how do you introduce an article title in an essay

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How to Introduce a Journal Article in an Essay

Last Updated: February 9, 2024

This article was co-authored by Noah Taxis and by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD . Noah Taxis is an English Teacher based in San Francisco, California. He has taught as a credentialed teacher for over four years: first at Mountain View High School as a 9th- and 11th-grade English Teacher, then at UISA (Ukiah Independent Study Academy) as a Middle School Independent Study Teacher. He is now a high school English teacher at St. Ignatius College Preparatory School in San Francisco. He received an MA in Secondary Education and Teaching from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education. He also received an MA in Comparative and World Literature from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a BA in International Literary & Visual Studies and English from Tufts University. This article has been viewed 35,259 times.

Using a journal article in your essay can add to your credibility and make your points more persuasive. When you introduce an article to your readers, you help them understand why you're using it as a source. We've gathered a number of different ways you can introduce the journal article and transition between your thoughts and those of the other author. Pick the one that works best for you and your personal writing style.

List the title and the author.

• For example, you might write: "Albus Dumbledore describes the origin of the four Hogwarts houses in his article 'Separating Hogwarts Fact and Fiction.'"
• Put the title of the article in double-quotation marks in your text. [1] X Research source
• If you're quoting directly from the source, include the author's full name the first time you quote them. [2] X Research source

Summarize the article.

• For example, you might write: "The history of Hogwarts makes clear that the houses were never intended to be seen as 'good' or 'evil.' Rather, each house emphasizes and nurtures specific traits students have—how they use those traits is up to them."
• Paraphrasing from the article is similar to summarizing. However, when you summarize, you're covering the entire article in a sentence or two. A paraphrase typically only covers a small portion of the article.

Provide any necessary background.

• For example, you might write: "Professor Slughorn was one of the longest-serving teachers at Hogwarts, schooling generations of students in potions until his retirement."
• You might also include some background if the author of the article is controversial or the article's conclusions have been seriously questioned. If you're doing this, go on to explain why you're using the article in your essay.

Explain the purpose of the source in your essay.

• For example, you might write: "Although this essay doesn't discuss defenses against the dark arts, Gilderoy Lockhart's article provides an example of how you can't learn anything by plagiarizing the work of others."

Frame the source in the context of your own essay.

• For example, you might write: "This article demonstrates broad support for the idea that Hogwarts should continue to sort students into four houses."

Add a signal phrase to distinguish ideas from the source.

• For example, you might write: "McGonagall argues that Slytherin House should be disbanded after the Battle of Hogwarts."

Discuss the source's limitations.

• For example, you might write: "While McGonagall makes a compelling argument that Slytherin House should be disbanded, she was biased by her experiences. In this essay, I will show that the personality traits emphasized by Slytherin are positive traits that can be used for good."

Expert Q&A

• Remember to include an in-text citation for the source if required by your citation guide. You'll also need an entry for the source in your reference list at the end of your paper. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• In an academic essay, you typically introduce a journal article in the first sentence of a paragraph. Then, use the sentences that follow to show how the material from the article relates to the rest of your essay. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about academic writing, check out our in-depth interview with Noah Taxis .

• ↑ https://rasmussen.libanswers.com/faq/32501
• ↑ https://www.ursinus.edu/live/files/1160-integrating-quotespdf
• ↑ https://www.una.edu/writingcenter/docs/Writing-Resources/Source%20Integration.pdf
• ↑ https://www.stetson.edu/other/writing-center/media/Handout%20-%20Incorporating%20Sources%20Effectively.pdf

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The Correct Way to Write an Article Title in a Paper

It is a cardinal rule to cite scholarly sources when writing a paper. Most professors will specify the approximate number of sources for a paper, essay, or assignment. A well-written academic paper is objective and has references or works cited page where you list the references used. However, how do you write the title of an article when writing a paper?

When you mention an online or magazine article in your essay, do not just do it as you please. There is a formula you need to follow depending on the referencing style. This post looks at how to title an article in an essay following the APA, Harvard, MLA, and Chicago.

Let’s commence.

How to Title an Article in APA

APA stands for American Psychological Association. The association published the first APA stylebook in the late 1920s. Over the years, the stylebook has been widely adopted beyond psychology. It has also been updated many times. The stylebook meticulously describes how to format every aspect of your essay.

Whenever you mention the name of a source in an APA essay, there are rules you need to follow. This is true for all sources, including articles, books, webpages, reports, chapters, etc.

The rules you need to follow depend on the type of source (standalone source or part of a greater thing). For some sources, you simply capitalize and italicize the main words; for others, you have to capitalize the main words and put them in double quotation marks.

You need to italicize and capitalize their names when you mention standalone sources. Standalone sources include a podcast, a TV series, a dissertation, a movie, and an e-book.

Examples showing how to write larger works in APA

• Morbid: A True Crime Podcast (podcast title)
• The Last of Us (TV series title)
• Canadian Legal System Versus US Legal System: A Comparative Study (dissertation title)
• The Pirates of the Caribbean (movie title)
• For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America (e-book title)

On the other hand, when you mention sources that are part of a greater work, you need to capitalize them and put them in double quotation marks. Examples of these sources include a magazine article, a newspaper article, a blog post, and a journal article. This means mentioning any article must capitalize its title and put it in double quotations.

Examples showing how to write article titles in APA

• “Study of Correlation between Criminality and Population” (journal article title)
• “Effective Active Ingredients Obtained through Biotechnology” (journal article title)
• “Doping in Cycling: Everything You Need to Know” (magazine article title)
• “Do you know what is in Your Cosmetics?” (newspaper article title)
• “35 Best Ways to Make Money Online in 2023” (blog post title)

Titling an article in a Harvard Style Format Paper or Essay

The Harvard referencing system was invented late in the nineteenth century by a Harvard University professor. The system has been widely adopted beyond the lecture halls of Harvard. It is popularly used to reference various works in the following fields: philosophy, behavioral sciences, and humanities.

When you name or mention an article in a Harvard essay, there are rules you must follow. There are rules you need to follow when you mention any work in a Harvard essay.

The rules you need to follow depend mainly on the size of the work. The titles of large works are formatted differently compared to the titles of small works.

Large works include books and journals. When you mention a book or journal in a Harvard essay, you must italicize the entire title and capitalize the major words.

Examples showing how to write large works in Harvard

• The Lucifer Effect (book title)
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (book title)
• Games People Play (book title)
• Comparative Studies in Society and History (journal title)
• Journal of American History (journal title)

The titles of smaller works are written differently in contrast to the title of large works. They are written by putting them inside single quotation marks.

Smaller works include journal articles, blog posts, web pages, web articles, etc. Whenever you mention these things in your essay, you must put them inside quotes.

Examples showing how to write smaller works in Harvard

• ‘Sex, Military Brothels, and Gender Violence during the Italian Campaign in the USSR, 1941-3’ (journal article title)
• ‘Hitler’s Worldview and the Interwar Kulturkamf’ (journal article title)
• ’10 POC-Owned Advisory Businesses With Insanely Great Marketing’ (blog post title)
• ‘How to Use Instagram for Your Financial Planning Business’ (blog post title)
• ‘These 9 Decorative Accessory Trends Are About to Pop Off in Your Group Text’ (web page title)

How to Title an Article in MLA

MLA is an acronym for Modern Language Association. The association started in 1883 to promote the study of modern languages and literature. It published the first stylebook in 1953 and has made major updates to it a number of times. The MLA style is widely used in the following fields: cultural studies, comparative literature, literary criticism, foreign languages, and English studies. It is also used in humanities disciplines.

When you mention an article or any other source in MLA, there are rules you need to follow. The rules largely depend on the type of source you mention.

When you mention a large standalone work (a book, a film, a journal, a website, a magazine, or a movie), you must italicize it and then capitalize all major words. (You should capitalize articles in the middle of the title, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions.

Examples showing how to write large works in MLA

• Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (book title)
• Literary Theory: An Introduction (book title)
• Fast Company (magazine title)
• Library Philosophy and Practice (journal title)
• Teens Dealing with Death; When Someone Dies: Understanding Grief (movie title)

When you mention a singular article (journal or otherwise) or any other smaller work, you must put it in double quotation marks. No italicizing as in the case of larger works. Examples of smaller works that need to be put in quotes include journal articles, web articles, news articles, book chapters, songs, short stories, TV episodes, magazine articles, and poems.

Examples showing how to write smaller works in MLA

• “Collaborative writing among young EFL learners in a school context: product and process” (journal article title)
• “Investigating cohort effects of early foreign language learning” (journal article title)
• “Studying French is easy: 10 tips to learn French fast” (web article title)
• “ChatGPT Gets Dartmouth Talking” (news article title)
• “Do not go gentle into that good night” (poem title)

How to Title an Article in a Chicago Format Essay/Paper

Chicago format is an American English formatting style invented by the University of Chicago in 1906. It is widely used in many academic disciplines (fine arts, history, and business) and book publishing.

When writing an essay according to the Chicago stylebook, you must follow everything recommended in it. How you are supposed to write the title of a journal or a book is not the same way you are supposed to write the title of a journal article or a book chapter.

The Chicago Manual of Style requires you to italicize the title of all standalone works you mention in your essay. Standalone works that you must italicize include journals, books, plays, and so on.

Examples showing how to write the titles of standalone works in Chicago

• Internal Journal of Art & Design Education (journal-title title)
• Studies in Art Education (journal title)
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (book title)
• Rich Dad Poor Dad (book title)
• Long Day’s Journey Into Night (play title)

The Chicago Manual requires you to enclose the title of short works in double quotation marks. Examples of short works that need to be enclosed include journal articles, magazine articles, news articles, book chapters, etc.

• “Frank Gehry’s non-trivial drawings as gestures” drawdlings and kinaesthetic approach to architecture” (journal article title)
• “The Saka ‘Animal Style’ in Context: Material, Technology, Form and Use” (journal article title)
• “An Abandoned, Industrial Ruin Bursts With New Life in Delaware” (magazine article title)
• “The Unfinished Business of International Business Tax Reform” (news article title)
• “The Technologies Behind Bitcoin” (book chapter title)

On a Final Note!

You now know how to format standalone and shorter works in APA, MLA, Harvard, and Chicago. Therefore, when asked to write an essay following any of these formatting styles, you should be able to correctly mention or talk about any article or larger work in your essay.

Try our paper editing service if you need help editing your essay to conform to APA, MLA, Harvard, or Chicago standards. We offer essay editing services at affordable rates. We can edit any work to meet any academic requirements. Check out our other writing and homework help services .

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How To Introduce An Article In An Essay (APA Style)

Table of Contents

Writing is easy, writing well that can get the message across is hard. From students and novice writers to seasoned professionals, writers struggle with getting the right tone, language, and content in their writing. In academic writing, the most common issue is the authenticity of what was written in the essay or a journal. This is where referencing style and methods come in handy.

Multiple referencing styles are used by academia, by both novice writers and skilled authors. Through special development, these referencing styles have matured and covered multiple bases for the writers and assessors of the articles and essays.

In this blog, we will explore the idea of referencing in journals and essays, some popular referencing styles, and then help you with introducing an article in an essay through APA style .

Referencing In Journals And Essays

When you are writing a narrative or descriptive essay, there is hardly a need to provide any proof or reference as to where a specific idea or thought came from. Much of the contents of the essays will be personal and subjective and the quality of writing will be determined by other factors. However, things will be different when the focus of the essay will be neutral or objective.

For instance, argumentative and expository essays do not have any space for emotions, personal opinions, and views. Their sole focus is to convey factual information through arguments and evidence. This is where writers may need another established source to strengthen their positions. This is where the need for referencing comes to the fore.

Still, it is not enough to personally write the name of the book and that of its author to settle the matter. The practice should follow a standard so that any scholar from anywhere around the world can access the source.

Popular Referencing Styles

The need for a specific standard has produced more than one result. These days, there are many referencing styles in practice where writers follow the instructions of their teachers and instructors. Again, the need for references and a style comes at a more advanced stage of academic life. That’s why students are often more capable and able to master the craft with ease. In this section, we will cover some of the most common referencing styles that are used in academia.

American Psychological Association (APA)

American Psychological Association (APA) is the most sophisticated and developed method of referencing. It is widely used in science and technical subjects. The practice was first developed and started by psychologists in American universities – hence the name! The most common subjects that take advantage of the system include Psychology, Chemistry, and so on. It consists of both in-line and dedicated bibliography with all the relevant citations and references.

Modern Language Association (MLA)

Chicago-turabian citation style.

Chicago-Turabian style of referencing is another major player in the citations game. It is often favored by teachers and instructors in schools and colleges. When it comes to the difficulty and complexity of the system, it comes somewhere between APA and MLA styles. There are many universities across the world that follow this style of journals and essays. Students can learn the craft using tutorials online.

Structure & Formatting For Journal Article References

In this section, we will cover the structure and formatting of journals for article references. Students in colleges and universities need to cover essential ground before finalizing their essays. As for the APA style, it is consistent and standardized across the board.

If students find it hard to rise to the challenge, PerfectEssay provides exceptional essay-writing services to its clients. You can pay a nominal price to get a submission-ready article or essay with clear and relevant references.

So, without further ado, let’s get started!

Magazine Articles

When you are writing an article for a magazine, the structure and formatting of that article are similar to a specialist journal. All the general formatting rules and guidelines will also apply. The main difference comes with the date of publication – the addition of a month in the reference.

Newspaper Articles

There are hardly any differences between journal and newspaper articles in referencing styles. The name of the author, the title of the article, and all the things in the reference remain the same. However, writers need to add the page number of the newspaper along with the name of the newspaper.

Articles With Two Authors

It might be confusing for students to cover a reference with multiple authors. In APA style, the way to cover the names of both authors is to add the first initial of one author, then add an ampersand and add the last name and initial of the other author.

Up To Twenty Authors

The format to cover the references for articles with up to twenty authors is the same as that of two authors. All students need to know to add a comma between the names of different authors, preceded by an ampersand. The format is the same for up to twenty authors for a journal.

When compared with other referencing styles, APA is the most difficult and complex referencing and citation style in academia. The most common issue that scholars face revolves around switching the format and length of the title based on the size of the work. Also, it is necessary to mention the names of all the authors in references, even up to 20, but that is not the case with MLA.

The process for mentioning an article in an essay has been covered in the body of our blog. There are many similarities in the style but with a major difference – the journal article needs to mention the date of publication and volume, whereas the newspaper article needs to state the page number for the said article.

The introduction is the most important section of an essay or an article. When you are working on an APA article, it is necessary to start the introduction with a new page. There is no need to provide any heading to that and ensure that the title of the article or essay is stated in upper and lower cases. Then the text should start with no break between the sections, except the paragraphs.

This is one of the perplexing things that students face in writing essays and journal articles. We have gone through the whole process in the relevant section of the blog. Still, if you are not satisfied, here is the key: introduce with the author’s last name and then the initial of the first name. Then comes the date of publication in parentheses. The rest of the structure for the reference remains the same.

APA format is rigid in its approach and application. When a teacher or instructor asks students to follow a certain style, they must abide by the rules to ensure maximum scores. Otherwise, they will end up with deducted marks leading to overall poor grades.

The italicization of article titles is not necessary for APA style. Capitalization is a must and you need to italicize titles for works with longer names, including books and journals. As for the shorter works such as journal articles and essays, there is no need to bother and use standard formatting for them.

Closing Remarks

Writing an essay alone is hard, but when we add referencing and citation to the mix, it becomes something else altogether. That’s the main reason many students do not even bother to learn the referencing style for both in-line and bibliography references. This blog has shed ample light on the structure, formatting, and different iterations of the APA referencing style. It is a complex one, compared to its counterparts. That’s why it is limited to the more sophisticated and technical lines of study and research.

For scholars who are interested in learning the foundations or familiarizing themselves with the APA style, this is the perfect source to get started. However, for those who are looking for a way out, PerfectEssay can be the ultimate savior of the day. We have a team of writers with advanced degrees in their relevant disciplines and extensive experience in writing for the best colleges and universities across the nation. So, place your order now and save big on your first purchase!

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How to Write a Research Paper Introduction (with Examples)

The research paper introduction section, along with the Title and Abstract, can be considered the face of any research paper. The following article is intended to guide you in organizing and writing the research paper introduction for a quality academic article or dissertation.

The research paper introduction aims to present the topic to the reader. A study will only be accepted for publishing if you can ascertain that the available literature cannot answer your research question. So it is important to ensure that you have read important studies on that particular topic, especially those within the last five to ten years, and that they are properly referenced in this section. 1 What should be included in the research paper introduction is decided by what you want to tell readers about the reason behind the research and how you plan to fill the knowledge gap. The best research paper introduction provides a systemic review of existing work and demonstrates additional work that needs to be done. It needs to be brief, captivating, and well-referenced; a well-drafted research paper introduction will help the researcher win half the battle.

The introduction for a research paper is where you set up your topic and approach for the reader. It has several key goals:

• Present your research topic
• Capture reader interest
• Summarize existing research
• Position your own approach
• Define your specific research problem and problem statement
• Highlight the novelty and contributions of the study
• Give an overview of the paper’s structure

The research paper introduction can vary in size and structure depending on whether your paper presents the results of original empirical research or is a review paper. Some research paper introduction examples are only half a page while others are a few pages long. In many cases, the introduction will be shorter than all of the other sections of your paper; its length depends on the size of your paper as a whole.

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Table of Contents

What is the introduction for a research paper, why is the introduction important in a research paper, craft a compelling introduction section with paperpal. try now, 1. introduce the research topic:, 2. determine a research niche:, 3. place your research within the research niche:, craft accurate research paper introductions with paperpal. start writing now, frequently asked questions on research paper introduction, key points to remember.

The introduction in a research paper is placed at the beginning to guide the reader from a broad subject area to the specific topic that your research addresses. They present the following information to the reader

• Scope: The topic covered in the research paper
• Context: Background of your topic
• Importance: Why your research matters in that particular area of research and the industry problem that can be targeted

The research paper introduction conveys a lot of information and can be considered an essential roadmap for the rest of your paper. A good introduction for a research paper is important for the following reasons:

• It stimulates your reader’s interest: A good introduction section can make your readers want to read your paper by capturing their interest. It informs the reader what they are going to learn and helps determine if the topic is of interest to them.
• It helps the reader understand the research background: Without a clear introduction, your readers may feel confused and even struggle when reading your paper. A good research paper introduction will prepare them for the in-depth research to come. It provides you the opportunity to engage with the readers and demonstrate your knowledge and authority on the specific topic.
• It explains why your research paper is worth reading: Your introduction can convey a lot of information to your readers. It introduces the topic, why the topic is important, and how you plan to proceed with your research.
• It helps guide the reader through the rest of the paper: The research paper introduction gives the reader a sense of the nature of the information that will support your arguments and the general organization of the paragraphs that will follow. It offers an overview of what to expect when reading the main body of your paper.

What are the parts of introduction in the research?

A good research paper introduction section should comprise three main elements: 2

• What is known: This sets the stage for your research. It informs the readers of what is known on the subject.
• What is lacking: This is aimed at justifying the reason for carrying out your research. This could involve investigating a new concept or method or building upon previous research.
• What you aim to do: This part briefly states the objectives of your research and its major contributions. Your detailed hypothesis will also form a part of this section.

How to write a research paper introduction?

The first step in writing the research paper introduction is to inform the reader what your topic is and why it’s interesting or important. This is generally accomplished with a strong opening statement. The second step involves establishing the kinds of research that have been done and ending with limitations or gaps in the research that you intend to address. Finally, the research paper introduction clarifies how your own research fits in and what problem it addresses. If your research involved testing hypotheses, these should be stated along with your research question. The hypothesis should be presented in the past tense since it will have been tested by the time you are writing the research paper introduction.

The following key points, with examples, can guide you when writing the research paper introduction section:

• Highlight the importance of the research field or topic
• Describe the background of the topic
• Present an overview of current research on the topic

Example: The inclusion of experiential and competency-based learning has benefitted electronics engineering education. Industry partnerships provide an excellent alternative for students wanting to engage in solving real-world challenges. Industry-academia participation has grown in recent years due to the need for skilled engineers with practical training and specialized expertise. However, from the educational perspective, many activities are needed to incorporate sustainable development goals into the university curricula and consolidate learning innovation in universities.

• Reveal a gap in existing research or oppose an existing assumption
• Formulate the research question

Example: There have been plausible efforts to integrate educational activities in higher education electronics engineering programs. However, very few studies have considered using educational research methods for performance evaluation of competency-based higher engineering education, with a focus on technical and or transversal skills. To remedy the current need for evaluating competencies in STEM fields and providing sustainable development goals in engineering education, in this study, a comparison was drawn between study groups without and with industry partners.

• State the purpose of your study
• Highlight the key characteristics of your study
• Describe important results
• Highlight the novelty of the study.
• Offer a brief overview of the structure of the paper.

Example: The study evaluates the main competency needed in the applied electronics course, which is a fundamental core subject for many electronics engineering undergraduate programs. We compared two groups, without and with an industrial partner, that offered real-world projects to solve during the semester. This comparison can help determine significant differences in both groups in terms of developing subject competency and achieving sustainable development goals.

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The purpose of the research paper introduction is to introduce the reader to the problem definition, justify the need for the study, and describe the main theme of the study. The aim is to gain the reader’s attention by providing them with necessary background information and establishing the main purpose and direction of the research.

The length of the research paper introduction can vary across journals and disciplines. While there are no strict word limits for writing the research paper introduction, an ideal length would be one page, with a maximum of 400 words over 1-4 paragraphs. Generally, it is one of the shorter sections of the paper as the reader is assumed to have at least a reasonable knowledge about the topic. 2 For example, for a study evaluating the role of building design in ensuring fire safety, there is no need to discuss definitions and nature of fire in the introduction; you could start by commenting upon the existing practices for fire safety and how your study will add to the existing knowledge and practice.

When deciding what to include in the research paper introduction, the rest of the paper should also be considered. The aim is to introduce the reader smoothly to the topic and facilitate an easy read without much dependency on external sources. 3 Below is a list of elements you can include to prepare a research paper introduction outline and follow it when you are writing the research paper introduction. Topic introduction: This can include key definitions and a brief history of the topic. Research context and background: Offer the readers some general information and then narrow it down to specific aspects. Details of the research you conducted: A brief literature review can be included to support your arguments or line of thought. Rationale for the study: This establishes the relevance of your study and establishes its importance. Importance of your research: The main contributions are highlighted to help establish the novelty of your study Research hypothesis: Introduce your research question and propose an expected outcome. Organization of the paper: Include a short paragraph of 3-4 sentences that highlights your plan for the entire paper

Cite only works that are most relevant to your topic; as a general rule, you can include one to three. Note that readers want to see evidence of original thinking. So it is better to avoid using too many references as it does not leave much room for your personal standpoint to shine through. Citations in your research paper introduction support the key points, and the number of citations depend on the subject matter and the point discussed. If the research paper introduction is too long or overflowing with citations, it is better to cite a few review articles rather than the individual articles summarized in the review. A good point to remember when citing research papers in the introduction section is to include at least one-third of the references in the introduction.

The literature review plays a significant role in the research paper introduction section. A good literature review accomplishes the following: Introduces the topic – Establishes the study’s significance – Provides an overview of the relevant literature – Provides context for the study using literature – Identifies knowledge gaps However, remember to avoid making the following mistakes when writing a research paper introduction: Do not use studies from the literature review to aggressively support your research Avoid direct quoting Do not allow literature review to be the focus of this section. Instead, the literature review should only aid in setting a foundation for the manuscript.

Remember the following key points for writing a good research paper introduction: 4

• Avoid stuffing too much general information: Avoid including what an average reader would know and include only that information related to the problem being addressed in the research paper introduction. For example, when describing a comparative study of non-traditional methods for mechanical design optimization, information related to the traditional methods and differences between traditional and non-traditional methods would not be relevant. In this case, the introduction for the research paper should begin with the state-of-the-art non-traditional methods and methods to evaluate the efficiency of newly developed algorithms.
• Avoid packing too many references: Cite only the required works in your research paper introduction. The other works can be included in the discussion section to strengthen your findings.
• Avoid extensive criticism of previous studies: Avoid being overly critical of earlier studies while setting the rationale for your study. A better place for this would be the Discussion section, where you can highlight the advantages of your method.
• Avoid describing conclusions of the study: When writing a research paper introduction remember not to include the findings of your study. The aim is to let the readers know what question is being answered. The actual answer should only be given in the Results and Discussion section.

To summarize, the research paper introduction section should be brief yet informative. It should convince the reader the need to conduct the study and motivate him to read further. If you’re feeling stuck or unsure, choose trusted AI academic writing assistants like Paperpal to effortlessly craft your research paper introduction and other sections of your research article.

1. Jawaid, S. A., & Jawaid, M. (2019). How to write introduction and discussion. Saudi Journal of Anaesthesia, 13(Suppl 1), S18.

2. Dewan, P., & Gupta, P. (2016). Writing the title, abstract and introduction: Looks matter!. Indian pediatrics, 53, 235-241.

3. Cetin, S., & Hackam, D. J. (2005). An approach to the writing of a scientific Manuscript1. Journal of Surgical Research, 128(2), 165-167.

4. Bavdekar, S. B. (2015). Writing introduction: Laying the foundations of a research paper. Journal of the Association of Physicians of India, 63(7), 44-6.

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Formatting Titles

by Purdue Global Academic Success Center and Writing Center · Published October 2, 2020 · Updated November 5, 2020

Let’s face it: For whatever reason, formatting titles can be confusing, especially if you think about all the titles that need proper formatting–the title placed on the title page of a paper, the title of a journal article mentioned in the body of a paper, the title of a newspaper or a website on the list of references. There are titles of books and titles of chapters in those books; titles of blogs and titles of blog entries. Some titles are italicized and some are put in quotation marks. Titles on the list of references require formatting–some titles use title case, some sentence case; some titles are italicized and some are not. And then there are those situations where titles are used in in-text citations–some titles are truncated and italicized; some are put in quotation marks–you get the idea. 

First off, I am not going to address how to format titles when citing in the paper or listing on the list of references—those are formatting guidelines for another time. I am going to focus on titles on the title page, the first page of the paper, and within a paper. Here is what you need to keep straight:

Titles require special capitalization called title case. Title case requires one to

• capitalize the first letter of the first and last words of a title;
• capitalize the first letter of all verbs;
• capitalize all words of four or more letters;
• capitalize the first letter of all other words except a, an, the, short conjunctions such as “for, and, but,” and prepositions of fewer than four letters (words like “up, in, off”);
• capitalize the first letter of a word following a colon or dash;
• capitalize the first letter of a subtitle. 

When a title appears on the title page of an APA Style 7th edition student paper, that title should be centered, bolded, and in title case—no need to use all caps, no need to italicize or underline, and no need to use quotation marks or place a period at the end. 

Simply type out the title using title case and bold it–that’s it.

On the first page of the essay, center and repeat the title, bold it, and use title case. Again, do not use any special formatting. Do not use a bigger font size or style. Do not underline or italicize and so forth. Just use title case, bold, and center the title on the first page of the essay.

Easy enough, right?

Titles that appear within an essay require special formatting in addition to title case. If the title is for an article—content that is part of a greater whole—then the title should have quotation marks around it. If the title is for a book, journal, newspaper, or some other whole work, then the title is italicized.

Let’s say you have an article titled “The New Coffee Culture” that appears in the journal Studies in Popular Culture . Let’s also say that for whatever reason, you name both titles in the body of your paper. The article “The New Coffee Culture” appears in the journal Studies in Popular Culture , so the article is content that appears in a greater whole, right? 

Both titles would be in title case. The article “The New Coffee Culture” would have quotation marks around it, and the title of the journal, Studies in Popular Culture , would be italicized. 

I hope this blogcast clarifies exactly what you need to do when formatting titles in typical usage situations in APA style. 

Until next week–

Kurtis Clements

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19 Introductions & Titles

Questions to Ponder

Discuss these questions with your partners: What is happening in the pictures above? How do you introduce yourself to someone new? Are introductions the same in every situation? Describe the differences to your partners.

Your Title and Introduction are your first chance to make a positive impression on your audience. You want to get your readers’ attention, state your main point, and establish your credibility as an author. In this first section, we will discuss Introductions; the end of the chapter includes brief advice about writing Titles.

Drafting Powerful Introductions

Once you know what your essay will be about, and you have a some ideas for your thesis , you can begin to draft your Introduction. Some writers like to start with the Introduction; some like to begin with the Body Paragraphs. As you practice writing more essays, you will discover what approach works best for you.

There may be times when you are very certain of your thesis , and so you can start with your Introduction. Often, however, in academic writing, it is better to start with an open mind as you read and conduct research about your topic. You may find that you change your mind – and your original idea for your thesis – as you do your research. In that case, you may choose to start drafting Body Paragraphs to learn more, and then work on your Introduction later.

A good Introduction will usually provide these three things:

• a catchy “ hook ” to open your essay and grab your readers’ interest in the first sentence or two
• background information about your topic
• a clear thesis statement that provides your topic and shows the direction your essay will take

Typically, in an ENGL 087 essay, the Introduction is one paragraph. In longer college essays, you may need more than one paragraph.

Drafting Hooks

The opener, or “hook,” for your essay is, along with your title, a first chance to grab your readers’ interest and attention. This first sentence should make your readers want to read and learn more about your topic. There are many ways to open your essay effectively; here are some suggestions:

• a surprising statistic
• a personal anecdote
• an interesting quotation from an expert
• a thought-provoking question

Remember your audience as you draft some possible hooks to use. In your opener, try to avoid:

• obvious statements or well-known facts
• over-used expressions like “Since the beginning of time, people have…”
• over-used questions for common topics (“Have you ever wondered about global warming?” is not a catchy hook. “Have you ever gone scuba-diving with sharks?” on the other hand, might grab your audience’s attention.)

Drafting Background Information

Once you have your readers’ attention, you need some sentences to provide background information about your topic. These sentences explain more about your topic, and they lead your reader from the opening hook to the thesis. Again here, remember your audience as you draft your background information. What will your audience already know? Avoid re-explaining things that would be obvious to your reader. People will want to read your essay to learn something new, not to read something they already know.

The background information should be related in some way to your opener, and it should lead your reader to your thesis statement. It can be general information about your topic, data, or a personal story – something that connects your hook to your thesis.

Activity A ~ Analyzing Hooks & Background

One way to improve your Introduction-writing skills is to look at different choices that other writers make when introducing a topic and to consider what catches your interest as a reader and what doesn’t. Read the pieces of Introductions below about teenagers and decision making. Which ones pull you in? Which ones are less interesting? What’s the difference? What’s missing? Work with your partners to decide. Which would be best for a formal college essay?

• Throughout history, teenagers have challenged the authority of adults. They do this because they want to be given more freedom and to be treated like adults themselves. This can cause real problems between teens and the adults in their lives.
• Some days my sixteen-year-old niece, Rachael, does all of her homework, helps friends study after school, and practices her cello, and other days she forgets her books at school, lies about where she’s going, and doesn’t do her chores. This sporadic behavior seems like it comes out of nowhere, but it turns out teenage brains are different from adult brains, causing teens to sometimes not think about consequences before they act.
• If teenage brains aren’t fully formed, causing them to act before they think about the risks they’re taking, should teens be restricted from some adult freedoms like driving, working, and socializing without adult supervision?
• Teenagers are known to be less responsible than adults, so they should have at least some adult guidance to make sure they stay safe. Without adult supervision, teens will make poor decisions that could put them at unnecessary risk.
• According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the frontal cortex in the brain, where reasoning and thinking before acting occurs, is not fully formed in teenagers. However, the amygdala, “responsible for immediate reactions including fear and aggressive behavior,” is fully formed early in life. This means teens aren’t as good at considering the consequences of their behavior before they react, so the adults in their lives should limit the risks in their lives until they’re better able to reason through them. ( Note : an in-text citation would be needed after the direct quotation in this example.)

Drafting Thesis Statements

A thesis statement is often in the final sentence or two of the Introduction.

A strong thesis statement will:

• tell your readers your overall main idea, including your point of view about the topic
• make a claim about your topic and show your purpose for writing the essay

In other words, after reading your thesis statement, your audience should understand what you will write about and why the topic is important.

You may choose to write a thesis without the main ideas (sometimes called “controls”) of your essay:

Because illegal drug sales continue to increase, communities should do more to combat this problem.

Or you may choose to include the specific points your essay will discuss:

Because illegal drug sales continue to increase, communities should do more to combat this problem by forming neighborhood watch organizations and supporting their local police forces.

In both examples, it is clear that the author will write about  what communities should be doing  because the sale of illegal drugs is on the rise; both thesis statements show the  what and the  why of the essay.

In ENGL 121, you will learn more about developing an argument in your college essays. For most academic essays, your thesis will need to have a claim that is debatable – not one that is obvious. Here are some examples:

Junk food is bad for your health  is not a debatable thesis. Most people would agree that junk food is bad for your health.

Because junk food is bad for your health, the size of sodas offered at fast-food restaurants should be regulated by the federal government is a debatable thesis. Reasonable people could agree or disagree with the statement.

Federal immigration law is a tough issue about which many people disagree  is not an arguable thesis because it does not assert a position.

Federal immigration enforcement law needs to be overhauled because it puts undue constraints on state and local police is an argumentative thesis because it asserts a position that immigration enforcement law needs to be changed.

An effective thesis is also specific. If your thesis is too general, you will need to write a very long essay or book to defend your point of view. Instead, try to narrow your focus, as in this example:

The federal government should overhaul the U.S. tax code  is not an effective argumentative thesis because it is too general (What part of the government? Which tax codes? What sections of those tax codes?) and would require an overwhelming amount of evidence to be fully supported.

The U.S. House of Representative should vote to repeal the federal estate tax because the revenue generated by that tax is negligible is an effective argumentative thesis because it identifies a specific actor and action and can be fully supported with evidence about the amount of revenue the estate tax generates.

In your thesis drafts, try to avoid “writing about writing,” as in:

In this essay, I will argue that communities should take more action to protect themselves.

Instead, just get straight to the point:

Communities should take more action to protect themselves.

Try also to avoid hedging and redundancy , as in:

In my opinion, I believe that all children should have free health care.

The preferred approach is to state your position directly:

The government should provide all children with free health care.

Note : Hedging can be very effective in other places in your essay; for instance, when you want to show that you are open-minded about a topic, you may choose to use this technique by using words like  possible, likely, suggest, and so on. A strong thesis, however, is usually more direct.

As you draft your essay, a working thesis can be very helpful. A working thesis is a work in progress; it is an initial draft of your thesis. You may draft and re-write your working thesis several times as you write and conduct research for an essay. This shows good scholarship; it means that you are keeping an open mind and that you are learning and considering new ideas as you do your research.

Activity B – Fixing Problematic Thesis Statements

• Prisons in the United States are overcrowded.
• In the following essay, I will discuss the problem of overcrowding in U.S. prisons, and I will propose solutions for this problem.
• According to my opinion, firefighters and other first responders should have better salaries and health care.
• Health care providers often suffer from stress because they are overworked and underpaid.
• I think that students should be allowed to use cell phones in their classes.
• It might be a good idea for children to have pets.
• American pre-schoolers eat too much sugar.
• There are many causes and effects of climate change, which I will discuss in the following paper.

Activity C ~ Practice Writing Introductions

Now that you’ve had an opportunity to think about some different approaches and techniques for writing Introductions, try some practice writing. Choose a draft of an assignment you have created this term and use what you’ve learned in this section to write an attention-getting Introduction to your piece.

For more practice, you can write an Introduction using one of the following scenarios. Read through the following list and choose one. Write as much as you can for a possible Introduction.

• Persuade your readers to visit your country.
• Persuade students to learn a foreign language before they graduate from college.
• Give some tips to new parents that will help lower their stress and make their new baby feel safe and loved.
• Review a movie, book, product, or trip for someone thinking of making one of these purchases to help them decide that they should or shouldn’t do it.

Share your Introduction with your classmates and discuss what about it is effective and how it could be improved.

Drafting Titles

Often, the title of your essay will be the last thing you finalize. You can start with a working title , which is an initial attempt at capturing your essay’s main ideas. As you draft and revise your essay, you will want to revise your working title; it will change over time as your essay develops. A good title will be short and interesting; this is your very first chance to grab your readers’ attention. Be sure your title relates closely to your thesis and draws your reader in.

See MLA Formatting Guides for information on formatting your essay title.

Is this chapter:

…too easy? –> Read “ Developing a Thesis ” from Harvard’s Writing Center.

…about right, but you would like to read more? –> Check “ Introductions and Conclusions ” from University of Toronto. See also “ Introductions ” from Lumen’s Writing Skills Lab and “ Parts of a Thesis Sentence ” from Excelsior’s OWL for sample pieces of Introductions.

…about right, but you would like to listen to a student-writer as she drafts a working thesis? –> Watch “ See It in Practice: Argumentative Thesis ” from Excelsior OWL.

For more practice, try “ Practice in Identifying Effective Thesis Statements ” from ThoughtCo.

Activities in this chapter were adapted from “ Writing Introductions ” from The Word on College Reading and Writing by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Some examples (“junk food” through “U.S. House”) were from “ Argumentative Thesis Statements ” in Lumen’s Writing Skills Lab ; they appeared originally as:  Argumentative Thesis Statements.  Provided by : University of Mississippi.  License :  CC BY: Attribution

Note: links open in new tabs.

to think about

believability

overall main idea; "a proposition that is maintained by argument" ~ American Heritage Dictionary

very brief story that is funny, emotional, or interesting in some way

opinion or idea that you want to persuade others about

a topic that is open to discussion or argument; questionable

being overly cautious

ENGLISH 087: Academic Advanced Writing Copyright © 2020 by Nancy Hutchison is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Add an Article Title Into the Text Using APA Format

Catherine bowers.

Including an article title in the text of your writing serves a different purpose than including it in the Works Cited section of a paper. You may want to include the title of an article in your paper when it is the main subject you’re writing about, a subject you’re discussing that you’re referring to simply as an example, or if the research for your writing isn’t extensive enough to require a citation page. The American Psychological Association (APA) has specific guidelines on how to include an article title in the text of your writing.

Consider section 4.21 of the APA Publication Manual "Use of Italics;" according to it, italics should be used for titles of books, periodicals, films, videos, television shows, and microfilm. Make an exception if words in the title are usually italicized and set them in normal type instead; this is called reverse italicization.

Consider section 4.07 of the APA Publication Manual, “Quotation Marks;” according to it, quotes should be used to set off the title of books, articles, and chapters when you are including it in the text.

Check your writing to make sure you’re following the previous two guidelines; the article you mention in your text should be formatted as follows:

Ms. Bond published her controversial piece, “Housebreaking the Habit” in (italics)Dogfancy(/italics) magazine in June of 2010.

• 1 “Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed.”; American Psychological Association; 2010

About the Author

In 1998 Catherine Bowers began writing articles for newspapers, including "The Daily Collegian" at Pennsylvania State University. She also edited a Spanish-language journal and wrote product and patent descriptions for inventors. Bowers assists with the Gutenberg Project and graduated from Pennsylvania State with a Bachelor of Arts in English.

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How to Write an Article: Title, Introduction, Body, and Conclusion

• Icon Calendar 15 May 2024
• Icon Page 5078 words
• Icon Clock 23 min read

An article contains information on a topic intended for a real publication in a newspaper, magazine, or journal. Authors of articles target a more extensive range of audiences, which makes it essential for them to attract the reader’s attention. They may include amusing stories or descriptions in their articles and give opinions, thoughts, and facts on a specific topic. This guideline on how to write an article outlines essential details and critical tips that students must grasp to produce a high-quality, intellectually stimulating text. The guideline begins by defining what an article is, outlining possible topics students can choose from, and a sample outline and example of writing a good article as a practical guide on how its content should appear. Moreover, the guideline highlights the technical details of starting and writing an article, following formatting styles students can adopt. In turn, potential article writers should avoid making mistakes, including essential tips for producing a high-value document. Reading this guideline is valuable to college students and others who find writing an interesting exercise for social discourse and intellectual development. As a result, writing articles involves selecting an eye-catching title, an informative introduction, detailed body paragraphs, and an ending paragraph that gives the author’s reflection on the topic under discussion.

General Aspects of How to Write an Outstanding Article & Example

Reading guidelines on how to write different types of papers is recommendable for college students because it increases knowledge on what to do to produce a high-standard article. Writing is an academic and intellectual exercise because it allows students to apply what they have learned by carefully examining the literature and logically documenting evidence. In this sense, students should not view recommendations for writing various types of essays as an assessment protocol but as an opportunity to develop intellectually. The basis of this guideline is the understanding that academic texts have standards students should demonstrate, such as outline, thesis statement, evidence, citations, and formal language. Therefore, by reading this guideline, students should grasp critical details about how to write an article that allows them to apply course content to produce persuasive information.

Definition of What Is an Article and Its Meaning

From a simple definition, an article is a piece of writing in a newspaper, journal, magazine, or website. In this respect, it can be print or digital, with the digital format having the widest reach because of the ubiquitous Internet and smart devices. Articles differ from essays, research papers, and reports, which means they disseminate information about political, economic, social, cultural, technological, and legal issues to specific audiences. For example, media houses use their online platforms to publish articles about contemporary issues of great public concern, including costly healthcare, homelessness, and uncontrolled immigration. Therefore, college students may write articles as an exercise to demonstrate their understanding of key issues. The product must convince the audience why the matter deserves intellectual discourse, such as explaining its causes and implications. When writing articles, students should approach them with intellectual vigor, assuming that it is publishable.

Key Structure Features of Writing an Article

Developing a title for an article.

The first structure feature of writing an article is to select an attractive and informative essay title. For instance, a good article should have an eye-catching heading. Along these lines, the title of any article should attract readers’ attention, covering the main theme of its content. In this case, readers should enjoy the content of an article by starting to read through the title. Moreover, the title should summarize a key idea of an article. Therefore, when writing articles, authors should select a specific title that catches the reader’s attention and summarizes its key message.

Introduction of an Article

The introduction paragraph of an article should provide a clear description of the content. For instance, an article should start by defining the topic clearly, including the choice of writing strategies and writing styles. Besides, readers should understand the subject and the content of an article after reading the introductory paragraph, retaining the reader’s attention. As a result, an article should have a clear and detailed opening paragraph.

Article’s Body Paragraphs

An article should have a body that expands the information about the topic. For instance, authors should write several body paragraphs that explain the main issue under analysis. In this case, body paragraphs should explain the main idea of an article in more detail, expounding on its introduction. In turn, people must start each body paragraph with a clear topic sentence since they need to explain a single idea in every section to make their articles clear and relevant. Thus, writing a good article should have clear body paragraphs that include more details on the title and opening paragraph.

Conclusion of an Article

The last part of writing an article is a conclusion paragraph, which provides a summary of the information discussed in body paragraphs and provides the author’s final thoughts about a specific topic. For example, authors need to summarize the entire article in a single paragraph, restating the main points. Besides, a good article should have the author’s understanding of the topic. In this case, people should provide their reflections or views on the subject in the closing paragraph. Some conclusion examples may provide recommendations or opinions toward the assigned topic. Therefore, when writing the closing paragraph of an article, it must contain a concise summary and author’s reflection.

Topic Examples for Starting and Writing an Article

Writing an article aims to inform or educate people about an issue of great concern or implication to a group or society. Such an issue can be political, economic, social, cultural, technological, legal, or environmental. Therefore, students in higher learning institutions must know that writing an article requires one to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of issues across the above dimensions through historical, present, and future lenses. The following are possible easy article topics because they require writers to use what they know to investigate the matter so that they can inform readers about its genesis, evolution, and potential.

• Global Warming and Its Relation to Climate Change
• Mental Health Effects of Internet Addiction
• Substance Use as Evidence of Societal Dysfunction
• Smart Boards in Enhancing Education Access
• How Accommodations Benefit Students in Special Education?

Sample Outline Template for Writing a Good Article

• Write a title of an article.
• Provide a short author’s biography.
• Include a date when this article is posted.

I. Introduction

• Start with a hook.
• Introduce the topic by establishing a background.
• Tell readers something that grabs their attention.
• Structure an article into 2, 3, or more paragraphs, each addressing a single aspect of the topic.

III. Conclusion

• Close writing an article by stating recommendations, anticipations, views, appeals, or any information that helps the audience to appreciate an article.

Receive a high-quality paper without plagiarism from Wr1ter Team.

Example of Writing an Article

Topic: Mental Health Effects of Internet Addiction

Andrew Thompson, a correspondent with New York Tribune on social issues.

August 02, 2023

I. Example of Article’s Introduction

The ubiquitous Internet, coupled with a high penetration of smart devices in personal spaces, including homes, has increased young people’s interaction with platforms that trigger Internet addiction. Common platforms include social media and video games. While many people see this interaction as educational, there are growing concerns among psychologists that it is a potential ground for developing mental health problems.

II. Sample of Article’s Body Paragraph 1

One of the effects of prolonged use of social media and video games is addiction, where a person develops a penchant for checking their status every passing minute. In this sense, people affected by Internet addiction always check their smartphones or sleep on their computers most of their idle time and write many messages daily. Psychologists are concerned that Internet addiction is no longer evident when people are idle. Furthermore, there are concerns among educators and parents that young individuals with symptoms of the problem can barely concentrate in class or family events like sharing dinner.

III. Sample of Article’s Body Paragraph 2

From a psychological perspective, Internet addiction leads to mental health disorders, including low self-esteem, depression, impulsiveness, mood disorders, suicide, and poor writing habits. According to Dr. Margaret Spencer, a psychologist working at the Hemper Medical Group, prolonged Internet use denies people an opportunity to develop critical relations that enhance psychological wellness. Low self-esteem develops in young individuals who are constantly playing video games or hooked on social media platforms because such activities expose them to abusive encounters that leave them vulnerable. Since they lack relationships that can help to deal with such aggression, most victims blame themselves for their awful experiences. Evidence of low self-esteem includes a lack of confidence in communication and a constant feeling of inadequacy.

IV. Sample of Article’s Body Paragraph 3

According to Dr. Spencer, Internet addiction is a powerful instinct that makes many vulnerable to severe psychological effects. Unlike moderate use of social media sites, addiction to them is dangerous because it becomes where people find solutions to their problems. For example, someone who does not like a bodily feature like the color of their eyes may seek the opinion of others in the same social media space. However, most users of these sites are not friendly and see others’ problems as an opportunity for sadism. Therefore, rather than getting help, a person may experience humiliation on social media, and psychologists identify humiliation as a powerful inducer of suicidal thoughts.

V. Sample of Article’s Body Paragraph 4

Indeed, there is overwhelming evidence of how Internet addiction has affected many young people across the United States. Official data indicate that four out of every ten adolescents with a mental disorder present with Internet addiction symptoms. In other words, 40 percent of young individuals with a mental health disorder diagnosis, such as mood disorders, are addicted to the Internet. This statistic is a reason for worry for parents, educators, and mental health professionals because emerging trends indicate youth will continue consuming the Internet at increased rates.

VI. Example of Article’s Conclusion

Internet addiction is a potential and proven mental health disorders risk factor for young individuals. While the penetration of the Internet and the availability of smart devices are good for an enlightened community, they are dangerous without regulation. Parents, educators, and various stakeholders must realize that the young population’s future is at risk if they do not work together to institute measures regulating the youth’s time on the Internet. Arguably, adolescents’ Internet use and online writing are the only space where censorship makes sense.

4 Easy Steps for Writing a Great Article

While academic writing may sound simple, it is a complex process that demands intense intellectual focus and involvement. Every academic text requires students to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the rules guiding such work. These rules include choosing a specific topic, developing an outline, finding credible sources, and avoiding grammatical, formatting, and logical flaws. Therefore, when writing an article, one should focus on the technical details essential to producing high-quality products. These details include preparation, developing the necessary attitude and mindset; stage set-up, making necessary arrangements to write an article; actual writing, producing an initial draft; and wrapping-up, perfecting a final draft. In practice, every technical step involves several tasks that students must accomplish to make their article meet standard expectations.

Step 1: Preparation

The first task in writing any article is preparation. Ideally, students should define a specific topic under their interest in this stage because it helps to shape their attitude and mindset for the rest of the article’s content. People should select a topic they are familiar with if the instructor has not specified one. The second task is to generate ideas by analyzing documents and brainstorming sessions with colleagues and peers. Students must understand that different topics they choose must align with the course content, meaning they must recognize what they have learned when deciding what to write about. Moreover, authors should consider the audience because it determines the language used when writing an article. Essentially, those who read articles are instructors for assessment purposes and fellow students and others seeking to be knowledgeable in the topical area.

Step 2: Stage Set-Up

The second step of writing an article is to set the stage. In this case, students should find reliable sources that help to generate ideas about the topic. As stated, reviewing course content and other literature is critical in developing knowledge about the topic. Typically, researching articles online, particularly journal article databases, helps writers to find verifiable information usable in defending arguments or making observations. When conducting research, people should make notes to sustain a scholarly tone because they must cite the source of the information they use, such as professionals, leaders, and credible organizations. The next task is to create a clear outline for their article comprising four main sections: a heading followed by a byline and date, introduction, body, and conclusion.

Step 3: Actual Writing

The third step of article writing is actual writing, which focuses on producing an initial draft. The writer aims to combine all ideas to create a logical paper without worrying about quality. When writing the paper, students should assess if the ideas are sufficient. If they are, they should focus on making them logically coherent. However, if they are not, they add more academic sources to generate new ideas, and if they exceed the paper’s length requirement, one should delete some sources. Students may need to alter the outline to accommodate the final draft when adding or deleting sources. The most important task for the writer is to create a thesis because it guides the rest of the work. In short, a thesis statement summarizes the writer’s aim in writing the article.

Writing an Article’s Introduction

This part of an article follows the byline and is where authors mention the purpose for writing this document. Ideally, students begin actual writing by telling readers background information that enables them to understand the article’s context. In most instances, authors begin by pointing at the evidence and then creating a narrative highlighting the need to address the issue. In principle, while topics are often several words, they focus on one issue, such as homelessness, drug abuse, internet addiction, and its causes or effects. The last part of the paragraph outlines an article’s thesis, where this sentence tells the audience why they should read it.

Writing Article’s Body Paragraphs

This section is the most comprehensive part of an article because it is where writers concentrate their energy on telling readers about the issue in the topic. Because it is only possible to exhaust some information in a single paragraph, people use several paragraphs in the body section. Each paragraph addresses a single aspect of the topic without breaking a logical flow of ideas and thoughts. In this case, addressing the thesis when writing every paragraph is essential in making a local and intellectually solid document. The most important detail that students must demonstrate in writing article’s body paragraphs is the evidence, mentioning what scholars, credible organizations, and governmental entities say about the issue. Evidence allows authors to demonstrate evidence-based writing, meaning one can use the work as a scholarly text.

Writing an Article’s Conclusion

This section is the last part of an article, where students need to make final remarks about the topic. Essentially, writers aim to make the audience appreciate the importance of the topic. As such, when writing this part, students should focus on making recommendations, suggesting anticipations, constructing popular views, making appeals, or emphasizing truths to alert the audience about the topic and the relevance of the issue it addresses.

Step 4: Wrapping-Up

The final step of writing an article is to wrap up the work by perfecting the final document. At this stage, students should read articles themselves and even request their colleagues to do the same to identify mistakes. As such, the first task is to revise a first draft of an article to correct grammatical mistakes, missing punctuation, formatting errors, and wrong citations. The next task is to edit an article to correct logical inconsistencies. Typically, this task involves adding or deleting words and sentences to create a clearer sense for readers. In turn, writers should confirm that the body of an article has topic sentences, evidence used, some explanations, and concluding sentences with transitions to abide by academic writing conventions. Finally, for formatting articles properly, authors should incorporate citations to give credit to scholars who provide incredible information to strengthen the intellectual and logical focus of the text.

Stand out in your academic journey with papers that showcase your unique ideas, free from any plagiarism.

10 Tips for Writing an Article Faster

While considering technical and structural details above, students should learn how to write an article as quickly as possible. The benefit of finishing an article faster is having sufficient time for other activities. More importantly, it helps students to meet deadlines without worrying about quality. Therefore, people should learn 10 tips for writing a great article faster, not losing quality.

1️⃣ Develop a list of possible topics

Students should create a list of possible topics and continuously populate it throughout the course. When the lecturer issues instructions about writing an article, one would easily choose the topic from the list. However, people should ensure the list aligns with the course to avoid irrelevancy.

2️⃣ Incubate ideas

Incubating ideas makes generating them easier when beginning to write an article. Students should continuously read course content and research what scholars say about different issues or topics in the course material. Idea incubation allows learners to develop an intellectual perspective necessary to produce a logical discourse. Therefore, when the time to write an article arrives, one can easily know what to tell readers.

3️⃣ Edit ideas before writing

When learners receive instructions to write an article, they should begin by choosing a specific topic and editing ideas they have incubated over time. Ideally, one should review each idea and drop those misaligning the main theme. Doing so saves time in completing an article because there would be fewer revisions.

4️⃣ Use paragraphs to organize ideas

Students need to organize ideas in paragraphs because they may have several ideas that cannot fit in one paragraph. A single idea should inform the content when writing one paragraph. Typically, topic sentences are ideal for introducing ideas in each paragraph. When authors have a clear idea as the basis of what they say in one paragraph, it is easier to find evidence to back up their claims.

5️⃣ Keep an article short

Unless the professor instructs otherwise, students should always keep their articles short. However, learners must ensure the body has at least one to two paragraphs to make their work scholarly and intellectually valid. At a minimum, a short article must allow writers to point out two ideas and defend them through scholarly material by other authors. The important thing students should note is that a college essay length is different from its quality.

6️⃣ Avoid distraction

Distractions are the biggest and most common events that undermine one’s ability to accomplish a task. In writing, they make students lose focus. Therefore, when writing an article, learners should set time to concentrate on their work with minimal distractions. These distractions come in various forms, including unnecessary brainstorming sessions, constant reference to sources, and multitasking.

7️⃣ Pre-determine writing time intervals

Because assignment writing accompanies other academic tasks and critical personal activities, students must organize their article writing. In this case, writing in time intervals is the most effective approach that helps to avoid distractions. For example, one can write a college essay introduction in the evening, the body early in the morning of the next, and the conclusion in the afternoon. While this technique does not translate into finishing an article in one sitting, it ultimately helps students to complete the text in under one hour when taking all the time spent. An advantage of this approach is it helps students to think over their ideas and drop those that do not make logical sense.

8️⃣ Avoid overthinking

Students tend to overthink when the task requires an in-depth demonstration of knowledge. While doing so is ideal for writing an analytical essay, it does not work for articles. The focus of an article is to address an issue without complicating details for the audience. As such, writers should only spend a little time thinking about ideas and their implications. The earlier task of idea incubation is vital at this stage because one can identify ideas that align with an article faster. More importantly, it prevents one from second-guessing ideas because they have already validated them.

9️⃣ Learn to save writing for later

Sometimes, one does not want to write for various reasons, including mental fatigue. In such instances, students should not force themselves to write. Instead, they should save what they have already written as a Word document on their computer and resume writing once refreshed and alert. In short, sobriety is critical when writing because it determines if one is vulnerable to distractions.

🔟 Do not save a good idea for later

Because of the list of possible topics and incubated ideas, students may look over good themes, trying to get better ones. While this feature is essential for enthusiasm in writing, it wastes time. Since writers have verified and validated these details over time, they should choose the topic and ideas they come across first to save time. The writer’s focus should not be to write an exciting article but an informative text.

10 Typical Mistakes in Article Writing

• Selecting a complex topic.
• Writing an unnecessarily long introduction.
• Adding explanations without evidence to back them up.
• Using the passive voice.
• Covering too many words to explain a single idea.
• Providing a conclusion that does not conclude an article.
• Failing to conclude an article and leaving the audience hanging or with questions.
• Including too many grammatical errors, missing punctuation, confusion between colons and semicolons, and misunderstanding of double and single quotations.
• Misusing words that have similar meanings but with different spellings.
• Having too many repetitions where the same ideas or words are evident in different paragraphs.

5 Common Formatting Styles & Other Aspects

All academic texts must reflect a formatting style out of the five common: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago/Turabian, and IEEE. Therefore, when writing a professional article, students should identify the applicable format the professor often specifies in assignment instructions. Each style is unique because it requires writers to incorporate certain features, even though some aspects have a certain similarity in the format or essay outline of these features.

📕 APA Style

When using APA style, article writers should pay attention to the essential features and how they should appear. Essentially, citations are in two forms: in-text and references. Writers incorporate the former in the body paragraphs by indicating the author’s surname, the source’s year of publication, and the page or paragraph number. In the References page, students should capture the following details for a book: the author’s surname, first and second names, the source’s publication year, the italicized title in the sentence case, and the publisher.

📕 MLA Style

When writing an article in MLA, one should consider in-text citations and the Works Cited page. All in-text citations should indicate the author’s surname and the page number from where they got the information they are citing. In the Works Cited page, students should indicate the following details for a book: author’s surname, first and second names, the italicized title in the title case, the publisher, and the year of publication.

📕 Harvard Style

The Harvard style is similar to APA in some aspects. When using this style, article writers should focus on in-text citations and the Reference List page. In-text citations should capture the author’s surname, the year of publication, and the page or paragraph number. In the References List page, the following information should appear for a book: author’s surname, first and second names, the year of publication, the italicized title in the sentence case, the publisher, and the publisher’s location.

📕 Chicago/Turabian Style

The Chicago/Turabian format has some similarities with MLA. Article writers should consider in-text citations and the Bibliography page when following this format. In-text citations appear as footnotes and capture full details as the Bibliography, the only difference being that the author’s name begins with the first name and ends with the surname in the footnotes. The footnote entry should capture the author’s first, second, and last name, the italicized title in the title case, the publisher’s location, name, date of publication in brackets, and the page from where writers have lifted the information they are citing. The information on the Bibliography page should read as follows for a book: the author’s surname, first and second names, the italicized title in the title case, the publisher’s location, the publisher, and the publication year.

📕 Writing a Scientific Article in the IEEE Format

Besides the above common formatting styles, students should familiarize themselves with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) format most applicable to scientific and engineering documents. While the outline of an article does not differ between an IEEE and a paper after the four styles above, citations are not similar. When writing an article as a scientific paper, students should follow the IEEE format, where they number in-text citations in square brackets, capturing all the details as on the References List page. In the end, writers should adopt a numerical and not an alphabetical organization as is in the four formats above.

📕 Writing and Formatting Blog Articles

Blogs are now common platforms, like newspapers and magazines, for discussing political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental issues. Therefore, it is essential for students to know how to write and format blog articles. The major difference between blogs and other platforms is that the language need not be formal. As such, students can be informal and use visuals when writing blog articles but ensure clear and precise communication. While they can use passive voice, they cannot use slang to communicate ideas. Some unique aspects of blog articles include headings and subheadings, extra lines between paragraphs, an abstract to capture attention, and a byline with the author’s credentials. Other features are citations and headings. Instead of in-text citations, as in the other platforms, blogs only need writers to use hyperlinks to indicate the source of information.

Crucial Information to Grasp for Article Writing

• Know the audience to determine the kind of content they consume and the language to use.
• Choose a specific topic that triggers interest and keep it short and simple.
• Write a short but precise introduction.
• Structure the body into paragraphs to enhance a logical order of ideas.
• Ensure there is a conclusion that sums up an article.
• Follow the right format and incorporate all its essential features.

Summing Up on How to Write a Perfect Article

Writing an article has four significant parts that include a title, introduction, body, and conclusion. Students start the work by developing the title as an attention-getter, which helps to catch the attention of readers. The first paragraph should give a clear description of the article’s topic. In this case, people should understand the content of an article after reading through the first paragraph. Moreover, the body of an article should provide more details about the theme under discussion, while the last section must include a summary of the content and the author’s opinion on the subject. Based on the preceding sections, article writing is intellectually demanding, and writers should grasp important tips:

• Create an interesting title that triggers interest in the target audience.
• Write a compelling introduction by contextualizing the topic and using a hook, such as a question, to capture the readers’ attention.
• Adopt a well-organized outline that allows the use of bullet points or paragraphs for easy use and support of ideas.
• Research the topic by reading documents on the main theme to incubate ideas.
• Adopt simplistic writing by avoiding complex language, technical words, and long sentences.
• Consider the target audience’s perspective when writing an article.
• Read and reread a first draft of an article to identify and eliminate grammatical and formatting errors and illogical sentences.
• Proofread a final draft before presentation for assessment or publication.

To Learn More, Read Relevant Articles

Research Paper Outline Template

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Thursday, February 23: The Clark Library is closed today.

APA Style (7th Edition) Citation Guide: Journal Articles

• Introduction
• Journal Articles
• Magazine/Newspaper Articles
• Books & Ebooks
• Government & Legal Documents
• Biblical Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Films/Videos/TV Shows
• How to Cite: Other
• Additional Help

Table of Contents

Journal article from library database with doi - one author, journal article from library database with doi - multiple authors, journal article from a website - one author.

Journal Article- No DOI

Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

This Microsoft support page contains instructions about how to format a hanging indent in a paper.

• APA 7th. ed. Journal Article Reference Checklist

If an item has no author, start the citation with the article title.

When an article has one to twenty authors, all authors' names are cited in the References List entry. When an article has twenty-one or more authors list the first nineteen authors followed by three spaced ellipse points (. . .) , and then the last author's name. Rules are different for in-text citations; please see the examples provided.

Cite author names in the order in which they appear on the source, not in alphabetical order (the first author is usually the person who contributed the most work to the publication).

Italicize titles of journals, magazines and newspapers. Do not italicize or use quotation marks for the titles of articles.

Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the article title. If there is a colon in the article title, also capitalize the first letter of the first word after the colon.

If an item has no date, use the short form n.d. where you would normally put the date.

Volume and Issue Numbers

Italicize volume numbers but not issue numbers.

Retrieval Dates

Most articles will not need these in the citation. Only use them for online articles from places where content may change often, like a free website or a wiki.

Page Numbers

If an article doesn't appear on continuous pages, list all the page numbers the article is on, separated by commas. For example (4, 6, 12-14)

Library Database

Do not include the name of a database for works obtained from most academic research databases (e.g. APA PsycInfo, CINAHL) because works in these resources are widely available. Exceptions are Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, ERIC, ProQuest Dissertations, and UpToDate.

Include the DOI (formatted as a URL: https://doi.org/...) if it is available. If you do not have a DOI, include a URL if the full text of the article is available online (not as part of a library database). If the full text is from a library database, do not include a DOI, URL, or database name.

In the Body of a Paper

Books, Journals, Reports, Webpages, etc.: When you refer to titles of a “stand-alone work,” as the APA calls them on their APA Style website, such as books, journals, reports, and webpages, you should italicize them. Capitalize words as you would for an article title in a reference, e.g., In the book Crying in H Mart: A memoir , author Michelle Zauner (2021) describes her biracial origin and its impact on her identity.

Article or Chapter: When you refer to the title of a part of a work, such as an article or a chapter, put quotation marks around the title and capitalize it as you would for a journal title in a reference, e.g., In the chapter “Where’s the Wine,” Zauner (2021) describes how she decided to become a musician.

The APA Sample Paper below has more information about formatting your paper.

• APA 7th ed. Sample Paper

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi.org/doi number

Smith, K. F. (2022). The public and private dialogue about the American family on television: A second look. Journal of Media Communication, 50 (4), 79-110. https://doi.org/10.1152/j.1460-2466.2000.tb02864.x

Note: The DOI number is formatted as a URL: https://doi.org/10.1152/j.1460-2466.2000.tb02864.xIf

In-Text Paraphrase:

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Smith, 2000)

In-Text Quote:

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

Example: (Smith, 2000, p. 80)

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi.org/doi number

Note: Separate the authors' names by putting a comma between them. For the final author listed add an ampersand (&) after the comma and before the final author's last name.

Note: In the reference list invert all authors' names; give last names and initials for only up to and including 20 authors. When a source has 21 or more authors, include the first 19 authors’ names, then three ellipses (…), and add the last author’s name. Don't include an ampersand (&) between the ellipsis and final author.

Note : For works with three or more authors, the first in-text citation is shortened to include the first author's surname followed by "et al."

Reference List Examples

Two to 20 Authors

Case, T. A., Daristotle, Y. A., Hayek, S. L., Smith, R. R., & Raash, L. I. (2011). College students' social networking experiences on Facebook. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 3 (2), 227-238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2008.12.010

21 or more authors

Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetma, A., . . . Joseph, D. (1996). The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society , 77 (3), 437-471. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1996)077<0437:TNYRP>2.0.CO;2

In-Text Citations

Two Authors/Editors

(Case & Daristotle, 2011)

Direct Quote: (Case & Daristotle, 2011, p. 57)

Three or more Authors/Editors

(Case et al., 2011)

Direct Quote: (Case et al., 2011, p. 57)

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any.  Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number if given). URL

Flachs, A. (2010). Food for thought: The social impact of community gardens in the Greater Cleveland Area.  Electronic Green Journal, 1 (30). http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6bh7j4z4

Example: (Flachs, 2010)

Example: (Flachs, 2010, Conclusion section, para. 3)

Note: In this example there were no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers; in this case you can cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from. If there are no page or paragraph numbers and no marked section, leave this information out.

Journal Article - No DOI

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any.  Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. URL [if article is available online, not as part of a library database]

Full-Text Available Online (Not as Part of a Library Database):

Steinberg, M. P., & Lacoe, J. (2017). What do we know about school discipline reform? Assessing the alternatives to suspensions and expulsions.  Education Next, 17 (1), 44–52.  https://www.educationnext.org/what-do-we-know-about-school-discipline-reform-suspensions-expulsions/

Example: (Steinberg & Lacoe, 2017)

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page number)

Example: (Steinberg & Lacoe, 2017, p. 47)

Full-Text Available in Library Database:

Jungers, W. L. (2010). Biomechanics: Barefoot running strikes back.  Nature, 463 (2), 433-434.

Example: (Jungers, 2010)

Example: (Jungers, 2010, p. 433)

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Citing scholarly sources in your writing can help you to support your argument or to tackle counterarguments. Not only do you have to create a page of works cited, but you also have to properly cite those sources in your text by following formatting guides. Modern Language Association and American Psychological Association guidelines are the most-used formatting styles in academic writing, and both have the same rules regarding how to write an article title in a paper: Put quote marks around the title and capitalize the first and last words in the title as well as all other words except articles and prepositions shorter than four letters.

Title Rules

All shorter works such as articles, book chapters, essays and even songs should be in quotation marks when cited in a paper in MLA and APA styles. An example would be: "Article Discussing Effects of Climate Change on Monkeys." If you must include the book or journal where the article is found in your paper, italicize it in both styles. In-text citations are also necessary when listing an article in your paper. For MLA style, an in-text citation includes the author's last name and the page number in parentheses, such as (Bedford 4). For APA style, the in-text citation includes the author's last name, year of publication and page number also in parentheses, such as (Bedford, 1990, p. 4).

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Maria Magher has been working as a professional writer since 2001. She has worked as an ESL teacher, a freshman composition teacher and an education reporter, writing for regional newspapers and online publications. She has written about parenting for Pampers and other websites. She has a Master's degree in English and creative writing.

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How do I actually write the names of the article and the journal/magazine in my paper?

To write the name of a journal/magazine title in the body of your paper:

• The title of the journal should be in italics - Example:  Journal of the American Medical Association
• Capitalize all of the major words.

To write the the name of an article title in the body of your paper:

• The title of the article should be in quotation marks - E xample: "Tiger Woman on Wall Street"

For more information, please see the following pages on the APA Style Blog :

• Title Case Capitalization
• Use of Italics
• Use of Quotation Marks

Thank you for using ASK US.  For more information, please contact your Baker librarians .

• Last Updated May 05, 2023
• Views 538831
• Answered By Baker Librarians

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Comments (8)

• Do articles contain address? by Danny on Mar 20, 2017
• On the APA References page add Retrieved from and the website address at the end of the citation. See the APA Help page for examples-https://guides.baker.edu/apahelp by ASK US on Mar 20, 2017
• Is this information the same for scientific research journals and articles (still within APA)? by Haley on Apr 03, 2017
• Yes, it is. See the APA Help guide for examples. guides.baker.edu/apahelp by ASK US on Apr 03, 2017
• Do I have to put the name of the author of the article or website the article was from? by Hailee on May 01, 2017
• The answer given was for the body of your paper. Here's how to cite an article both on the References page and in-text: Author Last Name, First & Middle Initials. (Date). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of Source, Volume(Issue), Page numbers. Retrieved from... In-text: Paraphrase: (Author Last Name, Year). Quotation: (Author Last Name, Year, p. Page Number). by ASK US on May 02, 2017
• Do I put the title of essay in single quotation marks if I write in UK English (APA)? by joseph on Mar 25, 2019
• See the APA Style Blog's post on How to Capitalize and Format Reference Titles in APA Style: https://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2012/03/how-to-capitalize-and-format-reference-titles-in-apa-style.html by Patrick Mullane on Mar 25, 2019

We'll answer you within 3 hours M - F 8:00 am - 4:00 pm.

How do I shorten a long title?

Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook . For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Extremely long titles and conventional titles usually condensed may be shortened in your prose and in your works-cited list.   

Extremely Long Titles

Some works, particularly older ones, have very long titles, such as this treatise by the seventeenth-century English physician John Bulwer:

Philocophus; or, The Deafe and Dumbe Mans Friend, Exhibiting the Philosophical Verity of That Subtile Art, Which May Enable One with an Observant Eie to Have What Any Man Speaks by the Moving of His Lips

To shorten the title of a long work in your writing or in your works-cited-list entry, include the beginning words of the title up to at least the first noun. Thus, Bulwer’s title can be shortened to

Philocophus

If, however, a work has an alternative title, as does Bulwer’s, it may be beneficial to include it—again, up to the first noun:

Philocophus; or, The Deafe and Dumbe Mans Friend

In some cases, shortening to the first noun in a works-cited-list entry will result in a title that is too vague. For example, the following title

Some Thoughts concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New-England, and the Way in Which It Ought to Be Acknowledged and Promoted, Humbly Offered to the Publick, in a Treatise on That Subject, in Five Parts

is best shortened to

Some Thoughts concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New-England

Some Thoughts

In your prose, after you refer to the works by the titles used in the works-cited list, it is acceptable to use Philocophus and Some Thoughts on subsequent mention.

Punctuation with Shortened Titles

In the works-cited-list entry, add an ellipsis after the first part of the title. If a period is needed, insert the period before the ellipsis.

Bulwer, John.  Philocophus; or, The Deafe and Dumbe Mans Friend. . . .      Humphrey Mosely, 1648.

If a comma is needed, as it would be when the long title is the title of a container, insert it after the ellipsis:

Smith, Ann. Introduction. Philocophus; or, The Deafe and Dumbe Mans Friend . . .  , Humphrey Mosely, 1648, pp. x-xxi.

Conventional Titles

Some titles may be known by their short forms. For example, let’s say an edition of Shakespeare’s works prints the following title:

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

It can be shortened in your works-cited-list entry and prose thus:

What is ChatGPT? Here's everything you need to know about ChatGPT, the chatbot everyone's still talking about

• ChatGPT is getting a futuristic human update. 
• ChatGPT has drawn users at a feverish pace and spurred Big Tech to release other AI chatbots.
• Here's how ChatGPT works — and what's coming next.

OpenAI's blockbuster chatbot ChatGPT is getting a new update. 

On Monday, OpenAI unveiled GPT-4o for ChatGPT, a new version of the bot that can hold conversations with users in a very human tone. The new version of the chatbot will also have vision abilities.

The futuristic reveal quickly prompted jokes about parallels to the movie "Her," with some calling the chatbot's new voice " cringe ."

The move is a big step for the future of AI-powered virtual assistants, which tech companies have been racing to develop.

Since its release in 2022, hundreds of millions of people have experimented with the tool, which is already changing how the internet looks and feels to users.

Users have flocked to ChatGPT to improve their personal lives and boost productivity . Some workers have used the AI chatbot to develop code , write real estate listings , and create lesson plans, while others have made teaching the best ways to use ChatGPT a career all to itself.

ChatGPT offers dozens of plug-ins to those who subscribe to ChatGPT Plus subscription. An Expedia one can help you book a trip, while an OpenTable one will get nab you a dinner reservation. And last month, OpenAI launched Code Interpreter, a version of ChatGPT that can code and analyze data .

While the personal tone of conversations with an AI bot like ChatGPT can evoke the experience of chatting with a human, the technology, which runs on " large language model tools, " doesn't speak with sentience and doesn't "think" the way people do. 

That means that even though ChatGPT can explain quantum physics or write a poem on command, a full AI takeover isn't exactly imminent , according to experts.

"There's a saying that an infinite number of monkeys will eventually give you Shakespeare," said Matthew Sag, a law professor at Emory University who studies copyright implications for training and using large language models like ChatGPT.

"There's a large number of monkeys here, giving you things that are impressive — but there is intrinsically a difference between the way that humans produce language, and the way that large language models do it," he said. 

Chatbots like ChatGPT are powered by large amounts of data and computing techniques to make predictions to string words together in a meaningful way. They not only tap into a vast amount of vocabulary and information, but also understand words in context. This helps them mimic speech patterns while dispatching an encyclopedic knowledge. 

Other tech companies like Google and Meta have developed their own large language model tools, which use programs that take in human prompts and devise sophisticated responses.

Despite the AI's impressive capabilities, some have called out OpenAI's chatbot for spewing misinformation , stealing personal data for training purposes , and even encouraging students to cheat and plagiarize on their assignments. 

Some recent efforts to use chatbots for real-world services have proved troubling. In 2023, the mental health company Koko came under fire after its founder wrote about how the company used GPT-3 in an experiment to reply to users. 

Koko cofounder Rob Morris hastened to clarify on Twitter that users weren't speaking directly to a chatbot, but that AI was used to "help craft" responses. 

Read Insider's coverage on ChatGPT and some of the strange new ways that both people and companies are using chat bots: 

The tech world's reception to ChatGPT:

Microsoft is chill with employees using ChatGPT — just don't share 'sensitive data' with it.

Microsoft's investment into ChatGPT's creator may be the smartest $1 billion ever spent

ChatGPT and generative AI look like tech's next boom. They could be the next bubble.

The ChatGPT and generative-AI 'gold rush' has founders flocking to San Francisco's 'Cerebral Valley'

Insider's experiments: 

I asked ChatGPT to do my work and write an Insider article for me. It quickly generated an alarmingly convincing article filled with misinformation.

I asked ChatGPT and a human matchmaker to redo my Hinge and Bumble profiles. They helped show me what works.

I asked ChatGPT to reply to my Hinge matches. No one responded.

I used ChatGPT to write a resignation letter. A lawyer said it made one crucial error that could have invalidated the whole thing .

Read ChatGPT's 'insulting' and 'garbage' 'Succession' finale script

An Iowa school district asked ChatGPT if a list of books contains sex scenes, and banned them if it said yes. We put the system to the test and found a bunch of problems.

Developments in detecting ChatGPT: 

Teachers rejoice! ChatGPT creators have released a tool to help detect AI-generated writing

A Princeton student built an app which can detect if ChatGPT wrote an essay to combat AI-based plagiarism

Professors want to 'ChatGPT-proof' assignments, and are returning to paper exams and requesting editing history to curb AI cheating

ChatGPT in society: 

BuzzFeed writers react with a mix of disappointment and excitement at news that AI-generated content is coming to the website

ChatGPT is testing a paid version — here's what that means for free users

A top UK private school is changing its approach to homework amid the rise of ChatGPT, as educators around the world adapt to AI

Princeton computer science professor says don't panic over 'bullshit generator' ChatGPT

DoNotPay's CEO says threat of 'jail for 6 months' means plan to debut AI 'robot lawyer' in courtroom is on ice

It might be possible to fight a traffic ticket with an AI 'robot lawyer' secretly feeding you lines to your AirPods, but it could go off the rails

Online mental health company uses ChatGPT to help respond to users in experiment — raising ethical concerns around healthcare and AI technology

What public figures think about ChatGPT and other AI tools:

What Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and 12 other business leaders think about AI tools like ChatGPT

Elon Musk was reportedly 'furious' at ChatGPT's popularity after he left the company behind it, OpenAI, years ago

CEO of ChatGPT maker responds to schools' plagiarism concerns: 'We adapted to calculators and changed what we tested in math class'

A theoretical physicist says AI is just a 'glorified tape recorder' and people's fears about it are overblown

'The most stunning demo I've ever seen in my life': ChatGPT impressed Bill Gates

Ashton Kutcher says your company will probably be 'out of business' if you're 'sleeping' on AI

ChatGPT's impact on jobs: 

AI systems like ChatGPT could impact 300 million full-time jobs worldwide, with administrative and legal roles some of the most at risk, Goldman Sachs report says

Jobs are now requiring experience with ChatGPT — and they'll pay as much as $800,000 a year for the skill

Related stories

ChatGPT may be coming for our jobs. Here are the 10 roles that AI is most likely to replace.

AI is going to eliminate way more jobs than anyone realizes

It's not AI that is going to take your job, but someone who knows how to use AI might, economist says

4 careers where workers will have to change jobs by 2030 due to AI and shifts in how we shop, a McKinsey study says

Companies like Amazon, Netflix, and Meta are paying salaries as high as $900,000 to attract generative AI talent

How AI tools like ChatGPT are changing the workforce:

10 ways artificial intelligence is changing the workplace, from writing performance reviews to making the 4-day workweek possible

Managers who use AI will replace managers who don't, says an IBM exec

How ChatGPT is shaping industries: 

ChatGPT is coming for classrooms, hospitals, marketing departments, and everything else as the next great startup boom emerges

Marketing teams are using AI to generate content, boost SEO, and develop branding to help save time and money, study finds

AI is coming for Hollywood. 'It's amazing to see the sophistication of the images,' one of Christopher Nolan's VFX guy says.

AI is going to offer every student a personalized tutor, founder of Khan Academy says

A law firm was fined $5,000 after one of its lawyers used ChatGPT to write a court brief riddled with fake case references

How workers are using ChatGPT to boost productivity:  

CheatGPT: The hidden wave of employees using AI on the sly

I used ChatGPT to talk to my boss for a week and she didn't notice. Here are the other ways I use it daily to get work done.

I'm a high school math and science teacher who uses ChatGPT, and it's made my job much easier

Amazon employees are already using ChatGPT for software coding. They also found the AI chatbot can answer tricky AWS customer questions and write cloud training materials.

How 6 workers are using ChatGPT to make their jobs easier

I'm a freelance editor who's embraced working with AI content. Here's how I do it and what I charge.

How people are using ChatGPT to make money:

How ChatGPT and other AI tools are helping workers make more money

Here are 5 ways ChatGPT helps me make money and complete time-consuming tasks for my business

ChatGPT course instruction is the newest side hustle on the market. Meet the teachers making thousands from the lucrative gig.

People are using ChatGPT and other AI bots to work side hustles and earn thousands of dollars — check out these 8 freelancing gigs

A guy tried using ChatGPT to turn $100 into a business making 'as much money as possible.' Here are the first 4 steps the AI chatbot gave him

We used ChatGPT to build a 7-figure newsletter. Here's how it makes our jobs easier.

I use ChatGPT and it's like having a 24/7 personal assistant for $20 a month. Here are 5 ways it's helping me make more money.

A worker who uses AI for a $670 monthly side hustle says ChatGPT has 'cut her research time in half'

How companies are navigating ChatGPT: 

From Salesforce to Air India, here are the companies that are using ChatGPT

Amazon, Apple, and 12 other major companies that have restricted employees from using ChatGPT

A consultant used ChatGPT to free up time so she could focus on pitching clients. She landed $128,000 worth of new contracts in just 3 months.

Luminary, an AI-generated pop-up restaurant, just opened in Australia. Here's what's on the menu, from bioluminescent calamari to chocolate mousse.

A CEO is spending more than $2,000 a month on ChatGPT Plus accounts for all of his employees, and he says it's saving 'hours' of time

How people are using ChatGPT in their personal lives:

ChatGPT planned a family vacation to Costa Rica. A travel adviser found 3 glaring reasons why AI won't replace experts anytime soon.

A man who hated cardio asked ChatGPT to get him into running. Now, he's hooked — and he's lost 26 pounds.

A computer engineering student is using ChatGPT to overcome learning challenges linked to her dyslexia

How a coder used ChatGPT to find an apartment in Berlin in 2 weeks after struggling for months

Food blogger Nisha Vora tried ChatGPT to create a curry recipe. She says it's clear the instructions lacked a human touch — here's how.

Men are using AI to land more dates with better profiles and personalized messages, study finds

Lawsuits against OpenAI:

OpenAI could face a plagiarism lawsuit from The New York Times as tense negotiations threaten to boil over, report says

This is why comedian Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT

2 authors say OpenAI 'ingested' their books to train ChatGPT. Now they're suing, and a 'wave' of similar court cases may follow.

A lawsuit claims OpenAI stole 'massive amounts of personal data,' including medical records and information about children, to train ChatGPT

A radio host is suing OpenAI for defamation, alleging that ChatGPT created a false legal document that accused him of 'defrauding and embezzling funds'

Tips on how to write better ChatGPT prompts:

7 ways to use ChatGPT at work to boost your productivity, make your job easier, and save a ton of time

I'm an AI prompt engineer. Here are 3 ways I use ChatGPT to get the best results.

12 ways to get better at using ChatGPT: Comprehensive prompt guide

Here's 9 ways to turn ChatGPT Plus into your personal data analyst with the new Code Interpreter plug-in

OpenAI's ChatGPT can write impressive code. Here are the prompts you should use for the best results, experts say.

Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, has a global deal to allow OpenAI to train its models on its media brands' reporting.

Watch: What is ChatGPT, and should we be afraid of AI chatbots?

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How Biden Adopted Trump’s Trade War With China

The president has proposed new barriers to electric vehicles, steel and other goods..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

From “The New York Times,” I’m Sabrina Tavernise, and this is “The Daily.”

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Donald Trump upended decades of American policy when he started a trade war with China. Many thought that President Biden would reverse those policies. Instead, he’s stepping them up. Today, my colleague, Jim Tankersley, explains.

It’s Monday, May 13.

Jim, it’s very nice to have you in the studio.

It’s so great to be here, Sabrina. Thank you so much.

So we are going to talk today about something I find very interesting and I know you’ve been following. We’re in the middle of a presidential campaign. You are an economics reporter looking at these two candidates, and you’ve been trying to understand how Trump and Biden are thinking about our number one economic rival, and that is China.

As we know, Trump has been very loud and very clear about his views on China. What about Biden?

Well, no one is going to accuse President Biden of being as loud as former President Trump. But I think he’s actually been fairly clear in a way that might surprise a lot of people about how he sees economic competition with China.

We’re going after China in the wrong way. China is stealing intellectual property. China is conditioning —

And Biden has, kind of surprisingly, sounded a lot, in his own Joe Biden way, like Trump.

They’re not competing. They’re cheating. They’re cheating. And we’ve seen the damage here in America.

He has been very clear that he thinks China is cheating in trade.

The bottom line is I want fair competition with China, not conflict. And we’re in a stronger position to win the economic competition of the 21st century against China or anyone else because we’re investing in America and American workers again. Finally.

And maybe the most surprising thing from a policy perspective is just how much Biden has built on top of the anti-China moves that Trump made and really is the verge of his own sort of trade war with China.

Interesting. So remind us, Jim, what did Trump do when he actually came into office? We, of course, remember Trump really talking about China and banging that drum hard during the campaign, but remind us what he actually did when he came into office.

Yeah, it’s really instructive to start with the campaign, because Trump is talking about China in some very specific ways.

We have a $500 billion deficit, trade deficit, with China. We’re going to turn it around. And we have the cards. Don’t forget —

They’re ripping us off. They’re stealing our jobs.

They’re using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild China, and many other countries are doing the same thing. So we’re losing our good jobs, so many.

The economic context here is the United States has lost a couple of million jobs in what was called the China shock of the early 2000s. And Trump is tapping into that.

But when the Chinese come in, and they want to make great trade deals — and they make the best trade deals, and not anymore. When I’m there, we turn it around, folks. We turn it around. We have —

And what he’s promising as president is that he’s going to bring those jobs back.

I’ll be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. I’ll take them back from China, from Japan.

And not just any jobs, good-paying manufacturing jobs, all of it — clothes, shoes, steel, all of these jobs that have been lost that American workers, particularly in the industrial Midwest, used to do. Trump’s going to bring them back with policy meant to rebalance the trade relationship with China to get a better deal with China.

So he’s saying China is eating our lunch and has been for decades. That’s the reason why factory workers in rural North Carolina don’t have work. It’s those guys. And I’m going to change that.

Right. And he likes to say it’s because our leaders didn’t cut the right deal with them, so I’m going to make a better deal. And to get a better deal, you need leverage. So a year into his presidency, he starts taking steps to amass leverage with China.

And so what does that look like?

Just an hour ago, surrounded by a hand-picked group of steelworkers, President Trump revealed he was not bluffing.

It starts with tariffs. Tariffs are taxes that the government imposes on imports.

Two key global imports into America now face a major new barrier.

Today, I’m defending America’s national security by placing tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminum.

And in this case, it’s imports from a lot of different countries, but particularly China.

Let’s take it straight to the White House. The president of the United States announcing new trade tariffs against China. Let’s listen in.

This has been long in the making. You’ve heard —

So Trump starts, in 2018, this series of tariffs that he’s imposing on all sorts of things — washing machines, solar panels, steel, aluminum. I went to Delaware to a lighting store at that time, I remember, where basically everything they sold came from China and was subject to the Trump tariffs, because that’s where lighting was made now.

Interesting.

Hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods now start falling under these Trump tariffs. The Chinese, of course, don’t take this lying down.

China says it is not afraid of a trade war with the US, and it’s fighting back against President Trump with its own tariffs on US goods.

They do their own retaliatory tariffs. Now American exports to China cost more for Chinese consumers. And boom, all of a sudden, we are in the midst of a full-blown trade war between the United States and Beijing.

Right. And that trade war was kind of a shock because for decades, politicians had avoided that kind of policy. It was the consensus of the political class in the United States that there should not be tariffs like that. It should be free trade. And Trump just came in and blew up the consensus.

Yeah. And Sabrina, I may have mentioned this once or 700 times before on this program, but I talk to a lot of economists in my job.

Yeah, it’s weird. I talk to a lot of economists. And in 2018 when this started, there were very, very, very few economists of any political persuasion who thought that imposing all these tariffs were a good idea. Republican economists in particular, this is antithetical to how they think about the world, which is low taxes, free trade. And even Democratic economists who thought they had some problems with the way free trade had been conducted did not think that Trump’s “I’m going to get a better deal” approach was going to work. And so there was a lot of criticism at the time, and a lot of politicians really didn’t like it, a lot of Democrats, many Republicans. And it all added up to just a real, whoa, I don’t think this is going to work.

So that begs the question, did it?

Well, it depends on what you mean by work. Economically, it does not appear to have achieved what Trump wanted. There’s no evidence yet in the best economic research that’s been done on this that enormous amounts of manufacturing jobs came back to the United States because of Trump’s tariffs. There was research, for example, on the tariffs on washing machines. They appear to have helped a couple thousand jobs, manufacturing jobs be created in the United States, but they also raised the price of washing machines for everybody who bought them by enough that each additional job that was created by those tariffs effectively cost consumers, like, $800,000 per job.

There’s like lots of evidence that the sectors Trump was targeting to try to help here, he didn’t. There just wasn’t a lot of employment rebound to the United States. But politically, it really worked. The tariffs were very popular. They had this effect of showing voters in those hollowed-out manufacturing areas that Trump was on their team and that he was fighting for them. Even if they didn’t see the jobs coming back, they felt like he was standing up for them.

So the research suggests this was a savvy political move by Trump. And in the process, it sort of changes the political economic landscape in both parties in the United States.

Right. So Trump made these policies that seemed, for many, many years in the American political system, fringe, isolationist, economically bad, suddenly quite palatable and even desirable to mainstream policymakers.

Yeah. Suddenly getting tough on China is something everyone wants to do across both parties. And so from a political messaging standpoint, being tough on China is now where the mainstream is. But at the same time, there is still big disagreement over whether Trump is getting tough on China in the right way, whether he’s actually being effective at changing the trade relationship with China.

Remember that Trump was imposing these tariffs as a way to get leverage for a better deal with China. Well, he gets a deal of sorts, actually, with the Chinese government, which includes some things about tariffs, and also China agreeing to buy some products from the United States. Trump spins it as this huge win, but nobody else really, including Republicans, acts like Trump has solved the problem that Trump himself has identified. This deal is not enough to make everybody go, well, everything’s great with China now. We can move on to the next thing.

China remains this huge issue. And the question of what is the most effective way to deal with them is still an animating force in politics.

Got it. So politically, huge win, but policy-wise and economically, and fundamentally, the problem of China still very much unresolved.

Absolutely.

So then Biden comes in. What does Biden do? Does he keep the tariffs on?

Biden comes to office, and there remains this real pressure from economists to roll back what they consider to be the ineffective parts of Trump’s trade policy. That includes many of the tariffs. And it’s especially true at a time when almost immediately after Biden takes office, inflation spikes. And so Americans are paying a lot of money for products, and there’s this pressure on Biden, including from inside his administration, to roll back some of the China tariffs to give Americans some relief on prices.

And Biden considers this, but he doesn’t do it. He doesn’t reverse Trump’s tariff policy. In the end, he’s actually building on it.

We’ll be right back.

So Jim, you said that Biden is actually building on Trump’s anti-China policy. What exactly does that look like?

So Biden builds on the Trump China policy in three key ways, but he does it with a really specific goal that I just want you to keep in mind as we talk about all of this, which is that Biden isn’t just trying to beat China on everything. He’s not trying to cut a better deal. Biden is trying to beat China in a specific race to own the clean-energy future.

Clean energy.

Yeah. So keep that in mind, clean energy. And the animating force behind all of the things Biden does with China is that Biden wants to beat China on what he thinks are the jobs of the future, and that’s green technology.

Got it. OK. So what does he do first?

OK. Thing number one — let’s talk about the tariffs. He does not roll them back. And actually, he builds on them. For years, for the most part, he just lets the tariffs be. His administration reviews them. And it’s only now, this week, when his administration is going to actually act on the tariffs. And what they’re going to do is raise some of them. They’re going to raise them on strategic green tech things, like electric vehicles, in order to make them more expensive.

And I think it’s important to know the backdrop here, which is since Biden has taken office, China has started flooding global markets with really low-cost green technologies. Solar panels, electric vehicles are the two really big ones. And Biden’s aides are terrified that those imports are going to wash over the United States and basically wipe out American automakers, solar panel manufacturers, that essentially, if Americans can just buy super-cheap stuff from China, they’re not going to buy it from American factories. Those factories are going to go out of business.

So Biden’s goal of manufacturing jobs in clean energy, China is really threatening that by dumping all these products on the American market.

Exactly. And so what he wants to do is protect those factories with tariffs. And that means increasing the tariffs that Trump put on electric vehicles in hopes that American consumers will find them too expensive to buy.

But doesn’t that go against Biden’s goal of clean energy and things better for the environment? Lots of mass-market electric vehicles into the United States would seem to advance that goal. And here, he’s saying, no, you can’t come in.

Right, because Biden isn’t just trying to reduce emissions at all costs. He wants to reduce emissions while boosting American manufacturing jobs. He doesn’t want China to get a monopoly in these areas. And he’s also, in particular, worried about the politics of lost American manufacturing jobs. So Biden does not want to just let you buy cheaper Chinese technologies, even if that means reducing emissions.

He wants to boost American manufacturing of those things to compete with China, which brings us to our second thing that Biden has done to build on Trump’s China policy, which is that Biden has started to act like the Chinese government in particular areas by showering American manufacturers with subsidies.

I see. So dumping government money into American businesses.

Yes, tax incentives, direct grants. This is a way that China has, in the past decades, built its manufacturing dominance, is with state support for factories. Biden is trying to do that in particular targeted industries, including electric vehicles, solar power, wind power, semiconductors. Biden has passed a bunch of legislation that showers those sectors with incentives and government support in hopes of growing up much faster American industry.

Got it. So basically, Biden is trying to beat China at its own game.

Yeah, he’s essentially using tariffs to build a fortress around American industry so that he can train the troops to fight the clean energy battle with China.

And the troops being American companies.

Yes. It’s like, we’re going to give them protection — protectionist policy — in order to get up to size, get up to strength as an army in this battle for clean energy dominance against the Chinese.

Got it. So he’s trying to build up the fortress. What’s the third thing Biden does? You mentioned three things.

Biden does not want the United States going it alone against China. He’s trying to build an international coalition, wealthy countries and some other emerging countries that are going to take on China and try to stop the Chinese from using their trade playbook to take over all these new emerging industrial markets.

But, Jim, why? What does the US get from bringing our allies into this trade war? Why does the US want that?

Some of this really is about stopping China from gaining access to new markets. It’s like, if you put the low-cost Chinese exports on a boat, and it’s going around the world, looking for a dock to stop and offload the stuff and sell it, Biden wants barriers up at every possible port. And he wants factories in those places that are competing with the Chinese.

And a crucial fact to know here is that the United States and Europe, they are behind China when it comes to clean-energy technology. The Chinese government has invested a lot more than America and Europe in building up its industrial capacity for clean energy. So America and its allies want to deny China dominance of those markets and to build up their own access to them.

And they’re behind, so they’ve got to get going. It’s like they’re in a race, and they’re trailing.

Yeah, it’s an economic race to own these industries, and it’s that global emissions race. They also want to be bringing down fossil-fuel emissions faster than they currently are, and this is their plan.

So I guess, Jim, the question in my mind is, Trump effectively broke the seal, right? He started all of these tariffs. He started this trade war with China. But he did it in this kind of jackhammer, non-targeted way, and it didn’t really work economically. Now Biden is taking it a step further. But the question is, is his effort here going to work?

The answer to whether it’s going to work really depends on what your goals are. And Biden and Trump have very different goals. If Trump wins the White House back, he has made very clear that his goal is to try to rip the United States trade relationship with China even more than he already has. He just wants less trade with China and more stuff of all types made in the United States that used to be made in China. That’s a very difficult goal, but it’s not Biden’s goal.

Biden’s goal is that he wants America to make more stuff in these targeted industries. And there is real skepticism from free-market economists that his industrial policies will work on that, but there’s a lot of enthusiasm for it from a new strain of Democratic economists, in particular, who believe that the only chance Biden has to make that work is by pulling all of these levers, by doing the big subsidies and by putting up the tariffs, that you have to have both the troops training and the wall around them. And if it’s going to work, he has to build on the Trump policies. And so I guess you’re asking, will it work? It may be dependent upon just how far he’s willing to go on the subsidies and the barriers.

There’s a chance of it.

So, Jim, at the highest level, whatever the economic outcome here, it strikes me that these moves by Biden are pretty remarkably different from the policies of the Democratic Party over the decades, really going in the opposite direction. I’m thinking of Bill Clinton and NAFTA in the 1990s. Free trade was the real central mantra of the Democratic Party, really of both parties.

Yeah, and Biden is a real break from Clinton. And Clinton was the one who actually signed the law that really opened up trade with China, and Biden’s a break from that. He’s a break from even President Obama when he was vice president. Biden is doing something different. He’s breaking from that Democratic tradition, and he’s building on what Trump did, but with some throwback elements to it from the Roosevelt administration and the Eisenhower administration. This is this grand American tradition of industrial policy that gave us the space race and the interstate highway system. It’s the idea of using the power of the federal government to build up specific industrial capacities. It was in vogue for a time. It fell out of fashion and was replaced by this idea that the government should get out of the way, and you let the free market drive innovation. And now that industrial policy idea is back in vogue, and Biden is doing it.

So it isn’t just a shift or an evolution. It’s actually a return to big government spending of the ‘30s and the ‘40s and the ‘50s of American industrialism of that era. So what goes around comes around.

Yeah, and it’s a return to that older economic theory with new elements. And it’s in part because of the almost jealousy that American policymakers have of China and the success that it’s had building up its own industrial base. But it also has this political element to it. It’s, in part, animated by the success that Trump had making China an issue with working-class American voters.

You didn’t have to lose your job to China to feel like China was a stand-in for the forces that have taken away good-paying middle-class jobs from American workers who expected those jobs to be there. And so Trump tapped into that. And Biden is trying to tap into that. And the political incentives are pushing every future American president to do more of that. So I think we are going to see even more of this going forward, and that’s why we’re in such an interesting moment right now.

So we’re going to see more fortresses.

More fortresses, more troops, more money.

Jim, thank you.

You’re welcome.

Here’s what else you should know today. Intense fighting between Hamas fighters and Israeli troops raged in parts of Northern Gaza over the weekend, an area where Israel had declared Hamas defeated earlier in the war, only to see the group reconstitute in the power vacuum that was left behind. The persistent lawlessness raised concerns about the future of Gaza among American officials. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the return of Hamas to the North left him concerned that Israeli victories there would be, quote, “not sustainable,” and said that Israel had not presented the United States with any plan for when the war ends.

And the United Nations aid agency in Gaza said early on Sunday that about 300,000 people had fled from Rafah over the past week, the city in the enclave’s southernmost tip where more than a million displaced Gazans had sought shelter from Israeli bombardments elsewhere. The UN made the announcement hours after the Israeli government issued new evacuation orders in Rafah, deepening fears that the Israeli military was preparing to invade the city despite international warnings.

Today’s episode was produced by Nina Feldman, Carlos Prieto, Sidney Harper, and Luke Vander Ploeg. It was edited by M.J. Davis Lin, Brendan Klinkenberg, and Lisa Chow. Contains original music by Diane Wong, Marion Lozano, and Dan Powell, and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. See you tomorrow.

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Donald Trump upended decades of American policy when he started a trade war with China. Many thought that President Biden would reverse those policies. Instead, he’s stepping them up.

Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy at the White House, explains.

On today’s episode

Jim Tankersley , who covers economic policy at the White House for The New York Times.

Background reading

Mr. Biden, competing with Mr. Trump to be tough on China , called for steel tariffs last month.

The Biden administration may raise tariffs on electric vehicles from China to 100 percent .

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The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Luke Vander Ploeg is a senior producer on “The Daily” and a reporter for the National Desk covering the Midwest. More about Luke Vander Ploeg

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