The pattern at a glance
- Online newspaperAuthor, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Headline of the article. Newspaper Name. https://www.example.com/articleThe newspaper name is italic. Leave out "Retrieved from" and do not add a database name.
- Print newspaperAuthor, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Headline of the article. Newspaper Name, A1, A4.Print articles end with the page numbers instead of a URL.
- News website (not a newspaper)Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Headline in italics. Site Name. https://www.example.com/story
Newspaper article or news website?
APA 7 splits news into two reference types. A newspaper is a publication that also exists as a paper or e-paper edition, such as The New York Times, The Guardian or The Washington Post. Its articles get the newspaper format: the newspaper title is italic, like a journal title, and the headline is plain.
Outlets that only publish online, plus broadcasters such as NPR, CNN and BBC News, count as news websites. APA cites them as webpages: the headline becomes the italic part and the site name is plain text. The facts in the entry are the same, only the italics move.
Magazine articles follow the newspaper pattern but add volume and issue numbers when the magazine prints them, and many use only the year and month.
Dates, bylines and time zones
News references need the exact day because papers publish several stories on the same topic each week. Write the date the article carries, in the form (2026, October 21). If the page shows both a publication time and an update time, use the publication date unless your argument relies on the updated version.
Watch for time zones. The Guardian story in the first example below is stamped 23:05 UTC on 20 October in its metadata, which is already 21 October in London, and the printed date and the URL both say 21 October. The date a reader sees on the page is the one to cite.
When there is no byline, the headline moves into the author position and the in-text citation uses a shortened headline in quotation marks. Wire stories credited to an agency, such as Associated Press, can name the agency as a group author.
Field by field: the newspaper form
These are the fields the generator shows for a newspaper article and how to fill them for APA.
| Field | What to enter | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Authors | Reporter names as printed in the byline. Strip job titles such as "Science correspondent". | Byline under the headline. |
| Title | The headline in sentence case. Keep a subtitle only if it is part of the headline, not the standfirst. | Top of the article; the browser tab often adds the section and paper name, so do not copy it from there. |
| Newspaper | Full newspaper name, with "The" when the paper uses it. | Masthead or page header. |
| Date | Year, month and day of publication. | Under the byline or above the article text. |
| Pages | Print only: section letter and page, such as A1. | Print edition or e-paper. |
| URL | The article address without tracking parameters (anything after a question mark that looks like utm_ codes). | Browser address bar. |
APA news article citation examples
Real articles published in October 2026, formatted by the same engine as the generator. Each note explains one decision you will meet when you cite news.
Online newspaper article, one reporter (The Guardian)
APA 7th: Reference entry
Davis, N. (2026, October 21). Bad apple effect: Study shows how people are influenced by rule-breaking of others. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/oct/21/bad-apples-rule-breaking-study
In-text citation: (Davis, 2026)
Nicola Davis's job title appears next to her name in the paper's feed; the reference keeps only the name. The date is 21 October because that is what the article page and URL show in London time.
Checked against the page itself (checked on 25 October 2026). Byline Nicola Davis. The page metadata says 2026-10-20T23:05Z, which is 21 October in London; the URL and the printed date say 21 October.
Two reporters (The New York Times)
APA 7th: Reference entry
Miller, K., & Hickey, B. (2026, October 24). Some buy telescopes. These people build them from scratch. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/24/science/space/stellafane-telescopes-makers.html
In-text citation: (Miller & Hickey, 2026)
Two bylines are joined with an ampersand in the reference and in the parenthetical citation. The headline has two sentences, and APA keeps both, with the first word of each capitalised.
Checked against the page itself (checked on 25 October 2026). From the New York Times Science feed: byline Katrina Miller and Billy Hickey, 24 October 2026.
Headline with an acronym (The New York Times)
APA 7th: Reference entry
Chang, K. (2026, October 23). NASA is still aiming for the next moon landing in 2028. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/science/space/nasa-artemis-program-update.html
In-text citation: (Chang, 2026)
Sentence case lowercases ordinary words but keeps proper nouns and acronyms such as NASA. Do not retype the headline in title case even if the paper prints it that way.
Checked against the page itself (checked on 25 October 2026). From the New York Times Science feed: byline Kenneth Chang, 23 October 2026.
Story from a news website (NPR)
APA 7th: Reference entry
Gaines, L. V. (2026, October 19). Schools struggle to measure how much AI experiments are helping. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2026/10/19/nx-s1-5991881/schools-struggle-to-measure-how-much-ai-experiments-are-helping
In-text citation: (Gaines, 2026)
NPR is a broadcaster's website, not a newspaper, so this follows the webpage format: the headline is italic and NPR is plain text. The generator does this automatically when you choose the webpage source type instead of newspaper.
Checked against the page itself (checked on 25 October 2026). Byline Lee V. Gaines, published 19 October 2026 (JSON-LD).
Formatted by the same citation engine that runs the generator above (citeproc-js with the official CSL style file). Italics follow the style.
In-text citations for news articles
News articles use the same author-date citations as other APA sources. The year is enough in the text; the month and day stay in the reference list.
- Parenthetical: (Davis, 2026)
- Narrative: Chang (2026) reported that the landing target had not moved.
- Two reporters: (Miller & Hickey, 2026) or Miller and Hickey (2026)
- No byline: Use a short headline in quotation marks: ("Bad Apple Effect," 2026).
- Quotation from an online article: Online articles have no pages, so give a paragraph number: (Davis, 2026, para. 3).
Two articles by the same reporter in the same year get letters after the year, such as 2026a and 2026b, ordered by headline in the reference list.
Mistakes to avoid with APA news citations
- Year only in the reference. Newspaper references need month and day. "(2026)" alone makes it hard to find the story.
- Italicising the headline of a newspaper article. For newspapers the paper name is italic and the headline is plain. The italics move to the headline only for news websites.
- Citing the homepage. Link to the article itself. A homepage URL changes every hour and does not point to your source.
- Keeping tracking codes in the URL. Links shared from social media often carry long utm_ parameters. Remove them so the reference stays readable.
- Treating a newsletter excerpt as the article. If you only read a summary in an email or app, find the original article and cite that.
APA news article citation FAQ
How do I cite an online news article in APA 7?
Write the reporter, the date as (Year, Month Day), the headline in sentence case, the newspaper name in italics and the URL. Example: Davis, N. (2026, October 21). Bad apple effect: Study shows how people are influenced by rule-breaking of others. The Guardian. followed by the link.
Is BBC News a newspaper in APA?
No. BBC News, NPR, CNN and Reuters are news websites, so APA cites their stories as webpages with the headline in italics and the site name in plain text.
How do I cite a magazine article in APA?
Use the same pattern as a newspaper, add the volume and issue in parentheses after the magazine name when they exist, and use the date format the magazine prints, often just year and month.
What if the article was updated after I read it?
Cite the publication date shown on the article. If the update changed facts you rely on, mention the updated version in your text or cite the update date.
Do I need a retrieval date for a news article?
No. APA uses retrieval dates only for pages that are designed to change, such as live dashboards. A published article keeps its date.
Style guides used on this page
Rules on this page were checked against these pages on 25 October 2026.