What Is an MLA Newspaper Citation?

MLA newspaper citation rules may be necessary for academic paper writers at some stage of their studying. You may get an assignment that requires using periodicals for reference regardless of your discipline. And MLA style will help you format your paper appropriately. We prepared this guide to share with our readers the essentials of citing newspapers in MLA format. Read on and learn to make your writing credible.

The first thing you should find out is what is an MLA newspaper citation. MLA stands for Modern Language Association. Scholars and students organize their papers and document sources using the latest MLA format edition. Now it’s the 9th citation format edition that was released in April 2021. You can place citations in the body of your paper or mention the source in a works-cited list at the end of your work.

It’s hard to create a high-quality paper without referring to examples and backing up your ideas with credible sources. Citing courses in MLA style, you give credit to the original author. Citing or quoting newspaper articles using the MLA style gives readers an understanding of what sources you used. They will trust your writing and explore additional information if needed referring back to your citations.

You cite a newspaper if the article provides readers with a brief account of current events. It can be published daily or weekly for the general public or people with background knowledge in a specific field. In order to cite a newspaper in MLA format, consider the basic citing elements, including the last and first name of the author(s), title, edition, title of the periodical, day, month, year, pages, and publisher. Abbreviated months in your works cited list 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 them out in the body of your paper. If the newspaper is local, you should include the city name in brackets after the title of the newspaper.

A full works-cited list contains all these components. However, there are cases when some details are unknown. You should reference the newspaper properly despite any missing points. The name of the other is essential, but if you cannot find any, there are other crucial elements to mention. You can begin the newspaper article citation with the title of the article if the author’s name is not indicated. It will help you prove to readers that you don’t make this information up. A citation generator will cite newspapers correctly even if you cannot specify some pieces of information.

There are two ways to make in-text citations: paraphrasing or direct quoting. The direct quote is placed in quotation marks, and then the name and page are specified in brackets. If you make an in-text citation, you should know the name of the author and page numbers. If the name is unknown, add the first few words of the title. If the article is one page long, don’t include a page number after the last name of the author. This template will help you MLA cite news article properly and provide your readers with references to the articles you use in your work.

Here we will consider examples of MLA citations for newspaper quotations and works-cited lists. Firstly, let’s take a look at an MLA citation for newspaper example: Hageman, John. “Wildlife’s winners and losers of 2021 – and how extreme weather sets the tone.” New York Times, 5 Dec. 2019, p. 12. As you see, we place within quotations the full article title. The name of the newspaper is in italics. If the article appears in print, we include the page numbers with a period at the end of the citation.

The next example to consider is an in-text citation. If you have a direct quote, you should put it in quotation marks and indicate the author’s last name and the page number. “At Wallington in Northumberland, where gusts reached 98mph, more than half of the 250-year-old oak and beech trees were uprooted.” (Rowlatt, 11).

There are different MLA newspaper citation types depending on the medium. You can cite online and printed sources. The structure doesn’t change considerably, but there are still minor variations. Knowing these MLA citation aspects will help you make writing professional.

Newspaper Article From a Library Database

If you reference the newspaper from a library database, pay attention to every detail. You should first specify the author’s last name, first name, the title of the article, newspaper, city, volume number, issues number, date, page number, name of the database, and permalink URL. For example, Russolillo, Steven. “Companies Fail the Test; Junk Food Marketing Aimed at Kids Faulted.” Wall Street Journal, vol. 12, no. 22, 10 Mar. 2016, p. 22. Canadian Newsstand.

Newspaper Article From a Website

Citing newspaper articles from a website is not complicated. All you need to indicate after the author’s name, title, publication, and date is the URL. Page numbers are not specified, as there are any. You know that if there’s no author, start with the title. The example of a newspaper article from a site is as follows: “Davos day 2: Germany’s Scholz not drawn on Ukraine tank decision; Zelenskiy urges faster action – as it happened.” The Guardian, 19 Jan 2023, URL.

Newspaper Article in Print

Printed newspaper article citation looks as follows: author’s last name, first name, the title of the article, name of newspaper, date of publication, and the page number. For example, Cook, Bill. “We’ve always been very divisive: Måneskin on fighting fascists and breakfast with Chris Martin.” Toronto Star, 14 Aug. 2022, p. B4.

When you cite a newspaper article, there may be one, two, several, or any author. The simplest way is when there’s no author, as you skip the author’s name and start with the title of the article. If there are two authors, cite the authors’ last and first names in the order they are given on the page, not alphabetically. For example, Sarah, Smith, and James Johnson. If there are three or more authors, you need to cite only the name of the first author followed by et al. For example, Smith, James, et al.

An online citation machine is a perfect solution for students focusing more on paper content rather than format. There are also situations when writers need to deal with different formats simultaneously, and it’s challenging to keep in mind all the formatting rules. With an online citation generator, you will save time and effort. A citation generator will format the paper people citing newspapers correctly in seconds.

These tools are quite easy to use: just insert all the required details, and the machine will craft a citation automatically. Even if some information is missing, the in-text citation or the works-cited list will be created according to the latest formatting recommendations. Do not hesitate to try a citation generator, as both experienced and beginner writers facilitate the formatting process with automatic citation programs.

Now you know all essentials about MLA citation style. You can properly format in-text citations as well as works-cited lists. But if for some reason, you don’t have time for crafting a bibliography correctly, our MLA citation generator will do it for you. We wish you good luck formatting your papers and are always ready to help at any time you need.