Referencing online material in MLA

This page outlines the correct format for online sources in an MLA list of works cited:

• Web page
• An image on a webpage
• Book or journal, magazine, newspaper article, or report online
• Online encyclopædia entry
• E-mail
• Tweet
• Blog
• Online forum or discussion board

Order: Author(s) (the first author uses last name-first name format and subsequent authors use first name-last name format). Page title (in quotation marks). Name of internet site (italicised), Publisher information, date posted/of last update, URL/DOI. Access date (optional).

• The elements in this example are representative of what should be referenced, but this is not an exhaustive list. References may also include the names of site editors or version numbers if you think this is relevant. For full information, see the MLA handbook.
• Many online sources do not identify an individual author. See no author for details.
• It is recommended that the date you looked at the web page (date of access) should be included because, unlike printed materials, websites can be updated and changed over time. This is an optional detail but recommended, particularly when there is no copyright or publication dates given on the web page
• Include a URL address in the reference. Delete https:// details when citing URLs. Where a DOI is available, cite this instead of the URL.
• Web pages do not always have the same quality controls as printed material. Many websites are not appropriate for an academic assignment unless they are evidencing the work of art or design practitioners. See evaluating source quality for details.

There is flexibility in how you can cite images, and you can add extra information in order to increase the accuracy of your citation. Following the MLA template of core elements, sometimes you can reference an image found on a webpage as a work contained in another work.

OR

• In the examples, the date the work was created is contained by full stops. This is because the date in these examples is not the date the image was published to the website (i.e. the publication date), but the date the work itself was created. As such, the creation date is an optional element and should be placed after the element it relates to (i.e. the title; for further detail, see p. 50 of the MLA Handbook).
• In the second example, two formats for a work cited are given. The format you choose depends on the element of the citation that you wish to emphasise.
• Your caption should refer to the artist and location of the work, as well as the author of the webpage where you found the image. For more information, read about how to format captions here.

Any printed source that can also be found online should be referenced in its standard format, with the addition of information about the electronic publication (e.g. site title, date of last update, sponsoring organisation), URL/DOI, and the access date.

• Online book
• Online journal article
• Online magazine article
• Online newspaper article
• Online report

Online encyclopædias should be treated like other websites, with the addition of the date of last update, sponsoring organisation, URL/DOI and date of access:

Order: Entry in double quotation marks in author position. Encyclopedia title (italicised and title case). Date posted/of last update, organisation name (if known), URL/DOI. Access date (optional).

• Web pages do not always have the same quality controls as printed material. Many websites are not appropriate for an academic assignment unless they are evidencing the work of art or design practitioners. See evaluating source quality for details.

Order: Author, Message title (in quotation marks), Recipient (use the phrase 'Received by'), date the email was sent.

The Twitter handle is given in place of the author and, because a tweet does not have a title, the entire tweet (enclosed in quotation marks) is used in the place of a title.

Order: Author handle, Tweet (in quotation marks). Twitter (italicised), date of Tweet, URL. Access date.

Order: Author/screen name (if available). Blog post title (in quotation marks with the beginning of words over three letters capitalised). Name of blog (italicised, with the beginning of words over three letters capitalised), date of publication. Access date (optional but recommended). Description.

Order: Author/screen name/editor/compiler (if available). Source title (in quotation marks with the beginning of words over three letters capitalised). Name of site (italicised, with the beginning of words over three letters capitalised), date of publication. Access date (optional but recommended). Description.

References and further reading

Disclaimer

These pages are provided as a guide to proper referencing. Your course, department, school, or institute may prescribe specific conventions, and their recommendations supersede these instructions. If you have questions not covered here, check in the style guide listed above, ask your course coordinator, or ask at Academic Q+A.

Page authorised by Director - Centre for Learner Success
Last updated on 3 December, 2019