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

Discover the ins and outs of MLA citation

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

Format

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

Example

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

Format

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

Example

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

Format

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. 

Example

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.