Welcome to NSCC's APA at Your Library
video series: Magazines and Newspaper
Articles. This content is from the most
recent edition of the Publication Manual
of the American Psychological
Association or APA. Always ensure that
you are using the most recent edition of
the APA manual. In this video we will
examine how to cite print and online
magazine and newspaper articles.
When referencing a print magazine article,
use the following format. The author's last
name followed by the initials of his/her
first and middle names, followed by a
period. In parentheses, include the year,
and if available, the month, day or season
the magazine was published, followed by
a period. Add the title and subtitle of the
article and capitalize only the first
word of the title and subtitle, as well
as any proper nouns. Italicize the title
of the magazine and the volume number.
Capitalize every major word in the
magazine title. There is no space between
the volume and issue number. Enclose the
issue number in parentheses and do not
italicize it, followed by a comma. End the
reference with the page range of the
article, followed by a period.
For the in-text citation note the format for
direct quote. Enclose the author's last
name, year and page or paragraph number
in parentheses. For an indirect quote,
enclose the author's last name and year
in parentheses. Note the use of periods,
commas and parentheses throughout the
example. Let's look at an example.
Note that the in-text citation for the
magazine article appears immediately
after the direct quote in the body of
the paper. Also note the complete
reference to the article as it would
appear in the reference list at the end
of the paper. Now let's look at the
format of an online magazine.
Often online magazines do not have
volume and issue numbers. Italicize the
title of the magazine followed by the
page range of the article, followed by a
period. Most magazines and newspapers do
not have Digital Object Identifiers or DOIs.
Instead, add "Retrieved from" and the URL
or web address of the home page of the
magazine. Do not link to the article.
The in-text citations for direct and
indirect quotes follow the standard
format. Note the use of periods, commas
and parentheses throughout the example.
In this example, the online magazine -
Scientific American -  has no volume or
issue number. Italicize the title of the
magazine and capitalize the major words.
The URL or web address should not be
hyperlinked or underlined. There is no
period after the URL and the font is the
same as the remainder of the reference.
The article does not have page numbers.
For a direct quote use the abbreviation
"para." and the number of the
paragraph that contains the quote. In our
example, we located the homepage of the
magazine, Scientific American, and copied
and pasted the URL into our reference. Do
not link to the URL of the article, only
link to the URL of the magazine's
homepage. The format of print newspapers
is similar to magazines. After the author,
enclose the year, month, day or season of
the publication in parentheses. This is
followed by the title of the newspaper
article. Note the capitalization of
proper nouns. Next, capitalize the major
words in the title of the newspaper and
italicize the title of the newspaper.
One difference between newspaper and
magazine references is that you include
pagination in newspaper references.
Use "p." for one page or "pp." for two
or more pages. The in-text citations for
direct and indirect quotes follow the
standard format. Note the use of periods,
commas and parentheses throughout the
example. The format for online newspapers
is similar to that of online magazines.
In this example, there is no author. In
this case, move the title into the author
position, followed by a period. Complete
the reference with the standard date,
title and retrieval information. If there
is no Digital Object Identifier, add
retrieved from and the URL or web
address of the home page of the
newspaper rather than a direct link to
the article. There is no hyperlink or
line under the URL. There is no period
after the URL, and the font is the same
as the remainder of the reference. When
creating in-text citations for
references that have no authors, use the
first few words of the title and enclose
the title in quotation marks for both
direct and indirect quotes. In the direct
quote example, note the use of the
paragraph number in which the direct
quotation is located. Use the
abbreviation "para." when no
page number is provided. Note the use of
commas, periods and parentheses. For more
information on the APA documentation
style refer to the APA subject guide
located at the NSCC Library Services
website. You can also contact your
Library staff for assistance.
