Citing and referencing: Websites

This guide is no longer being maintained as the 7th edition of the MLA Handbook has been replaced by the 8th edition. Only use the 7th edition under direction of your lecturer or tutor. Please click here to go to the MLA 8th library guide.

An entry for a website should contain:

1. Name of the author, compiler, director, editor, narrator, performer or translator of the work
2. Title of the work.  Untitled works may be identified by genre label (e.g., Home page, Introduction, Online posting).
3. Title of the overall Website, if distinct from item 2
4. Version or edition used
5. Publisher or sponsor of the site; if not available, use N.p.
6. Date of publication (day, month, and year as available); if nothing is available use n.d.
7. Medium of publication (Web)
8. Date of access (date, month, and year)

If you cannot find all of the information required for a citation, cite what is available.
For example, see 6.4.4. Citing a work listed by title p. 223.

Modern Language Association of America. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: Mod. Lang. Assn., 2009, Print.

MLA no longer requires the use of URLs in MLA citations. For instructors or editors who still require the use of URLs, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. Break URLs only after slashes.

Lastname, Firstname. Title of Work. Version or edition used. Publisher or Sponsor of the Site, Date of Publication. Medium of Publication. Date of access. <URL only if required by instructor or editor>

Website

Example

Felluga, Dino. Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. Purdue University, 31 Jan. 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2012.

In text citation

Important critical theories include Narratology, Marxism, New Historicism and Postmodernism (Felluga 2011).
or
Felluga (2012) provides an overview of ...

A page on a website

Example

Howard, Cerise. "2012 Fribourg International Film Festival." Australian Film Critics Association. Australian Film Critics Association, 11 Aug. 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.

In text citation

Countdown was the winner of the 2012 Fribourg International Film Festival (Howard 2012) ...
or
Howard (2012) notes the unsatisfactory ending of the film ...

An image on a website

Example

Nixon, Nicholas. The Brown Sisters, Truro, Massachusetts. 2011. Photograph. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. MoMA. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.

or

Picasso, Pablo. L'Aficionado. 1912. Kunstmuseum, Basel. Kunstmuseum Basel. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.

In text citation

The photograph of the sisters (Nixon 2011) demonstrates ...
or
Picasso (1912) captures ...

A document on a website with author

Example

Bisignani, Dana and Allen Brizee. “Annotated Bibliographies.” Chart. The OWL at Purdue. Purdue U Online Writing Lab, 2012. Web. 20 Jan. 2012.

In text citation

"Annotated Bibliographies" on the The OWL at Purdue website was the winner of the 2012 Fribourg International Film Festival (Bisignani and Brizee 2012) ...
or
Bisignani and Brizee (2012) provide a comprehensive list of sentence starters for writers of an annotated bibliographies.

A document on a website without author

Example

"Writing an Annotated Bibliography." QUT cite/write. Queensland U of Technology, Feb. 2008. Web. 20 Jan. 2012.

In text citation

The QUT cite/write website has a useful short guide titled "Writing an Annotated Bibliography" (2012).

A discussion thread

Example

PunkynPye. "The Venture Bros. (2003): is it OK that." Internet Movie Database. 8 Jan. 2015. Web.  26 May 2015.