How to format your references using the Learning and Instruction citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Learning and Instruction. For a complete guide how to prepare your manuscript refer to the journal's instructions to authors.

Using reference management software

Typically you don't format your citations and bibliography by hand. The easiest way is to use a reference manager:

Paperpile	The citation style is built in and you can choose it in Settings > Citation Style or Paperpile > Citation Style in Google Docs.
EndNote	Download the output style file
Mendeley, Zotero, Papers, and others	The style is either built in or you can download a CSL file that is supported by most references management programs.
BibTeX	BibTeX syles are usually part of a LaTeX template. Check the instructions to authors if the publisher offers a LaTeX template for this journal.

Journal articles

Those examples are references to articles in scholarly journals and how they are supposed to appear in your bibliography.

Not all journals organize their published articles in volumes and issues, so these fields are optional. Some electronic journals do not provide a page range, but instead list an article identifier. In a case like this it's safe to use the article identifier instead of the page range.

A journal article with 1 author

Atkinson, P. M. (2014). Assess the real cost of research assessment. Nature, 516(7530), 145.

A journal article with 2 authors

Lee, J.-H., & Paull, T. T. (2005). ATM activation by DNA double-strand breaks through the Mre11-Rad50-Nbs1 complex. Science (New York, N.Y.), 308(5721), 551–554.

A journal article with 3 authors

Halevy, I., Johnston, D. T., & Schrag, D. P. (2010). Explaining the structure of the Archean mass-independent sulfur isotope record. Science (New York, N.Y.), 329(5988), 204–207.

A journal article with 8 or more authors

Fagarasan, S., Muramatsu, M., Suzuki, K., Nagaoka, H., Hiai, H., & Honjo, T. (2002). Critical roles of activation-induced cytidine deaminase in the homeostasis of gut flora. Science (New York, N.Y.), 298(5597), 1424–1427.

Books and book chapters

Here are examples of references for authored and edited books as well as book chapters.

An authored book

Kuo, J. B., & Lin, S.-C. (2002). Low-Voltage SOI CMOS VLSI Devices and Circuits. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

An edited book

Sarti, A., & Lorini, F. L. (Eds.). (2012). Echocardiography for Intensivists. Springer.

A chapter in an edited book

Song, J. Y., Yu, J., & Chan, W. C. (2015). Gene Expression Profiling in Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas. In A. M. Evens & K. A. Blum (Eds.), Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: Pathology, Imaging, and Current Therapy (pp. 97–123). Springer International Publishing.

Web sites

Sometimes references to web sites should appear directly in the text rather than in the bibliography. Refer to the Instructions to authors for Learning and Instruction.

Blog post

Hamilton, K. (2016, June 24). What Consumers Want In GM Food Labeling Is Simpler Than You Think. IFLScience; IFLScience. https://www.iflscience.com/environment/what-consumers-want-in-gm-food-labeling-is-simpler-than-you-think/

Reports

This example shows the general structure used for government reports, technical reports, and scientific reports. If you can't locate the report number then it might be better to cite the report as a book. For reports it is usually not individual people that are credited as authors, but a governmental department or agency like "U. S. Food and Drug Administration" or "National Cancer Institute".

Government report

Government Accountability Office. (2016). Immigration Benefits System: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Can Improve Program Management (GAO-16-467). U.S. Government Printing Office.

Theses and dissertations

Theses including Ph.D. dissertations, Master's theses or Bachelor theses follow the basic format outlined below.

Doctoral dissertation

Walsh, C. T. (2005). Molecular Pharmacodynamics of Chemotherapy: Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) Inhibitors as Chemosensitizers [Doctoral dissertation]. Ohio State University.

News paper articles

Unlike scholarly journals, news papers do not usually have a volume and issue number. Instead, the full date and page number is required for a correct reference.

New York Times article

Mazzetti, M., Kulish, N., Drew, C., Kovaleski, S. F., Naylor, S. D., & Ismay, J. (2015, June 6). The Secret History of SEAL Team 6. New York Times, A1.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by name and year in parentheses:

This sentence cites one reference (Atkinson, 2014).
This sentence cites two references (Atkinson, 2014; Lee & Paull, 2005).

Here are examples of in-text citations with multiple authors:

Two authors: (Lee & Paull, 2005)
Three authors: (Halevy et al., 2010)
6 or more authors: (Fagarasan et al., 2002)

About the journal

Full journal title	Learning and Instruction
Abbreviation	Learn. Instr.
ISSN (print)	0959-4752
Scope	Developmental and Educational Psychology Education