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Citation Help for MLA, 8th Edition: Magazine Article

An introduction to MLA Style.

Multiple Authors?

Example:
McGill, Ivan, John Kurt Glenn, and Alice 
Brockbank. The Action Learning Handbook: Powerful Techniques for Education. Rutledge Falmer, 2014.

Explanation:
List the first author last name first followed by the first and middle names followed by a comma. All other authors are listed first name followed by the last name. Insert the word "and" and a comma before the last author.

Note: If there are more than three authors, just list the first one followed by et al., which is Latin for and others. There is a period after al but not et. Example: Nelson, Karl, et al. Fish Is for Everyone. Penguin Press, 2016. 

Month Abbreviations

According to p. 95 of the MLA Handbook 8th ed. Spell out months in the body of your paper and abbreviate as follows in your works cited list:

January = Jan.
February = Feb.
March = Mar.
April = Apr.
May = May
June = June
July = July
August = Aug.
September = Sept.
October = Oct.
November = Nov.
December = Dec.

Background

Before citing an article from a periodical, one needs to determine if the article is from a magazine or a scholarly journal. There are two general clues to look to in order to make this determination:

1. Frequency of publication. Journals are more likely to be monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly publications. If the periodical is published weekly, then it is a magazine and not a journal.

2. Pagination. Magazines are generally paginated by issue, i.e. with each new issue the page numbers start over with number one. Scholarly journals are paginated consecutively throughout the volume year. Page numbering does not begin with number one again until the first issue of the next volume year.

Examine your article and determine if it is a magazine article or not. If it is journal article, follow this link. Remember, book reviews and newspapers articles are cited differently than both magazine and journal articles.

Example

If you got the article from a print magazine:

Barone, Michael. "The Experience Factor." U.S. News & World Report, 25 Mar. 2016, pp. 26-28.

OR if you got the full-text of the article from an online database:

Barone, Michael. "The Experience Factor." U.S. News & World Report, 25 Mar. 2016, pp. 26-28. Academic Search

     Premier, doi:10.5465/amle.2013.0337. Accessed 26 Mar. 2016. 
 
OR if the article does not have a doi number:

Barone, Michael. "The Experience Factor." U.S. News & World Report, 25 Mar. 2016, pp. 26-28. Academic Search

     Premier, https://akin.css.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx

     direct=true&db=bth&AN=116756626&site=eds-live&scope=site. Accessed 26 Mar. 2016. 

Explanation

Author: Barone, Michael.
Last name, then first and middle for the first author and first and then last name for all subsequent authors. Put a comma followed by the word and before the last author. End with a period. 

Title & subtitle of the article: "The Experience Factor."
The title & subtitle are separated by a colon. Capitalize the first and last words of the title and subtitle, and all proper nouns and important words. Place article title & subtitle in quotations and end with a period.

Title & subtitle of journal: U.S. News & World Report,
The title & subtitle are separated by a colon. Capitalize the first and last words of the title and subtitle, and all proper nouns and important words. Italicize magazine title & subtitle. End with a comma.

Date of publication: 25 Mar. 2016,
Day, month, and year of when the article was published followed by a comma. Use proper abbreviation for months.

Page numbers: pp. 26-28.
If page numbers of article run consecutively, separate beginning and ending page numbers with a hyphen preceded by the abbreviation pp. Put the abbreviation p. if the article is only one page long.  End the citation with a period. If the pages do not run consecutively, then indicate beginning page of the article followed by a + sign.


If you used an online database such as SOLAR to get the full-text of this article, then you have a few more parts including:

Database: Academic Search Premier,
Include the name of the database you used to find the full-text of the article. Put in Italics and end with a comma.

DOI number OR Website Address: doi:10.5465/amle.2013.0337 OR https://akin.css.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=116756626&site=eds-live&scope=site
Add the doi number (digital object identifier) if one is given for the article. Include the lower-case letters doi followed by a colon, no space and then the number which usually starts with 10.

If a doi number is not given, then give the website address for the article. Use the permalink if possible. In our EBSCO databases, click on the Permalink option in the right-hand column to get this URL. 

End either way with a period.

Access Date: Accessed 26 Mar. 2016. 
Day, month, and year you viewed the article preceded by the word Accessed. Use proper abbreviation for months. End citation with a period.

[The above information is based on MLA Handbook  8th edition]