How to Cite an Advertisement in a Text

Advertisements can show the technology of a historical period.

You will probably use a variety of sources when you write a paper: television shows, magazines, books, websites, movies, package inserts and songs. There is, however, another easily overlooked source, which showcases a company's opinion of their product at a specific date in history. It's an advertisement. Depending on the style, advertisements can be a reference to items which were important to society at a particular point in time. For example, Rosie the Riveter is an iconic advertising image introduced as a way to encourage women to work while American men fought in World War II.

Instructions

1. Summarize the information detailed in the advertisement that you want to include in your paper. If you are writing a paper about fashion, write a description of the clothing worn in the advertisement. On the other hand, if you are writing a paper which documents the way a medication is portrayed to the public, copy a few quotes from the advertisement.

2. Find the paragraph where you want to insert your citation. Write the location and date of when the advertisement was published. If the advertisement was in a magazine, write the name of the magazine and the date the magazine was published. For example, if you are citing an ad found in a magazine write, "In the April 2009 issue of Parent magazine."

3. Write the name of the company the advertisement is about. For example, if it's an advertisement about cereal, write the name of the company which manufactured the cereal.

4. Make a set of parentheses and fill it with the name of the company who's product is depicted in the advertisement. Follow it with a period. Type the location where the ad was found and the date of the publication. Your ending citation will look similar to this: (Dove. Marie Claire 2011)

References

• Henderson State University: MLA Style Reference Samples
• Purdue University: Purdue Online Writing Lab--Avoiding Plagiarism
• Purdue University: Purdue Online Writing Lab--Frequently Asked Questions: Answers from Our OWL Tutors: What Kinds of Sources Should I Use in a Research Paper?
• Fairfield Public Schools, Conneticut: Works Cited
• Purdue University: Purdue Online Writing--In-Text Citations: The Basics
• Ad Council: Women in War Jobs - Rosie the Riveter