Module 1

Finding the Reference Information

Every APA reference is built from the same handful of pieces: who wrote it, when, what it's called, and where it lives. This module shows you where each piece sits on the first page of a journal article.

Video: Reading a Journal Article's First Page

Instructor video coming soon

Explore the Article

Below is the first page of a (fictional) journal article, laid out the way you'd see it as a PDF from the library. Click each dashed-underlined part to learn what it is and where it goes in a citation. Find all 8.

Found: 0 / 8

¹Department of Human Development, Coastal State University
²School of Social Work, Bayview University

Abstract. Multigenerational households are increasingly common in the United States. Using survey data from 412 adolescent–grandparent dyads, we examined... [abstract continues]

✅ Journal name. This goes in your reference in italics, with all major words capitalized: Journal of Family Studies. It's usually in the header or footer of the first page.

✅ Year, volume, issue, and page range. Four pieces at once! The year (2024) goes in parentheses after the authors. The volume (38) is italicized, the issue (2) goes in parentheses not italicized, and the page range (145–162) closes the citation: 38(2), 145–162.

✅ DOI (Digital Object Identifier). The article's permanent address. Unlike URLs, it never breaks. Always include it when it exists, formatted as a link: https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001234. It's the last element of the reference.

✅ Article title. In your reference, only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns are capitalized (sentence case), and it is NOT italicized: Grandparent involvement and adolescent well-being in multigenerational households.

✅ Authors. The people who wrote it, listed in the order shown (never alphabetize!). In the reference they become: Delgado, M. T., Ojo, J. K., & Reyes, H. B. Note: last name first, initials only, and ignore the superscript numbers (those point to universities, not name parts).

⚠️ Received/accepted dates: a common trap! These dates track the review process. You do NOT cite them. The citation year is the publication year (2024, from the volume line). If an article is "online first" with no volume yet, use the online publication year.

⚠️ Corresponding author: not citation info. This email is for contacting the researcher. It never appears in a citation. Also note: the university affiliations are not part of the reference either.

⚠️ Publisher: not the journal name! Elsevier is a publishing company, not a journal. Companies like Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, Sage, and Taylor & Francis publish hundreds of journals each, and their names never appear anywhere in a journal article reference. Your journal name is up in the header: Journal of Family Studies.

The Journal Is Not the Publisher

A very common mix-up: writing Elsevier or Springer where the journal name belongs. Those are publishing companies; each one publishes hundreds of different journals. The journal is the specific periodical your article appeared in.

Publishers (never in a journal reference)	Journals (what you actually cite)
Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, Sage, Taylor & Francis, APA Publishing	Journal of Family Studies, Child Development, Developmental Psychology

Quick test: a journal name describes a subject area. If the name on the page is a company you've seen across many different articles, it's the publisher. Publisher names often appear in a copyright line ("© 2024 Elsevier Inc."), and that whole line is not citation information. (Publisher names do appear in book references, never in journal article references.)

Which Name Is the Last Name?

Articles print names first-name-first, but references need them inverted, and that means you have to correctly identify the surname. Two situations trip students up:

1. First names that look like last names

Byline Morgan Taylor and Jordan Marshall Reed

Is it Taylor, M., or Morgan, T.? Is Reed the surname, or is Marshall-Reed? Never guess. Check where the article itself tells you:

Where to look	What it shows
The correspondence line	"...addressed to M. Taylor" → Taylor is the surname
The journal's own "cite this article" box	Most journals show the inverted form: Taylor, M., & Reed, J. M.
The database record	Author fields are stored surname-first
The page header/footer	Often abbreviates to surnames only: "Taylor & Reed"

2. Double last names

Many surnames have two parts, and both parts stay together in the reference. Splitting one is like cutting a name in half.

Two-word surname (common in Spanish naming) Byline: Luz M. García López → Reference: García López, L. M., filed under G, never "López, L. M. G."

Hyphenated surname Byline: Daniela Rivera-Santos → Reference: Rivera-Santos, D. (the hyphen makes it one name)

Surname with a particle Byline: Pieter van der Berg → Reference: van der Berg, P. (the particle stays with the surname; keep the capitalization the author uses)

⚠️ Don't assume the middle word of three names is a middle name: in "Luz García López," García is not a middle name. When unsure, use the same checks as above: correspondence line, cite box, or database record.

When Information Is Missing

Real articles don't always give you every piece. Missing information isn't a dead end; each gap has a rule:

Missing piece	What to do
No DOI	That's fine; many articles don't have one. Module 2 covers what goes in its place (usually nothing, sometimes a URL).
No issue number	Some journals number pages continuously through a volume. Just skip it: Journal Name, 38, 145–162.
No page range	Online-only journals often use an article number (e-locator) instead, e.g., Article e0284561. Covered in Module 2.
No individual author	Look for a group author (an organization, like the CDC). If truly no author, the title moves into the author position. Don't write "Anonymous" unless the source itself does.
No volume/pages yet ("online first")	The article is published ahead of the issue. Cite it as an advance online publication and use the online year.

The one thing you may never do: invent or guess a piece. If you can't find it after really looking, the rule above tells you how to leave it out.

Check Yourself

Question 1

Using the article above, what year goes in the citation?

Question 2

Which of these is the article's page range?

Question 3

The article lists "Maria T. Delgado¹, James K. Ojo², and Hannah B. Reyes¹." How do the authors appear in the reference entry?

Question 4

An article's byline reads "Carmen Ortiz Mendoza." The correspondence line says "addressed to C. Ortiz Mendoza." How does she appear in your reference list?

Question 5

The byline says "Bailey Cameron." You're not sure which name is the surname. What's the right move?

🔍 Finding the Reference Information