How to cite a newspaper article

Bluebook (22d ed.) citation format · B16 / R16.6 · Books, periodicals & other secondary

Example

Jane Gross, Silent Right: Lawyer Defends Principles from Her Jail Cell, Chi. Trib., Mar. 3, 1991 (§ 6), at 6.

More examples

Each of these is checked against the rules on every change to the tool.

• Editorial, Pricing Drugs, Wash. Post, Feb. 17, 2004, at A18.
• Trial Judge Will Not Give Enquiry Evidence, Times (London), June 13, 1990, at 3.

What the citation needs

Required

• Article title — The title as it appears on the source. R8(a): capitalize every word except articles, conjunctions and prepositions of four or fewer letters, unless they begin the title or follow a colon.
• Newspaper — The periodical’s name, abbreviated per T13 and T10.
• Date — The date the rule for this source calls for, with the month abbreviated per T12 (“Nov. 24, 1978”).
• First page — The page the source begins on. The page you are citing goes in the pincite.

When they apply

• Author — The author’s full name as it appears on the publication (R15.1; R16.2).
• Designation — A label that precedes or replaces the title — “Note” or “Comment” for student work (R16.7.1).
• Place (if not in the name) — Where the work was published or the event took place.
• Section — The section cited (R3.3).
• Volume — The volume number, which comes before the reporter, code or periodical name.
• Issue — The issue number, where the periodical is paginated by issue.
• Year — The year that goes in the date parenthetical at the end of the citation.
• Publishing organization — The organization that issued or publishes the source.
• Database citation — A commercial-database citation, where the source is cited to one — “2010 WL 12345”.

In a brief and in a law review

The Bluebook sets citations two ways: the Bluepages for court documents and legal memoranda, the Whitepages for law review footnotes. Here is the first example above as each one prints it, in its typeface.

Court documents (Bluepages)

Jane Gross, Silent Right: Lawyer Defends Principles from Her Jail Cell, Chi. Trib., Mar. 3, 1991 (§ 6), at 6.

Law review footnotes (Whitepages)

Jane Gross, Silent Right: Lawyer Defends Principles from Her Jail Cell, Chi. Trib., Mar. 3, 1991 (§ 6), at 6.

The words are the same in both; only the typeface changes.

Common mistakes

Each of these is a citation the checker refuses, with what it says is wrong and the corrected form.

Governing rules

B16 / R16.6

• 3.2(a) — pinpoint pages.
• 16 — periodicals.
• T13 — periodical title abbreviations.
• 16.5 — nonconsecutively paginated journals & magazines.
• 16.6 — newspapers.
• 16.6(a) — designation, section & first page only.

Build this citation with the generator, check one you have already written, or paste a whole list of footnotes to check them in order.

Related source types

Books, periodicals & other secondary:

• Book
• Work in a collection
• Foreword, preface or introduction
• Frequently cited named work
• Law review / journal article
• Magazine article
• Forthcoming article
• Working paper
• Unpublished manuscript or thesis
• Letter, memo, e-mail or press release
• Interview
• Speech or address
• Microform