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APA Citation Guide (7th edition) : Newspaper Articles

This guide shows you how to cite using APA 7th edition

How Do I Know 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.

Tips

Author

If an item has no author, start the citation with the article title.

If, and only if, the article is signed "Anonymous", put the word Anonymous where you would normally place the author's name.

Titles

Italicize titles of journals, magazines and newspapers. Do not italicize the titles of articles.

Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the article title. If there is a colon in the article title, also capitalize the first letter of the first word after the colon.

Dates

If an item has no date, use the short form n.d. where you would normally put the date.

Retrieval Dates

Most articles will not need these in the citation. Only use them for online articles from places where content may change often, like a free website or a wiki.

Page Numbers

If an article has no page numbers provided, leave that part of the citation out in the References List.

If an article doesn't appear on continuous pages, list all the page numbers the article is on, separated by commas. For example (4, 6, 12-14).

Formatting

Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

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 Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Newspaper, p. SectionPage if given.

Example

Cuthand, D. (2024, June 21). Time to learn more about Indigenous history: First people have survived and our future is bright, Doug Cuthand says. The Ottawa Citizen, A.7.

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 Paraphrase

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Cuthand, 2024)
In-Text Quote

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

(Cuthand, 2024, p. A.7)

Newspaper Article From a Website

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Newspaper. URL

Example

Ip, S. (2024, June 18). WorkSafeBC completes crane safety review, releases recommendations. The Vancouver Sun (Online). https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/worksafebc-completes-crane-safety-review-releases-recommendations
In-Text Paraphrase

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Ip, 2024)
In-Text Quote

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

Example: (Ip, 2024, para. 2)

Note: This entry has no page numbers, so a paragraph number is used instead.

Webpage From a News Website

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of News  Website. URL

Note:

Use this format for articles published in online news sources such as BBC News, HuffPost, CNN, Salon etc. 

Example

Sahota, R. (2024, June 19). Sudbury doesn't have an accessibility advisory committee. Here's why some residents hope to change that: Residents asking the city to replace Accessibility Advisory Panel with a committee. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/accessibility-committee-1.7239681
In-Text Paraphrase

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Sahota, 2024)
In-Text Quote

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

Example: (Sahota, 2024, para. 8)

Note: This entry has no page numbers, so a paragraph number is used instead.

 

Newspaper Article In Print

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Newspaper, SectionPage.

Example

Ko, E., & Glazier, E. (2024, June 19). Neuroendocrine cancer often slow-moving, lacks symptoms. Telegraph-Journal, B.4.
In-Text Paraphrase

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Ko & Glazier, 2024)
In-Text Quote

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

Example: (Ko & Glazier, 2024, p. B.4)

Newspaper Article with an Unknown Author

Title of article: Subtitle if any. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Name of Newspaper, p. SectionPage.

Note: If instead of having no author, the article is signed as being written by "Anonymous", put the name "Anonymous" where you'd normally put the author's name. Only use the word Anonymous if the article is specifically credited that way.

Example

Ticketmaster reports breach. (2024, July 10). Calgary Herald, NP.7.
In-Text Paraphrase

("One two or three words from the title", Year)

Example: ("Ticketmaster," 2024)

Note: Choose one or more of the first words from the title, enough to clearly identify the article in the Reference list. Use double quotation marks around the words from the title of an article in the in-text citation.
In-Text Quote

("One two or three words from the title", Year, p. Page Number)

Example: ("Ticketmaster," 2024, p. NP.7)

Note: Choose one or more of the first words from the title, enough to clearly identify the article in the Reference list. Use double quotation marks around the words from the title of an article in the in-text citation.