APA Referencing – Citing a Newspaper Article

If you’ve been at college for a while, you might already be pretty good when it comes to citing sources. Maybe you know all about referencing books and academic journals. But have you given much thought to newspaper articles?

OK, you’re not likely to cite a National Enquirer article called “BILL CLINTON CONFESSION: I HUNTED ALIENS” in a serious paper about astrobiology.

But discussing politics, culture or social trends can require referring to current events, which usually means citing a newspaper. In today’s blog post, we explain exactly how to do this using APA referencing (7th edition).

In-Text Citations

APA conventions for citing a newspaper article are similar to those used for other sources, with the author’s name and year of publication given in parentheses. If directly quoting an article from a print edition of a newspaper (they’re still a thing, you know), you should give page numbers, too:

The Guardian reported the plan to secede “with or without the approval of Madrid” (Jones, 2016, p. 12).

If the author is named in the text, simply give the year of publication immediately afterwards and any relevant page numbers after the quoted text:

According to Sam Jones (2016), Catalonia is “is preparing to defy Spain’s constitutional court” (p. 11).

If no author is named for an article, APA suggests including a shortened version of the article title in citations instead:

Anne Bancroft was reported to sometimes burp in public (“I’m A Slob,” 1964).

Yes, that last one was a genuine story. Although only insofar as anything in the National Enquirer can ever really be called “a genuine story.” It seems more plausible than the alien thing, at least.

Reference List: Print Articles

When an article is cited from a print edition of a newspaper the information to include in your reference list is:

Author name and initial(s). (Year, month and day published). Article title. Newspaper, page numbers.

For the Guardian article cited above, this would appear as follows:

Jones, S. (2016, July 27). Catalonia tells Spain it will push for secession with or without assent. The Guardian, pp. 11-13.

If the article does not name an author, use the full title of the article in its place:

I’m a slob: I burp and slurp in public. (1964, December 20). National Enquirer, pp. 1-3.

We promise that’s the last time we’ll mention the National Enquirer.

Reference List: Online Articles

The only difference when referencing the online version of a newspaper article is that you need to give the URL rather than page numbers:

Author name(s) and initial(s). (Year, month and day published). Article title. Newspaper. URL

The online version of the Guardian article above would therefore appear as:

Jones, S. (2016, July 27). Catalonia tells Spain it will push for secession with or without assent. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/27/catalonia-independence-spain-democratic-mandate