Writing references

Journal and Newspaper Articles

When you use a newspaper, journal or magazine article for your research it is important to
record where you obtained your information from just as if you had used a book. The details that you record are slightly different from those for books but the aim is the same: to allow other people to check your sources for themselves.

Journal Articles:

Give the author's name: surname first and then the initials of the first name or names; give the year of publication in round brackets; the title of the article in quotation marks; the title of the journal in italics; the issue information (which may included any or all of the following volume, part number, month, season); finally, give the page numbers. eg:

Murdoch, J. (2007) "Give consumers a green option", Marketing Week, 31 May 2007, pp.6-8.

If the journal has a volume number and a part number then that information also needs to be included. List all of the details as before and also give the volume number followed by the part or issue number. Common practice is to give the volume number first followed by round brackets containing the issue number. Here is the same example showing how to refer to volume and issue details:

Murdoch, J. (2007) "Give consumers a green option", Marketing Week, 6 (5). 31 May 2007, pp.6-8.

Newspaper Articles:

If the journalist responsible for a piece in the newspaper is identified then the reference looks very similar to that for a journal article. List the information in the following order: give the surname of the author followed by their first name or initial, the year of publication in round brackets, the title of the article enclosed in quotation marks, the title of the newspaper in italics if possible, the date, and finally the page number or numbers. If your research has been taken from one of the weekend newspapers with several supplements then it is also useful to include the title of the supplement. Here is an example taken from the Sunday Times InGear supplement:

Hudson, R. (2007) "Webwise, podcasts have a world in your ear", Sunday Times, 25th November, InGear pp.12-13.

If there is no clearly identified author the rest of the information listed above should also be given, but in a slightly different order.Give the title of the newspaper in italics if possible, give the year of publication in round brackets, title of the article in quotation marks, the day and the month, and finally the page number. Here is the same example as before with no author details and no supplement details:

Sunday Times (2007) "Webwise, podcasts have a world in your ear", 25th November, pp.12-13.

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