How to Cite Newspapers in Harvard

• Written by Jennifer Sutcliffe

• Published on 02/12/2026

• Author: The name of the author(s) who wrote the article. If the author isn’t listed, use the publication name or the organization responsible for it, such as a company or government agency. 
• Year of Publication: The year that the newspaper was published. 
• Title of Article: The title of the newspaper article, written in single quotation marks. Subtitles, if present, are added after a colon. 
• Name of Newspaper: The name of the newspaper where the article was published should be italicized to show it is a title. 
• Day and Month of Publication: The day and month when the newspaper was published. This detail comes after the year and not with it. 
• Page Number: The page number(s) where the article appears. If the article covers multiple pages, indicate the page range. 

Citing a Newspaper Article in Print 

Citing a Newspaper Article from a Website 

Citing a Newspaper Article from a Database 

In-text Citations 

In-text citations use the author’s surname and year, just like other Harvard sources. 

Narrative: “As reported by Ferreira (2021) …” 

Parenthetical: “… discovered that babies can predict rhythms (Ferreira, 2021).” 

If there is no author, use the newspaper title, for example “(The Boston Globe, 2026)”. If you quote directly, add page numbers where available, e.g. (Davis, 2026, p. 3). 

Pay close attention to these areas where small errors often occur when citing newspapers in Harvard style.  Know When to Use Page Numbers: Print articles should include page number(s) except in rare circumstances where pages are unnumbered. Database articles often have a page number listed, but not always. Website articles typically leave out page numbers, so reference the URL and an access date instead.  Include Publication Day and Month: Many sources only require the year of publication. Since newspapers are daily or weekly, you must provide the full date, not just the year.  Use Stable URLs for Digital Newspapers: Website articles always come with a URL, while articles in databases may sometimes list a URL or a DOI. Use a stable (permanent) link to the article in your citations when possible. These links are usually marked as such.  Address Unlisted Newspaper Authorship: News articles sometimes lack a personal author, or they may be written under a staff or organizational byline. If there is no specific name, use the newspaper title as the author in the reference and in-text citation, for example The Boston Globe (2026), and maintain it as the title of the newspaper in the citation as well. If the author is a group or organization, like a government body, treat that group name as the author, following the common Harvard group-author format.