News articles are not scholarly sources, but social science and policy research often uses them as primary evidence. Dates matter, and online stories can change or disappear. Style-by-style examples are generated below.
Elements and where to find them
| Element | Where to look | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Reporter | Byline under the headline, name at the end | Editorials and wire copy may have none |
| Date | Under the headline ("published", "updated") | Give year, month and day |
| Headline | Top of the article | Online and print headlines can differ |
| Publication | Masthead, logo | Official name |
| Page | Print edition | Only if you read print |
| URL | The publisher's own address | Not a portal or aggregator link |
If the published and updated dates differ, cite the version you read, usually the latest update, and follow your style's rules for marking updates.
Where the styles differ
| Item | APA 7 | MLA 9 | Chicago 18 | IEEE | Vancouver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | (2026, September 23) after author | 23 Sept. 2026 after publication | September 23, 2026 | Sep. 23, 2026 | 2026 Sep 23 |
| Headline | Sentence case, plain | Quotes | Quotes | Quotes | Plain |
| Publication | Italic | Italic | Italic | Name | Name + [Internet] |
| Print page | Page | Page | In notes only; omitted from the bibliography entry | Page | Section and page |
| URL | At the end | At the end | At the end | [Online]. Available: | Available from: |
APA treats some online-only news sites as web pages; compare with the web page type. Chicago gives print page numbers in notes but omits them from bibliography entries.
In-text citations and archiving
With a byline, the text citation uses the reporter and year (APA: Kim, 2026). Without one, use a shortened headline. Several stories by the same reporter in one year become 2026a, 2026b in APA.
Online stories are often edited or removed. If a story is central to your argument, save an archived copy (Wayback Machine or perma.cc) when you cite it. Press releases are not news articles: cite them with the issuing organization as author.
Common mistakes
- Citing a Naver or Daum news viewer URL instead of the publisher's own page.
- Giving only the year.
- Ignoring wire services: if you read an AP or Yonhap story in another outlet, cite the outlet you read and credit the agency if required.
- Editorials: with no author, the headline moves to the front, often with "[Editorial]".
- Paywalled stories still get the publisher's URL; if you used a database archive, follow the style's database rules.
Korean news
BIG KINDS, run by the Korea Press Foundation, searches major Korean outlets by date and publication. Newspaper PDF viewers confirm print pages. When a story reports a study or statistic, find and cite the original report or article rather than the news coverage.
Checklist
- Full date
- Official publication name
- Publisher URL, not a portal link
- Authorless items handled
- Print pages checked if relevant
Related tools
Choose "Newspaper or news article" in the reference generator, build text citations with the in-text citation generator, and import records with the BibTeX and RIS converter.
Side-by-side by style
These examples are generated by this site's formatting engine from fictional sample data (not real publications).
| Style | Reference | In-text |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7th | Walsh, K. (2025, October 8). Universities rethink citation rules for AI tools. The Daily Herald. https://dailyherald.example/2025/10/citation-ai | (Walsh, 2025, p. 150) Walsh (2025, p. 150) |
| MLA 9th | Walsh, Kevin. “Universities rethink citation rules for AI tools.” The Daily Herald, 8 Oct. 2025, dailyherald.example/2025/10/citation-ai. | (Walsh 150) Walsh … (150) |
| Chicago 18th (author-date) | Walsh, Kevin. 2025. “Universities rethink citation rules for AI tools.” The Daily Herald, October 8. https://dailyherald.example/2025/10/citation-ai. | (Walsh 2025, 150) Walsh (2025, 150) |
| Chicago 18th (notes-bibliography) | Walsh, Kevin. “Universities rethink citation rules for AI tools.” The Daily Herald, October 8, 2025. https://dailyherald.example/2025/10/citation-ai. | 1. Kevin Walsh, “Universities rethink citation rules for AI tools,” The Daily Herald, October 8, 2025, https://dailyherald.example/2025/10/citation-ai. 2. Walsh, “Universities rethink citation rules,” 150. |
| IEEE | [1] K. Walsh, “Universities rethink citation rules for AI tools,” The Daily Herald, Oct. 8, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://dailyherald.example/2025/10/citation-ai | [1, p. 150] Walsh [1] |
| Vancouver (NLM/ICMJE) | 1. Walsh K. Universities rethink citation rules for AI tools. The Daily Herald [Internet]. 2025 Oct 8 [cited 2026 Sep 23]. Available from: https://dailyherald.example/2025/10/citation-ai | (1, p. 150) 1 |
| Korean journals — social science | Walsh, K. (2025, October 8). Universities rethink citation rules for AI tools. The Daily Herald. https://dailyherald.example/2025/10/citation-ai | (Walsh, 2025, p. 150) Walsh (2025, p. 150) |
| Korean journals — humanities | Kevin Walsh, “Universities rethink citation rules for AI tools,” The Daily Herald, 2025.10.8., https://dailyherald.example/2025/10/citation-ai | 1) Kevin Walsh, “Universities rethink citation rules for AI tools,” The Daily Herald, 2025.10.8., https://dailyherald.example/2025/10/citation-ai 2) Walsh, op. cit., p. 150. |