Below, you will find step-by-step instructions for citing websites in the MLA citation style.
Here is the basic format for citing a website in MLA format:
Author Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. Website Title. Company or Organization That Published the Site, Date the Website Was Made. Web Link. Date Accessed.
Let's break the citation down.
The author's name is listed as his or her last name, followed by his or her first name. If he or she lists an initial instead of a name in the article, use that instead. (An example would be J. R. R. Tolkien.) If he or she has a middle name or initial listed, put it after the first name. So an author named John Paul Jones would be listed as:
Jones, John Paul
If you have two authors, you will need to list them both. List them in the order that they appear in the article. Separate them with a comma, but list the second person's first name before his or her last. So an article written by John Paul Jones and John Quincy Adams would look like this:
Jones, John Paul, and John Quincy Adams.
However, if you have three or more authors, type the first, followed by "et al." It would look like this:
Jones, John Paul, et al.
If there is no author listed for the site, just leave the author part of the citation blank and start with the website title.
Type in the entire title of the website, along with the subtitle if there is one. Italicize the title and put a period at the end. So, the website "How to See Giraffes In Kenya" would have its title written like this:
How to See Giraffes in Kenya.
If you had a website with a subtitle, for example "Riding Horses: Tips For Equestrian Fun In Texas and Oklahoma," it would have its title written like this:
Riding Horses: Tips For Equestrian Fun In Texas and Oklahoma.
The website will likely have an organization that created it. For example, if you were citing this website itself, the organization would be Midland College. Simply list the organization, followed by a comma. If the publisher's name is the same as the site you are citing, leave it off (for example: Google, Yahoo, etc.)
Simply list the date of publication for the website. If it is listed, the month and date of publication should be added in the Day, Month, Year format. Abbreviate the month. For example, a website published on January 1, 2022 would be formatted like this: 1 Jan. 2022. If the date is not listed, simply list the year: 2022.
Often, a publication date will not appear for the website. In that situation, use the copyright date. It is often at the very bottom of the webpage. In very rare circumstances you may find websites with no dates. If you have have searched everywhere and cannot find a date, leave the date part of the citation off.
You will need to add a link to the webpage at the end of your citation. Copy the link from the web browser bar and paste it into your citation. Putting the "http://" part at the beginning of the web link is optional. Be sure to ask your instructor if he or she would like them included in your works cited page. An example would look like this:
www.google.com
If the website lacks a creation date, or if the website was taken down or changed in the time since you visited it, type the word "Accessed" and the date that you visited the website at the very end of the citation. The date should be in day, month, year format. Abbreviate the month. For example, if you visit the website on August 26, 2022, at the end of the citation you will type this:
Accessed 26 Aug. 2022.
A website titled "Planting a Garden," written by John Smith and published on October 5, 2017 by Gardening World, would be cited like this:
Smith, John. Planting a Garden. Gardening World, 5 Oct. 2017, http://www.plantingagarden.com.
NOTE: citations on your Works cited page will need to have a hanging indent if the citation runs past one line. This is where the first line is extended to the left margin like a normal sentence, but the rest of the lines are tabbed in a half inch. Visit here for instructions on setting up a hanging indent in Microsoft Word.
Here is the basic format for citing a section of a website in MLA format:
Author Last Name, First Name. Middle Name or Initial. "Title of the Individual Site." Website Title. Company or Organization That Published the Site, Date the Website Was Made. Web Link. Date Accessed.
The citation is identical to citing an entire website, except that the title of the page is listed after the author's name. If the page has no author listed, start the citation with the page name.
Here is an example of citing an individual webpage:
Smith, John. "Choosing Vegetables For Your Garden." Planting a Garden. Gardening World, 5 Oct. 2017, www.plantingagarden.com.
NOTE: citations on your Works cited page will need to have a hanging indent if the citation runs past one line. This is where the first line is extended to the left margin like a normal sentence, but the rest of the lines are tabbed in a half inch. Visit here for instructions on setting up a hanging indent in Microsoft Word.