How to Cite a Pamphlet in APA, MLA, or Chicago

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Working on a project about a museum exhibit? You’ll likely want to cite the pamphlet given to visitors, in addition to newspaper clippings about the exhibit or books written on the subject presented. Compiling information about a business? You may want to quote directly from the company’s brochure.

Quickly cite a pamphlet by using our online form here.

Citing a pamphlet may seem like a daunting task at first. You may be more accustomed to writing citations for scholarly works, rather than for primary source documents. But with the proper information, you’ll find that citing a pamphlet isn’t as challenging as it might seem initially. In fact, the information required is quite similar to what you’d need if you were citing a book.

Let’s review how to do this in MLA format (9th ed.), APA format, and Chicago/Turabian. For our example, let’s look at the pamphlet “Access” by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

To cite a pamphlet properly, you must identify the following pieces of information:

  1. The author of the pamphlet. This can be an individual, group, or organization
  2. Title of the pamphlet
  3. URL of the website that the pamphlet was found on (if found online)
  4. Date the pamphlet was published
  5. Publisher of the pamphlet
  6. City where the publisher is located (for Chicago/Turabian)

Use the following structure to cite a pamphlet in MLA format:

Last name, First name of the author or Organization responsible for the creation of the pamphlet. Title of the Pamphlet. Publisher*, date of publication, URL (remove http:// or https://). Pamphlet.

*Note about the Publisher: If the name of the publisher matches the name of the author, start the citation with the title and include this information in the publisher field instead. 

If in Print:

If the pamphlet is found in print, exclude the URL.

Here’s how the above example would be cited in MLA format:

Access. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, fall 2017, metmuseum.org/-/media/Files/Events/Programs/Progs%20for%20Visitors%20with%20Disabilities/AccessCalendar.pdf. Pamphlet.

*The Metropolitan Museum of Art is both the author and the publisher. To prevent duplication of this information twice in the citation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is only included in the publisher container.  

In-text citations

The information included in a parenthetical citation should match the first item in the full reference on your Works Cited page. For a pamphlet, this would be either the author’s last name, the organization who created the pamphlet, or the title of the pamphlet. If the organization name or title is long, it can be shortened to the first noun clause for the parenthetical citation. You should also include a page number if there is one available.

Here’s how the above example would be cited in an in-text citation:

(Access 6)

Use the following structure to cite a pamphlet in APA:

To cite a pamphlet found online in APA, use the following structure:

Author’s Last name, First initial. Middle initial. or Name of Organization. (Year the pamphlet was published). Title of pamphlet [Brochure]. Retrieved from URL

If in Print:

To cite a pamphlet in print in APA, use the following structure:

Author’s Last name, First initial. Middle initial. or Name of Organization. (Year the pamphlet was published). Title of pamphlet [Brochure]. City of publisher, State abbreviation or Country: Publisher*.

*When citing a pamphlet in print in APA, if the name of the publisher matches the name of the author, place the word Author in the place where the publisher’s name would be.

Here’s how the above example would be cited as an APA citation:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2017). Access [Brochure]. Retrieved from https://metmuseum.org/-/media/Files/Events/Programs/Progs%20for%20Visitors%20with%20Disabilities/AccessCalendar.pdf

If citing the same pamphlet in print, the APA citation would look like this:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2017). Access [Brochure]. New York, NY: Author.

Use the following structure to cite a pamphlet in Chicago/Turabian:

Last name, First name of the Author or Name of the Organization who wrote the pamphlet. Title of Brochure. City of Publication: Publisher, Year published. URL.

If in Print:

If citing the pamphlet in print in Chicago/Turabian, exclude the URL from the citation and end the citation with a period.

Here’s how the above example would be cited in Chicago/Turabian:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Access. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2017, https://metmuseum.org/-/media/Files/Events/Programs/Progs%20for%20Visitors%20with%20Disabilities/AccessCalendar.pdf.

One Last Option

If you like guided forms better, EasyBib.com has a citation form specifically for pamphlets that tells you exactly what information is needed for the citation. Simply fill in the form with the correct information and the citation will be generated for you. Click here to try it out.

 

Citation Guides

APA Format

MLA Format

 

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How do I cite a pamphlet with no author?

To cite a pamphlet with no author in APA and MLA styles, it is important that you know basic information such as the title of the pamphlet, publisher name, and date. With both styles, the author field is omitted, and the citation begins with the title of the pamphlet instead.

APA reference list entry

Template:

Title of the pamphlet [Description]. (Publication Year). Publisher.

Example:

Social and emotional climate [Pamphlet]. (2021). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

MLA works cited list entry

Template: 

Title of the Pamphlet. Publisher Name, publication date. Pamphlet.

Example:

Social and Emotional Climate. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2021. Pamphlet.

How do I cite a pamphlet with multiple authors?

To cite a pamphlet with multiple authors in APA and MLA styles, it is important that you know basic information such as the names of the authors, title of the pamphlet, publisher name, and date. The below examples show how to cite a pamphlet with three authors.

APA reference list entry

Template: 

First Author Surname, F. M., Second Author Surname, F. M., & Third Author Surname, F. M. (Publication Year). Title of the pamphlet [Description]. Publisher.

Example:

Stone, J., Rawlings, P., & Mackenzie, R. A. (2010). Gratton street irregulars [Pamphlet]. Sphinx.

Note: In APA style, all author names are included in a reference list citation up to twenty authors.

MLA works cited list entry

Template:

First Author Surname, First Name, et al. Title of the Pamphlet. Publisher, publication date. Pamphlet.

Example:

Stone, Jon, et al. Gratton Street Irregulars. Sphinx, 2010. Pamphlet.

Note: In MLA style, “et al.” is used when there are three or more authors. For two authors, the citation should begin “First Author Last Name, First Name, and Second Author First Name Last Name.”