Chicago Citation Guide (18th Edition): Newspaper Articles

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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.

Author

It can sometimes be difficult to find out who the author of a newspaper article is. Author information is often listed below the title of the article, as well as in the "Authors" field of the library or database record for the article. Remember that an author can also a corporation or group, not only a specific person. 

If your newspaper article has multiple authors, refer to the Citing Sources with Multiple Authors table to determine how to format their names.

If there is no known author:

• Begin your footnote with the title of the article.
• Begin your bibliography entry with the title of the magazine, followed by the title of the article.

Title

In your citation, use title case for the title of the newspaper article. This means that you will capitalize the first letter of every major word in the title. You do not need to capitalize words such as: in, of, or an. Do not use all-caps (except for words like USA where each letter stands for something), even if the words appear that way on the article.

If there is a colon (:) in the title, include what comes after the colon (also known as the subtitle).

If the title is composed of two or more sentences divided by a period, change the period to a colon in your citation, to create one long sentence. Include the full sentence in the title field of your citation, unless the addition of the colon creates grammatical or formatting problems. If that is the case, include only the first part of the title in your citation.

Date

Include the month, day, and year of publication in your citation (ex. January 22, 2025). This information is often listed on the newspaper article itself, or in the "Source" field of the library or database record for the article. 

 Note: List up to six authors in the bibliography. If there are more than six authors, list only the first three in the bibliography, followed by et al. ("and others").

Bibliography Entry:

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Name of Newspaper (City and Province/State of Publication, if not Included in Name), Date of Publication. https://doi.org/DOI Number or Name of Database.

Footnote:

Footnote Number. Author's First Name Last Name, "Title of Article," Name of Newspaper (City and Province/State of Publication, if not Included in Name), Date of Publication, https://doi.org/DOI Number or Name of Database.

 If no author name is provided, begin the bibliography entry with the name of the newspaper, and begin the footnote with the title of the article.

 If the title is composed of two or more sentences divided by a period, change the period to a colon in your citation, to create one long sentence. Include this full sentence in your citation, unless the addition of the colon creates grammatical or formatting problems. If that is the case, include only the first part of the title in your citation.

 Omit page numbers.

Bibliography Entry:

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Name of Newspaper (City and Province/State of Publication, if not Included in Name), Date of Publication. URL.

Footnote:

Footnote Number. Author's First Name Last Name, "Title of Article," Name of Newspaper (City and Province/State of Publication, if not Included in Name), Date of Publication, URL.              

 If no author name is provided, begin the bibliography entry with the name of the newspaper, and the footnote with the title of the article.

 If the title is composed of two or more sentences divided by a period, change the period to a colon in your citation, to create one long sentence. Include this full sentence in your citation, unless the addition of the colon creates grammatical or formatting problems. If that is the case, include only the first part of the title in your citation.

 Omit page numbers.

Bibliography Entry:

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Name of Newspaper (City and Province/State of Publication, if not Included in Name), Date of Publication.

Footnote:

Footnote Number. Author's First Name Last Name, "Title of Article," Name of Newspaper (City and Province/State of Publication, if not Included in Name), Date of Publication.

 If no author name is provided, begin the bibliography entry with the name of the newspaper, and the footnote with the title of the article.

 If the title is composed of two or more sentences divided by a period, change the period to a colon in your citation, to create one long sentence. Include this full sentence in your citation, unless the addition of the colon creates grammatical or formatting problems. If that is the case, include only the first part of the title in your citation.

 Omit page numbers.