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Citing Sources: Magazine Articles

How Do I Know If It's a Magazine?

Multiple magazines with covers facing out on display. Image from Flickr by Mannobhai

Photo courtesy of Flickr by Manoj Jacob. Available under a Creative Commons license.

Not sure whether your article is from a magazine? Look for these characteristics:

Popular magazines:

  • Main purpose is to entertain, sell products or promote a viewpoint.
  • Appeal to the general public.
  • Often have many photos and illustrations, as well as many advertisements.
  • Author may or may not have subject expertise.
  • Name and credentials of authors often NOT provided.
  • Articles tend to be short –less than 5 pages.
  • Unlikely to have a bibliography or references list.

Trade magazines:

  • Main purpose is to update and inform readers on current trends in a specific industry or trade.
  • Audience is members of a specific industry or trade or professors and students in that trade or industry.
  • May have photos and numerous advertisements, but still assume that readers understand specific jargon of the profession.
  • Usually published by an association.
  • Authors are professionals working in the specific industry or trade.

 

Tips

Author

If a magazine article has no author, start the citation with the article title.

If a magazine article is written by "Anonymous", put the word "Anonymous" where you'd normally have the author's name.

Titles

Italicize titles of magazines. Do not italicize the titles of articles.

Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the article title. If there is a colon in the article title, also capitalize the first letter of the first word after the colon.

Dates

If an article has no date, use the short form n.d. where you would normally put the date.

Volume and Issue Numbers

Italicize volume numbers but not issue numbers.

Retrieval Dates

Most articles will not need these in the citation. Only use them for online articles from places where content may change often, like a free website or a wiki.

Page Numbers

If an article doesn't appear on continuous pages, list all the page numbers the article is on, separated by commas. For example (4, 6, 12-14)

Formatting

Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Magazine Article From a Library Database - One Author

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Magazine, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number. 

Example

Abramsky, S. (2012, May 14). The other America 2012. Nation, 294(20), 11-18. 
In-Text Paraphrase

(Author's Last Name, Year)

(Abramsky, 2012)
In-Text Quote

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

(Abramsky, 2012, p. 14)

Magazine Article from a Library Database - Two Authors

Last Name of First Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Magazine, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number if given. 

Example

Gross, A., & Murphy, E. (2010, January/February). Seal of disapproval. E: The Environmental Magazine, 21(1), 34-37. 
In-Text Paraphrase

(First Author's Last Name & Second Author's Last Name, Year)

(Gross & Murphy, 2010)
In-Text Quote

(First Author's Last Name & Second Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

(Gross & Murphy, 2010, p. 35)

Magazine Article From a Library Database - Three to 21 Authors

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Last Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Magazine, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number if given. 

Note: Separate the authors' names by putting a comma between them. For the final author listed add an ampersand (&) after the comma and before the final author's last name.

Example

Clack, Z., Machemer, T., & Edmonds, P. (2020). How women’s health gets shortchanged. National Geographic, 237(1), 76–85.
In-Text Paraphrase

(First Author's Last Name et. al., Year)

(Clack et. al., 2020)
In-Text Quote

(First Author's Last Name et. al., Year, p. Page Number)

(Clack et. al., 2020, p. 79)

Magazine Article From a Library Database - Unknown Author

Article title: Subtitle if any. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Name of Magazine, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number if given. 

Example

Syria's free army. (2012, June 11). Newsweek, 159(24). 

Note: No page numbers were provided for this article.
In-Text Paraphrase

("Article Title," Year)

("Syria's Free Army," 2012)

Note: Use double quotation marks around the title of an article in the in-text citation. Capitalize the title using title case, even though sentence case is used in the reference list entry. If the title is long, shorten it for the in-text citation.
In-Text Quote

("Article Title," Year)

("Syria's Free Army," 2012)

Note: This entry has no page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings so this information is left out of the in-text citation.

Magazine Article From a Library Database - Signed Anonymous

Anonymous. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Article title: Subtitle if any. Name of Magazine, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number if given. 

Note: If and only if the work is signed "Anonymous", use Anonymous where you'd normally put the author's name. If the work has no named author but is not signed "Anonymous", follow the example for Unknown Author.

Example

Anonymous. (2011). I was going to cheat. Glamour, 109(2), 166-167. 
In-Text Paraphrase

(Anonymous, Year)

(Anonymous, 2011)
In-Text Quote

(Anonymous, Year, p. Page Number)

(Anonymous, 2011, p. 166)

Magazine Article From a Website

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Magazine, Volume Number(Issue Number if Given), first page number-last page number if given. URL

Example

Freedman, D.H. (2012, June). The perfected self. The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/06/the-perfected-self/8970/4/?single_page=true

Note: If no volume, issue and/or page numbers are provided, skip them in the citation.
In-Text Paraphrase

(Author's Last Name, Year)

(Freedman, 2012)
In-Text Quote

(Author's Last Name, Year, Section Heading, para. Paragraph Number)

(Freedman, 2012, para. 8)

Note: Since this article does not contain section headings, that element is omitted from the in-text citation. If paragraphs are not numbered, count them manually. 

Magazine Article In Print

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Magazine, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number.

Example

Hessler, P. (2012, May 21). Identity parade: Life in a police lineup. The New Yorker, 88(14), 24-28.
In-Text Paraphrase

(Author's Last Name, Year)

(Hessler, 2012)
In-Text Quote

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

(Hessler, 2012, p. 25)