Skip to Main Content
PierceLibraryLogo

Cite Your Sources in MLA 9th: Websites

How to Cite Websites

Webpage or Document on a Website

Webpage with Individual Author

Format:

Author(s) or username if no real name provided. "Title of Webpage or Document." Title of Website, Website Publisher [if different from title], Date of Copyright or Last Update [if available], URL. Accessed Day Month Year.


Example:

Morin, Amy. "Mom Am I Fat?: Helping Your Teen Have a Positive Body Image." Verywell Family, About Inc., 18 Jan.  2019, www.verywellfamily.com/media-and-teens-body-image-2611245. Accessed 12 May 2019.

Webpage with Unknown or Group Author

Format:

"Title of Webpage or Document." Title of Website, Website Publisher [if different from title], Date of Copyright or Last Update [if available], URL. Accessed Day Month Year.


Example:

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

Entire Website

Website with Individual Author

Format:

Author(s) or username if no real name provided. Title of Website, Website Publisher [if different from title], Date of Copyright or Last Update [if available], URL. Accessed Day Month Year.


Example:

Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespeare Online, 29 Dec. 2011, www.shakespeare-online.com. Accessed 6 July 2016.

Website with Unknown or Group Author

Format:

Title of Website. Website Publisher [if different from title], Date of Copyright or Last Update [if available], URL. Accessed Day Month Year.


Example:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, www.cdc.gov/. Accessed 6 Dec. 2021.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia Entry

Format:

"Title of Entry." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Day Month Year entry was last modified, Time entry was last modified, URL. Accessed Day Month Year.


Example:

"Body Image." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 June 2016, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_image. Accessed 28 June 2016.

How to Format Author Names

One Author

Format:

Last Name, First Name
or
Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial (if provided in source)


Name Examples:

Anzaldúa, Gloria
Kendi, Ibram X.
Wallace, David Foster


Citation Example:

Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza. 4th ed., Aunt Lute Books, 2012. 

Two Authors

Format:

Last Name, First Name, and First Name Last Name


Example:

Wykes, Maggie, and Barrie Gunter. The Media and Body Image: If Looks Could Kill. Sage, 2005.

Three or More Authors

Format:

First Author's Last Name, First Name, et al.


Example:

Chan, Sabrina S., et al. Learning Our Names: Asian American Christians on Identity, Relationships, and Vocation. InterVarsity Press, 2022.

Group or Corporate Author

If the Group Author Is Different From Publisher

Format:

If the group author and the publisher are different entities, list the Group Name as the author. 


Example:

Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation. Employability Skills: Creating My Future. Nelson, 1996.


If the Group Author and Publisher Are the Same

Format:

If the group author and the publisher are the same, skip the author and list the title first. Then, list the group author only as the publisher.


Example:

Fair Housing—Fair Lending. Aspen Law & Business, 1985.

No Author

Format:

If a source has no author, skip the author and start with the title. Do not use "Anonymous" as the author name.


Example:

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

One Author

Format:

(Last Name Page Number)


Example:

(Anzaldúa 30)

Two Authors

Format:

(First Author's Last Name and Second Author's Last Name Page Number)


Example:

(Wykes and Gunter 53)

Three or More Authors

Format:

(First Author's Last Name et al. Page Number)


Example:

(Chan et al. 97)

Group or Corporate Author

Format:

(Group Name Page Number)


Example:

(Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation 230)


If your full citation for a group author starts with the title rather than the group's name, follow the "No Author" in-text citation rules instead.

No Author

Format:

(Title of Longer Work or "Title of Shorter Work" Page Number)


Examples:

(Fair Housing 15)

("How to Teach")

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I format dates?

Dates in your Works Cited list should be formatted like this: Day Month Year. Month names should be abbreviated using the list below. 
Example: 17 Oct. 2021.

For publication dates, include as much information as the source provides. This may be a full date, only the month and year, a season (such as Spring 2019), or just a publication year.

Month Abbreviations

In your Works Cited list, abbreviate months as follows:

January = Jan.
February = Feb.
March = Mar.
April = Apr.
May = May
June = June
July = July
August = Aug.
September = Sept.
October = Oct.
November = Nov.
December = Dec.

Spell out months fully in the body of your paper.

What is a DOI?

Digital Object Identifiers, or DOIs, are unique numbers or hyperlinks assigned to some online resources, such as journal articles, to make them easier to find.

If a DOI is provided for a source, include it at the end of your citation after any page numbers. In your Works Cited list, you should always format a DOI as a URL beginning with "https://doi.org/" followed immediately by the DOI number.

Example: For DOI "10.5642/jhummath.20170120," the URL version would be: https://doi.org/10.5642/jhummath.20170120

If no DOI is provided but a permalink or stable link is present, you can use that instead.

What if some information is missing?

If a source is missing information that you need for your Works Cited citation, you can skip that element and move on to the next element in the citation.

Examples: Some sources don't have an author; in this case, we skip the author and start our citation with the title. Most academic journals are published in volumes and issues, but some only have volumes; in this case, we list the volume number and skip the issue number. 

What if I don't know which source type I'm citing?

If you're not sure what type of source you're working with, don't worry! This is a very common challenge. Check out our page on Identifying Source Types.

What if I need to cite multiple sources by the same author?

Works Cited List: To cite two or more works by the same author, give the name in the first entry only. For subsequent works by the same author, replace the author's name with three hyphens followed by a period (---.), which signifies that the name is the same as the preceding entry. Alphabetize works with the same author by title. 

In-Text Citations: To distinguish multiple works by the same author, add a comma followed by a shortened version of the title (usually the first 2-4 words) between the author name and the page number. Example: (Anzaldúa, Borderlands / La Frontera 38). Alternately, you can mention the author and title in the sentence, and then only include the page number. 

For page numbers, should I use p. or pp.?

If you are citing a single page, use "p." If you are citing multiple pages, use "pp."

Example: If an article runs from page 10 to page 15, your citation should say "pp. 10-15" because it covers multiple pages. If it's a short article that only appears on page 11, your citation should say "p. 11".

More Information on MLA 9th