citing a newspaper in essay

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

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Table of Contents

A note on magazine/newspaper citations, magazine/newspaper article from a website, magazine/newspaper article from nexis uni, magazine/newspaper article in print, how do i know if it's a newspaper.

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.

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.).
• “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.

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.

(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.

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

(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.

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How to cite a newspaper in a bibliography using MLA

The most basic entry for a newspaper article consists of the author’s name(s), the article title, the new publication’s name, the publication date, and page number(s). When available, also include the new publication’s season, a volume number, or issue number. Remember, don’t capitalize seasons in the date field when using MLA (winter 2020 not Winter 2020).

Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Newspaper Name , Publication Date, pp. #-#.

Smith, John. “Steelers Win Super Bowl XLIII.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , 2 Feb. 2009, pp. 4-6.

Reverse the first author’s name, placing a comma placed after the last name and a period after the first name (or any middle name). Do not abbreviate the name and write it exactly as it appears on the article title page. Titles and affiliations associated with the author should generally be omitted. A suffix, such as a roman numeral or Jr./Sr. should appear after the author’s given name, preceded by a comma.

For a news article written by two authors, list them in the order they appear on the article title page. Reverse only the first author’s name and write the other names in normal order. Separate author names with a comma and place the word “and” before the second author’s name.

Smith, John, and Jane Doe. “Steelers Win Super Bowl XLIII.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , 2 Feb. 2009, pp. 4-6.

For news articles with three or more authors, only include the first author, followed by a comma and the abbreviation “et al.”

Smith, John, et al. “Steelers Win Super Bowl XLIII.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , 2 Feb. 2009, pp. 4-6.

Place the full article title in double quotation marks and use headline-style capitalization. Unless there is internal punctuation included in the article title, place a period after the title and within the quotations. Next, state the name of the magazine in italics. Separate any additional fields such as date or page(s) with commas. End the citation entry with a period.

Omit any introductory articles (e.g., A, An, The) from the newspaper name unless they are part of the official news publication’s title ( The New York Times ). If the publication city is not present in the newspaper name, place the city, without italics, in square brackets after the newspaper name (unless the newspaper is a well-known national newspaper).

Smith, John. “Steelers Win Super Bowl XLIII.” Star-Ledger [Newark], 2 Feb. 2009, pp. 4-6.

The date of the newspaper article should be written in the international format (i.e., day-month-year). Except for May, June, and July, abbreviate month names (using the first four letters for September and the first three letters for all other months), followed by a period. News publication dates vary and may be a complete date, a period spanning two months, a season, or just a month and year. Give whatever date information is available. Again, remember not to capitalize the seasons when using MLA.

Include the page numbers on which the article appears, followed by a period. Cite all inclusive page numbers—if the article spans pages that are not consecutive, cite only the first page, followed by a plus sign.

Smith, John. “Steelers Win Super Bowl XLIII.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , 2 Feb. 2009, pp. 16+.

If no page numbers are available, for instance, in an online publication, omit the page number(s) field.

Smith, John. “Steelers Win Super Bowl XLIII.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , 2 Feb. 2009.

Next, if necessary, cite the location details for the source container of the newspaper article (e.g., database name and URL, website name and DOI). Italicize the container name if it is a database or website title containing the smaller work, the newspaper article, and only if the website name doesn’t repeat the news publication name. Remember, MLA prefers not to duplicate information. For information found online, include a DOI or URL.

If the article was published online, you may choose to include the web address of the page, but MLA prefers you include that online location, in order of preference, by using the DOI, permalink, or URL. MLA recommends using the DOI when it’s available because they are more reliable locators than URLs. DOIs are also more concise. When wondering whether to include a URL in your works-cited list or bibliography, follow the guidelines of your instructor, school, or publisher.

According to MLA’s 9th edition updated in 2021, you may usually leave out http:// or https:// from URLs unless you want to hyperlink them or unless instructed otherwise. When in doubt, ask your instructor. If a DOI is available, use that instead of the URL. For DOIs, use http:// or https:// before the DOI: https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxx.xxxx.xxxx. Use a period after the DOI.

Smith, John. “Steelers Win Super Bowl XLIII.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , 2 Feb. 2009, www.pittsburghpostgazette.com/feb/2009/steelers-win-super-bowl-XLIII.

Smith, John. “Obama Inaugurated as President.” The New York Times , 21 Jan. 2009, https://doi.org/12.3456/012.2009.1112.

Smith, John. “Obama Inaugurated as President.” The Atlantic , 21 Jan. 2009, LexisNexis , www.lexisnexisdatabase.com/theatlantic/archives/obama-inaugurated-as-president.

If an edition of the newspaper is listed on the masthead, place a comma after the publication, and include the edition with the abbreviation “ed.” after the publication date.

Smith, John. “Steelers Win Super Bowl XLIII.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , 2 Feb. 2009, early ed., pp. 4-6.

If the newspaper paginates each section separately, indicate the section where the article was found. If the section consists of a single letter, add the section letter to the beginning of the page numbers. Otherwise, separate the section name from the page numbers by placing a comma after the date (or edition, if available), including the abbreviation “sec.” and the section name, followed by a comma and the page number(s).

Smith, John. “Steelers Win Super Bowl XLIII.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , 2 Feb. 2009, p. A7.

Smith, John. “Steelers Win Super Bowl XLIII.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , 2 Feb. 2009, Sports sec., pp. 4-6.

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As per Section 5.84 of the MLA Handbook , 9 th edition, if a periodical (newspaper, journal, or magazine) has different pagination throughout, then you may mention the section title along with the the page number in your location element.

Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Newspaper Name , Day Month Year, Section name, p. #.

Hoppkins, Mandy. “The Madness of Love.” The Monday Love Letter, 3 Jan 2022, Arts sec., pp. 3-4.

There are no major differences between the works-cited entry of a print newspaper and an online newspaper in MLA style. A print newspaper is represented more like a print journal article. This means page numbers are included. An online newspaper includes the URL in place of a page number.

Below are examples of a print newspaper and online newspaper in MLA style.

Author’s Surname, First Name. “Title of the Newspaper Article.” Name of the Newspaper , Date, pp. #–#.

Author’s Surname, First Name. “Title of the Newspaper Article.” Name of the Newspaper , Date, URL.

Atkinson, Brooks. “Abstract Drama; Beckett’s ‘Endgame’ is Staged with Ingenuity at Cherry Lane.” New York Times , 16 Feb. 1958, pp. 7–9.  

Bounds, A. “Levelling Up Bias in Favour of Tory Seats.” Financial Times , 31 Mar., 2021, www.ft.com/content/d485da2a-5778-45ae-9fa8-ca024bc8bbcf?fbclid=IwAR1Zng7heRN0RTxXckLgJ9x8kI0ItxVypb92rZ32IpRuq7sOSrb6qzFCLLU .

• The newspaper name is given in italics.
• Abbreviate the month in the date field (except May, June, and July).
• If URL is given, include it after the newspaper date.
• Do not include “https:” before the URL.

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MLA Citation Guide (MLA 9th Edition): Newspaper Articles

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What if an author is not listed?

Begin the newspaper article citation with the title of the article if the author's name is not listed. For the in-text citation, list the first word or first few words of the title (excluding a, an, the).

Newspaper Article in Print

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

Cook, Lorne. "EU Warns 3 Nations of Legal Action."  San Francisco Chronicle,  14 June 2017, p. A4+. 

Note:   If the article appears on non-consecutive pages (e.g., the article starts on page 4 then continues on page 12), write the first page number and a plus (+) sign. E.g., 4

Newspaper Article from a Website

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

Litz, Sarah. "All the Fires: What You Need to Know on Size, Containment."  Reno Gazette-Journal , 12 July 2017, www.rgj.com/story/news/2017/07/12/farad-fire-updates-size-containment-hills-burn-west-verdi/471293001/.

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

Newspaper Article from a Library Database

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article: Subtitle if Any." Name of Newspaper [city of newspaper if city name not in name], Date of Publication, p. Page number if given. Name of Database, Permalink URL. 

Russolillo, Steven. "Why the Housing Market is Getting Stronger: New-home Sales and Quarterly Results from Toll Brothers this Week Should Bolster the Housing Market's Solid Fundamentals."  Wall Street Journal , 22 May 2016.  ProQuest,  unr.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1790256212?accountid=452. 

 Note : If an article title ends with a question mark or exclamation mark, you do not need to add a period to the end of the title. 

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MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition): Newspaper Articles

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On This Page: Newspapers

Newspaper article from a library database, newspaper article from a library database - newspapers with volumes and issues, newspaper article from a website, newspaper article in print, citing two authors, citing three or more authors, abbreviating months.

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. 

How Can I Tell if it's a Newspaper?

Photo from Flickr, created by user NS Newsflash. Available under a Creative Commons license.

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.
• Articles are usually written by journalists who may or may not have subject expertise.
• 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's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article: Subtitle if Any." Name of Newspaper [city of newspaper if local paper with city name not in name], Date of Publication, p. Page Number if given. Name of Database.  

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

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article: Subtitle if Any." Name of Newspaper [City of newspaper if local paper with city name not in name of newspaper], vol. Volume Number, no. Issues Number, Date of Publication, p. Page Number if given. Name of Database.  

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article: Subtitle if Any." Title of Website,  Date of Publication, URL. Accessed Day Month Year site was visited .

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

If there are two authors, cite the the authors as follows (list authors in the order they are given on the page, not alphabetically):

Last Name, First Name of First Author, and First Name Last Name of Second Author.

Example: Smith, James, and Sarah Johnston.

If there are three or more authors, cite only the name of the first author listed with their Last Name, First Name Middle Name followed by a comma et al.

Example: Smith, James, et al.

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How to Cite a Newspaper Article in an Essay

Various styles of writing provide different guidelines for citing a newspaper that you reference or quote in your essay. Citing a print paper will require you to note which pages the article appears on, while depending on your style guide, a Web source will require the URL or access date.

American Psychological Association

To cite a newspaper article in APA, include both the name of the article and the publication in which it appears. Also list all pages on which the article is found after the publication name:

Jones, M. (2006, March 14). Doctors disappear in police SNAFU. The London Star , pp. A1, A3-A4.

Multiple authors are separated by commas and ampersands in APA:

Jones, M., & Noble, D. (2008, July 5). Britons unite! The London Star , p. A2.

If taken from an online version of a newspaper, the URL is used in place of the page numbers:

Pinchevsky, T. (2015, April 14). Who will rule the NHL now? The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/who-will-rule-the-nhl-now-1429030826?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth

Modern Language Association

In MLA style, article titles are placed in quotes. The date is included after the name of the publication, and the type of publication -- print or Web -- is placed after the date and page info:

Jones, Martha. "Doctors disappear in police SNAFU." The London Star 14 March 2006: A1, A3-A4. Print.

If a citation includes multiple authors, authors past the first are listed firstname lastname:

Jones, Martha, and Donna Noble. "Britons unite!" The London Star 5 July 2008: A2. Print.

A Web citation doesn't include URL, but must include the last date you accessed the article:

Pinchevsky, Tal. "Who will rule the NHL now?" The Wall Street Journal 14 April 2015. Web. 14 April 2015.

In-Text Citations

To cite an APA source in text, note the author or authors' names, and the year -- but not month or day -- of the article: (Jones, 2006) If you directly quote a source, include the page number in the citation as well: (Jones & Noble, 2008, p. A2).

In MLA, in-text citations include the author name and page number, but no date: (Jones A3). Multiple authors are separated by "and" rather than an ampersand: (Jones and Noble A2).

Need help with a citation? Try our citation generator .

• APA Style: How Do You Cite a Newspaper Article?
• Purdue University Online Writing Lab: Reference List -- Author/Authors
• Purdue University Online Writing Lab: MLA Works Cited -- Periodicals
• Dixie State University Library: How to Cite Print Newspapers

Jon Zamboni began writing professionally in 2010. He has previously written for The Spiritual Herald, an urban health care and religious issues newspaper based in New York City, and online music magazine eBurban. Zamboni has a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies from Wesleyan University.

How to Cite a Newspaper Article in APA 7 With Examples

11 December 2023

last updated

Newspaper articles are excellent sources of information for students of academic texts. Historically, newspapers have provided a platform for writers to use information about pertinent issues, such as public policy, health care, and education. As such, students and researchers use reliable articles to find information that strengthens or validates their arguments, claims, opinions, or observations about a specific issue. When citing a newspaper article in the APA 7th edition, a writer needs to cover specific details. In turn, these elements include the author(s), dates of publication, titles of articles, newspaper name, and the URL. Hence, students need to learn how to cite a newspaper article in APA 7 to use evidence correctly.

General Aspects of Citing a Newspaper Article in APA 7

In academic writing , students and researchers use different kinds of sources to find evidence that backs up their arguments, claims, opinions, and observations. Basically, one of these sources is a newspaper article. Historically, such articles have played a significant role as a purveyor of news, which is new information concerning unfolding events. Also, this form of information can be a source of great insight for academic writers. Therefore, such a source is a text that provides new information on a topic. Then, the major difference between such an article and a regular article, such as a journal article , is that the newspaper’s content is not necessarily research-based. In other words, newspaper articles are not as credible as scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles. Although they can provide information about recent research, such information must be thoroughly investigated for credibility.

Citing Elements of a Newspaper Article in APA 7

Every time when students or researchers use a newspaper article as a source in their writing, they must cite it as per the rules of the applicable paper format. Concerning APA 7th edition, citations of newspaper articles should capture specific features. Hence, these elements include:

• Author’s name . It begins with the last name followed by initials of the first and middle names. In the case of several authors, writers should use the same format and use an ampersand “&” before the name of the last author.
• Date of publication . It appears as (Year, Month Date). Also, students should not abbreviate the month.
• Title of a newspaper article . This element must be in a sentence case. Only the first letter of the first word of the title and subtitle (if one exists) should be capitalized.
• Name of a newspaper for print and online versions. It must be in italics and follow a title case. Basically, each word’s first letter should be capitalized. In turn, the last feature should be page numbers for print versions. However, for an online newspaper article, URL links replace page numbers.

Reference and In-text Citation Schemes

In the APA 7 format, the only applicable citations are the reference list and in-text citations. Footnote citations are used in the APA 7 format too.

For a print newspaper, a reference scheme is:

• Last Name, First Name. (Year, Month Date). Title of the article. Newspaper’s Name . Page number(s).

For an online newspaper, a reference citation’s scheme is:

• Last Name, First Name. (Year, Month Date). Title of the article. Newspaper’s Name . URL link.

In-text citation format is:

• (Last name, year).

Examples of Citing Newspaper Articles in APA 7

Example of a reference citation for a print newspaper:.

• Healy, P. & Martis, J. (2016, November 9). Trump triumphs: Outsider mogul captures the presidency, stunning Clinton in battleground states. The New York Times , p. 1A.

In-text citation: (Healy & Marties, 2016, p. [number]).

Reference citation sample for an online newspaper:

• Noor, P. (2020, July 14). The Trump supporters who changed their minds: ‘I would rather vote for a tuna fish sandwich.’ The Guardian . https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/14/trump-republican-voters-who-changed-their-mind

In-text citation: (Noor, 2020, para. [number]).

An illustration of a cited print article published by The New York Times is:

An illustration of a cited online article published by The Guardian is:

Students can use newspaper articles to back up their claims and arguments when writing academic texts like essays, while they need to cite them by following the rules of APA 7. In turn, some tips for citing a newspaper article in APA 7 are:

• indicate the name of the author(s);
• identify the date of publication – the year, month, and date;
• include the title of the article;
• present newspaper name in italics;
• for print newspapers, add page numbers;
• for online newspapers, provide URL links.

To Learn More, Read Relevant Articles

How to cite a podcast in mla 9 with examples and illustrations, essay rubric: basic guidelines and sample template.

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Periodicals

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Periodicals include print journals, electronic journals, magazines, and newspapers. Citations for these sources should include enough information for the reader to find them   in a library or a database, and as such, publication dates are essential. Magazines and newspapers are typically serialized by day, month, and year; journals include volume, year, month, or season and issue number.

One of the major differences between notes and bibliographic entries for periodicals is the way in which major elements are separated. In notes, the major elements are separated by commas. In the bibliography, the major elements are separated by periods.

Notes and bibliographic entries for a journal include the following: full name of the author(s), article title, journal title, and issue information. Issue information refers to volume, issue number, month, year, and page number(s). For online works, retrieval information and the date of access are also included. Author Name:

Notes include the author’s name as listed in the article. Bibliographic entries, however, invert the author’s name (last name, first name). Article Title: Both notes and bibliographies use quotation marks to set off the titles of articles within the journal. Journal Title: Journal titles may omit an initial “The” but should otherwise be given in full, capitalized (headline-style), and italicized. Issue Information: The volume number follows the journal title with no punctuation and is not italicized. The issue number (if it is given) is separated from the volume number with a comma and is preceded by “no.” The year appears in parentheses after the volume number (or issue number if given). The year may be preceded by a specific date, month, or season if given. Page information follows the year. For notes, page number(s) refer only to the cited material; the bibliography includes the first and last pages of the article.

Electronic Journals

Citing electronic journals generally follows the same format for printed periodicals, which is explained in the Journals section. Additionally, entries include the DOI or URL (DOIs are preferred). The date accessed is not required by CMOS for citations of formally published electronic sources. If an access date is required for other reasons (i.e. by discipline, publisher, or instructor), the access date should be included immediately prior to the DOI or URL. If included, access dates should be separated by commas in notes or periods in bibliographical entries.

Even if weekly or monthly magazines are numbered by volume or issue, they are cited by date only. When following the CMOS Note and Bibliography style, the year is presented as shown in the examples below. When following the CMOS Author-Date style, the date is essential to the citation and it is not enclosed in parentheses.

Page Numbers: Citations for journal articles may include a specific page number. Inclusive page numbers for the entire article are often omitted in bibliographical entries, however, because the pages of the article are often separated by many pages of unrelated material. If page numbers are included, they should follow the date and be preceded by a colon.

Notes and bibliographic entries for magazines include the following information: author’s name, article title (enclosed by quotation marks), magazine title (italicized), and date. Page numbers are included in notes but are omitted in bibliographic entries. Regular departments (or regularly occurring subsections) in a magazine are capitalized but not put in quotation marks. For example, National Geographic is the magazine that regularly includes a department called Foods of the Region.  

Online Magazines

Notes and bibliographic entries for online magazines should follow the relevant examples for printed magazines. Additionally, online magazine entries should contain the URL at the end of the citation. If no stable URL exists, the name of the database can be substituted. Note:  In the examples below, Green Room is not placed in quotation marks because it is the department title rather than the article title. Access Date:

Access dates are not required by CMOS in citations of formally published electronic sources. If an access date is required for other reasons (i.e. by discipline, publisher, or instructor), the access date should be included immediately prior to the URL. In notes, access dates are surrounded by commas and in bibliographic entries they are surrounded by periods.

Notes and bibliographic entries for newspapers should include the following: name of the author (if listed), headline or column heading, newspaper name, month (often abbreviated), day, and year. Since issues may include several editions, page numbers are usually omitted. If an online edition of a newspaper is consulted, the URL should be added at the end of the citation. Time stamps may be appropriate to include when stories for unfolding events are modified. Names of Newspapers: If the name of a newspaper begins with “The,” this word is omitted. For American newspapers that are not well-known, a city name should be added along with the newspaper title (see below). Additionally, a state abbreviation may be added in parentheses after the city name. News Services: News services, such as the Associated Press or the United Press International, are capitalized but not italicized and often appear in the author position of the citation. Headlines: Headlines may be capitalized using “headline style,” in which all major words are capitalized. Although many major newspapers prefer sentence style, the CMOS recommends headline style for consistency among various types of cited sources. Headlines presented entirely in full capital letters in the original are usually converted to headline-style upper and lower case in the citation. Regular Columns: If a regular column is cited, the column name may be included with the article title.

Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and Readers’ Comments: Published editorials and letters to the editor should be treated generically, usually without headlines. Instead of a title, use “letter to the editor” [14.196]. Citing in Text: Newspapers are more often cited in notes or parenthetical references than in bibliographies. If newspaper sources are carefully documented in the text, they need not be cited in the bibliography.

How To Cite A Newspaper Article In An Essay

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• Author Sandra W.

Some newspaper articles are available electronically, some in print and others are accessible in both formats. As with journal articles you should only include the URL for a newspaper article if it is only available online and in print.

Citing A Print Newspaper

MLA Newspaper Article Citation

• Examples are not double-spaced, but your Works Cited list should be double spaced
• Examples do not show indented lines after the first line, but yours should be indented

Author's Last Name, First Name Middle Name, or Initial. "Title of Article.” Name of Newspaper [if local use city], edition, date of publication, pages. 

Brozan, Nadine. "Where Home is a Real Sanctuary.” New York Times, 16 June 2002, pp. D11+.

"Cold Weather Chills Home Building in Many States.” Wall Street Journal, eastern ed.,14 Feb. 2002, p. B17.

"Home Building was Off in April.” New York Times, 17 Apr. 2002, p. C14.

Citing Newspapers from a Database

MLA Newspaper Article Citation

• Examples do not show indented lines after the first line, but yours should be indented.

Author's Last Name, First Name Middle Name, or Initial. "Title of Article.” Name of Newspaper [if local use city], date of publication, pages. Name of database, URL, or doi number.

Dockery, Paula. "Fracking could become a Disaster Here in Florida.” South Florida Sun-Sentinel [Fort Lauderdale], 16 June 2002, pp. D11+. ProQuest Newsstand, search.proquest.com/docview/1766901883?accountid=27045.

Citing Online Newspapers

• Examples are not double-spaced, but your Works Cited list should be double-spaced

Author's Last Name, First Name, Middle Name, or Initial. "Title of Article.” Name of Newspaper, date of online publication, URL.

Shukamn, David. "What is Fracking and Why is it Controversial?” BBC News, 16 Dec. 2015, www.bbc.com/news/uk-14432401 .

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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / MLA Format / How to Cite an Essay in MLA

How to Cite an Essay in MLA

The guidelines for citing an essay in MLA format are similar to those for citing a chapter in a book. Include the author of the essay, the title of the essay, the name of the collection if the essay belongs to one, the editor of the collection or other contributors, the publication information, and the page number(s).

Citing an Essay

Mla essay citation structure.

Last, First M. “Essay Title.” Collection Title, edited by First M. Last, Publisher, year published, page numbers. Website Title , URL (if applicable).

MLA Essay Citation Example

Gupta, Sanjay. “Balancing and Checking.” Essays on Modern Democracy, edited by Bob Towsky, Brook Stone Publishers, 1996, pp. 36-48. Essay Database, www . databaseforessays.org/modern/modern-democracy.

MLA Essay In-text Citation Structure

(Last Name Page #)

MLA Essay In-text Citation Example

Click here to cite an essay via an EasyBib citation form.

MLA Formatting Guide

MLA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Sample Paper
• Works Cited
• MLA 8 Updates
• MLA 9 Updates
• View MLA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all MLA Examples

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To cite your sources in an essay in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the author’s name(s), chapter title, book title, editor(s), publication year, publisher, and page numbers. The templates for in-text citations and a works-cited-list entry for essay sources and some examples are given below:

In-text citation template and example:

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the author on the first occurrence. For subsequent citations, use only the surname(s). In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the author(s).

Citation in prose:

First mention: Annette Wheeler Cafarelli

Subsequent occurrences: Wheeler Cafarelli

Parenthetical:

….(Wheeler Cafarelli).

Works-cited-list entry template and example:

The title of the chapter is enclosed in double quotation marks and uses title case. The book or collection title is given in italics and uses title case.

Surname, First Name. “Title of the Chapter.” Title of the Book , edited by Editor(s) Name, Publisher, Publication Year, page range.

Cafarelli, Annette Wheeler. “Rousseau and British Romanticism: Women and British Romanticism.” Cultural Interactions in the Romantic Age: Critical Essays in Comparative Literature , edited by Gregory Maertz. State U of New York P, 1998, pp. 125–56.

To cite an essay in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the author(s), the essay title, the book title, editor(s), publication year, publisher, and page numbers. The templates for citations in prose, parenthetical citations, and works-cited-list entries for an essay by multiple authors, and some examples, are given below:

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the author (e.g., Mary Strine).

For sources with two authors, use both full author names in prose (e.g., Mary Strine and Beth Radick).

For sources with three or more authors, use the first name and surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues” (e.g., Mary Strine and others). In subsequent citations, use only the surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues” (e.g., Strine and others).

In parenthetical citations, use only the author’s surname. For sources with two authors, use two surnames (e.g., Strine and Radick). For sources with three or more author names, use the first author’s surname followed by “et al.”

First mention: Mary Strine…

Subsequent mention: Strine…

First mention: Mary Strine and Beth Radick…

Subsequent mention: Strine and Radick…

First mention: Mary Strine and colleagues …. or Mary Strine and others

Subsequent occurrences: Strine and colleagues …. or Strine and others

…. (Strine).

….(Strine and Radick).

….(Strine et al.).

The title of the essay is enclosed in double quotation marks and uses title case. The book or collection title is given in italics and uses title case.

Surname, First Name, et al. “Title of the Essay.” Title of the Book , edited by Editor(s) Name, Publisher, Publication Year, page range.

Strine, Mary M., et al. “Research in Interpretation and Performance Studies: Trends, Issues, Priorities.” Speech Communication: Essays to Commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Speech Communication Association , edited by Gerald M. Phillips and Julia T. Wood, Southern Illinois UP, 1990, pp. 181–204.

MLA Citation Examples

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