Just like a book entry, use the author's last name at the beginning. Use a comma between the last name and first initial. Add a middle initial if the book includes it or a middle name.  The reference page entry will begin this way: Cole, B. R.  If it has more than one author, include all of them, separated by commas and an ampersand. Only use initials for the first and last name, like this: Cole, B. R., Jackson, G. H., & Briar, J. P. Put the year in parentheses. Typically, you can find the year at the beginning of the article or on the database entry for the journal article. Use a period after the end parenthesis. Your reference will look like this: Cole, B. R. (2010). Do not put it in italics, and use sentence-style capitalization. That means that you only capitalize the first word, proper nouns, and the first word after a colon. Now the entry will look this way: Cole, B. R. (2010). Why we should use grass for playing fields. Capitalize the journal title like the journal does it, and put the name in italics. Use a comma after the journal name. The reference will look like this: Cole, B. R. (2010). Why we should use grass for playing fields. Sports Field Journal, Some journals are paginated by volume. In that case, you add the volume number in italics, a comma, and the page numbers of the article. Some journals are paginated by issue. In that case, add the volume in italics, the issue in parentheses but not in italics, and then the page numbers.  So for a journal paginated by volume, it will look like this: Cole, B. R. (2010). Why we should use grass for playing fields. Sports Field Journal, 66, 859-863.  For a journal paginated by issue, you'll do it this way: Cole, B. R. (2010). Why we should use grass for playing fields. Sports Field Journal, 16(6), 20-16.  If that's all the information you have, the citation is complete. Most articles will have a DOI, which is the digital object identifier. It's sort of like an ISBN for journal articles. New journal articles will usually have one, but if yours doesn't, you can leave it off. Now your citation looks like this: Cole, B. R. (2010). Why we should use grass for playing fields. Sports Field Journal, 66, 859-863. doi:10.1434234234 The URL will help your readers find the article. Add "Retrieved from" and the URL address at the end of the entry.  For an article that has its own publicly accessible URL, put that in: Cole, B. R. (2010). Why we should use grass for playing fields. Sports Field Journal, 66, 859-863. Retrieved from http://www.sportsfieldjournal.com/why_we_should_use_grass  If it doesn't have a publicly accessible URL, use the home page of the journal: Cole, B. R. (2010). Why we should use grass for playing fields. Sports Field Journal, 66, 859-863. Retrieved from http://www.sportsfieldjournal.com/home If you use the author's last name in the sentence, you don't need to put it in the citation; just place the citation directly after the last name. Otherwise, place the author's last name, a comma, the year of publication, a comma, and the page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence. You must include the page number with direct quotes; otherwise, it's optional.  If the author's name is in the sentence, the citation will look this way: As noted by Cole (2013, p. 45), AstroTurf is a bad way to cover a field.  At the end of the sentence, it takes this form: AstroTurf is not a viable substitute for real grass (Ford, 2015, p. 124).  If you need to add multiple authors, use this form: As noted by Cole, Jackson, & Briar (2014, p. 58), AstroTurf is bad for scoring goals.  After the first citation with multiple authors, add "et al." instead: As noted by Cole et al. (2014, p. 66), AstroTurf is a problem when playing football.

Summary: Begin with the author's last name, followed by their initials for your reference list citation. Add the year of publication next. Use the journal article title next. Add the name of the journal after the article title. Add the volume, issue, and/or page numbers. Add the DOI if your journal article has one. Use a web link for online articles if they don't have a DOI. Make an in-text citation for the sentence where you're citing information.


This is the time it takes an average college student to read the pages of a textbook. Keep this in mind as you schedule time for your reading. For instance, if you have to read 73 pages for an assignment, that is 365 minutes, or approximately six hours of reading. If you calculate that you have four hours of reading, we don't recommend trying to do all of it at one time. You may become tired and unfocused. Read for an hour at your lunch break, an hour in the evening, etc. Try to spread it out a bit, taking into consideration how many days you have to complete the assigned number of pages and the hours it will take you to read them. If you fall behind, you will find yourself skimming and speed-reading, which causes you to miss important information. Schedule some time to read each day so you can chip away at the assignment slowly and less stressfully. This is very important. You can't be expected to comprehend lots of information if there is noise around.  Avoid reading in your bed if possible. Your brain most likely associates your bed with sleep, and it will want to do that if you are reading there. Sleep experts also say that doing “work” in bed can lead to sleeping problems, and only relaxing reading and activities should be done in bed so you don't start having a hard time falling and staying asleep. Go to a quiet room in your house, the library, a quiet coffee shop, or a park to read. Anywhere that has little distractions for you is best. If you have a family (or roommates) or have lots of responsibilities at home, go out. If having any people around at all distracts you, but your home is fairly quiet, stay in. Whatever works for you; you may have to experiment and see where you can study best. Are you being asked to write a paper, or do you have a big test that covers the assigned material? If there is a test, did the instructor offer a study guide? Take all of this into account as you focus on what you should spend the most time reviewing while you study. If you read carefully, highlighted and took notes, you should only need to read the textbook once. What you will re-read during studying is your highlighted phrases, your margin questions and/or notes, and your notebook notes. Read these as many times as necessary to fully understand the material. If you didn't take great notes, you may need to re-read. Studies show that there are huge benefits to talking out loud about what you are learning.  Form study groups with your classmates, or talk with someone at home or another friend about what you are reading. Be sure to attend all of your classes, not just on test days or days that papers are due. Most likely there are discussions or lectures happening about the textbook material, and these are extremely beneficial to your long-term learning of the readings. If the instructor gave you math exercises to complete, or short answer questions to write, but they aren't necessarily graded, do them anyway. There is a purpose to the assigning of the work, and that is for you to further your understanding of the material from the book.
Summary: Multiply the number of pages in your assignment by 5 minutes. Give yourself breaks. Read each day. Read in a distraction-free zone. Understand what you will be assessed on. Read your notes multiple times. Talk to others about what you're studying. Complete all of the work assigned.