MLA: Citing Web Pages
Citation Generators - A Warning!
There are several free online citation generators that will make your Works Cited or Reference pages for you. Beware that these do not always format your sources correctly (there is a reason they are free). If you choose to use one of these tools, use the tabs at the top of the screen to check that they are correct before submitting your assignment. You don't want to lose points on your assignment because the AI generators were wrong!
How to Cite a Web Page in MLA
Works Cited:
- Author names are always formatted as Lastname, comma, Firstname.
- If the web page has two authors it switches up! Lastname, Firstname, and Firstname Lastname
- If it has three or more authors use the first author and replace the others with et al. - Lastname, Firstname, et al.
- You'll need both the web PAGE (article or information you're using) and the web SITE.
- The web page/article will be in "quotes" and the website name will be italicized.
- In most cases, don't include the .com, .org, .edu in the website name.
- Be sure to remove the hyperlink from the website URL
- In your Word doc highlight the link, click your right mouse button and choose Remove Hyperlink
- Note where periods and commas separate pieces of information.
Let's talk about DATES. Online information doesn't always have a publication date. If the page has a date the information was written, then you will use that. If there is no date listed, DO NOT USE the copyright year at the bottom of the site. Instead you'll list the date you accessed the site.
*Your instructor may want you to include the access date, even when the date is available. Be sure to follow your assignment directions!
- The date the article was written comes first in the examples below. The access date is listed last.
- Note how dates are formatted - day, month, year.
Examples:
Article with both dates (date of publication and access date):
Cavanaugh, Ray. "The First Witch Trials Were in Connecticut, Years Before Salem." The New York Times, 27 Oct. 2017,
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/nyregion/connecticut-witchcraft-trials.html. Accessed 1 Jan. 2018.
If the article doesn't have a publication date:
Cavanaugh, Ray. "The First Witch Trials Were in Connecticut, Years Before Salem." The New York Times,
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/nyregion/connecticut-witchcraft-trials.html. Accessed 1 Jan. 2018.
Don't forget to include your hanging indent.
In-Text Citation
(Cavanaugh)
Works Cited:
- When no author is listed, your Works Cited entry will start with the page/article title.
- You'll need both the web PAGE (article or information you're using) and the web SITE.
- The web page/article will be in "quotes" and the website name will be italicized.
- In most cases, don't include the .com, .org, .edu in the website name.
- Be sure to remove the hyperlink from the website URL
- In your Word doc highlight the link, click your right mouse button and choose Remove Hyperlink
- Note where periods and commas separate pieces of information.
Let's talk about DATES for a second. Online information doesn't always have a publication date. If the page has a date the information was written, then you will use that. If there is no date listed, DO NOT USE the copyright year at the bottom of the site. Instead you'll list the date you accessed the site.
*Your instructor may want you to include the access date, even when the date is available. Be sure to follow your assignment directions!
- The date the article was written comes first in the examples below. The access date is listed last.
- Note how dates are formatted - day, month, year.
Example:
"Web Insight: Do You Use a GPS App Such as Google Maps?" Center for the Digital Future, 4 Mar. 2019, https://www.digitalcenter.org/web-insights/use-gps. Accessed 5 Mar. 2019.
Don't forget to include your hanging indent.
In-Text Citation
Since there is no author, you will use the title or a shortened version of the title. If the title is only a few words, there is no reason to shorten it. In the example above, we will shorten the title to Web Insight.
If your title is in quotes in your Works Cited, it will be in quotes in the in-text citation.
("Web Insight")
The Works Cited entry for an online journal article is different than other articles published online. It will look very similar to how you create your entry for a journal from a library database.
How do I know it's a journal article? There are a few key things you can look for:
- Volume and issue numbers
- DOI
- Phrases such as Open Access
Here is a screenshot of an online journal article. This one is labeled as a journal article, but can you spot the other clues?
Works Cited
Author name. "Title of Article." Name of Publication, vol. x, no. x, pp. x-xx. Website Name, article URL (hyperlink removed).
Holmes-Henderson, Arlene, and Tom F. Wright. "Making the Voice Matter in English Studies Teaching." Journal of the English Association, vol. 72, no. 278, autumn 2023, pp. 87-95. Oxford Academic, https://academic.oup.com/english/article/72/278/87/7404893.
(Don't forget to use a hanging indent).
In-Text Citation
The article in the same above has a PDF with page numbers, so we will include those in the citation.
(Holmes-Henderson and Wright 89)
More on Citations
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MLA Month Abbreviations
You will abbreviate most months on your Works Cited. When you use the abbreviation, be sure to include the period.
January ----- Jan.
February ----- Feb.
March ----- Mar.
April ----- Apr.
May ----- May
June ----- June
July ----- July
August ----- Aug.
September ---- Sept.
October ----- Oct.
November ----- Nov.
December ----- Dec.