How to Cite a Newspaper in MHRA Referencing

Writing about something newsworthy? Then you might need to reference a newspaper at some point. However, like most referencing systems, MHRA has some special rules for how to cite a newspaper. Follow these guidelines, and you can be confident your work is error free.

How to Cite a Newspaper in Footnote Citations

MHRA uses footnote citations, indicated using superscript numbers:

Usually at the end of a sentence, like this.¹

You will then need to give source information in a footnote. For newspapers, the first footnote citation of a print article should include:

^n. Author Name(s), ‘Article Title’, Newspaper Title, Date of Publication, Newspaper Section (if applicable), Page Number(s).

In practice, then, a citation of an article from the ‘G2’ section of the Guardian would look something like this:

^1. Stuart Heritage, ‘All British PMs End Up Failures—It’s Time for a Two-Term Limit Like the US’, Guardian, 25 October 2017, G2, p. 13.

For online newspaper articles, a URL should be given instead of page numbers. Therefore, we would cite an online article as follows:

^2. Nicholas Bakalar, ‘A Positive Outlook May Be Good for Your Heart’, The New York Times, 27 September 2019, <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/well/mind/a-positive-outlook-may-be-good-for-your-heart.html> [Accessed 29 September 2017].

Note that we’ve also included a date of access at the end of this footnote. MHRA requires this for all online sources that could change.

Repeat Citations in MHRA Referencing

If you cite the same article again after the first citation, you can use a shortened format to save space. Use ‘ibid.’ for consecutive citations of the same source; for non-consecutive citations, all you need to do is give the author’s surname and relevant page numbers:

^1. Stuart Heritage, ‘All British PMs End Up Failures – It’s Time for a Two-Term Limit Like the US’, Guardian, 25 October 2017, G2, p. 13.
^2. Nicholas Bakalar, ‘A Positive Outlook May Be Good for Your Heart’, Independent, 27 September 2019, <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/well/mind/a-positive-outlook-may-be-good-for-your-heart.html> [Accessed 29 September 2019].
^3. Ibid.
^4. Heritage, p. 14.

In the above, for instance, footnote three is a repeat citation of the Bakalar source. And footnote four returns to the Stuart Heritage article. However, if you’re citing more than one source by the same author, make sure to include a shortened title in repeat citations, too.

Adding a Newspaper in an MHRA Bibliography

In MHRA, the bibliography entry for a newspaper article is similar to the first footnote. However, there are three main differences:

1. The author’s names should be reversed so that the entries can be sorted alphabetically (e.g. Stuart Heritage becomes Heritage, Stuart).
2. You do not need a full stop at the end of the entry.
3. You don’t need to use ‘p.’ or ‘pp.’ before page numbers.

The basic format for a print newspaper, then, should be as follows:

Author Surname, First Name(s), ‘Article Title’, Newspaper Title, Date of Publication, Newspaper Section (if applicable), Page Range

As shown above, moreover, if the article is spread across several pages, you should give the complete page range. For instance:

Heritage, Stuart, ‘All British PMs End Up Failures—It’s Time for a Two-Term Limit Like the US’, Guardian, 25 October 2017, G2, 13-14

And for online newspapers, give the URL and date of access here, too:

Bakalar, Nicholas, ‘A Positive Outlook May Be Good for Your Heart’, The New York Times, 27 September 2017, <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/well/mind/a-positive-outlook-may-be-good-for-your-heart.html> [Accessed 29 September 2017]

Hopefully, this has helped you understand how to cite a newspaper in MHRA referencing. If you’d like someone to check your writing, though, we have editors ready to help. Just submit your work for proofreading today.