Citation Guide: Websites

List of common features for electronic sources. Not every web site will provide all of these items. Cite only the information available on the site.

• Author / editor names (if available)
• Article name in quotation marks (if applicable)
• Title of the Website, project, or book in italics. (Remember some Print publications have Web publications with slightly different names. They may, for example, include the additional information or otherwise modified information, like domain names [e.g., .com or .net].)
• Any version numbers available, including revisions, posting dates, volumes, or issue numbers.
• Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date.
• Page numbers (if available).
• Date of access.
• URL (if required, or for your own personal reference).

TIPS: 

It is necessary to list your date of access because web postings are often updated, and information available on one date may no longer be available later. Be sure to include the complete address for the site.

Remember to use n.p. if no publisher name is available and n.d. if no publishing date is given.

NOTE: URLs are not required. If you wish to add a static URL MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. Break URLs only after slashes.

Freshwater Benthic Macroinvertebrates. Monitoring and Non-tidal Assessment Div., Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources, 6
   May 2004. Web. 11 Sept. 2009. <http://www.dnr.state.md.us/streams/pubs/freshwater.html>

Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.

SOS Stream Study. Dept. of Environmental Sciences, U of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1 Mar. 1999. Web. 2 Oct. 2009.

Freshwater Benthic Macroinvertebrates. Monitoring and Non-tidal Assessment Div., Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources, 6
   May 2004. Web. 11 Sept. 2009.

The Center for Education in Appalachia. Fairmont State U, n.d. Web. 24 Aug. 2009.

"Juniper (Juniperus communis L.)." Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. 12 Jun 1999. Web. 16 Aug. 20109.

"Seventh Space Tourist Leaves Earth." euronews. 2 Oct. 2009. Web. 2 Oct. 2009.

All MLA citations should be formatted with the first line of an entry flush left and successive lines indented 1/2 ". Use a hanging indent. Do not go by the spacing in the examples we're providing in this guide, as your screen's display format may be different.

If you are using Word follow the steps below. You can select options on the Indents and Spacing tab.

1. On the Page Layout tab, click the Paragraph Dialog Box Launcher, and then click the Indents and Spacing tab.
2. In the Special list under Indentation, click Hanging, and then in the By box, set the amount of space that you want for the hanging indent. (0.5" = 1/2 inch)