How do I cite a magazine cover in my works-cited list and in my essay?
Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook.
To cite the cover of a magazine, you can generally create a works-cited-list entry for the issue of the magazine and then key your in-text reference to the first element of the entry:
The most recent issue of The Nation features on its cover an image of a donkey with the top of the Capitol building on its back.
Work Cited
The Nation. 17-24 Dec. 2018, www.thenation.com/issue/december-17-24-2018-issue/.
If you discuss a cover image in detail and wish to credit the artist, you could provide the artist’s full name at first mention in your prose or the artist’s last name in parentheses and list the entry under the artist’s name.
The most recent issue of The Nation features on its cover an image, created by Doug Chayka, of a donkey with the top of the Capitol building on its back.
Work Cited
Chakya, Doug. Cover image. The Nation, 17-24 Dec. 2018, www.thenation.com/issue/december-17-24-2018-issue/.
or
The most recent issue of The Nation features on its cover an image of a donkey with the top of the Capitol building on its back (Chayka).
Work Cited
Chakya, Doug. Cover image. The Nation, 17-24 Dec. 2018, www.thenation.com/issue/december-17-24-2018-issue/.
Note that in the above example, since the cover image lacks a title, a description is provided in the “Title of source” slot.