They belong to journals
Journals usually focus on a subject area, such as nursing, education, psychology, medicine, science or law.
Video 9 of 16 · Foundations of Referencing
What is a journal article?
Connect your work to academic evidence.
Journal articles are academic sources published in journals. They often report research, review evidence or discuss ideas in a specialist field.
Academic evidence
Published in journals
Check the source details
Watch
Journal articles, explained simply
Use this video to understand what journal articles are, why students use them and what details help readers identify them.
Watch the video first, then use the sections below to check the main ideas.
In this lesson
Learn the essentials
Journal articles are one of the most common source types used in academic writing.
They support academic work
Many articles report research, review existing evidence or discuss ideas within a specialist field.
They need clear details
A full reference gives enough information for your reader to identify and check the article you used.
The source trail
What details help identify a journal article?
A journal article reference points readers to the article itself and the journal it was published in.
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Author and year
These connect the article to the in-text citation.
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Article title
This tells the reader which specific article you used.
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Journal details
The journal name, volume, issue and pages help locate it.
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DOI if available
A DOI can make the exact article easier to find and check.
Example
How a journal article reference works
The reference should make it clear which article was used and where it was published.
Your in-text citation might point to a journal article like this: Taylor (2024).
Taylor, A. (2024) 'Using evidence well', Example Journal, 12(2), pp. 45–59. doi:10.xxxx/example.
The author and year link to the citation. The journal details and DOI help the reader find the article.
Quick checks
Three things to remember
Check the article title
The article title is different from the journal title. Both can matter in the full reference.
Look for journal details
Volume, issue and page numbers help identify where the article appears in the journal.
Peer review is useful
Peer review can strengthen credibility, but it does not mean every article is perfect.
Read
Transcript
Open the transcript if you prefer to read the explanation or revisit a specific part of the video.
Read the transcript
A journal article is a piece of academic writing published in a journal.
Journals usually focus on a particular subject area, such as nursing, education, psychology, medicine, science, or law.
Many journal articles report research, review existing evidence, or discuss ideas within a specialist field.
Some journal articles are peer-reviewed, which means they have been checked by other experts before publication.
This does not mean every article is perfect, but it can make the source more credible.
A journal article reference may include details such as the author, year, article title, journal name, volume, issue, page numbers, and DOI.
Journal articles are often used because they connect your writing to current academic evidence.
Using Ref-Check
How this connects to Ref-Check
Ref-Check helps users review whether journal article references include the details needed to identify and check the source, such as authors, year, journal title, volume, issue, pages and DOI where available.
Make the article traceable
A clear journal article reference helps readers move from your writing to the exact evidence you used.