How to cite a news article in MLA 9

In MLA the article is the source and the newspaper or magazine is the container.

An article read online

Last, First. "Title of the Article." Name of Newspaper, Day Month Year, URL.

Reyes, Tomas. “City Council Votes to Keep the Downtown Library Open.” The Harbor Gazette, 3 Sept. 2025, example.org/library-vote.

• Author. The writer named in the byline.
• Title. The article’s headline in quotation marks.
• Container. The name of the newspaper or magazine, in italics.
• Date. The date of publication.
• URL. The address of the article. MLA’s examples leave off “https://”.

A print article

Add the page numbers after the date: The Harbor Gazette, 3 Sept. 2025, p. 4. If the paper names an edition on its masthead, such as the late edition, give it as the version, after the title: The Harbor Gazette, late ed., 3 Sept. 2025, p. 4.

A magazine

If the magazine gives volume and issue numbers, MLA says to include them along with the date.

In-text citation

Use the author’s last name: (Reyes). If the article is one page long, no page number is needed in the parentheses, though a print entry still lists the page. If there is no author, use the title or a shortened version of it.

Check before you submit

• Column titles can be left out, according to the MLA Handbook. If the work has a title of its own, you can leave the column’s name out.
• For APA, see citing a news article in APA 7.