challenging. First, list the topics covered by the manuscript. Try to put all of the topics together in the title using as few words as possible. A title that is too long will seem clumsy, annoy readers, and probably not meet journal requirements.

Does Vaccinating Children and Adolescents with Inactivated Influenza Virus Inhibit the Spread of Influenza in Unimmunized Residents of Rural Communities?

This title has too many unnecessary words.

Influenza Vaccination of Children: A Randomized Trial

This title doesn’t give enough information about what makes the manuscript interesting.

Effect of Child Influenza Vaccination on Infection Rates in Rural Communities: A Randomized Trial This is an effective title. It is short, easy to understand, and conveys the important aspects of the research.

Think about why your research will be of interest to other scientists. This should be related to the reason you decided to study the topic. If your title makes this clear, it will likely attract more readers to your manuscript. TIP: Write down a few possible titles, and then select the best to refine further. Ask your colleagues their opinion. Spending the time needed to do this will result in a better title.

Abstract and Keywords

The Abstract is:

• A  summary  of the content of the journal manuscript
• A time-saving  shortcut  for busy researchers
• A guide to the most important parts of your manuscript’s written content

Many readers will only read the Abstract of your manuscript. Therefore, it has to be able to  stand alone . In most cases the abstract is the only part of your article that appears in indexing databases such as Web of Science or PubMed and so will be the most accessed part of your article; making a good impression will encourage researchers to read your full paper.

A well written abstract can also help speed up the peer-review process. During peer review, referees are usually only sent the abstract when invited to review the paper. Therefore, the abstract needs to contain enough information about the paper to allow referees to make a judgement as to whether they have enough expertise to review the paper and be engaging enough for them to want to review it.

Your Abstract should answer these questions about your manuscript:

• What was done?
• Why did you do it?
• What did you find?
• Why are these findings useful and important?

Answering these questions lets readers know the most important points about your study, and helps them decide whether they want to read the rest of the paper. Make sure you follow the proper journal manuscript formatting guidelines when preparing your abstract.

TIP: Journals often set a maximum word count for Abstracts, often 250 words, and no citations. This is to ensure that the full Abstract appears in indexing services.

Keywords  are a tool to help indexers and search engines find relevant papers. If database search engines can find your journal manuscript, readers will be able to find it too. This will increase the number of people reading your manuscript, and likely lead to more citations.

However, to be effective, Keywords must be chosen carefully. They should:

• Represent  the content of your manuscript
• Be  specific  to your field or sub-field

Manuscript title:  Direct observation of nonlinear optics in an isolated carbon nanotube

Poor keywords:  molecule, optics, lasers, energy lifetime

Better keywords:  single-molecule interaction, Kerr effect, carbon nanotubes, energy level structure

Manuscript title:  Region-specific neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration Poor keywords:  neuron, brain, OA (an abbreviation), regional-specific neuronal degeneration, signaling

Better keywords:  neurodegenerative diseases; CA1 region, hippocampal; okadaic acid; neurotoxins; MAP kinase signaling system; cell death

Manuscript title:  Increases in levels of sediment transport at former glacial-interglacial transitions

Poor keywords:  climate change, erosion, plant effects Better keywords:  quaternary climate change, soil erosion, bioturbation

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6 tips for writing a great title for your research article

Title is the first thing the reader sees from your research article. Based on the title the reader decides to have a look at the article — or not. So a better title will attract more readers and quite possibly increase the impact of your research. If you wonder what makes a good title, and how you can formulate one for your paper as well, then check out our six tips for writing a great research article title.

Goal: catch the attention of the *right* reader

A good title helps the reader quickly recognize whether this paper is relevant for them. The title should give the reader an accurate picture of the article — and motivate the *right* reader to go on and read the article.

Additionally, an ideal title is memorable : researchers are reading many papers, some will be inevitably forgotten. A good title ensures that your paper will stick in your reader’s mind.

Case study: Important paper missed because of its title

Let me tell you an example from my own research, about an important paper that we missed because of its title.

Article entitled Distinct contributions of Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 in action potential initiation and backpropagation has been published in July 2009 in the prestigious journal Nature Neuroscience .

A couple of months later I started to work on a project that later became my PhD thesis. And the above mentioned article turned out to be the most important study on which my whole work was based.

Yet when I started, I didn’t know about the paper. My supervisor and another professor working on similar topics didn’t know about it either.

They had surely seen the title since they were following the journal’s publications. But they didn’t recognize that this might be a relevant paper.

Eventually we learned about the paper from a collaborator from a different institute. Later when I was presenting my work at conferences, I encountered many other researchers who missed this paper, even though it was clearly relevant to them.

So, what’s the issue with this title? Read on my tips on how to write a great title , and learn along the way what is problematic with this title and how we can fix it.

1. Headline the main result, not the main effort

If your paper has a clear main finding that can be summarized in a sentence , put it in the title. Such a title is much more interesting (and informative) than a title describing your approach.

Prof. Kevin Plaxco gives the following examples in his commentary article The art of writing science :

• Main effort (not optimal): A phylogenetic analysis of humans and chimps
• Main result (preferred): Phylogenetic evidence indicates an exceptionally close relationship between humans and chimps

Here is another example:

• Main result missing: Cognitive-behavioural stress management skills and quality of life in stress-related disorders
• Main result in the title: Cognitive-behavioural stress management skills improve quality of life in stress-related disorders

Concerning our case study example, the title Distinct contributions of Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 in action potential initiation and backpropagation does (kind of) contain the main result, albeit it is not formulated as a full sentence. We’ll see later how we can improve it.

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2. Adapt the level of detail to your target audience

If your article is intended for a broader audience (that is, you want to publish it in a general journal), your title should be more general , so that it is understandable to this broader audience.

On the other hand, if your article is intended for a specialized audience and a specialized journal, you can include more details and jargon in the title.

• article published in the broad journal Nature: The hippocampus is crucial for forming non-hippocampal long-term memory during sleep
• article on a similar topic published in the specialized journal Neurobiology of Learning and Memory: Sleep enhances memory consolidation in the hippocampus-dependent object-place recognition task in rats

However, be careful with short and general titles . Such titles are typical for review articles , because they suggest a broad scope of the article. So your readers might mistaken your original research article for a review article.

For example, the title Axon Initial Segment–Associated Microglia sounds like it’s a review, but it is an original research article. Such a title is misleading for the readers, so it’s better to avoid it.

Not every neuroscientist knows what is “Na V 1.6″ and “Na V 1.2″. My supervisor didn’t know either — and it turns out that this was one of the reasons why he and the other professor missed this article. “Na V 1.6″ and “Na V 1.2″ are sodium channels — and every neuroscientist knows what are those. So the keyword “sodium channels” should definitely be included in an article title published in such a general journal as Nature Neuroscience .

3. Avoid “fluff” at the beginning of the title

Beginning of the title is especially salient , especially visible to the reader. And often this is your only chance to convince your potential reader that this paper is relevant to them.

So it’s a mistake to start the title with “fluff”, that is, a phrase that doesn’t carry much content and can be safely omitted. Instead, begin your title with an important keyword .

For example:

• Aspects of ​immune dysfunction in end-stage renal disease
• Revisiting the role of xanthophylls in nonphotochemical quenching

Our case-study title Distinct contributions of Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 in action potential initiation and backpropagation does not start with a meaningless phrase that can be simply deleted. However, it also doesn’t start with an important keyword. Let’s see in the next point what would be a better beginning of the title.

4. Use the Context – Emphasis structure

A great title follows the optimal sentence structure : The beginning of the title acts as context for the rest of the title while the end of the title is naturally emphasized (if the reader gets this far).

So a good strategy is to include at the beginning of the title a keyword that will be recognized by all of your target readers and at the end of the title a keyword that is specific to your paper and its contribution.

However, what is a general keyword and what is a specific contribution might depend on your audience .

For example, the title Selective Adsorption to Particular Crystal Faces of ZnO suggests that this article primarily targets researchers interested in adsorption processes: “selective adsorption” is the general process, which is examined in this paper for the particular case of ZnO. However, if the paper targets researchers working on ZnO (zinc oxide), then it would be better to mention “ZnO” at beginning of the title.

Now let’s consider our case study : Distinct contributions of Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 in action potential initiation and backpropagation .

Then, what is a specific keyword related to the contribution of this paper? I would say it could be “Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 sodium channels”: although there are some previous studies investigating these two channel types, this paper put all the puzzle pieces together and provided a coherent picture about the interplay of these two channel types in — you guessed it — action potential initiation and backpropagation.

So, let’s improve this title by putting “Action potential initiation and backpropagation” at the beginning and “Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 sodium channels” at the end. Then we can rearrange the rest such that it makes sense — and reveals the main message of the paper:

Action potential initiation and backpropagation is differentially regulated by Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 sodium channels

A much better title, don’t you think?

5. “Context: Details” structure also works

But what to do with papers that have no single take-home message that can be summarized in a sentence?

For explorative papers that cover several problems or aspects of a topic, the “Context: Details” structure is often suitable. Here, you start with the general contextual keyword(s) that grab the attention of the reader, and then supplement relevant details after the colon.

• UCB revisited: Improved regret bounds for the stochastic multi-armed bandit problem
• Single Cell Assay for Molecular Diagnostics and Medicine: Monitoring Intracellular Concentrations of Macromolecules by Two-photon Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging

Here are some examples that don’t work very well:

• Noise statistics identification for Kalman filtering of the electron radiation belt observations: 2. Filtration and smoothing
• A better oscillation detection method robustly extracts EEG rhythms across brain state changes: The human alpha rhythm as a test case

In these cases, the first part before the colon is too long, it provides much more information than just the context, and therefore the whole title becomes harder to understand and remember.

So for an effective “Context: Details” type of title, make sure that the first part before the colon is short and memorable . Then the second part after the colon can be longer and detailed, and the title will still create a clear image in reader’s mind.

6. Title as a question or catchy title? It depends…

Now you might ask yourself: can’t we write more interesting titles than those that accurately reflect the content of the paper? These can be pretty boring… What about titles formulated as questions? And “catchy” titles?

Well, the general rule is to follow the conventions of your field . If some of the research articles you are reading have catchy titles, then it’s most probably OK for you to do this as well.

For example, questions and catchy titles are quite common in research articles from psychology:

• How often is p rep close to the true replication probability?
• Must interesting things be pleasant? A test of competing appraisal structures.

On the other hand, I have rarely seen a question as a title in a research article from neuroscience.

However, in most fields catchy and even funny titles are appreciated in commentary and opinion articles . For example, the “news & views” commentary article introducing our case-study paper Distinct contributions of Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 in action potential initiation and backpropagation is entitled Who let the spikes out?

Also the titles of review articles might be less formal. Which brings us to the next point…

Titles of review articles

Titles of review articles tend to be more general and broad than titles of original research articles. This, of course, reflects the broader scope and content of review articles. For example:

• Carbohydrate inhibitors of cholera toxin
• Neural circuits underlying thirst and fluid homeostasis

These titles don’t consist of a full sentence — because there is rarely a main take-home message in a review article. However, what is helpful here is to follow the Context-Emphasis structure introduced in point 4.

Titles of review articles often include the word “review” in the title, for example:

• Gap junctions in developing neocortex: a review
• A systematic review of COVID-19 epidemiology based on current evidence

And as we said in the previous point, titles of review articles may be less formal and more catchy even in fields where such titles are not used for original research articles:

• Spooky sodium balance
• Remembering the past to imagine the future: the prospective brain

How to find the perfect title for your article

Now you have learned all the rules for good titles, but one question remains: How to proceed? How to come up with a great title for your article?

Then I recommend the following procedure :

• First, generate 10 possible titles . These 10 titles don’t have to be unique: some of them might only differ in one or two words or in the word order.
• Next, select the best title . You can do this together with your co-authors. Or each co-author picks one or two favorites and then you discuss and select the final title together.

With this procedure it’s much easier to find the most suitable title for your paper than if you would create just one title and then try to improve it.

So that was quite some theory about how to write a great title. Now if you want to practice this new knowledge, here is a little exercise for you.

What is good and what is not optimal about these titles? How would you improve them?

• Analysis of processes leading to localized electron enhancements in the outer radiation belt
• Wild-type and cancer-related p53 proteins are preferentially degraded by MDM2 as dimers rather than tetramers
• A New Murine Model to Define the Critical Pathologic and Therapeutic Mediators of Polymyositis

If you are currently writing a manuscript and would like to get feedback and suggestions for your title: please, feel free to post it as a comment . Alternatively, you can also ask for feedback in our Facebook group Academic writing — peer feedback .

Do you need to revise & polish your manuscript or thesis but don’t know where to begin? Is your text a mess and you don't know how to improve it?

Click here for an efficient step-by-step revision of your scientific texts. You will be guided through each step with concrete tips for execution.

3 thoughts on “ 6 tips for writing a great title for your research article ”

Dear Martina,

Thank you very much for another portion of valuable information! It’s really helpful!

I’d be very greatful if you could comment on a title for a review article I’m writting now. Which of the two title you think is better:

Novel approaches to epigenetic therapies Novel approaches to epigenetic therapies: from drug combinations to epigenetic editing

Thank you for your suggestion, Kind regards, Aleksandra

Dear Aleksandra,

I am happy to hear that you found the article helpful!

Concerning your question: I prefer the second, longer title. It gives the reader a much better idea of what your review article is about. “Novel approaches to epigenetic therapies” alone is rather unspecific…

All the best, Martina

That was my choice as well! Thank you for ensuring me about it!

All the best, Aleksandra

Comments are closed.

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MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics

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Guidelines for referring to the works of others in your text using MLA style are covered throughout the  MLA Handbook  and in chapter 7 of the  MLA Style Manual . Both books provide extensive examples, so it's a good idea to consult them if you want to become even more familiar with MLA guidelines or if you have a particular reference question.

Basic in-text citation rules

In MLA Style, referring to the works of others in your text is done using parenthetical citations . This method involves providing relevant source information in parentheses whenever a sentence uses a quotation or paraphrase. Usually, the simplest way to do this is to put all of the source information in parentheses at the end of the sentence (i.e., just before the period). However, as the examples below will illustrate, there are situations where it makes sense to put the parenthetical elsewhere in the sentence, or even to leave information out.

General Guidelines

• The source information required in a parenthetical citation depends (1) upon the source medium (e.g. print, web, DVD) and (2) upon the source’s entry on the Works Cited page.
• Any source information that you provide in-text must correspond to the source information on the Works Cited page. More specifically, whatever signal word or phrase you provide to your readers in the text must be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of the corresponding entry on the Works Cited page.

In-text citations: Author-page style

MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:

Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information:

Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads . Oxford UP, 1967.

In-text citations for print sources with known author

For print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase (usually the author’s last name) and a page number. If you provide the signal word/phrase in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the parenthetical citation.

These examples must correspond to an entry that begins with Burke, which will be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of an entry on the Works Cited page:

Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method . University of California Press, 1966.

In-text citations for print sources by a corporate author

When a source has a corporate author, it is acceptable to use the name of the corporation followed by the page number for the in-text citation. You should also use abbreviations (e.g., nat'l for national) where appropriate, so as to avoid interrupting the flow of reading with overly long parenthetical citations.

In-text citations for sources with non-standard labeling systems

If a source uses a labeling or numbering system other than page numbers, such as a script or poetry, precede the citation with said label. When citing a poem, for instance, the parenthetical would begin with the word “line”, and then the line number or range. For example, the examination of William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” would be cited as such:

The speaker makes an ardent call for the exploration of the connection between the violence of nature and the divinity of creation. “In what distant deeps or skies. / Burnt the fire of thine eyes," they ask in reference to the tiger as they attempt to reconcile their intimidation with their relationship to creationism (lines 5-6).

Longer labels, such as chapters (ch.) and scenes (sc.), should be abbreviated.

In-text citations for print sources with no known author

When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name, following these guidelines.

Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (such as an article) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television shows, entire Web sites) and provide a page number if it is available.

Titles longer than a standard noun phrase should be shortened into a noun phrase by excluding articles. For example, To the Lighthouse would be shortened to Lighthouse .

If the title cannot be easily shortened into a noun phrase, the title should be cut after the first clause, phrase, or punctuation:

In this example, since the reader does not know the author of the article, an abbreviated title appears in the parenthetical citation, and the full title of the article appears first at the left-hand margin of its respective entry on the Works Cited page. Thus, the writer includes the title in quotation marks as the signal phrase in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader directly to the source on the Works Cited page. The Works Cited entry appears as follows:

"The Impact of Global Warming in North America." Global Warming: Early Signs . 1999. www.climatehotmap.org/. Accessed 23 Mar. 2009.

If the title of the work begins with a quotation mark, such as a title that refers to another work, that quote or quoted title can be used as the shortened title. The single quotation marks must be included in the parenthetical, rather than the double quotation.

Parenthetical citations and Works Cited pages, used in conjunction, allow readers to know which sources you consulted in writing your essay, so that they can either verify your interpretation of the sources or use them in their own scholarly work.

Author-page citation for classic and literary works with multiple editions

Page numbers are always required, but additional citation information can help literary scholars, who may have a different edition of a classic work, like Marx and Engels's  The Communist Manifesto . In such cases, give the page number of your edition (making sure the edition is listed in your Works Cited page, of course) followed by a semicolon, and then the appropriate abbreviations for volume (vol.), book (bk.), part (pt.), chapter (ch.), section (sec.), or paragraph (par.). For example:

Author-page citation for works in an anthology, periodical, or collection

When you cite a work that appears inside a larger source (for instance, an article in a periodical or an essay in a collection), cite the author of the  internal source (i.e., the article or essay). For example, to cite Albert Einstein's article "A Brief Outline of the Theory of Relativity," which was published in  Nature  in 1921, you might write something like this:

See also our page on documenting periodicals in the Works Cited .

Citing authors with same last names

Sometimes more information is necessary to identify the source from which a quotation is taken. For instance, if two or more authors have the same last name, provide both authors' first initials (or even the authors' full name if different authors share initials) in your citation. For example:

Citing a work by multiple authors

For a source with two authors, list the authors’ last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation:

Corresponding Works Cited entry:

Best, David, and Sharon Marcus. “Surface Reading: An Introduction.” Representations , vol. 108, no. 1, Fall 2009, pp. 1-21. JSTOR, doi:10.1525/rep.2009.108.1.1

For a source with three or more authors, list only the first author’s last name, and replace the additional names with et al.

Franck, Caroline, et al. “Agricultural Subsidies and the American Obesity Epidemic.” American Journal of Preventative Medicine , vol. 45, no. 3, Sept. 2013, pp. 327-333.

Citing multiple works by the same author

If you cite more than one work by an author, include a shortened title for the particular work from which you are quoting to distinguish it from the others. Put short titles of books in italics and short titles of articles in quotation marks.

Citing two articles by the same author :

Citing two books by the same author :

Additionally, if the author's name is not mentioned in the sentence, format your citation with the author's name followed by a comma, followed by a shortened title of the work, and, when appropriate, the page number(s):

Citing multivolume works

If you cite from different volumes of a multivolume work, always include the volume number followed by a colon. Put a space after the colon, then provide the page number(s). (If you only cite from one volume, provide only the page number in parentheses.)

Citing the Bible

In your first parenthetical citation, you want to make clear which Bible you're using (and underline or italicize the title), as each version varies in its translation, followed by book (do not italicize or underline), chapter, and verse. For example:

If future references employ the same edition of the Bible you’re using, list only the book, chapter, and verse in the parenthetical citation:

John of Patmos echoes this passage when describing his vision (Rev. 4.6-8).

Citing indirect sources

Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited within another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example:

Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original source, rather than citing an indirect source.

Citing transcripts, plays, or screenplays

Sources that take the form of a dialogue involving two or more participants have special guidelines for their quotation and citation. Each line of dialogue should begin with the speaker's name written in all capitals and indented half an inch. A period follows the name (e.g., JAMES.) . After the period, write the dialogue. Each successive line after the first should receive an additional indentation. When another person begins speaking, start a new line with that person's name indented only half an inch. Repeat this pattern each time the speaker changes. You can include stage directions in the quote if they appear in the original source.

Conclude with a parenthetical that explains where to find the excerpt in the source. Usually, the author and title of the source can be given in a signal phrase before quoting the excerpt, so the concluding parenthetical will often just contain location information like page numbers or act/scene indicators.

Here is an example from O'Neill's  The Iceman Cometh.

WILLIE. (Pleadingly) Give me a drink, Rocky. Harry said it was all right. God, I need a drink.

ROCKY. Den grab it. It's right under your nose.

WILLIE. (Avidly) Thanks. (He takes the bottle with both twitching hands and tilts it to his lips and gulps down the whiskey in big swallows.) (1.1)

Citing non-print or sources from the Internet

With more and more scholarly work published on the Internet, you may have to cite sources you found in digital environments. While many sources on the Internet should not be used for scholarly work (reference the OWL's  Evaluating Sources of Information  resource), some Web sources are perfectly acceptable for research. When creating in-text citations for electronic, film, or Internet sources, remember that your citation must reference the source on your Works Cited page.

Sometimes writers are confused with how to craft parenthetical citations for electronic sources because of the absence of page numbers. However, these sorts of entries often do not require a page number in the parenthetical citation. For electronic and Internet sources, follow the following guidelines:

• Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name).
• Do not provide paragraph numbers or page numbers based on your Web browser’s print preview function.
• Unless you must list the Web site name in the signal phrase in order to get the reader to the appropriate entry, do not include URLs in-text. Only provide partial URLs such as when the name of the site includes, for example, a domain name, like  CNN.com  or  Forbes.com,  as opposed to writing out http://www.cnn.com or http://www.forbes.com.

Miscellaneous non-print sources

Two types of non-print sources you may encounter are films and lectures/presentations:

In the two examples above “Herzog” (a film’s director) and “Yates” (a presentor) lead the reader to the first item in each citation’s respective entry on the Works Cited page:

Herzog, Werner, dir. Fitzcarraldo . Perf. Klaus Kinski. Filmverlag der Autoren, 1982.

Yates, Jane. "Invention in Rhetoric and Composition." Gaps Addressed: Future Work in Rhetoric and Composition, CCCC, Palmer House Hilton, 2002. Address.

Electronic sources

Electronic sources may include web pages and online news or magazine articles:

In the first example (an online magazine article), the writer has chosen not to include the author name in-text; however, two entries from the same author appear in the Works Cited. Thus, the writer includes both the author’s last name and the article title in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader to the appropriate entry on the Works Cited page (see below).

In the second example (a web page), a parenthetical citation is not necessary because the page does not list an author, and the title of the article, “MLA Formatting and Style Guide,” is used as a signal phrase within the sentence. If the title of the article was not named in the sentence, an abbreviated version would appear in a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence. Both corresponding Works Cited entries are as follows:

Taylor, Rumsey. "Fitzcarraldo." Slant , 13 Jun. 2003, www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/fitzcarraldo/. Accessed 29 Sep. 2009. 

"MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL , 2 Aug. 2016, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/. Accessed 2 April 2018.

Multiple citations

To cite multiple sources in the same parenthetical reference, separate the citations by a semi-colon:

Time-based media sources

When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or podcast, include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference. For example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).

When a citation is not needed

Common sense and ethics should determine your need for documenting sources. You do not need to give sources for familiar proverbs, well-known quotations, or common knowledge (For example, it is expected that U.S. citizens know that George Washington was the first President.). Remember that citing sources is a rhetorical task, and, as such, can vary based on your audience. If you’re writing for an expert audience of a scholarly journal, for example, you may need to deal with expectations of what constitutes “common knowledge” that differ from common norms.

Other Sources

The MLA Handbook describes how to cite many different kinds of authors and content creators. However, you may occasionally encounter a source or author category that the handbook does not describe, making the best way to proceed can be unclear.

In these cases, it's typically acceptable to apply the general principles of MLA citation to the new kind of source in a way that's consistent and sensible. A good way to do this is to simply use the standard MLA directions for a type of source that resembles the source you want to cite.

You may also want to investigate whether a third-party organization has provided directions for how to cite this kind of source. For example, Norquest College provides guidelines for citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers⁠ —an author category that does not appear in the MLA Handbook . In cases like this, however, it's a good idea to ask your instructor or supervisor whether using third-party citation guidelines might present problems.

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How to introduce multiple authors of a research paper in content?

I want to introduce the findings of a case study in my report, but it has four authors and I would like name them in when introducing it.

What would be the best way to do this, or is the below perfectly acceptable?

Andria A, Paul S, Derek B and Howard C provide an interesting insight in their case study...

• 1 First one, et al. (2014) provide an interesting insight in their case study... –  enthu Commented Nov 8, 2014 at 18:28
• 1 Or First one et al. [APDH14] –  yo' Commented Nov 8, 2014 at 18:30
• 4 More accurately: "Andria \emph{et al.}~\cite{APDH14}" –  JeffE Commented Nov 8, 2014 at 20:19
• 2 Even better, \textcite{APDH14} will just take care of everything according to the file style. –  user9646 Commented Nov 9, 2014 at 19:57
• 3 @JeffE I'm pretty sure a specific markup language's code for something is pretty situational form of "more accurately". –  Fomite Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 3:29

4 Answers 4

How to handle this depends on your field. If your field has a notion of first author, then "[name of first author] et al." is appropriate. In fields like math that use alphabetical ordering, I'd strongly recommend naming all the authors, since "et al." could be read as diminishing the credit later authors get. I would not be happy if my name disappeared into an "et al."

The sentence "[last name of author 1], [last name of author 2], [last name of author 3] and [last name of author 4] provide an interesting insight in their case study..." sounds fine to me. (I.e., the same sentence as in the question, except that I assume "Andria A, Paul S, Derek B and Howard C" are just stand-ins for the actual names, and not actually a proposal for how to format the names.)

• Sorry, but I think that "Andria A, Paul S, Derek B and Howard C provide..." is actually not that great, and I would certainly suggest it be reworded if I were editing a paper in which it appeared. –  GeneMachine Commented Nov 8, 2014 at 20:56
• 2 "Provide an interesting insight" isn't how I'd phrase things, but I don't see anything wrong with it. Aside from that, is your objection to the list of names? First names and initials sound funny, but I'm assuming they are just a placeholder for real names (not that anyone is proposing actually referring to people that way). –  Anonymous Mathematician Commented Nov 8, 2014 at 21:27
• 1 Having a long list of names (especially with initials, as you propose) is unusual, unwieldy, and inelegant - in my opinion. –  GeneMachine Commented Nov 9, 2014 at 1:38
• Don't know why you are being down voted. In math it would be frowned upon to put et al for any paper that was 4 authors or less. In other fields et al will be acceptable. –  WetlabStudent Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 5:56

This is completely dependent on your citation style. Two examples:

For APA, if there are only two authors, cite both each time; if there are between three and five, cite them all the first time then cite as "First et al., 2014" in subsequent citations; if there are six or more, use "et al." every time.

For IEEE, use of "et al." begins at three authors, and you use "et al.".

As you can see there are wild variations. Check which style you're supposed to use, and check how multiple authors should be cited with that style. As a general rule of thumb, maybe use "et al." when there are too many authors.

As another user pointed out it's also dependent on your field, and it's even possible that author names shouldn't be cited in every reference (just a numeric reference like [42]) -- I just checked a math journal at random and this was like that.

PS: If you're writing something in LaTeX and are using biblatex, I want to advertise the commands \textcite , \parencite and \footcite . They are able to automate most of this (for example with the APA style, they correctly detect which citation is the first).

• 3 I don't read this as a question about citation style, but rather about how to name/talk about authors independently of the formal reference to the bibliography. I.e., even if your citation style is "Smith et al. 2014", you could write something like "Smith, Chen, and Jones discovered that blah blah blah (Smith et al. 2014)", where only the latter part is the citation of the specific paper as specified by the citation style. –  Anonymous Mathematician Commented Nov 9, 2014 at 21:01
• @AnonymousMathematician Without other guidelines, the citation style is as good as anything else to go by. Besides, the citation is supposed to be able to be used as a subject, as far as I'm aware, so that you could write "(Smith et al., 2014) discovered that blablabla". –  user9646 Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 7:32

For more than two authors, it's generally the norm to say something like "As Andria, et al . (2014) discuss, ..."

• 5 it's not good style to start a sentence with name(s) of author(s) — What is this I don't even –  JeffE Commented Nov 8, 2014 at 20:20

The question is not about citation, as with a works cited page, but whether or not it is appropriate to introduce all authors when first stating the title of the work. ie "In such and such article by author A, B, C, and D...." I believe the question is: Must all authors A-D be noted or is it acceptable with less? In this case I'd say yes it is just fine as is.

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Learning Materials

Mastering how to write an article title in an essay.

Updated: Feb 28, 2024

Crafting the perfect article title in an essay can be a game-changer in how your work is perceived.

Many students struggle with formatting and styling their article titles correctly, often leading to confusion and reduced impact.

In academic writing, journal or magazine titles should be italicised and major words capitalised, while article titles should be enclosed in quotation marks with major words capitalised.

This blog will guide you through the importance of a well-crafted article title, provide a how-to guide, offer a checklist, and show examples to help you master the art of article titling in your essays.

Start Writing Your Free Essay!

The importance of a well-crafted article title in essays.

The importance of a well-crafted article title cannot be overstated in the realm of academic essays. It serves as the initial point of interaction between your essay and its readers, setting the stage for the content that follows. An effective title not only captures attention but also encapsulates the essence of your essay, guiding readers towards the underlying theme or argument. It acts as a precursor, providing a glimpse into the depth and scope of your analysis, thereby influencing the reader's decision to delve deeper into your work.

Furthermore, a compelling article title can enhance the overall presentation of your academic work, distinguishing it in a sea of scholarly texts. It should be both informative and intriguing, balancing clarity with creativity. This delicate equilibrium ensures that the title is accessible yet thought-provoking, inviting readers to explore the complexities of your essay. In essence, the title of your article is not just a label, but a strategic tool that can significantly impact the perception and reception of your academic insights.

Drafting Effective Article Titles: A How-To Guide

Drafting an effective article title is a critical skill that demands consideration of both content and audience. The first step is to ensure clarity by choosing words that directly relate to the main thesis or argument of your essay. This involves selecting key terms that are both precise and relevant to the subject matter. It's essential to integrate these terms creatively to form a coherent and engaging statement that promises a deeper exploration of the topic.

Additionally, the process of drafting a title should involve a brainstorming session where multiple title options are considered. This allows you to evaluate different combinations of words and phrases, assessing their impact and effectiveness. Consider the following strategies to enhance your title:

• Employ a catchy hook that piques curiosity without being misleading.
• Use active voice to convey a strong, clear message.
• Keep the title concise, ideally under ten words, to ensure it is punchy and to the point.

By adhering to these guidelines, you can craft a title that is both informative and captivating.

Checklist for Crafting the Perfect Article Title

To ensure your article title is effective, here’s a quick checklist to guide you:

• Relevance : Does the title accurately reflect the content of the essay?
• Clarity : Is the title straightforward and free from jargon?
• Length : Is the title concise, avoiding unnecessary words?
• Impact : Does the title grab the reader’s attention?
• Keywords : Have you included terms that are pivotal to the essay’s topic?
• Tone : Does the title suit the tone of your essay, whether it’s analytical, argumentative, or descriptive?

Reviewing these points after drafting your title can help refine its quality, ensuring it meets academic standards and effectively represents your essay.

Examples of Effective vs. Ineffective Article Titles

Understanding the difference between effective and ineffective article titles can markedly improve how you title your own essays. Consider these examples of ineffective titles and why they fail:

• 'The History of Everything' : This title is overly broad and vague, providing no clear indication of the essay’s focus.
• 'Complex Theories Explained' : While intriguing, this title is too generic and doesn’t specify what theories or context are being discussed.
• 'An Analysis of Data' : This title lacks specificity and fails to mention what data is analyzed or why it’s significant.

Conversely, effective titles directly convey what the essay is about and why it matters. Here are examples of well-crafted titles:

• 'Rethinking Sustainability: Innovative Approaches to Environmental Conservation' : This title is specific, informative, and hints at a fresh perspective within the essay.
• 'The Impact of Social Media on Teenage Communication Skills' : Clear and to the point, this title immediately informs the reader of the essay’s focus and the demographic being studied.
• 'Navigating Economic Crises: Lessons from the 2008 Financial Meltdown' : This title effectively sets the historical context and suggests that the essay will offer valuable insights.

These examples illustrate how a well-thought-out title can enhance the essay's appeal and clarity, guiding the reader’s expectations accurately.

Exploring Different Types of Article Titles for Essays

When crafting an article title for an essay, understanding the different types that can be employed is crucial. Each type of title serves a unique purpose and suits different academic contexts, making the choice of title an integral part of your essay's success. For instance, descriptive titles aim to give a straightforward preview of the essay’s content, such as 'The Effects of Global Warming on Coral Reefs'. On the other hand, analytical titles reflect on the deeper analysis contained within the essay, like 'Evaluating the Long-term Impacts of Global Warming on Marine Biodiversity'. Choosing the right type of title helps in setting the correct expectation for your readers.

Beyond descriptive and analytical titles, there are provocative titles that are crafted to spark curiosity and interest, such as 'Is Global Warming an Inconvenient Truth?'. These titles are particularly effective for essays intended to challenge or introduce controversial viewpoints. Additionally, question-based titles like 'How Does Global Warming Affect Marine Life?' directly engage the reader by posing a query. This type of title is effective for essays that aim to explore and answer specific questions. Understanding these different types can help you tailor your title to not only match the content of your essay but also to attract the right audience, enhancing the overall impact of your work.

Creative Title Ideas for Impactful Essays

Crafting a creative and impactful title for your essay is essential in capturing the reader's interest right from the start. A well-thought-out title sets the tone and preps the reader for what to expect. Some strategies for creating such titles include using powerful adjectives or unexpected phrases that resonate with the essay’s theme. For example, titles like 'Unveiling the Shadows: The Silent Crisis of Mental Health' or 'Beyond the Echo: Voices of the Unheard' use evocative language to intrigue and pull the reader into the essay’s narrative.

Another effective approach is to incorporate a rhetorical question or a bold statement that challenges common beliefs. Titles such as 'What If We Are Wrong About Climate Change?' or 'The Myth of Progress: Revisiting Our Steps Towards Sustainability' can provoke thought and debate, encouraging readers to engage deeply with the essay content. Remember, the goal of a creative title is not just to attract attention, but also to reflect the depth and perspective of the essay. It should be a beacon that guides the reader into the heart of your writing, promising them a journey worth their time.

Formatting Article Titles in Essays: MLA Style Guide

When it comes to formatting article titles in essays according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines, there are specific rules that must be adhered to ensure clarity and consistency. In MLA style, the title of an article is not italicised but is instead placed in quotation marks . This rule applies to articles sourced from journals, newspapers, websites, or any other publication. For example, an article titled 'Understanding Climate Change' would be formatted as "Understanding Climate Change" in the body of your essay. Moreover, it's crucial to capitalise the principal words of the article title. Here are some key points to remember:

• Always place the article title in double quotation marks .
• Capitalise major words in the title, including the first word and any principal words thereafter.
• Use italics for the title of the source where the article was published, such as a journal or a book.

Consistency in applying MLA style for article titles not only enhances the professional appearance of your essay but also adheres to academic standards. When referencing the article in your 'Works Cited' page, the same formatting rules apply. The title should appear in quotation marks with appropriate capitalisation. For instance, if you are citing an article titled 'New Approaches to Renewable Energy', it should be entered as "New Approaches to Renewable Energy" in your list of works cited. Here are additional tips to ensure your formatting is spot-on:

• Double-check that all principal words in the title are capitalised in your essay and in your Works Cited list.
• Maintain a consistent style throughout the document to avoid confusion.
• Refer to the latest MLA guidelines or trusted academic resources if unsure about formatting specifics.

By carefully following these MLA formatting guidelines, you can enhance the readability and credibility of your academic writing.

APA Style Guide for Article Titles in Essays

When writing an academic essay using the American Psychological Association (APA) style, it's crucial to format article titles correctly to adhere to strict academic standards. In APA style, the titles of articles are not italicised but are instead enclosed in quotation marks . This rule helps differentiate the titles of articles from titles of larger works like books or journals, which are italicised. For example, when referencing an article within your essay, you would format the title as "The Impact of Climate Change on Polar Bears." Additionally, ensure that you capitalise all major words in the article title. Here are some key points to remember when formatting article titles in APA style:

• Do not italicise the article title; italicisation is reserved for titles of longer works such as books and journals.

Consistency in applying APA style for article titles not only enhances the professional appearance of your essay but also adheres to academic standards. When referencing the article in your reference list, the same formatting rules apply. The title should appear in quotation marks with appropriate capitalisation. For instance, if you are citing an article titled 'Innovative Strategies for Renewable Energy', it should be entered as "Innovative Strategies for Renewable Energy" in your reference list. Here are additional tips to ensure your formatting is spot-on:

• Double-check that all principal words in the title are capitalised in your essay and in your reference list.
• Refer to the latest APA guidelines or trusted academic resources if unsure about formatting specifics.

By carefully following these APA formatting guidelines, you can enhance the readability and credibility of your academic writing.

Enhance Your Essay Titles with Samwell.ai's Writing Assistant

Crafting the perfect essay title is crucial for making a strong first impression and guiding your reader's expectations. This is where Samwell.ai steps in with its AI-powered writing assistant, designed to enhance your academic writing experience. The tool not only helps in creating engaging and accurate titles but also ensures they align with academic standards. For instance, if you're working on an essay about climate change, Samwell.ai can suggest titles that are both captivating and relevant to your content. This process involves:

• Analyzing the main themes and arguments of your essay
• Suggesting keywords and phrases that capture the essence of your topic
• Offering a variety of title formats that suit the tone and style of your academic work

Moreover, Samwell.ai 's capabilities extend beyond just title generation. The AI assistant also provides guidance on structuring your essay effectively, ensuring that each part, from the introduction to the conclusion, supports the title and central thesis. This holistic approach to essay writing not only saves time but also enhances the quality of your work, making it more coherent and impactful. Whether you are dealing with descriptive titles or need to formulate a provocative question-based title, Samwell.ai tailors its suggestions to meet the specific requirements of your essay. By integrating this advanced tool into your writing process, you can:

• Ensure consistency and relevance throughout your essay
• Enhance the readability and appeal of your academic papers
• Gain confidence in your writing abilities, knowing that each component is crafted to professional standards

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you italicize article titles.

In academic writing, article titles should not be italicised. Instead, they should be placed in quotation marks. The titles of journals or magazines, however, should be italicised.

What is an example of an article title?

An example of an effective article title is 'Rethinking Sustainability: Innovative Approaches to Environmental Conservation', which is specific, informative, and hints at a fresh perspective within the essay.

What is the format of article title?

The format for article titles in essays involves placing the title in quotation marks and capitalising the major words. The title should not be italicised, but the source of the article, such as a journal or book, should be in italics.

How do I format a title in an essay?

To format a title in an essay, ensure that it is concise, usually under ten words, and placed in quotation marks if it is an article title. Major words in the title should be capitalised, and it should not be italicised unless it is the title of a source like a journal or a book.

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Answered By: Gabe Gossett Last Updated: Jun 22, 2023     Views: 650985

The basic format for an in-text citation is: Title of the Book (Author Last Name, year).

One author: Where the Wild Things Are (Sendak, 1963) is a depiction of a child coping with his anger towards his mom.

Two authors (cite both names every time): Brabant and Mooney (1986) have used the comic strip to examine evidence of sex role stereotyping. OR The comic strip has been used to examine evidence of sex role stereotyping (Brabant & Mooney, 1986).

Three or more authors (cite the first author plus et al.): Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy (Clare et al., 2016) depicts a young man's experience at the Shadowhunter Academy, a place where being a former vampire is looked down upon.OR Clare et al. (2016) have crafted a unique story about a young man's journey to find himself.

No author: Cite the first few words of the reference entry (usually the title) and the year. Use double quotation marks around the title of an article or chapter, and italicize the title of a periodical, book, brochure, or report. Examples: From the book Study Guide (2000) ... or ("Reading," 1999).

Note: Titles of periodicals, books, brochures, or reports should be in italics and use normal title capitalization rules.

If you are citing multiple sources by multiple authors in-text, you can list all of them by the author's last name and year of publication within the same set of parentheses, separated by semicolons.

Example: (Adams, 1999; Jones & James, 2000; Miller, 1999)

For more information on how to cite books in-text and as a reference entry, see the APA Publication Manual (7th edition) Section 10.2 on pages 321-325 .

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Comments (13)

• This was very useful for me! I was having a really hard time finding information on how to mention an article title AND the author in text in APA so this was very helpful!!! by Ryan Waddell on Jun 27, 2019
• If I just mention that I used a book to teach a topic do I have to include it in the reference list? by Franw on Oct 17, 2019
• @Franw, if it is a source that informs your paper in any way, or if your reader would have reason to look it up, then you should include a full reference list entry for the book. by Gabe [Research & Writing Studio] on Oct 18, 2019
• Maybe I'm misunderstanding the question, but I think the OP is asking how to refer to a book title, not how to cite one. I believe APA uses quotation marks around book titles and MLA uses italics. by AB on Dec 12, 2019
• @AB: The first sentence has been tweaked to clarify title of book usage, reflecting the examples given. For APA style you should use italics for book titles. It would be quotation marks. by Gabe [Research & Writing Studio] on Dec 12, 2019
• Hi, can any one help me with in-text-citation of this, how can i cite it in the text Panel, I. L. (2002). Digital transformation: A framework for ICT literacy. Educational Testing Service, 1-53. by Milad on Aug 20, 2021
• @Milad: In that case it would be (Panel, 2002). If you are quoting, or otherwise choosing to include page numbers, put a comma after the year, then p. and the page number(s). by Gabe Gossett on Aug 20, 2021
• Hey, I'm a little bit curious, what if I'm mentioning a book and paraphrasing it but still want to give credit. Would I put the information into parenthesis instead? Like: Paraphrased info. ("Title in Italics" Author, year) by Kai on Sep 14, 2023
• @Kai: Apologies for not seeing your question sooner! (Our academic year has not started yet). If I am understanding your question correctly, what I suggest is referring to the book title in the narrative of your writing, rather than in the in-text citation. I do not see an examples of using a book title in an in-text citation except for rare circumstances including citing a classic religious text or using the title when there is no author information because it is the start of your reference list entry. Basically, APA's in-text convention is supposed to make it easy for your reader to locate the source being cited in the reference list. So the first part of the in-text citation, usually authors, comes first to locate it alphabetically. Putting the book title first when you have an author name can throw that off. by Gabe Gossett on Sep 21, 2023
• Perhaps this is along the lines of the response to Kai - Can you reference a book title as a common point of social understanding to demonstrate a common concept? Is official citing required if you use widely known titles such as "Where's Waldo" and "Who Moved My Cheese?" to make a point of illustration? by Chez Renee on Sep 30, 2023
• @Chez: Aside from some classical religious texts, if it is a published book, I'd try to make sure that it is appropriately cited for APA style. That said, I think I understand where it gets tricky with things like Where's Waldo, since that is a series of books and stating "Where's Waldo" is a cultural reference many people would understand, though you can't reasonably cite the entire series. I don't believe that APA gives guidance for this particular issue. If it is being referred to in order to back up a claim, it would help to cite a particular book. If not, then it might work to use a statement such as, "Hanford's Where's Waldo series . . ." by Gabe Gossett on Oct 02, 2023
• How to cite a dissertation thesis in apa form? by Elizabeth on Feb 05, 2024
• @Elizabeth: For citing a dissertation or thesis you can check out our page answering that here https://askus.library.wwu.edu/faq/153308 by Gabe Gossett on Feb 05, 2024

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• The Basics of In-Text Citation | APA & MLA Examples

The Basics of In-Text Citation | APA & MLA Examples

Published on March 14, 2022 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on February 28, 2024.

An in-text citation is a short acknowledgement you include whenever you quote or take information from a source in academic writing. It points the reader to the source so they can see where you got your information.

In-text citations most commonly take the form of short parenthetical statements indicating the author and publication year of the source, as well as the page number if relevant.

We also offer a free citation generator and in-depth guides to the main citation styles.

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Table of contents

What are in-text citations for, when do you need an in-text citation, types of in-text citation, frequently asked questions about in-text citations.

The point of an in-text citation is to show your reader where your information comes from. Including citations:

• Avoids plagiarism by acknowledging the original author’s contribution
• Allows readers to verify your claims and do follow-up research
• Shows you are engaging with the literature of your field

Academic writing is seen as an ongoing conversation among scholars, both within and between fields of study. Showing exactly how your own research draws on and interacts with existing sources is essential to keeping this conversation going.

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An in-text citation should be included whenever you quote or paraphrase a source in your text.

Quoting means including the original author’s words directly in your text, usually introduced by a signal phrase . Quotes should always be cited (and indicated with quotation marks), and you should include a page number indicating where in the source the quote can be found.

Paraphrasing means putting information from a source into your own words. In-text citations are just as important here as with quotes, to avoid the impression you’re taking credit for someone else’s ideas. Include page numbers where possible, to show where the information can be found.

However, to avoid over-citation, bear in mind that some information is considered common knowledge and doesn’t need to be cited. For example, you don’t need a citation to prove that Paris is the capital city of France, and including one would be distracting.

Different types of in-text citation are used in different citation styles . They always direct the reader to a reference list giving more complete information on each source.

Author-date citations (used in APA , Harvard , and Chicago author-date ) include the author’s last name, the year of publication, and a page number when available. Author-page citations (used in MLA ) are the same except that the year is not included.

Both types are divided into parenthetical and narrative citations. In a parenthetical citation , the author’s name appears in parentheses along with the rest of the information. In a narrative citation , the author’s name appears as part of your sentence, not in parentheses.

Note: Footnote citations like those used in Chicago notes and bibliography are sometimes also referred to as in-text citations, but the citation itself appears in a note separate from the text.

An in-text citation is an acknowledgement you include in your text whenever you quote or paraphrase a source. It usually gives the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the page number of the relevant text. In-text citations allow the reader to look up the full source information in your reference list and see your sources for themselves.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

Check if your university or course guidelines specify which citation style to use. If the choice is left up to you, consider which style is most commonly used in your field.

• APA Style is the most popular citation style, widely used in the social and behavioral sciences.
• MLA style is the second most popular, used mainly in the humanities.
• Chicago notes and bibliography style is also popular in the humanities, especially history.
• Chicago author-date style tends to be used in the sciences.

Other more specialized styles exist for certain fields, such as Bluebook and OSCOLA for law.

The most important thing is to choose one style and use it consistently throughout your text.

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Caulfield, J. (2024, February 28). The Basics of In-Text Citation | APA & MLA Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 2, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/in-text-citation-styles/

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How to Introduce an Author in an Essay: Tips for MLA and APA

How to Introduce an Author in an Essay

When writing an essay, you are required to cite and reference any outside source that has been used. Any information that is not general knowledge should be cited. If you do not cite and reference such information, then your essay will be plagiarized.

Plagiarism is when you copy another author’s text or information to your essay. By doing so, you are assuming ownership of another author’s intellectual property, which is an academic crime.

As such, you must cite the owner of the outside information within your essay to avoid plagiarism.

This brings in the issue of the ways used to introduce an author in an essay. Introducing an author is part of acknowledging that you have borrowed from their work and is part of citations.

When you do not wish to create a standard in-text citation such as (Mathew, 2021) in APA or (Mathew 25) in MLA, you can introduce the authors as part of a statement.

The next section of this article will explore the various ways of introducing an author in an essay.

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5 ways to effectively introduce an author in an essay.

You can effectively introduce an author in an essay by mentioning their name and text, use a prefix like ‘according to’, mentioning their stance, referring to their book in the beginning, or reporting the argument then the name.

The choice that you make depends on the context and content of the citation. Let us explore these in detail.

1. Mention Their Name and Book

This is one of the various ways to introduce an author in an essay. In this case, you will have to mention either their surname as you start your sentence.

The author’s name is then followed by the book, article, research, or any formal peer-reviewed text they have written, and then continue stating what they have said.

For example, let us imagine that an author known as Seth McFarlane has written a book or text titled “The Root Causes of Socioeconomic Inequality in the United States.”

If you want to introduce them in your essay, you can say that Seth McFarlane stated in his book “The Root Causes of Socioeconomic Inequality in the United States” that…

You can also use their surname, which is McFarlane. In this case, the statement will look like this: McFarlane stated in his book titled “The Root Causes of Socioeconomic Inequality in the United States” that…

However, once you have introduced the author, there is no need to repeat the same statement elsewhere. You should formally cite them using either APA or MLA format, as discussed in this article.

2. Use “According to” Pretext

This is also a widely accepted method used to introduce an author in an essay. It is commonly used because it links the previous point or information with the author and his argument.

As noted, when writing an essay and you have not conducted primary research/study by yourself, then you will have to use other sources as evidence of your claims. To introduce the source’s author, you can use the phrase “according to…” 

For example, let us imagine our author is still Seth McFarlane and the title of his book or text is still “The Root Causes of Socioeconomic Inequality in the United States.”

To introduce the author, you can say: “According to Seth McFarlane, one of the root causes of socioeconomic inequality in the United States is racial inequality and racism in general.”

From the above example, you have noticed that the text that follows the “according to Seth McFarlane” phrase has to be a factual statement that the author has stated in their book.

It is a form of citation. It should be noted that you do not have to use their full name. You can use their surname.

3. Mention Their Name and What They Said

Mentioning the author’s name and what they said in their book or text is also a viable way of introducing an author in your essay. In this case, you do not have to write the title of their work. You only need to either paraphrase or quote (“…”) what they said.

For example, if you want to back up an argument in which you have stated that socioeconomic inequality is caused by racial inequality and racism in the United States, you introduce an author who corroborates the claim.

You can state that “Seth McFarlane also notes that one of the root causes of socioeconomic inequality in the United States is racial inequality and racism in general”. 

4. Use the phrase “In His Book, (The Author) Argues That…”

This is a good strategy to introduce an author in your essay while still maintaining the continuity or flow of your arguments.

In this case, you do not have to mention the book’s title or text.

You only need to note the author’s name so that the readers can know who authored your source of information.

For example, if you use this method, your statement will look like this: “In his book, Seth McFarlane argues that the root cause of socioeconomic inequality in the United States is racial inequality and racism in general”. 

5. Present the Argument, Then the Author Who Made It

Though this method is not widely used, it can also be applied when you want to introduce an author in your essay. It should be noted that this is not the same as presenting the arguments and then putting a formal APA or MLA in-text citation at the end. 

To introduce the author using this strategy, your statement will look like this: “The root cause of socioeconomic inequality in the United States is racial inequality and racism in general, Seth McFarlane notes”. 

How to Cite Authors in an Essay

If you have not introduced the authors within your text, you should cite them using MLA or APA format to ensure that you acknowledge the source of the information. While other citation formats can be used, MLA and APA are the most common formats in academic essay writing.

How to Cite Authors in MLA

When it comes to citing authors in MLA format, you should include their surname followed by the page number from which you have read the information.

Since this should be an in-text citation, you should put it into brackets at the end of the statement.

It would look like this: The root cause of socioeconomic inequality in the United States is racial inequality and racism in general (McFarlane 23). 

How to Cite Authors in APA

Concerning the APA format, you include the author’s surname followed by the year their book or text was published.

This is also put into brackets. The statement would look like this:

“The root cause of socioeconomic inequality in the United States is racial inequality and racism in general (McFarlane, 2021).

Note that a comma separates the surname and year of publication. This makes the citation complete and gives the year and the author.

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Dos and Don’ts of Introducing an Author in an Essay

When it comes to the Dos, always introduce the author using their surname followed by what they said. While you can use their first and last names to introduce the authors, it is advisable to use their surnames to avoid including unnecessary long names.

Plagiarism-checking tools may also match long names, and your paper will be considered as plagiarized.

When the authors are more than two, do not introduce them all.

Imagine more than seven people have co-authored a book, and you introduce them all.

This would not make sense. You should only include the surname of the first author followed by ‘et al.’

Concerning the don’ts, avoid using the full names of the author(s) when introducing them in an essay.

Secondly, once you have introduced the author(s), don’t introduce them again. Instead, use in-text citations to acknowledge them.

Finally, don’t write the full names of all the authors. Just use ‘et al. to show that there are more authors. Read our guide on how to use references in the introductory paragraphs for more.

Josh Jasen or JJ as we fondly call him, is a senior academic editor at Grade Bees in charge of the writing department. When not managing complex essays and academic writing tasks, Josh is busy advising students on how to pass assignments. In his spare time, he loves playing football or walking with his dog around the park.

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How to Introduce an Author in an Essay Examples

Introducing an author in an essay can be a crucial part of setting the tone for the reader. It provides important context and background information that can help the reader better understand the author’s work. There are various ways to introduce an author in an essay, from providing a brief biographical sketch to highlighting their major works and accomplishments. In this article, we will explore different examples of how to introduce an author in an essay, along with some interesting facts about the authors themselves.

1. Begin with a brief biographical sketch: One way to introduce an author in an essay is to start with a brief overview of their life and background. For example, you could mention where the author was born, their education, and any significant events or experiences that shaped their writing.

2. Highlight their major works: Another way to introduce an author in an essay is to focus on their major works. You could mention some of the author’s most famous books or articles, along with a brief summary of each work.

3. Discuss their literary influences: You could also introduce an author by discussing the writers or thinkers who have influenced their work. This can help the reader understand the author’s style and themes better.

4. Provide context for their writing: It can be helpful to introduce an author by providing some context for their writing. For example, you could discuss the historical or cultural events that influenced the author’s work, or the major themes or ideas that they explore in their writing.

5. Use quotes or excerpts: One effective way to introduce an author in an essay is to use quotes or excerpts from their work. This can give the reader a taste of the author’s writing style and themes.

6. Highlight their awards or accolades: If the author has won any awards or accolades, be sure to mention them in your introduction. This can help establish the author’s credibility and expertise in their field.

7. Discuss their impact on the literary world: You could also introduce an author by discussing the impact they have had on the literary world. For example, you could talk about how their work has influenced other writers or how it has shaped literary trends.

8. Mention any controversies or debates: If the author has been involved in any controversies or debates, you could mention them in your introduction. This can add a layer of complexity to your discussion of the author and their work.

9. Connect their work to current events or issues: Finally, you could introduce an author by connecting their work to current events or issues. This can help make the author’s work feel relevant and timely to the reader.

Now that we have explored some examples of how to introduce an author in an essay, let’s take a look at some interesting facts about nine different authors:

1. J.K. Rowling: Best known for her Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling is one of the most successful authors of all time. She was rejected by multiple publishers before finally finding success with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

2. Toni Morrison: A Nobel Prize-winning author, Toni Morrison is known for her powerful exploration of race, identity, and history in her novels. Her most famous works include Beloved and Song of Solomon.

3. George Orwell: George Orwell is best known for his dystopian novel 1984, which has become a classic of modern literature. He also wrote Animal Farm, a satirical allegory of the Russian Revolution.

4. Maya Angelou: A poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou is best known for her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She was a close friend of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

5. Ernest Hemingway: Known for his spare and direct writing style, Ernest Hemingway is considered one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. His most famous works include The Old Man and the Sea and A Farewell to Arms.

6. Virginia Woolf: A pioneering modernist writer, Virginia Woolf is known for her innovative narrative techniques and exploration of gender and sexuality. Her most famous works include Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse.

7. Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Colombian novelist and Nobel Prize winner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez is known for his magical realism and epic storytelling. His most famous work is One Hundred Years of Solitude.

8. Haruki Murakami: A Japanese novelist and translator, Haruki Murakami is known for his surreal and dreamlike fiction. His most famous works include Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the Shore.

9. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: A Nigerian author and feminist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is known for her powerful exploration of race, gender, and identity in her novels and essays. Her most famous works include Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah.

Now that we have explored some examples of how to introduce an author in an essay and learned some interesting facts about nine different authors, let’s address some common questions that readers may have about authors and their work:

1. What inspired the author to write this book?

The inspiration for a book can come from many sources, including personal experiences, historical events, or other works of literature.

2. What themes or ideas does the author explore in their writing?

Authors often explore universal themes such as love, loss, identity, and power in their work. These themes can provide insight into the author’s worldview and perspective.

3. How does the author’s background influence their writing?

An author’s background, including their cultural heritage, education, and life experiences, can greatly influence their writing style and themes.

4. What impact has the author had on the literary world?

Some authors have had a significant impact on the literary world, influencing other writers and shaping literary trends. Their work may also have been adapted into films, plays, or other media.

5. How does the author’s writing style differ from other writers?

Each author has a unique writing style that sets them apart from other writers. This can include their use of language, narrative structure, and thematic concerns.

6. What controversies or debates surround the author and their work?

Authors may become embroiled in controversies or debates surrounding their work, including issues of plagiarism, political activism, or representation in literature.

7. How does the author’s work reflect the cultural or historical context in which they wrote?

Authors often draw on the cultural and historical context in which they live to inform their writing. This can include references to current events, social movements, or literary traditions.

8. What awards or accolades has the author received for their work?

Authors may receive awards or accolades for their writing, including literary prizes, honorary degrees, and critical acclaim. These accolades can signal the author’s impact and influence in the literary world.

9. How has the author’s work been received by critics and readers?

The reception of an author’s work can vary widely, with some critics and readers praising their writing and others offering more critical responses. Understanding the reception of an author’s work can provide insight into their legacy and influence.

10. How does the author’s personal life inform their writing?

Authors often draw on their personal experiences, relationships, and emotions to inform their writing. Understanding the connections between an author’s personal life and their work can deepen our appreciation of their writing.

11. What role does the author play in shaping literary trends or movements?

Some authors are considered pioneers in their field, shaping literary trends or movements through their innovative writing style, thematic concerns, or narrative techniques.

12. How does the author’s work resonate with contemporary readers?

An author’s work may continue to resonate with contemporary readers, addressing universal themes and ideas that are relevant across time and culture.

13. What challenges or obstacles did the author face in their writing career?

Authors may face challenges or obstacles in their writing career, including rejection, criticism, or personal struggles. Understanding these challenges can provide insight into the author’s perseverance and commitment to their craft.

14. How has the author’s writing evolved over time?

Authors may evolve and change in their writing style, themes, and concerns over time. Tracking the evolution of an author’s work can provide insight into their artistic development and growth.

15. What legacy does the author leave behind in the literary world?

Authors may leave behind a lasting legacy in the literary world, influencing future generations of writers and readers. Understanding an author’s legacy can help us appreciate their impact and influence on literature.

16. What connections can be made between the author’s work and other forms of art or media?

Authors may draw inspiration from other forms of art or media, including music, visual art, and film. Exploring these connections can deepen our understanding of an author’s creative influences and interests.

17. How does the author’s work challenge or subvert traditional literary conventions?

Some authors challenge or subvert traditional literary conventions through their innovative writing style, experimental narrative techniques, or unconventional themes. Understanding these challenges can provide insight into the author’s unique perspective and vision.

In summary, introducing an author in an essay can be an important part of setting the stage for the reader and providing context for the author’s work. By highlighting the author’s major works, discussing their influences and impact on the literary world, and connecting their work to current events or issues, you can help the reader better understand and appreciate the author’s writing. By exploring some interesting facts about different authors and addressing common questions that readers may have about authors and their work, you can deepen your analysis and appreciation of literature.

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Chronicling America: A Guide for Researchers

Newspaper title information, essays, and calendar view.

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Digitized newspapers in Chronicling America are accompanied by a Title Information page, a Newspaper Title Essay, and Calendar View. The Title Information functions like a catalog record and provides publication information about the newspaper. The Newspaper Title Essays are rich sources of contextual and background information about each newspaper. Furthermore, the Calendar View helps researchers visualize the frequency of a newspaper, and the availability and unavailability of digitized dates of issues.

• Title Information

Newspaper Title Essays

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Newspaper Title Information

On the bottom of every image in Chronicling America, the Newspaper Title Information will be present. This provides basic newspaper information about the title.

• Subject Headings : This field provides some background information on a newspaper such as where it is from and if it's related to any special collections, groups of people, or themes.
• Notes : This field provides non-traditional bibliographic information about a newspaper title that could not fit in any other place. Sometimes it includes information on dates that were skipped during publication.
• Ethnicity : This field identifies whether the newspaper was published with an ethnic community in mind as the readership.

Participants of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) write essays to provide a summary description of the scope, content, and significance of the newspaper for each title selected for digitization and inclusion in Chronicling America.

You can find an accompanying title essay by selecting About this Newspaper . If the Newspaper Title Essay is present, it should appear at the top of the screen.

The easiest way to find Newspaper Title Essays is by going to All Digitized Titles . From there, look at the column that says Essay Available . All of the newspaper titles with a check mark in this column have Newspaper Title Essays.

You can find a newspaper's Calendar view by selecting About this Newspaper . On the new page, select Browse Digitized Issues .

Another way to get access to the Calendar View for a newspaper title is by going to All Digitized Titles . From there, look at the column that says Browse Digitized Issues . Click on the calendar icon of any of these titles to go directly to the calendar view for the newspaper title of your choice.

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• Last Updated: Aug 1, 2024 9:29 PM
• URL: https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america