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How to Cite an Article From JSTOR

Written By
Forest Time
Forest Time
May 26, 2011
2 minute read

JSTOR is an online academic database that collects articles from scholarly journals and makes them available to students and professionals. It is likely that you will need to cite a source from JSTOR at some point in your college career. To do so, follow the basic rules for formatting reference list entries for journals accessed through an electronic database. The exact form of your citation will depend on whether you are writing your paper according to APA (American Psychological Association) or MLA (Modern Language Association) guidelines.

Citing JSTOR in MLA

Begin your citation with the name of the author, last name first. For example:

Smith, Guy.

Continue with the title of the article. This should be enclosed in quotation marks and followed by a period. For example:

"Education and Pedagogy in American Schools."

List the name of the journal in italics.

List the volume number and issue number, separated by a period. For example:

11.13

List the year of publication in parentheses. Follow this information with a colon. For instance:

(1999):

List the inclusive page numbers, followed by a period. For example:

119-165.

List the name of the database in italics, followed by a period. For example:

JSTOR.

List the medium of publication, followed by a period. For example:

Web.

List the day, month and year on which you accessed the article, followed by a period. For example:

23 Jan. 2009.

The full citation should appear as follows:

Smith, Guy. "Education and Pedagogy in American Schools." The Journal of American Education 11.13 (1999): 119-165. JSTOR. Web. 23 Jan. 2009.

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Citing JSTOR in APA style

Begin your citation with the last name and first initial of the author. For instance:

Smith, G.

Continue with the year of publication in parentheses. This should be followed by a period. For example:

(1999).

List the article's title. Only the first letter should be capitalized. Capitalize any proper nouns as well. For example:

Education and pedagogy in American schools.

List the title of the journal, volume number and issue number in the following format:

The Journal of American Education, 11(13),

The journal title and volume number should both appear in italics.

List the inclusive page numbers, followed by a period. For example:

119-165.

List the name of the database and the date on which you accessed the article. This should appear in the following format:

Retrieved January 23, 2009, from the JSTOR database.

The finished citation should appear as follows:

Smith, G. (1999). Education and pedagogy in American schools. The Journal of American Education, 11(13), The Journal of American Education, 11(13), 119-165. Retrieved January 23, 2009, from the JSTOR database.

Need help with a citation? Try our citation generator.

Forest Time

Forest Time has been writing for over a decade. During this time, he founded and edited a short-lived literary magazine, received several prizes for his poetry and published a master's thesis on Cambodian history. He received his Master of…

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