MLA Format for Websites

A reference for a website should follow this model:

Author’s last name, first name.  “Title of article.”  Name of home website.  Date listed, if any, that the article was published on the site. Date you accessed the article.  <URL in angled brackets>. 

You may not have all of the information asked for in the model.  In that case, skip to the next item.  Authors are often not given for websites, and the Works Cited entry then begins with the article title.

EXAMPLE: The following information appears at the top of this website:

PAL: Perspectives in American Literature:
A Research and Reference Guide

An Ongoing Online Project © Paul P. Reuben
| EMail: its4pr@charter.net |

 

Chapter 10: Late Twentieth Century - Eudora Welty (1909-2001)
 
 

 

 

 

 


At the end of the website, the following date appears:

July 24, 2001

At the bottom of the printout, you will find:

http://www.csustan.edu/English/reuben/pal/chap10/welty.html        November 9, 2001

                                    [URL]                                                                  [date you accessed the article]

 

The entry on the Works Cited page will look like this:

Reuben, Paul P.  “Chapter 10: Late Twentieth Century--Eudora Welty.”  Perspectives in American Literature: A Research and Reference Guide.  24 July 2001. 9 Nov. 2001 <http://www.csustan.edu/English/ reuben/pal/chap10/welty.html>.

Note: If the website does not provide the date of publication, use the abbreviation “n.d.” (“no date”) after the name of the website:

“Job Competencies, Soft Skills and Competency-Based Performance Management.”  Corporate Perspectives, Inc.  n.d. 6 Feb. 2002. <http://corporateperspectives.com/cbl.html>.

 

References in your paper will look like this:

 

            Welty’s writing style was influenced by the Realist writer Henry James (Reuben).

 

or

 

                According to Reuben, Welty’s writing style was influenced by Realist writer Henry James.

 

Note: If a website does not give the author’s name, use the title of the article, which should be the first item in the Works Cited entry, in your reference.  Because your source is electronic, you need not include page numbers in either the Works Cited entry or the citation.  However, if paragraph or section numbers are present, use them in your citation. It is increasingly becoming preferred that book titles, journal and magazine titles, etc. are italicized rather than underlined; underlining is still acceptable, but the advent of online information sometimes makes underlining confusing. See http://www.mla.org for more information and examples.