It's important to cite sources in order to:
How can you use someone else's ideas in your work? There are three ways, all of which require a citation:
The American Psychological Association (APA) citation style requires two elements: in-text citations and a reference list.
APAStyle.org is the most reliable place online to get information about how to cite in this style, including help with in-text citations and your reference list, including lots of example citations for various types of sources.
Citing a journal article, step-by-step:
Be sure to indent lines after the first (called a hanging indent).
An example:
Walters, J. E., & Wallis, D. (2021). Characteristics and organizational capacity of nonprofits in rural, persistently poor Southern counties in the United States. Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs, 7(3), 390-416. https://doi.org/10.20899/jpna.7.3.390-416
APA style requires that a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) be included in your citation, if available. To see if a journal article has been assigned a DOI, you can look it up on CrossRef or Ask a Librarian.
For more information about the DOI system, see http://www.doi.org.