How to Cite a Website

If you use information from a website for research, you'll need to cite it appropriately in your write-up. Here's how to do it according to MLA, APA and Chicago Manual of Style guidelines.

Steps by steps 

Preparing for Citation

 1.   Gather information. When citing a website, gather as much information as possible about the page. Try to  list these items:

1. • URL, or the address at which someone else can find the website.
   • Author (might not always be listed).
   • Title of the website.
   • Title of the article (if applicable).
   • Date published.
   • The date on which you retrieved the information.
2. Make sure you know which citation system to use. Your assignment should specify which citation system you'll be using. If you don't know, the format used by The Chicago Manual of Style is a safe bet.

MLA Website Citations

1. Know the format. For Modern Language Association (MLA) style, you'll embed a reference to your citation in the text, then include a Works Cited page at the end of your essay. Both the parenthetical reference to the website and its entry on the Works Cited page must be correct.
2. Cite the website in the text. Directly after the sentence in which you reference the information from the website, you will put in a reference to your Works Cited page.
   • Do not put a period at the end of the sentence (yet).
   • Put your reference in parentheses. Start the parentheses one space away from your last word.
   • If you know the author of the website, cite the author's last name. Usually MLA citations are author-page number; however, because most websites don't have page numbers, you can simply use the author's last name.
   • If you don't know the author's last name, use the title of the piece in quotations. If the title is long, you can use what's called a partial title. For example, shorten "Yiddish Theater in 19th-Century Prague" to simply "Yiddish Theater."
   • Close the parentheses. This should come directly after the last letter of the author's name, or after the last quotation mark.
   • Put a period at the end of the sentence. The period ending the sentence should come directly after the parentheses, without a space.
3. Include the website on your Works Cited page. Use the following format, with the first line not indented but subsequent lines indented.
   • Note that the MLA itself no longer requires the inclusion of URLs in Works Cited citations, because URLs aren't necessarily static. If your instructor requires one, place it directly after the date of access, in a new sentence, such that it looks like "Date of access. <http://www.wikihow.com>.", with a period after the final >.
     
     Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of the institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.

APA Website Citations

1. Know the format. For citations in the style of the American Psychological Association, you'll embed a reference to your citation in the text, then include a Reference List at the end of your essay. Both the parenthetical reference to the website and its entry on the Works Cited page must be correct.
2. Cite the website in the text. Directly after the sentence in which you reference the information from the website, you will put in a reference to your Reference List.
   • Do not put a period at the end of the sentence (yet).
   • Put your reference in parentheses. Start the parentheses one space away from your last word.
   • APA style is author-date. If you know the author of the text and the date it was published, put the last name of the author, a comma, and the date (year) of publication inside the parentheses.
   • If you don't know the author, put the title of the work in quotations, a comma, and the date (year) of the publication inside parentheses.
   • Close the parentheses. This should come directly after the last letter of the author's name, or after the last quotation mark.
   • Put a period at the end of the sentence. The period ending the sentence should come directly after the parentheses, without a space.
3. Include the website on your Reference List. Use the following format, with the first line not indented but subsequent lines indented.
   • Find the digital object identifier (DOI). Some websites will provide a DOI, which is a more stable way to find a website than a URL. If you can't find the DOI, use the URL instead. If you have the DOI, simply substitute the URL below with "doi:0000000/000000000000."
     

Chicago Manual of Style Website Citations

1. Use footnotes. The Chicago Manual of Style mandates the use of footnotes when citing sources. You'll have an entry for your source on the footnote, and another entry in the bibliography.
2. Follow the footnote format for a website. Cite your website in a footnote as follows Firstname Lastname, “Title of Web Page,” Publishing Organization or Name of Website in Italics, publication date and/or access date if available, URL.  
3. Cite the website in your bibliography. Complete the entry in the bibliography for the website.
   Lastname, Firstname. “Title of Web Page.” Publishing Organization or Name of Website in Italics. Publication date and/or access date if available. URL.