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MLA Guide

This guide contains information to help you cite your sources in MLA format.

Citing a Website

Please see below for MLA guidelines on how to cite an article found on a website (not a database), an entire website, or a government website.

Citing a Page or Article on a Website

Format: Author(s). “Title of Page/Article.” Title of Website in Italics, Website Publisher (if different than title), Date of publication, URL.

*Author Note: See how to create a citation for a source with more than one author here.
*Title Note: See when to Italicize Titles and when to put "Titles in Quotation Marks" here.
*Note:  Exclude publisher if title of website and publisher are the same.
*Note: If website does not have a date or changes regularly, place a period after the URL and add the date accessed. See example below:

Example: www.sccsc.edu. Accessed 7 May 2016.

*Note: You can usually omit the http:// unless needed to hyperlink.

*Note: For URLs longer than 3 lines, you can shorten the URL. Always retain the host (main website) of the URL.


Website Article:

Example: Stewart, Bob. “Biostimulants.” Plant News, University of Maryland, 5 Aug. 2009, www.ipmnet.umd.edu/ 5-4art1.htm.

Example: “Biospheres.” Amazing Earth, www.amazingearth.com/biospheres/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2020.

Citing an Entire Website

Format: Author(s). Title of Website in Italics. Website Publisher (if different than title), Date of Website, URL.

Example: Museum of Natural History. Smithsonian, 2012, www.naturalhistory.si.edu/.

Citing a Government Website

Example: "Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers." Occupational Outlook Handbook,, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 8 Sep. 2021, www.bls.gov/ooh/production/welders-cutters-solderers-and-brazers.htm.

Example: "Lung Cancer Update (NIH Publication No. 20-6548)." National Cancer Institute, 2020, www.cancer.gov/lungcanver206528/.

Note: When you have a source that has multiple government agencies listed, keep only the primary agency listed. In the above example, the Occupational Outlook Handbook was published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (the primary agency), which is part of the U.S. Department of Labor. In the citation, list the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.