Information Literacy @ Kent Library

Citing a Publicly-Accessible Webpage with MLA Style: Components

 

Websites can be tricky because not all websites have all components.  Here are the parts you should list if you can find them:

1. Author

Put the last name first, followed by a comma, followed by the first name (last name, first name), then a period.
Example -

Didd, Katy.

  

2. "Title of Document"

If there is no author, the title of the document comes next.  This is usually at the top of the page, and also may be in the blue title bar at the very top of your browser.  The document title only refers to one part or page of a website - for example the "Johnny Depp" entry on the Internet Movie Database website, or the "about us" page on a corporate website.
Example -

3. Print Publication Information

If your document is part of a magazine or newspaper with a print counterpart, you will now need to include the name of the print publication and the date the document was published in print.  You should also include the page numbers, if these are given.
Example -

  Southeast Missourian is the print version, seMissourian.com is the online version.

4. Title of Website

If you are citing an entire website, you can leave out the title of the document and begin with this.  The title of the website covers more than one page - for example, the Internet Movie Database, Wikipedia, Facebook, and the Stanford Dictionary of Philosophy are all sites, not pages.
Example -

5. Date of electronic publication or last update

This information is usually found at the bottom of the page.
Examples -

      OR     

6. Institution or organization associated with the site.

This could be a university, a government agency, or a business or product brand.  You can often find this in the copyright statement.
Example -

7. Date of access.

Today's date.  You should always be able to include this!

8. <URL>

Include the web address of the page or website that you are citing.  Put angle signs (carets) around it.
Example -

<http://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/>

Now that you have a list of components, look at the sites below.  Identify what components are available, and then click "See!"  to open an example citation in a new window.

Southeast Missourian News Story     See!

EPA Climate Change Site         See!

NORML Web Page        See!


If you're still having trouble citing your webpage or website,

 

 

Created by Claudia Ruediger and Michaela Willi Hooper, Kent Library, Southeast Missouri State University. Updated 10/08/2008.