Citing Web Sources MLA Style

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Citing Web Sources MLA Style

Robert Harris
Version Date: April 20, 2009

This article describes 2009 MLA Web citation style (MLA Handbook, 7th ed.). The new seventh edition, released in March 2009 has instituted several significant changes over previous editions. Among the changes are these:

The medium of publication (Web, Print) must be listed for every bibliographic entry.
URLs of Web publictions are no longer needed in works-cited entries, unless necessary to find the page or the instructor requires it.
Volume number and issue number of journals must be included.

Instant Help: If you arrived at this page from the "How to cite this page" link at the bottom of one of the VirtualSalt articles, follow this model for citing:

Harris, Robert. "Evaluating Internet Research Sources."
 
     VirtualSalt. 15 June 2007.  Web. 20 Apr. 2009.

In the example above, the first date is the date of the page itself, while the second date is the date you accessed (read or printed) the page.

Optional, with URL if required:

Harris, Robert. "Evaluating Internet Research Sources."
 
     VirtualSalt. 15 June 2007.  Web. 20 Apr. 2009.

     <http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm>.

For further details, read on.

In-text Citation

For its citation style, the Modern Language Association uses an in-text reference which directs the reader to a list of Works Cited at the end of the paper. For printed works, the in-text reference includes the author's last name or a short title (if there is no author listed) and page number. For Web citations, where few Web documents have page numbers, you can give either a section or paragraph number (if those exist in the document) or simply the author's last name or short title. Here are examples:

A spa chemistry expert recommends adding spa shock after using the spa "in order to help assure a sanitizer level in the water" (Schuster).

Note: If there are no page numbers, as is usual with Web documents, do not make up one or use the number one (as in "Jones 1") to cover the whole document. Use a number only when there is a number.

If you mention the author in your introduction, you do not need the parenthetical name, but such a practice is not recommended because it may make the quotation at first appear to have no citation:

Alan Schuster recommends adding spa shock "in order to help assure a sanitizer level" in your spa.

If there is no author named, use a short title from the article in the parenthetical reference and optionally refer to the organization in the text:

The Gerber Baby Food company notes that for the first three to five days of breast feeding, a woman's body "will produce a substance called colostrum. This thick, yellowy substance is a milk rich in antibodies . . ." ("Newborn Feeding").

Works Cited

Use, in this order, as many of these items as are relevant and useful for clearly identifying the source document. The list is long not so that you will include all of it in every reference, but because Web page content and format vary so widely.

1. Author or editor's last name, then first name.
2. Title of the article in quotation marks.
3. Web site name, italicized. (Underlining no longer used.)
4. Edition or version number.
5. Web site owner or sponsor if available.
6. Date of publication (DD MM YYYY as in 15 June 2009). If not available, use n.d. for "no date."
7. The word Web and a period to indicate the publication medium.
8. The date you accessed the site and a period.
9. [If required by your instructor or needed to find the article, the URL of the document <in angle brackets> followed by a period.

Note that often you will not have all of these items. The site name will be available, but the Web site owner or sponsor will be the same or not known. Similarly, there may not be a version or edition number.

Examples of Typical Web Sites

General:

Lastname, Firstname. "Article Title." Site Name. Organization Name. Article date. Web.

      Date of access.

With author:

Schuster, Alan. "Spa and Hot Tub Chemical Questions." Ask

     Alan. Aqua-Clear Industries. 18 Aug. 2008. Web.  10 Oct. 

     2008.

With no author and no page date:

"Newborn Feeding." Welcome to Gerber. Gerber Corporation. n.d. Web.

     18 Oct. 2008.

With the Web site name the same as that of the organization (no organization name is specified):

Harris, Robert. "Evaluating Internet Research Sources." VirtualSalt 

     15 June 2007. Web. 17 Oct. 2008.

Arcitle with no title:

Doax, Joseph. Online Posting. The Rock Hunter. 22 Feb. 2009. Web. 12 April 2009.

Citing from Web Site Databases

When the article comes from an online database such as SIRS Researcher or InfoTrac, the publication data of the print article is also included. Note: If the database service has several sub-databases, list the exact database as well as the service (For example, EBSCO Host MasterFILE Premier, EBSCO Host Academic Search Elite, EBSCO Host Busines Source Premier.) The database name is italicized.

General:

Lastname, Firstname. "Article Title." Periodical Name 

     Periodical Date: Page numbers. Database Name. Web. Date of access.

Database with author:

Rossman, Parker. "The Theology of Imagination: Science, Science 

     Fiction, and Religion." Witness Oct. 1989: 12+. SIRS 

     Researcher. Web. 9 Nov. 2008.

Database with no author:

"Monkeying with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome." Science News 14 

     Sept. 1996: 170. InfoTrac Expanded Academic ASAP.  Web. 4 Nov. 2008.

MLA Style for Printed Sources

Book:

Lastname, Firstname. Title. City: Publisher, Date. Print.

Periodical:

Lastname, Firstname. "Title." Periodical day month year: pages. Print.

Journal:

Lastname, Firstname. "Title." Journal volume (year): pages. Print.

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About the author:
Robert Harris is a writer and educator with more than 25 years of teaching experience at the college and university level. RHarris at virtualsalt.com