MLA Style (9th Edition) Citation Guide: Magazine/Newspaper Articles

A Note on Magazine/Newspaper Citations

Magazine/Newspaper Article From a Website

Magazine/Newspaper Article from Nexis Uni

Magazine/Newspaper Article In Print

Not sure whether your article is from a newspaper? Look for these characteristics:

• Main purpose is to provide readers with a brief account of current events locally, nationally or internationally.
• Can be published daily, semiweekly or weekly.
• Written for the general public, readers don't need any previous subject knowledge.
• Little, if any, information about other sources is provided.

Articles may also come from journals or magazines.

Note: For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

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

Author

If there is no known author, start the citation with the title of the article instead.

Access Date

Date of access is optional in MLA 8th/9th edition; it is recommended for pages that may change frequently or that do not have a copyright/publication date.

In your works cited list, abbreviate months as follows: 

January = Jan.
February = Feb.
March = Mar.
April = Apr.
May = May
June = June
July = July
August = Aug.
September = Sept.
October = Oct.
November = Nov.
December = Dec.

Spell out months fully in the body of your paper. 

Online newspapers and magazines sometimes include a “permalink,” which is a shortened, stable version of a URL. Look for a “share” or “cite this” button to see if a source includes a permalink. If you can find a permalink, use that instead of a URL.

Here are some common features you should try to find before citing electronic sources in MLA style. Not every Web page will provide all of the following information. However, collect as much of the following information as possible both for your citations and for your research notes:

• Author and/or editor names (if available); last names first.
• "Article name in quotation marks."
• Title of the website, project, or book in italics.
• Any version numbers available, including editions (ed.), revisions, posting dates, volumes (vol.), or issue numbers (no.).
• Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date.
• Take note of any page numbers (p. or pp.) or paragraph numbers (par. or pars.).
• URL (without the https://) or permalink. 
  • “permalink,” which is a shortened, stable version of a URL. Look for a “share” or “cite this” button to see if a source includes a permalink. If you can find a permalink, use that instead of a URL.
• Date you accessed the material (Date Accessed)—While not required, it is highly recommended, especially when dealing with pages that change frequently or do not have a visible copyright date.
• Remember to cite containers after your regular citation. Examples of containers are collections of short stories or poems, a television series, or even a website. A container is anything that is a part of a larger body of works.

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article: Subtitle if Any." Title of Website, Date of Publication, URL. Access date.

Note: If the author's name is not listed, begin the citation with the title of the article.

Date of access is now optional in MLA 8th edition. If no publication date is included, we recommend including the date you last accessed the site.

Works Cited List Example:

Zimmerman, Eilene. "The Many Delicate Issues of Spirituality in the Office." New York Times, 15 Aug. 2004, www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/jobs/the-many-delicate-issues-of-spirituality-in-the-office.html. Accessed 7 June 2016.

Note: This entry has no page numbers, so this information is left out of the citation.

In-Text Citation Example:

(Author's Last Name)

(Zimmerman)

Note: This entry has no page numbers, so this information is left out of the citation.

Note: If there is no author listed, the in-text citation would include the first word or words of the title of the article in quotation marks.

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article: Subtitle if Any." Title of Newspaper, Date of Publication, p. Page Number. Database Name, URL. 

Note: If the author's name is not listed, begin the citation with the title of the article. Date of access is now optional in MLA 8th edition.

Works Cited List Example:

Ruhe, Pierre. “Pair of Recitals Show Musicians’ Contrasting Styles.” The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 5 Feb. 2001, p. 5D. Nexis Uni, advance.lexis.com/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:4292-6G90-0026-G40Y-00000-00&context=1516831.

In-Text Citation Example:

(Author's Last Name Page Number)

(Ruhe 5D)

Cite a newspaper article as you would a magazine article, but note the different pagination in most newspapers. If there is more than one edition available for that date (as in an early and late edition of a newspaper), identify the edition after the newspaper title.

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article: Subtitle if Any." Name of Newspaper, Date of Publication, p. Page number. 

Note: If the author's name is not listed, begin the citation with the title of the article.

Works Cited List Example:

Kershner, Isabel. "Ancient Grocery Lists May Shed Light on When the Bible Was First Written." New York Times, 2016 April 12, p. A8.

In-Text Citation Example:

(Author's Last Name Page Number)

(Kershner A8)

Note: If an article is only one page long, you do not need to provide the page number in the in-text citation. 

Note: If there is no author listed, the in-text citation would include the first word or words of the title of the article in quotation marks, e.g. ("Talks").

If the newspaper is a less well-known or local publication, include the city name in brackets after the title of the newspaper.

Behre, Robert. "Presidential Hopefuls Get Final Crack at Core of S.C. Democrats." Post and Courier [Charleston, SC], 29 Apr. 2007, p. A11.