Now, the newspaper title. Italicize it. No quotation marks. This is the album, not the song.
It’s the New York Times, not “New York Times.” See the difference? MLA loves this kind of snobbery.
Fun fact: If the newspaper has “The” in its name, you keep it. “The Onion” counts. Even if it’s satire, it gets italicized. Because MLA takes itself very seriously—and we get to giggle.
The Date: Time Travel Made Easy
Newspaper articles are obsessed with dates. That’s their whole personality. You need to write it as: Day Month Year. No commas between them.
Example: 14 Mar. 2026. Month abbreviations are fine for long ones (Jan., Feb., Mar.). But May, June, July—write them out. It’s a small quirk, but it makes you look like a pro.
Pro tip: If the article has a time stamp (like “Updated 11:23 p.m.”), you ignore it. MLA only cares about the date. Because bedtime stories don’t have timestamps.
