How to cite journal, magazine, newspaper, and blog articles in APA 7

References and in-text citations for periodicals

This guide explains how to create the APA reference and in-text citations for scholarly journal articles, magazine articles, newspaper articles, newsletters, blog posts, and editorials.

Identify the publication first. A scholarly article often shows a volume, issue, and page range or article number. A newspaper article uses a complete date. A blog post also normally needs the year, month, and day.

Basic structure

The general form for a journal article is:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Journal Title, volume(issue), pages. DOI or URL

Do not italicize the article title. Italicize the journal title and volume. Include a DOI as a link when one is available. For an article from a common academic database without a DOI, normally omit the database name and its session URL.

Journal article example

The example details are illustrative.

Reference

Rojas, M. L., & Pineda, C. A. (2024). Reading strategies among university students. Journal of Learning, 18(2), 45–62.

Parenthetical citationThe source is identified in parentheses, normally with the author and year: (Perez, 2024).

(Rojas & Pineda, 2024)

Narrative citationThe author is part of the sentence and the year appears in parentheses: Perez (2024).

Rojas and Pineda (2024)

Changes for other periodicals

• Retain the month or complete date for a magazine article when the publication provides it.
• Use the year, month, and day for a newspaper article or blog post.
• If the article has an article number instead of pages, write Article followed by the number.
• Use in press instead of a year for an accepted article that has not yet been published.
• For a story on a news website that is not an online newspaper or magazine, use the webpage guide.

More periodical examples

All publication details in these examples are illustrative.

Magazine article

Reference

Gomez, A. P. (2024, May). Memory can be trained. Everyday Science, 14(5), 24–28.

Parenthetical citation:The source is identified in parentheses, normally with the author and year: (Perez, 2024). (Gomez, 2024)

Narrative citation:The author is part of the sentence and the year appears in parentheses: Perez (2024). Gomez (2024)

Newspaper article

Reference

Perez, L. M. (2024, March 9). University libraries extend their hours. The Academic Daily. https://example.com/daily/libraries

Parenthetical citation:The source is identified in parentheses, normally with the author and year: (Perez, 2024). (Perez, 2024)

Narrative citation:The author is part of the sentence and the year appears in parentheses: Perez (2024). Perez (2024)

Newsletter article

Reference

Nunez, C. A. (2024, June). New ways to support academic writing. Teaching Innovation Newsletter, 8(2), 3–5.

Parenthetical citation:The source is identified in parentheses, normally with the author and year: (Perez, 2024). (Nunez, 2024)

Narrative citation:The author is part of the sentence and the year appears in parentheses: Perez (2024). Nunez (2024)

Blog post

Reference

Andrade, S. (2024, April 18). Five questions for evaluating a source. Research Notebook. https://example.com/blog/evaluate-sources

Parenthetical citation:The source is identified in parentheses, normally with the author and year: (Perez, 2024). (Andrade, 2024)

Narrative citation:The author is part of the sentence and the year appears in parentheses: Perez (2024). Andrade (2024)

Comment on an online post

Reference

Luna [reader21]. (2024, May 4). The list helped me check my sources before writing [Comment on the post “Five questions for evaluating a source”]. Research Notebook. https://example.com/blog/evaluate-sources/comment-8

Parenthetical citation:The source is identified in parentheses, normally with the author and year: (Perez, 2024). (Luna, 2024)

Narrative citation:The author is part of the sentence and the year appears in parentheses: Perez (2024). Luna (2024)

Editorial

Reference

Martinez, R. J. (2024). Research also means learning to ask questions [Editorial]. Journal of Open Education, 10(1), 1–2.

Parenthetical citation:The source is identified in parentheses, normally with the author and year: (Perez, 2024). (Martinez, 2024)

Narrative citation:The author is part of the sentence and the year appears in parentheses: Perez (2024). Martinez (2024)

How to check the reference

• You identified the periodical type before choosing the date.
• You included only the publication details that exist.
• You formatted an available DOI as https://doi.org/....
• You omitted a common academic database and private library URL.
• The citation uses the author surname or group name and the reference year.

See all APA reference types.