How to cite a newspaper article in APA Style

Published on November 5, 2020 by Jack Caulfield. Revised on December 21, 2020.

This article reflects theAPA 7th edition guidelines. Click here for APA 6th edition guidelines.

An APA Style newspaper citation includes the author, the publication date, the headline of the article, and the name of the newspaper in italics.

Print newspaper citations include a page number or range; online newspaper citations include a URL.

Citing newspaper articles in print

Printed newspapers are sometimes divided into sections, which are identified by a letter before the page number (e.g. A1, B4). Always include the letters when page numbers are formatted in this way.

Newspaper articles may also appear on discontinuous pages (for example, an article which begins on the front page but continues on page 20). Make sure to only cite the relevant pages, separating different pages and page ranges with commas.

Format Last name, Initials. (Year, Month Day). Article title. Newspaper Name , pages.
Reference entry Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). Obesity affects economic, social status. The Washington Post, A1, A4.
In-text citation (Schwartz, 1993)

Note that the same format can be used for a newspaper in PDF form, provided page numbers are visible in the PDF.

Citing online newspaper articles

If you accessed the article on the newspaper's website, include a URL instead of page numbers.

Format Last name, Initials. (Year, Month Day). Article title. Newspaper Name . URL
Reference entry Schwartz, F., & McBride, C. (2019, November 18). Trump administration says Israeli settlements aren't illegal. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-to-say-israeli-settlements-arent-illegal-11574104691
In-text citation (Schwartz & McBride, 2019)

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Online-only news sites

Don't use the newspaper citation format for articles on news sites, such as Reuters and BBC News, that are not linked to a print newspaper.

Instead, use the format of a website citation. The article title is italicized, and the name of the site is written in plain text.

Format Last name, Initials. (Year, Month Day). Article title . Site Name. URL
Reference entry Ahmad, J., & Shalizi, H. (2019, November 19). Taliban frees two Western prisoners, U.S. sees hope for wider Afghan peace. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-taliban/u-s-australian-hostages-freed-by-afghan-taliban-in-swap-idUSKBN1XT0GF
In-text citation (Ahmad & Shalizi, 2019)

Frequently asked questions about APA newspaper citations

When no individual author name is listed, but the source can clearly be attributed to a specific organization—e.g. a press release by a charity, a report by an agency, or a page from a company's website—use the organization's name as the author in the reference entry and in-text citations.

When no author at all can be determined—e.g. a collaboratively edited wiki or an online article published anonymously—use the title in place of the author. In the in-text citation, put the title in quotation marks if it appears in plain text in the reference list, and in italics if it appears in italics in the reference list. Shorten it if necessary.

How do I cite a source with no page numbers in APA Style?

When you quote or paraphrase a specific passage from a source, you need to indicate the location of the passage in your in-text citation. If there are no page numbers (e.g. when citing a website) but the text is long, you can instead use section headings, paragraph numbers, or a combination of the two:

(Caulfield, 2019, Linking section, para. 1).

Section headings can be shortened if necessary. Kindle location numbers should not be used in ebook citations, as they are unreliable.

If you are referring to the source as a whole, it's not necessary to include a page number or other marker.

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