Published October 17, 2020. Updated August 15, 2021.

In this guide, you’ll find information on citing both journal articles and newspaper articles in Harvard referencing style. This guide covers referencing both print and online versions of these articles. The templates and examples in this guide follow the standards outlined in the 11th edition of Cite them right by Richard Pears and Graham Shields. This guide is not affiliated with Cite them right but uses the text for standardisation purposes, as different institutions have their own variations on Harvard referencing style. Also, if you’re citing sources, the Chegg Writing Harvard referencing generator is a helpful resource.

Here’s what you will find in this guide:

• How to reference a print journal article

• How to reference an online journal article

• How to reference a print newspaper article

• How to reference an online newspaper article

For both journal and newspaper articles, you’ll generally need the following information to create full references for your reference list:

• Author

• Publication year

• Article title

• Journal/newspaper title

• Issue information

• Page(s) (if applicable)

• URL/DOI (if applicable)

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How to reference a print journal article

Referencing a print journal article requires you to provide enough information for your reader to be able to find your article. For academic journals, this usually means author, article title, journal title, issue information, and page range.

Here’s how you build in-text and full references for journal articles:

In-text reference template and example:

(Author Surname, Year)

(Wolf, 2020)

Full reference template and example:

How to reference an online journal article

For journals that have both print and online versions, Harvard recommends only providing the information necessary to identify the article in your references. This is because many online versions are behind paywalls and not all readers can access them. This means that if you are using an online article that has a print equivalent, you do not need to include a URL, DOI, or database title in your reference. However, if you are citing an online-only journal article, you must include a URL or DOI. You’ll also need to include an access date.

Here’s an example of how to reference a journal article that is only published online:

In-text reference example:

(Horino et al., 2020)

Full reference example:

If the article you are referencing includes page numbers, you can also include these after the issue information as you would when citing a print journal article.

How to reference a print newspaper article

When you reference a print newspaper article, there are a few things that you’ll need to keep in mind.

First, the title of the newspaper is italicised and uses title case. The article title is placed in single quotation marks and uses sentence case.

Second, if there is no author, begin your full reference with the title of the newspaper in the author’s place.

Third, if you are citing multiple articles from the same newspaper that were published in the same year, you can differentiate between them by adding letters after the publication year in the in-text reference. For example, in-text references for three articles of the same year by the same author would look like this: (Smith, 2020a), (Smith, 2020b), and (Smith, 2020c). You’ll use the same letter designations in your full references.

Finally, for print newspapers, you will often need to include the section in your full reference, as page numbers might not be enough to differentiate the article you are referencing. The section follows the newspaper title and a colon and is italicised as well.

Here’s how you reference a print newspaper article:

In-text reference template and example:

(Author Surname, Year)

(Runwal, 2020)

Full reference template and example:

How to reference an online newspaper article

If you are using the online version of a newspaper that also has a print counterpart, Harvard referencing style recommends including the URL, as the online version often varies somewhat from the print edition and it may not have the same (or any) pagination.

Here’s how you would cite an online newspaper article:

In-text reference example:

Akbar discusses the status of theatre as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020).

Full reference example:

For more information on citing articles, including magazine articles, see section E2 of Pears and Shields (2019).

For more style basics, read this Harvard referencing in-text citations guide and this article on formatting Harvard referencing style papers.

Works Referenced:

Pears, R. and Shields G. (2019) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. 11th rev. edn. London: Red Globe Press.