How to cite website in paper mla

Created by an Unknown Author, or the Author is the same as the Website Title/Publisher

 "Title of Section." Title of Website, Publisher or Sponsoring Organization, Date of publication or last modified date, URL. Accessed Date Month (abbreviated) Year.

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. If the website publisher is the same as the author and title of the web site, then include only the title of the web site. 

Works Cited List Example:

Athlete's Foot - Topic Overview.” WebMD, 25 Sept. 2014, www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/athletes-foot-topic-overview.

In-Text Citation Example:

("Title of Section")

(“Athlete's Foot - Topic Overview”)


Created by a Known Author

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Page or Document." Title of Website, Publisher or Sponsoring Organization, Date of copyright or date last modified/updated, URL. Accessed Date Month (abbreviated) Year.

Works Cited List Example:

Morin, Amy. "How to Prevent the Media From Damaging Your Teen's Body Image." Verywell Family, About Inc., 6 Oct. 2019, www.verywellfamily.com/media-and-teens-body-image-2611245. Accessed 1 Nov. 2019.

In-Text Citation Example:

(Author's Last Name)

(Morin)

When citing a website in MLA style, follow the basic format below.

General, non-periodic websites


Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of Work.” Title of Site, Sponsor or  Publisher [include  only if different from website title or author], Date of Publication or Update Date, URL. Accessed Date [only if no date of publication or update date].

Hamilton, Jon. “Think You’re Multitasking? Think Again.” National Public Radio, 2 Oct. 2008, www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95256794.

If no author is available, begin with the title of the work.


“Turmeric.” National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Sep. 2016, nccih.nih.gov/health/turmeric/ataglance.htm.

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.

Title

Capitalize the first letter of every important word in the title. You do not need to capitalize words such as: in, of, or an. Do not use all-caps (except for words like USA where each letter stands for something), even if the words appear that way on the article.

If there is a colon (:) in the title, include what comes after the colon (also known as the subtitle).

Publisher

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. 

According to p. 42 of the MLA Handbook, publisher information may be omitted for:

  • periodicals (journals, magazines, newspapers)
  • works published by an author or editor
  • web sites whose title is the same as the name of the publisher
  • a web site not involved in producing the work it makes (e.g. user-generated content sites like YouTube)

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 located 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.

Access Date

Date of access is optional in MLA 9th edition. If no publication date is included, we recommend including the date you last accessed the site.

Include an in-text citation when you refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source. For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list.

MLA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the page number from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken, for example: (Smith 163). If the source does not use page numbers, do not include a number in the parenthetical citation: (Smith).

For more information on in-text citation, see the MLA Style Center.

Example paragraph with in-text citation

A few researchers in the linguistics field have developed training programs designed to improve native speakers' ability to understand accented speech (Derwing et al. 246; Thomas 15). Their training techniques are based on the research described above indicating that comprehension improves with exposure to non-native speech. Derwing and others conducted their training with students preparing to be social workers, but note that other professionals who work with non-native speakers could benefit from a similar program (258).

References

Derwing, Tracey M., et al. "Teaching Native Speakers to Listen to Foreign-accented Speech." Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, vol. 23, no. 4, 2002, pp. 245-259.

Thomas, Holly K. Training Strategies for Improving Listeners' Comprehension of Foreign-accented Speech. University of Colorado, Boulder, 2004.

Citing Web Pages In Text

Cite web pages in text as you would any other source, using the author if known. If the author is not known, use the title as the in-text citation.

Your in-text citation should lead your reader to the corresponding entry in the reference list. Below are examples of using in-text citation with web pages.

Entire website with author:
In-text citation
Parents play an important role in helping children learn techniques for coping with bullying (Kraizer).

Reference entry
Kraizer, Sherryll. Safe Child. Coalition for Children, 2011, www.safechild.org.

Web page with no author:
In-text citation
The term Nittany Lion was coined by Penn State football player Joe Mason in 1904 ("All Things Nittany").

Reference entry
"All Things Nittany." About Penn State. Penn State University, 2006, www.psu.edu/ur/about/nittanymascot.html.

General Guidelines

In MLA style the author's name can be included either in the narrative text of your paper, or in parentheses following the reference to the source.

Author's name part of narrative:

Gass and Varonis found that the most important element in comprehending non-native speech is familiarity with the topic (163).

Author's name in parentheses:

One study found that the most important element in comprehending non-native speech is familiarity with the topic (Gass and Varonis 163).

Group as author:
(American Psychological Association 123)

Multiple works: (separate each work with semi-colons)

Research shows that listening to a particular accent improves comprehension of accented speech in general (Gass and Varonis 143; Thomas 24).

Direct quote:

One study found that “the listener's familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire message” (Gass and Varonis 85).

Gass and Varonis found that “the listener’s familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire message” (85).

Note: For quotations that are more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse, display quotations as an indented block of text (one inch from left margin) and omit quotation marks. Place your parenthetical citation at the end of the block of text, after the final punctuation mark.

In addition to awareness-raising, practicing listening to accented speech has been shown to improve listening comprehension. This article recommends developing listening training programs for library faculty and staff, based on research from the linguistics and language teaching fields. Even brief exposure to accented speech can help listeners improve their comprehension, thereby improving the level of service to international patrons. (O'Malley 19)

Works by Multiple Authors

When citing works by multiple authors, always spell out the word "and." When a source has three or more authors, only the first one shown in the source is normally given followed by et al.

One author: (Field 399)

Works Cited entry:
Field, John. "Intelligibility and the Listener: The Role of Lexical Stress." TESOL Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 3, 2005, pp. 399-423.

Two authors: (Gass and Varonis 67)

Works Cited entry:
Gass, Susan, and Evangeline M. Varonis. "The Effect of Familiarity on the Comprehensibility of Nonnative Speech." Language Learning, vol. 34, no. 1, 1984, pp. 65-89.

Three or more authors: (Munro et al. 70)

Works Cited entry:
Munro, Murray J., et al. "Salient Accents, Covert Attitudes: Consciousness-raising for Pre-service Second Language Teachers." Prospect, vol. 21, no. 1, 2006, pp. 67-79.