How to cite a press release? A citation is when one paper explicitly refers to another paper. Usually, there is some kind of indication in the text of the paper. Then the full reference is given in the bibliography.
Citations are important for a couple of reasons. One is that citations are how authors give proper credit to the work and ideas of others. People also count citations to a paper as an indication of how important or influential the paper has been.
CITING PRESS RELEASES OR ANY SOURCE FOR THAT MATTER IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT HELPS YOU BE MORE TRANSPARENT WITH THE INFORMATION YOU’RE SHARING. NOT ONLY IS IT THE RESPONSIBLE THING TO DO, BUT IT ALSO HELPS YOU EARN AND BUILD YOUR AUDIENCE’S TRUST. CITING PRESS RELEASES LETS YOU EMPHASIZE YOUR CREDIBILITY AND DEDICATION TO SHARING CORRECT AND INFORMATIONAL CONTENT.
Simon Elkjær, Chief Marketing Officer at avXperten
When compiling a paper or any other presentation, you can also refer to press releases of news, events, etc. After all, they include the latest information about events.
When you include information from a source in a paper, presentation, or other project, you must give credit to the source’s author. You do not have to cite information that is common knowledge, such as that the United States has 50 states.
A citation can include someone else’s exact words, placed in quotation marks and followed by a parenthetical citation. It also can include someone else’s ideas explained in your own words, followed by a parenthetical citation. This second example is similar to a paraphrase, but used to give an overview of many ideas explained in your own words.
The citation is the act of telling your reader where you got your information. It also is called citing your source.
A CITATION, OR REFERENCE TO ANOTHER PUBLISHED PAPER, PROVIDES EVIDENCE FOR THE POINT BEING MADE BY AN AUTHOR.
There are three main ways to cite links:
- MLA
- APA
- Chicago (or Chicago Manual of Style, a.k.a. CMOS)
No matter what style guide you use, the quote’s body (basic information) will be the same. So let’s consider how to cite a press release correctly.
Some differences in purpose:
- MLA was originally designed for discussing literature, linguistics, and language.
- APA was originally designed for discussing research in the soft sciences like psychology and sociology, though it’s also become common in education.
- Chicago was designed for book publishing, but it has become especially common among historians and economists.
Accordingly, each one’s format is designed to reflect the various interests of those fields. MLA is designed for quick, in-text citations parenthetically. It provides detailed instructions on citing poetry, song lyrics and media not normally covered by APA, for instance. MLA deemphasizes the date of publication, as literary studies don’t have as much turnover and obsolescence as cutting-edge research in the sciences.
How to Cite a Press Release in MLA
The Association of Modern Languages has a guide to the style of citations. Most often, this format is used by humanities.
Components:
- Name of the author, organization, or government agency. At the end of the name, you need to put a period. In the case of public institutions, the name of the state or country must first be indicated → general department → specific unit or agency in that department.
- Press release name (required in quotation marks). Issued according to the heading register. The period must be at the end of the header, inside the closing quotes. After the name, in italics, spell out the “Press Release” and the abbreviation of the organization.
- Date. The design should be in European style (day-month-year) and short form.
- URL of the website. This is a direct link to the press release on the Internet. Enter the word “Accessed,” then enter the date you accessed the press release at this location in the day-month-year format. Close the quote with a period.
- You can specify the name of the organization in parentheses after the title of the press release, inside closing quotes.
Example: Apple. “Apple Reports First Quarter Results.” Apple Press Release, 27 Jan. 2021. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/01/apple-reports-first-quarter-results/. Accessed 10 Jan. 2021.
How to Cite a Press Release in APA
The American Psychological Association also created its guide to the style of citing links to a press release. Citation using this technique is used in the fields of sociology, anthropology, and psychology.
Citation steps:
- The author or name of the organization. It is important to know the source of the release.
- Date of publication. In parentheses, the year-month-day format.
- Title of the press release. It stands out in italics.
- The words “Press Release” in square brackets are added after the title. Close the sentence with a period.
- URL. Before inserting a link, you must add the words “Retrieved from.” Close the URL with a period.
- If you quote in the body of the text of your study, the link is given in parentheses and includes the name of the organization and the year of release. These items are separated by a comma.
Example: Apple. (2021, January 27). Apple Reports First Quarter Results [Press release]. Retrieved from https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/01/apple-reports-first-quarter-results/.
Citation of a Press Release in Chicago Style
How to cite a press release in Chicago style:
- Name of the organization. You need to specify the author. Close with a period.
- List the title of the press release in quotation marks. You must use capital letters in sentence case for the title. Insert a period before the closing quotation mark.
- Date of issue. Insert the words “press release” → Author → comma → release date in month-day-year format. After a year, you need to insert a period.
- URL. Specify the name of the site where the press release is posted, insert a period, and then insert the link. After the link, you need to insert a comma.
- Date. Specified after the word “access” in the format “month-day-year.” Close the citation with a period.
Example: Apple. “Apple Reports First Quarter Results.” Apple press release, January 27, 2021. On the Apple website. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/01/apple-reports-first-quarter-results/, accessed January 10, 2021.
When quoted in footnote format in the main part of your work, most periods are replaced with commas, for example:
Apple, “Apple Reports First Quarter Results,” January 27, 2021, https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/01/apple-reports-first-quarter-results/.
These three styles are the most common ones used in citations. These styles are used mainly by students and researchers. But many other disciplines use other citing options that are still based on MLA, APA, and Chicago.
There are AMA (American Medical Association), APSA (American Political Science Association), AAA (American Anthropological Association), Vancouver, IEEE (engineering), and Turabian styles as well.
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Citations are made in order to properly acknowledge the contributions of the original writers. Citations are used to identify your sources so that they may be readily found and accessed by the reader.
Do you need to cite a press release?
Generally speaking, you must cite sources whenever you present information that the reader cannot be expected to already know and whenever you provide knowledge that you would not have known without performing your study. When discussing, summarizing, or paraphrasing an author’s thoughts, you must acknowledge a source. If you do not cite it might be called plagiarizing, you are failing to acknowledge others whose study served as the foundation for your own. Academic dishonesty and a violation include plagiarism.
How do you cite a press release in footnotes?
You should be familiar with the organization or author’s name, the title of the press release (if relevant), the publication date, and the URL. Press releases should be cited in the text using the author and year just like any other source. Call them 2021a and 2021b if you utilize more than one press release from each author every year (for example, two from APA in 2021). (whichever title comes first alphabetically will be 2021a).
Notes-Bibliography format:
Author First Name Author Surname, “Press Release Title,” medium, Publication Date, URL.
Parenthetical:
(Author Surname Publication Year)
(GE News 2019)
Narrative:
Author Surname (Publication Year)
GE News (2019)
Max Shak, CFO at Abtron.com
Do you need to cite a press release?
One aspect of public relations is media relations, which includes press releases. Your story will be seen by journalists and editors when you issue a press release. For television and radio, they will run it if it is newsworthy. Press releases are necessary if you want to be in the news. You don’t otherwise.
It’s a standard format that allows journalists and editors to tailor information for publication in a way that makes it easy to read. Press releases are essentially free if they’re written correctly. In addition to not paying distribution agencies, you do not need to use fancy templates on the internet or anything else.
How do you cite a press release in the footnotes?
When citing a press release in APA Style, include the name of the organization, the publication date, the title in italics, “Press release” in square brackets, and the URL.
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