MLA Website Citation: Format, Examples, and In-Text Rules
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0 sourcesMLA Website Citation in MLA 9th edition follows: Author Last, First. “Title of Page.” Website Name, Publication Date, URL. In-text you cite only the author’s last name in parentheses, with no page number for unpaginated web pages.
What is the MLA format for a website citation?
The MLA Works Cited entry for a web page lists the author, the page title in quotation marks, the website name in italics, the publication date, and the URL. MLA 9 builds this from its nine-element container template.
The core pattern is:
TemplateAuthor Last, First. “Title of Page.” Title of Website, Publisher, Publication Date, URL.
Drop the publisher when it duplicates the website name, which is true for most sites. Remove https:// or http:// from the URL, but keep the rest of the address exactly as it appears.
- Author — last name, first name, ending in a period.
- Page title — in quotation marks, title case.
- Website name — the container, in italics.
- Date — day, abbreviated month, year.
- URL — location, with
https://removed.
Which elements go in each citation?
MLA 9 uses a fixed order of elements, and you include only the ones that apply to your source. For a typical website, five elements do the work; the rest stay empty.
| Element | Web page rule | Punctuation after |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Last, First; omit if none | Period |
| “Title of source” | Page title in quotation marks | Period (inside quotes) |
| Title of container | Website name in italics | Comma |
| Publication date | Day Mon. Year | Comma |
| Location | URL without protocol | Period |
What are real MLA website citation examples?
Below are correct, copy-ready Works Cited entries for the most common website scenarios. Match the entry type to your source before you copy it.
Page with authorDeresiewicz, William. “The Death of the Artist—and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur.” The Atlantic, 28 Dec. 2014, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/01/the-death-of-the-artist-and-the-birth-of-the-creative-entrepreneur/383497/.
Organization as author“Climate Change and Health.” World Health Organization, 12 Oct. 2023, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health.
Two authorsNguyen, Linh, and Marcus Bell. “How Vaccines Train the Immune System.” Live Science, 4 Feb. 2022, www.livescience.com/how-vaccines-work.html.
Blog postRowell, Katja. “Feeding a Picky Toddler Without the Battles.” The Feeding Doctor, 9 Aug. 2021, thefeedingdoctor.com/feeding-a-picky-toddler.
When a page has three or more authors, list the first author followed by et al.: Ramirez, Sofia, et al.
How do I cite a website with no author or no date?
When a web page has no named author, begin the entry with the page title. When it has no publication date, omit the date and add an access date at the end of the entry so readers know which version you saw.
No author“The History of the English Language.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 3 Mar. 2023, www.britannica.com/topic/English-language.
No dateGardner, Susan. “How to Start Seeds Indoors.” The Old Farmer’s Almanac, www.almanac.com/content/starting-seeds-indoors. Accessed 15 Mar. 2024.
Whole websitePurdue Online Writing Lab. Purdue OWL, Purdue U, 2024, owl.purdue.edu. Accessed 2 Apr. 2024.
Do not use “Anonymous” or “N.d.” in MLA. Simply skip the missing element and let the next one take its place.
How do I write the in-text citation for a website?
MLA in-text citations for websites use only the author’s last name in parentheses, with no page number because web pages are usually unpaginated. If the author’s name appears in your sentence, you need no parenthetical citation at all.
| Source situation | In-text citation |
|---|---|
| Page with an author | (Deresiewicz) |
| Author named in sentence | Deresiewicz argues… |
| Organization author | (World Health Organization) |
| No author | (“The History of the English Language”) |
| Page or paragraph numbers shown | (Nguyen and Bell, par. 4) |
Shorten a long title in the parenthetical to the first noun phrase, keep it in quotation marks for a page, and match the first word to the Works Cited entry so readers can find it.
What are the URL and date rules?
MLA 9 asks you to include the full URL as the location element but to strip the http:// or https:// prefix. Do not add angle brackets, and do not hyperlink the address in a printed paper.
- Use a permalink or DOI when the site provides one; it is more stable than a long query URL.
- Write dates as day-month-year and abbreviate all months except May, June, and July:
28 Dec. 2014. - Add
Accessed 15 Mar. 2024.only when no publication date exists or when the content is likely to change. - Capitalize the page title and website name in title case, not sentence case.
How accurate is this guide, and what are its limits?
These rules reflect the MLA Handbook, 9th edition, the current standard as of 2024. The container template is deliberately flexible, so two writers can produce slightly different yet equally correct entries for the same messy source.
Edge cases still need judgment. Social media posts, streaming video, e-books, and database articles each shift which elements apply, so verify unusual sources against the handbook or your instructor’s syllabus. A generator speeds up the mechanics, but you should always proofread the author order, italics, and date format before submitting. When your instructor requires MLA 8 or an older edition, confirm the URL and access-date expectations, which changed between editions.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about citing websites in MLA 9th edition.