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MLA Citation Guide (8th Edition): Newspaper Articles

How Can I Tell if it's a Newspaper?

Newspaper sections spread out on a table, Image from flickr, user NS Newsflash

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.

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. 

Formatting

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.

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 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.

Works Cited Example

Schmidt, Sarah. "Companies Fail the Test; Junk Food Marketing Aimed at Kids Faulted." The Gazette [Montreal], 10 Mar. 2010, p. A.11. Canadian Newsstand. 

 Note: If an article ends with a question mark or exclamation mark (!), you do not need to add a period to mark the end of the title.
In-Text Citation Example

(Author's Last Name Page Number)

(Schmidt A11)

 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., ("Companies").

Newspaper Article From a Library Database- Newspapers with Volumes and Issues

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. 

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

Works Cited Example

Crawford, Maxine. "Research in a Celtic Nation." Psynopsis: Canada's Psychology Newspaper, vol. 39, no. 3, Summer 2017, p. 32. Canadian Points of View Reference Centre. 

 Note: You do not need to add the city of publication to the name of a nationally published newspaper.
In-Text Citation Example

(Author's Last Name Page Number)

(Crawford)

 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. ("Companies").

Newspaper Article From a Website

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.

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

Works Cited List Example

Morrison, Malcolm. "TSX Recovers on Greece News." Toronto Star, 23 June 2011, www.thestar.com/business/economy/2011/06/23/tsx_recovers_on_greece_news.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)

(Morrison)

 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, e.g., ("TSX Recovers").

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. 

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

Works Cited List Example

Smith, Bill. "Talks on Bosnia Bog Down Over Borders." Toronto Star, 18 Aug. 2012, p. B6. 
In-Text Citation Example

(Author's Last Name Page Number)

(Smith B6)

 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").

Citing Two Authors

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.