This guide summarizes the MLA guidelines for citing web pages. It is based on the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed.  For more information and examples of citations, please consult the MLA Handbook that is available in Ely Library's reference collection (REF LB2369 G53 2003). For examples of how to cite other types of sources in MLA Style, consult the separate webpage MLA Style - How to Document Information.

NOTE: This is a guide on how to cite freely accessible web pages that are not accessed through periodical databases. If you need to create citations for articles from library databases, see the Library Database Article section of Ely Library's MLA Style guide.

Basic Form:

Author of webpage/document (if available). "Title of Webpage or Document."
     "Title of Website.  Editor of site (if available).  Publication date or date updated (if available).
     Sponsoring Organization (if available).  Date of access <URL>

Elements:
 

• Author: Usually found at the top or bottom of the web page.  Look for:  Author, Compiler/Compiled by, Maintainer/Maintained by.  If author is not available, begin your citation with the web page title.
• Title of Web Page/Document: Found at top left corner of printout, or at the top of the Web browser.
• Title of Website: Often listed as a homepage, the site for which the document was created.
• Editor: Often not available. Omit if none listed.
• Update/Publication date: Usually found at the end of the document. Give full date (day, month, and year).
• Sponsoring Organization: If the web page is produced by an organization, a school, a company, etc., provide that information here. If this can not be ascertained from the website, it may be found by viewing the webpage's domain. The domain can be identified by entering the first section of the webpage's url in the address bar.
• URL:  The Uniform Resource Locator is the Web address of your document.  It is found at the top right corner of your printout or in the location or address bar on your Web browser.

Bromwich, Michael R.  "Criminal Calls: A Review of the Bureau of Prisons' Management of Inmate

     Telephone Privileges."  August 1999. United States Department of Justice

      January 10, 2004 <http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/9908/exec.htm>.
 

Weart, Spencer. "Aerosols: Effects of Haze and Cloud." Climate Change: The Discovery of Global Warming
     American Institute of Physics. June 3, 2005 <http://www.aip.org/history/climate/aerosol.htm>

Webpage, no author

"Argonne researchers create powerful stem cells from blood". February 24, 2003. Argonne National Laboratory.
     January 10, 2004 <http://www.anl.gov/Media_Center/News/2003/news030224.htm> 

You should cite your use of another's words, facts, or ideas. For more information on citing sources, see the guide to avoiding plagiarism produced by the Writing Tutorial Services of Indiana University (http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml).

• Citation includes author's name or first one or two words of web page title, then page numbers if available.
• note on page numbers: Web documents often don't have page numbers or numbered sections. When a web page lacks numbering, omit page numbers from your parenthetical references. Do not use page numbers generated on a print-out of the web document. PDF files found on the web will have page numbers however that can be used in a citation.
• If no author is available, use the first one or two words of the title of the web page enclosed in quotation marks.

Web Page, no author:

("Argonne Researchers...")

Web Page with author:

(Bromwich)

Web PDF file with page numbers.

(Jackson, 14)
 

Examples of citations in text:

Paraphrasing ideas/facts from websites:

New research findings point to the possibility that researchers may have a practical alternative to the use of embryonic stem cells for research and transplantation ("Argonne Researchers...").

Some institutions made no attempt to even identify inmates who posed a high risk of using the telephones for criminal activity (Bromwich)...

Direct quotes from websites:

"By 1990, scientists understood that human activity produced somewhere between a quarter and a half of all the aerosol particles in the lower atmosphere, including industrial soot and sulfates, smoke from debris burned when forests were cleared, and dust from semi-arid lands turned to agriculture or overgrazed." (Weart)
For more examples, please see the Citations in Text section of Ely Library's MLA Style Guide. 

Gibaldi, Joseph.  MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.  6th ed.  New York:  Modern Language Association, 2003.

For more information and examples, please consult this handbook, available in Ely Library's reference collection (REF LB2369 G53 2003).