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MLA Style for Internet Sites

  • Internet sites do not includes subscription databases
  • Omit any information not found (author, organizational sponsor, date published or updated, etc.).
  • There are three elements absolutely necessary for an Internet site citation:
    • Name (or title) of site
    • Date of access
    • Complete URL (Internet address)

Author's Last Name, First Name Middle Initial. "Title of Content."

Name of Web page. Name of organizational sponsor (not

advertising sponsor). Date published or updated. Day

Month Year of Access. <Complete URL>.

Examples:

"Basements and Crawl Spaces." U. S. Department of Housing and

Urban Development. 15 June 2002. 23 June 2002. http://

www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/ref/sfhp1-25.cfm>.

"Build Smarter with Alternative Materials." BuildSmarter.com.

15 June 2002. <http://www.build-smarter.com/>.

Clemens, Samuel Longhorn. Roughing It. Hartford, CT: 1891.

Library of Congress American Memory. 26 April 2001

<http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/

calbkbib:@field(TITLE+@band(Roughing+it.+))>.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. "DuPont Tyvek®."

2002. 15 June 2002. <http://www.tyvek.com/>.

Hacken, Richard. Home page. 23 Jan. 2002. <http://www.

lib.byu.edu/estu/>.

"7-Step Home Construction Plan." PlansForMe.com. 15 June

2002. <http://www.plansforme.com/ownmyhome/home_

building/index.html>.

"Study Skills Self-help Information." Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

1 Dec. 2001. <http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html>.

Seville, Carl. "Finish Materials in Design/Build." Housing Zone.

25 Jan 2001. 15 June 2002. <http://www.housingzone.com

/topics/hz/cmaterials/hz01aa604.asp>.

Willett, Perry, ed. "Victorian Women Writers Project." Indiana U.

Apr. 1997. 26 Apr. 2001 <http://www.indiana.edu/

~letrs/vwwp/nesbit/ballsoc.html>.

Authors

  • The first part of a book citation is the author(s), which is the same for all formats of materials. See Authors page for more information

Title of Content

  • The title of the content is most often foundat the top of the content, or near the top of the Web page
  • Be careful to distinguish these three elements:
    • Name of Web page (what is the page called?)
    • Title of content (what is the content titled?)
    • Sponsoring entity (what organization is in charge of this page or Web site?)
  • Use the information for a specific web page (or series of pages), not for an entire Web site (e.g. Dixie State College has many Web pages. You wouldn't cite http://www.dixie.edu if you were referring specifically to the Web page describing the majors, called "Degrees Offered at (http://www.dixie.edu/relations/degrees.html)
  • Put the title of the content within quotation marks
  • End the content title with a period (inside quotation marks)
  • Author. "Title of Content."

Example:

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. "DuPont Tyvek®."

Name of Web page

  • Sometimes a Web page will have a name distinct from the title of the page content and the sponsoring agency
  • Name of Web page is capitalized according to conventions
  • A period follow the name of Web page

    Author. "Title of Content." Name of Web page.

    Example:

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. "Central Research & Development." Science.

Sponsoring Entity

  • This is not an advertising sponsir; it is the organization or entity that provides the content
  • The sponsoring entity if followed by a period

Author. "Title of Content." Name of Web page. Name of

organizational sponsor (not advertising sponsor).

Example:

"Study Skills Self-help Information." Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

Date Created or Updated

  • Dates are in standard Day Month Year format
  • Use only the most recent date
  • Dates are most often found in the footer (at the bottom) of the Web page
  • A copyright date can be used

Author. "Title of Content." Name of Web page. Name of organizational

sponsor. Date published or updated.

Example:

"Basements and Crawl Spaces." U. S. Department of Housing and Urban

Development. 15 June 2002.

Date of Access

  • Dates are in standard Day Month Year format
  • This is the date you viewed the information on the Internet

Author's Last Name, First Name Middle Initial. "Title of Content." Name

of Web page. Name of organizational sponsor (not advertising

sponsor). Date published or updated. Day Month Year of

Access.

Example:

"Basements and Crawl Spaces." U. S. Department of Housing and Urban

Development. 15 June 2002. 23 June 2002.

Complete URL

  • The complete URL for the exact Web site is listed
  • The URL is enclosed in angled brackets ( < > )
  • Break URLs at obvious points (slash, period, etc.)
  • The citation ends with a period

    Author. "Title of Content." Name of Web page. Name of

organizational sponsor. Date published or updated.

Day Month Year of Access. <Complete URL>.

Online Periodical Article (not a subscription database)

  • An article is accessed in the online version of magazine not accessed through a subscription has the same format as a print article citation with date of access and complete URL added
  • Omit information not found (page numbers, section, etc.)

Online Journal

Author's Last Name, First Name Middle Initial. "Title of Article."

    Name of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): Pages.

Example:

Bambury, Paul. "A Taxonomy of Internet Commerce." First Monday

3.10 (1998) 23 Jan. 2001. <http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/

issue3_10/bambury/index.html>.

Online Magazine

Author's Last Name, First Name Middle Initial. "Title of Article." Name

    of Magazine Day Month Year: Pages.

Example:

Clay, Jackie. "Build Your Own Log Home in the Woods." Backwoods

Home Magazine July/Aug. 2002. 15 June 2002. <http://

www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/clay70.html>.

Online Newspaper

Author. "Article Title." Newspaper Title Date of Publication,

ed., sec.: pages.

Example:

Clemetson, Lynette. "Groups Gather to Commemorate March on

Washington." New York Times 23 Aug. 2003. 25 Aug. 2003.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/23/national/23MARC.html


For situations not covered by these examples,
see the MLA Style Manual at the library Reference Desk.

Copyright © 2001 - Dixie State College, for more information contact: snyder@dixie.edu