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MLA Citation Guide (MLA 9th Edition): Websites

Formatting

Note: For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Tips

Accessed Date

In the 9th edition of the MLA Manual, accessed dates are no longer used for most entries.  The exception is if you have a web source without a publication date or which has been altered or removed.  This date will be added to the end of the entry. E.g. Accessed 23 July 2022.

Author

It can sometimes be difficult to find out who the author of a website is. Remember that an author can be a corporation or group, not only a specific person. Author information can sometimes be found under an "About" section on a website.

If there is no known author, start the citation with the title of the website instead.

Date

The best date to use for a website is the date that the content was last updated. Otherwise look for a copyright or original publication date. Unfortunately this information may not be provided or may be hard to find. Often date information is put on the bottom of the pages of a website.

If you do not know the complete date, put as much information as you can find. For example you may have a year but no month or day.

 

Page on a Website Created by a Corporation, Institution, or Group

Name of Corporation/Group/Organization. "Title of Section." Title of Website, Publisher or Sponsoring Organization, Date of publication or last modified date, URL. Accessed access date only if there is not a date for the page.

 Note: The publisher or sponsoring organization can often be found in a copyright notice at the bottom of the home page or on a page that gives information about the site. When the page is authored and published by the same corporation/group/organization, begin your citation with the section title.

 Note: The publisher may be omitted from the citation if the website title is essentially the same as the publisher name

Works Cited List Example

"Audit and Assurance." Chartered Professional Accountants Canada, 2016, www.cpacanada.ca/en/business-and-accounting-resources/audit-and-assurance. 
In-Text Citation Example

("Title of Section")

("Audit and Assurance")

Website with a Known Author

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Website, Name of Organization Affiliated with the Website, Date of copyright or date last modified/updated, URL. Accessed access date if there is not a date for the site.

Works Cited List Example

Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespeare Online, 29 Dec. 2011, www.shakespeare-online.com. 
In-Text Citation Example

(Author's Last Name)

(Mabillard)

Page or Document on a Website with a Known Author

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Page or Document." Title of Website, Name of Organization Affiliated with the Website, Date of copyright or date last modified/updated, URL. Accessed access date if there is not a date for the page.

Works Cited List Example

Poncelet, Barbara. "Mom Am I Fat?: Helping Your Teen Have a Positive Body Image." Verywell.com, About Inc., 20 Apr. 2016, www.verywell.com/mom-am-i-fat-3200843. 
In-Text Citation Example

(Author's Last Name)

(Poncelet)

Page or Document on a Website with an Unknown Author

"Title of Page or Document." Title of Website, Name of Organization Affiliated with the Website, Date of copyright or date last modified/updated, URL. Accessed access date if there is not a date for the page.

Works Cited List Example

"How to Teach Yourself Guitar." eHow, Demand Media, www.ehow.com/how_5298173_teach-yourself-guitar.html. Accessed 24 June 2016.
In-Text Citation Example

("Title of Page or Document")

("How")

Note: There is no author, so the title (or an abbreviated version of the title) is used in the in-text citation, in quotation marks, as it appears in the Works Cited List Example above.

Government Document From a Website

Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee. Title of Document: Subtitle if Given. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publication Date, URL. Accessed Access Date if there is not a date for the page.

Works Cited List Example

 United States, Department of Education. Tips for Helping Students Recovering from Traumatic Events. Sept. 2005.  www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/recovering/part.html. 
In-Text Citation Example

 (Department, Agency, or Committee)

 Example: (United States, Department of Education)

 Note: You can use a shortened form of the Department, Agency, or Committee by listing the first word or words of the full name.

Blog Post

Author's Last Name, First Name or Username if real name not provided. "Title of Blog Post." Name of Blog, Blog Network/Publisher if given, Day Month Year of blog post, URL of blog post. Accessed Day Month Year blog was visited if there is not a date for the post.

Works Cited List Example

Naish, Darren. "If Bigfoot Were Real." Tetrapod Zoology, Scientific American Blogs, 27 June 2016, blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/if-bigfoot-were-real/. 
In-Text Citation Example

(Author's Last Name)

(Naish)

 Note: Blog posts have no page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings so this information is left out of the in-text citation.