Giving credit where it’s due is the backbone of strong academic writing. When you use information from a magazine article, you need to tell your reader exactly where you found it. This process, called citing, involves two parts: a brief in-text citation right where you use the information, and a full entry in your reference list at the end of your paper. Think of it as a breadcrumb trail, leading your reader directly to your source. It’s a way of showing your work and respecting the intellectual labor of the original author. Getting this right builds your credibility and keeps you from accidentally plagiarizing. This guide will show you how to handle magazine articles in the most common citation styles.
TLDR: The Basics of Citing a Magazine Article
No time to spare? Here’s the core formula for most magazine article citations. You’ll need the author’s name, the date of publication, the title of the article, the magazine’s title, and the volume number, issue number, and page numbers if available. For online magazine articles, you’ll also need a URL or database name. Your in-text citation will almost always be the author’s last name and a page number or year in parentheses.
Is It Really a Magazine?
Before you can cite it, you have to identify it. Not everything that looks like a magazine is one, and the rules can differ from those for citing journals. I remember staring at a glossy publication about chemical engineering, the crisp pages smelling of fresh ink, and wondering if it counted as a magazine or a journal. It’s a common confusion.
Here’s how to tell the difference. We’re talking about two main types: popular magazines and trade magazines.
- Popular Magazines (like Time or Sports Illustrated) aim to entertain a general audience, sell products, and report on popular culture. They are filled with many photos and many advertisements. The authors might be journalists, not necessarily scholars with deep subject expertise, and the articles tend to be shorter.
- Trade Magazines (like Automotive News or Advertising Age) focus on a specific industry. They aim to inform readers about current trends in that field. The content assumes that readers understand specific jargon of the profession. The authors are usually professionals working in that specific industry. A key feature of the references list trade magazines provide is their focus on practical, industry-relevant sources.
A quick check: If your source has numerous advertisements and flashy graphics, it’s likely a magazine. If it’s dense with text, has a formal tone, and includes a long list of academic references, you might have a journal. Check out our guide on how to cite journals for more help.
Core Elements of a Magazine Article Citation
Every proper citation is built from the same core pieces of information. Your job is to be a detective and find them. For any magazine article, you’ll need to hunt for these elements:
- 1. Author(s): The person or people who wrote the article. Look at the beginning or end of the article.
- 2. Date of Publication: This could be a full date (Month Day, Year) for a weekly magazine or just a month and year for a monthly one.
- 3. Title of Article: The specific headline of the piece you are reading. It will be in quotation marks in your final citation.
- 4. Title of Magazine: The name of the overall publication (e.g., The New Yorker). This part is italicized.
- 5. Volume Number and Issue Number: These tell the reader exactly which edition of the magazine you used. They are often found on the spine or near the table of contents.
- 6. Page Numbers: The range of page numbers where the article is located (e.g., pp. 45-52). A single page number is noted with “p.”
- 7. Location: For print magazine articles, this isn’t needed. For online ones, it’s the URL. For an article from a library database, it’s the name of the library database and sometimes a DOI or permalink.
MLA Style
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is common in the humanities. The format is clean and straightforward. The entire list should be alphabetized by the first word of the entry and use a hanging indent, meaning the first line is flush left and subsequent lines are indented. It should also be double-spaced.
Print Magazine Article
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Magazine, Volume Number, Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. Page Numbers.
List Example:
Wallace, David Foster. “Consider the Lobster.” Gourmet, vol. 64, no. 8, Aug. 2004, pp. 50-64.
In Text Citation Example:
(Wallace 52).
Online Magazine Article
For online magazine articles, you add the URL and the access date. The access date shows when you viewed the article, which is important because web content can change.
Website Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Magazine, Date of Publication, URL. Accessed Access Date.
List Example:
Tingley, Kim. “The Unseen Toll of Wildfire Smoke.” The New York Times Magazine, 21 June 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/06/21/magazine/wildfire-smoke-health.html. Accessed 10 Aug. 2025.
In Text Citation Example:
(Tingley).
Notice there is no page number for the online article? That’s because many web magazine articles don’t have stable page numbers. If there are numbered paragraphs, you can use those instead (e.g., par. 4).
Citing from a Library Database
When you find magazine articles through library databases like JSTOR or Academic Search Ultimate, the citation is slightly different. You name the library database at the end.
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Magazine, Volume Number, Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. Page Numbers. Name of Library Database, URL or DOI.
List Example:
Gladwell, Malcolm. “The Talent Myth.” The New Yorker, vol. 78, no. 20, 22 July 2002, pp. 28-33. ProQuest, proquest.com/magazines/talent-myth/docview/233148153/se-2.
In Text Citation Example:
(Gladwell 30).
APA Style
APA (American Psychological Association) style is prevalent in the social sciences. It places more emphasis on the date of publication by putting it right after the author’s name. For the author, you only use the initial for the first name.
Citation Example (based on the same print article):
Wallace, D. F. (2004, August). Consider the lobster. Gourmet, 64(8), 50–64.
The in-text citation in APA includes the year, not the page number, unless you are quoting directly.
In Text Citation Example (Paraphrasing):
(Wallace, 2004)
In Text Citation Example (Direct Quote):
(Wallace, 2004, p. 52)
For a deeper look at APA formats, the official Magazine Article References page is an excellent resource.
Chicago Style
Chicago style offers two systems: Notes-Bibliography (common in history) and Author-Date (common in sciences). The Notes-Bibliography system uses footnotes or endnotes for the in-text citation and a bibliography at the end.
Citation Example (Bibliography Entry):
Wallace, David Foster. “Consider the Lobster.” Gourmet, August 2004.
Citation Example (Full Note):
1. David Foster Wallace, “Consider the Lobster,” Gourmet, August 2004, 52.
The Author-Date version looks more like APA. The key is to be consistent with the style your instructor requests.
| Style | Basic Magazine Article Format | Basic In-Text Citation |
|---|---|---|
| MLA 9 | Author Last, First. “Title of Article.” Magazine Title, vol. #, no. #, Date, pp. ##-##. | (Last Name Page Number) |
| APA 7 | Author Last, F. M. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Magazine Title, Volume(Issue), page numbers. | (Last Name, Year) |
| Chicago 17 | Author Last, First. “Title of Article.” Magazine Title, Month Year. | (Footnote/Endnote) |
Handling Tricky Citation Scenarios
But what happens when things aren’t so simple? Sometimes an article has multiple authors, or no author at all. Here’s how to manage those situations.
The Case of the Unknown Author
If a magazine article has no author listed, don’t panic. Your citation simply begins with the title of the article. You alphabetize the entry in your works cited list by the first word of the title (ignoring A, An, or The). Your in-text citation will use a shortened version of the title in quotation marks.
List Example (MLA):
“For California Couple, Trees are a ‘Gift’ and a Motivation for Change.” American Forests, vol. 130, no. 1, Winter/Spring 2024, pp. 8-9.
In Text Citation Example (MLA):
(“For California Couple” 9).
Dealing with Three or More Authors
When an article has two authors, you list both. But for three or more authors, you can save space. In MLA, you list the first author followed by “et al.,” which is Latin for “and others.”
Authors Author’s format (MLA):
First Author’s Last Name, First Name, et al.
List Example (MLA):
Woods, Cathy, et al. “The Future of Urban Green Spaces.” Urban Planning Today, vol. 15, no. 3, May 2024, pp. 22-29.
In Text Citation Example (MLA):
(Woods et al. 25).
APA follows a similar rule for three or more authors in the text citation. For two authors, you list both names, like this: (Jones & Baker, 2023). For the second author’s first name, APA only uses an initial. The first author’s name is also formatted as Last Name, F. M. The second author’s first name and last name follow in standard order in the reference list before the initials are applied.
Citing Images and Graphics in a Magazine Article
Here’s something new to consider. What if you want to use a photograph or a chart from a magazine article? You can’t just copy and paste it. You need to cite the image itself. Often, there’s a credit line next to the image. This is a “photo courtesy” line. If the article you’re reading is online, the image might even have its own Creative Commons license.
If you are discussing the image itself, you should create a full citation for it. The format is similar to an article, but you list the photographer or artist as the author. If that’s not available, you can describe the image and cite the article it came from.
Example of an image caption in your paper (MLA):
Fig. 1. Ansel Adams, photographer. Monolith, the Face of Half Dome. From “The Enduring Power of Yosemite,” by Jane Smith, National Geographic, vol. 245, no. 6, June 2024, p. 88.
This shows you are citing the image within the context of the magazine article where you found it. This level of detail demonstrates punctilious scholarship.
FAQ: Do I need the volume number and issue number for all magazine articles?
Not always. According to MLA style guidelines, if a magazine is published weekly or biweekly, you can often omit the volume number and issue number in favor of a more specific date. However, for monthly or quarterly magazine articles, including the volume number and issue number is standard practice. Always check the magazine itself to see how it identifies its issues.
FAQ: What’s the difference between citing a magazine article and a journal article?
The main difference lies in the audience and purpose. Magazine articles are for a general audience, while journal articles are scholarly works written for experts in a field. The citation formats reflect this. Journal citations are typically more complex, requiring specific DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) and a more rigid structure. Our guide on how to cite journal articles explains this in detail. The references list trade magazines use can sometimes blur this line, but they still cater to a specific industry rather than a purely academic one.
FAQ: How does this fit into my essay?
Your in-text citation acts as a signpost within your paragraphs, while the full citation lives in the Works Cited or References page at the end. Each in-text citation must correspond to an entry in your reference list. For a complete walkthrough of how to integrate these citations into your writing smoothly, see our guide on how to cite an article in an essay.
FAQ: What if I’m quoting a quote from a magazine article?
This is called an indirect source. Let’s say your magazine article by Smith quotes a person named Jones. If you can’t find the original Jones source, you cite what’s in front of you. In your in-text citation (MLA), you would write “(qtd. in Smith 45).” This shows you’re quoting Jones but found the quote in Smith’s article. The Chicago Manual of Style offers great advice on handling complex quotations.
FAQ: Where can I get more help with citations?
Citation can feel overwhelming, but many tools and guides can help. For a comprehensive overview of different styles and source types, check out our central hub for Mastering Citations. Remember, the goal is clarity and consistency.
Correctly citing a magazine article is a fundamental skill in academic work. It shows you’ve engaged with your sources thoughtfully and gives your arguments a solid foundation of evidence. By breaking it down into finding the components and assembling them according to the rules of your required style, you can tackle any magazine article citation with confidence.