How to cite a website in MLA

Published on July 17, 2019 by Shona McCombes. Revised on July 7, 2021.

An MLA website citation includes the author's name, the title of the page (in quotation marks), the name of the website (in italics), the publication date, and the URL (without "https://").

If the author is unknown, start with the title of the page instead. If the publication date is unknown, or if the content is likely to change over time, add an access date at the end instead.

Websites don't usually have page numbers, so the in-text citation is just the author name in parentheses. If you already named the author in your sentence, you don't need to add a parenthetical citation.

The format differs for other types of online content, such as YouTube videos, TED Talks, and podcasts.

Citing online articles

The format for citing an article from an online newspaper, magazine, or blog is the same as a general web page citation. If the article is a PDF of a print article, the format differs slightly.

Write the article title in title case (all major words capitalized). Use the most recent publication date on the page, including the day, month, and year if available.

MLA online article citation
Format Author last name, First name. "Title of Article." Website Name , Day Month Year, URL.
Works Cited entry Smith, Helena. "The Women Who Brought Down Greece's Golden Dawn." The Guardian, 22 Oct. 2020, www.theguardian.com/­world/­2020/­oct/­22/­the-­women-­who-­brought-­down-­greeces-­golden-­dawn.
In-text citation (Smith)

Note, however, that a different format is used when citing online articles from academic journals.

Learn how to cite journal articles in MLA

If no author is credited, leave out this element, and start with the title of the page or article instead.

Use a shortened version of the title in your in-text citation. The shortened title must match the first words of your Works Cited entry.

MLA website citation with no author
Format "Title of Article." Website Name , Day Month Year, URL.
Works Cited entry "US Election 2020: A Guide to the Final Presidential Debate." BBC News, 21 Oct. 2020, www.bbc.com/­news/­election-­us-­2020-­54620868.
In-text citation ("US Election 2020")

If no publication date is available, leave out this element, and include the date on which you accessed the page at the end.

MLA website citation with no author or date
Format "Title of Article." Website Name , URL. Accessed Day Month Year.
Works Cited entry "Citing Sources and Referencing." Scribbr, www.scribbr.com/­category/­citing-­sources. Accessed 16 July 2019.
In-text citation ("Citing Sources")

Note that a specific format exists for citing online dictionary entries.

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Citing an entire website

If you cite a whole website, there is usually no named author, so the Works Cited entry begins with the name of the website in italics.

If the website has a publication or copyright date (usually found in the footer), include this; if not, add the date when you accessed the website at the end of the citation.

MLA whole website citation
Format Website Name .Day Month Year, URL.
Works Cited entry Scribbr. www.scribbr.com. Accessed 11 July 2019.
In-text citation (Scribbr)

When should you cite a whole website?

Most of the time, you should cite the specific page or article where you found the information. However, you might have to cite the entire website if you are giving a general overview of its content, referring only to the homepage, or quoting text that appears on many different pages across the site (such as a company's slogan).

If you cite multiple pages or articles from the same website, you should include a separate Works Cited entry for each one.

Publishers in MLA website citations

If the website is published by an organization with a different name than the website itself, you should include this in the citation too. The website's publisher is usually found somewhere in the footer, often next to a copyright symbol.
Website publisher in an MLA website citation

If the publisher is the same as the name of the website, you leave it out of the citation to avoid repetition.

Website with different publisher Website the same as publisher
The MLA Style Center . Modern Language Association of America, 2019, style.mla.org. Scribbr . www.scribbr.com. Accessed 10 June 2019.
"Antibiotic Resistance and Food Safety." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 5 Sept. 2018, www.cdc.gov/­foodsafety/­challenges/­antibiotic-­resistance.html. "CEU Expresses Solidarity with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences." Central European U , 3 July 2019, www.ceu.edu/­article/­2019-­07-­03/­ceu-­expresses-­solidarity-­hungarian-­academy-­sciences.

Frequently asked questions about MLA style

How do I cite a source with no author or page numbers in MLA?

If a source has no author, start the MLA Works Cited entry with the source title. Use a shortened version of the title in your in-text citation.

If a source has no page numbers, you can use an alternative locator (e.g. a chapter number, or a timestamp for a video or audio source) to identify the relevant passage in your in-text citation. If the source has no numbered divisions, cite only the author's name (or the title).

If you already named the author or title in your sentence, and there is no locator available, you don't need a parenthetical citation:

  • Rajaram argues that representations of migration are shaped by "cultural, political, and ideological interests."
  • The homepage of The Correspondent describes it as "a movement for radically different news."
Are article titles italicized in MLA?

The title of an article is not italicized in MLA style, but placed in quotation marks. This applies to articles from journals, newspapers, websites, or any other publication. Use italics for the title of the source where the article was published. For example:

"A Complete Guide to MLA Citation" is published on theScribbr website.

Use the same formatting in the Works Cited entry and when referring to the article in the text itself.

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