How to Cite a Newspaper Article in AMA Referencing

If you are writing about medical research, it is likely that you’ll need to be familiar with the AMA referencing system. Here, we’ll look at how to cite a newspaper article in AMA referencing, including both print and online articles.

How to Cite a Newspaper Article in AMA Referencing

AMA is a Vancouver-style number–endnote system. This means that we cite sources with superscript numbers in the text, which correspond to a numbered reference list at the end of the document. For example:

The past decade has seen a dramatic rise in levels of tooth decay.¹

Make sure to number sources in the order you first cite them in your work. So, for example, the citation above would be for the first source in the reference list, and the next source would be cited with a superscript “2.” If you cite a source more than once, simply use the same number as on the first citation.

If you quote from a newspaper article, add a page number in brackets after the citation number. For example, if we quoted from page 24 of a source, our citation would need to include “p.24” in brackets after the superscript “2”:

Colorful toothbrushes can “encourage children to brush regularly.” ^2(p24)

AMA Reference List: Print Newspaper Articles

In an AMA reference list, the standard format for a print newspaper article is:

n. Author Name(s) and Initial(s). Article Title. Newspaper Name. Date of newspaper, section (if applicable), page number(s).

In practice, then, we would list a print newspaper article like this:

1. Davis L. Dental Health Worsens Across UK. The Times. October 5, 2012, 8-9.

AMA Reference List: Online Newspaper Articles

For an online newspaper article, the citation format is similar to the one set out above. The only difference is that you’ll need to give the date on which you accessed the article and the URL in place of section/page numbers:

n. Author Name(s) and Initial(s). Article Title. Newspaper Name. Date of publication. Accessed date. URL

We would therefore list an online newspaper article as follows

2. Gonzalez J. How Can We Improve Children’s Dental Health? Medical News Today. December 13, 2016. Accessed March 4, 2020. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/improving-childrens-dental-health

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