On this page
Updated . Example details checked against The New York Times, November 8, 2003 (the MLA Handbook newspaper example); The New Yorker, December 21 and 28, 2015 issue, pp. 42-50 (the MLA Handbook magazine example).
The MLA format
Pattern
Last name, First name. “Headline of Article.” Name of Newspaper, Day Month Year, p. # or URL.
- Publication in italics.
- Date as day, abbreviated month, year. Magazines published monthly give the month and year only.
- Pages: “p.” or “pp.” For a newspaper section page, keep the letter: p. A1. Articles that skip pages take the first page and a plus sign: pp. 42+.
- Online: add the URL after the date, without https://.
A real example
Works Cited entry
Lewin, Tamar. “Disability Requests Reflect Changes in SAT Procedure.” The New York Times, 8 Nov. 2003.
In-text citation
(Lewin)
A magazine article, same pattern
Works Cited entry
Kolbert, Elizabeth. “The Siege of Miami.” The New Yorker, 21 Dec. 2015, pp. 42-50.
In-text citation
(Kolbert 44)
When details are missing
- No writer named (an editorial or unsigned story): start with the headline. An editorial can add “Editorial” at the end.
- Online, no pages: leave pages out of the entry and the citation: (Lewin).
- Read in a database such as ProQuest: add the database in italics and its link after the date.
Common mistakes
- The headline in italics. Headlines go in quotation marks; the newspaper or magazine is italic.
- A volume and issue for a newspaper. MLA leaves them out for newspapers and most magazines; the date identifies the issue.
- A page number for a web article. Online articles have no pages, so the citation is the name alone.
Or let Format do it.
Paste the article’s link and Format reads the headline, writer, paper and date from the page; it uses the Newspaper or Magazine article kind. Format writes the Works Cited entry and the in-text citation in MLA 9, exactly as shown above, and builds the Works Cited page when you export to Word or PDF. MLA and APA are free.
Questions
Do I include the city for a local newspaper?
If the city is not in the name, add it in square brackets: Star Tribune [Minneapolis].
Print or online: which do I cite?
The version you read. They can differ in headline and date.
More citation guides
The same source in other styles
Similar sources in MLA
Every source kind is on the MLA page, and every style is on How to cite.