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MLA Style Guide, 9th Edition

In-Text Citations

If you're citing a website with no known author, what does the in-text citation look like?

Use a shortened version of the website title and use that in place of the author name.

If you wanted to cite the source at right, for instance, it would look like this:

(Guglielmo Marconi 45)

Dates

Remember to abbreviate all names of months, except for May, June and July:

Jan. Feb. Mar.
Apr. Aug. Sept.
Oct. Nov. Dec.

 

When citing magazine or newspaper articles, include the day, month and year of publication (if available). Write the date in the following format:

day Mo. YYYY
23 Sept. 2012

How to Cite an Entire Website

References to entire websites usually include the following elements:

Author (if known) last name, first name. Name of the Site. Publisher, Date of publication, URL (Location).

When there is no known author or editor:

Example of MLA9 Citation of Website without author

When the author or editor is known:

MLA9 works cited example of website with known author

 

How to Cite One Page/Work within a Website

References to an individual page within a larger website usually include the following elements:

Author (if known) last name, first name. "Title of the Page or Section." Title of Website, Name of the institution associated with the site, Date of publication, URL (Location).

Note:  If the author's name and publisher's name are the same, use it in place of the publisher's name and begin the work cited entry with the title of the source. The 8th edition no longer requires a City of Publication. The URL is optional, and you should always consult your instructor's preferences before including it.

When there is no known author or editor:

 

When the author or editor is known:

 

Source with Multiple Containers

If a source has multiple containers, follow the example below:

This example is similar to the one in section 5.33 on page 136 of the MLA Handbook, 9th Edition.

If you're citing the short story, "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allen Poe which is in volume 4 of a multi-volume edition of his complete works that was published in 1902 and is available via the HathiTrust Digital Library, then that citation would look like this:


Multiple Container Example