How to Cite a Website Using MLA Format

When you are conducting research for a term paper or longer-term research project, you may use popular websites as source materials as well as more traditional materials such as reference books, scholarly journals and class lecture notes and materials. While many websites are highly specialized, most educational websites are intended for the general reading public and usually do not require the same amount of expertise on the parts of their readers or reporters that scholarly journals and publications require. However, they are still valid sources of facts and information. If you use multiple pages from the same website or use a website with only one main page, then you can cite the entire website rather than the individual pages. You must be sure to cite all sources of this type on your Works Cited page with your other source materials so that a reader can find the information that helped you draw your conclusions. MLA is a good format to use when you have many different types of source materials because it has a fairly standard appearance and is equally easy to implement and utilize



Instructions

Things You'll Need:

* URL of the website
* Date that the content was last revised or updated
* Name of the website
* Name of the institution affiliated with the website
* Date that you accessed the site

1.Underline the name of the site, and follow it with a period. The name of the site is generally placed at the top of the page, and you can often find it directly above the browser window that hosts the URL. If your word processor will not support font formatting like underlining or italics, then use an underscore symbol to indicate that the name of the site should be underlined. For example, if you used a website titled "Delicious Decisions," then your citation should start out: _Delicious Decisions_.

2. Follow with the date of the most recent posting or revision of the site. If this information is completely inaccessible, then contact the site administrator. If this fails, then use the copyright information located on the bottom of the main page of the site. If possible, this date should be written in the form "day month year." The month can be abbreviated by the first three letters. If the website was last updated on October 4, 2007, then your citation should now read: _Delicious Decisions_. 4 Oct 2007.

3.List the name of the institution affiliated with the site. This information can often be found at the bottom of the main page if it is not located near the title at the top. For example, if your website is affiliated with the American Heart Association, then your citation should now read: _Delicious Decisions_. 4 Oct 2007. American Heart Association.

4.Add the date that you accessed the website. This date should be written in the following form and order "day, month, year." If you accessed the website on July 5, 2008, then your citation should now read: _Delicious Decisions_. 4 Oct 2007. American Heart Association. 5 Jul 2008.

5. Finish with the URL of the website. You can copy this directly out of your browser window and paste it into your Works Cited page, then place it in brackets. For example, if your website is located at http://www.deliciousdecisionsforfood.com, then your finished citation should look like this: _Delicious Decisions_. 4 Oct 2007. American Heart Association. 5 Jul 2008.