Citations: MLA Style (9th ed.)

It's fairly common for websites to not have specifically named authors for any given page, but double-check that there's really not one given. Sometimes they're listed at the bottom instead of the top; sometimes a page produced by a lone person and you'll find their name on an About page instead.

You can choose to list the organization/corporation as the author instead and skip using them as the site name or publisher later in the citation. Skipping author so that the citation starts with the article title can make it easier to have unique in-text citations, though.

Not to be confused with the name of the overall site -- and this is something citation tools online get wrong a lot! Look at the page itself: what text appears closest to the article itself?

Why do citation tools get it wrong?

They can only scrape metadata off the website, and that data isn't structured with citations in mind. Rather, it expects people to save bookmarks or send links somewhere. Warning signs to watch for:

• Vertical lines in the article title, e.g.: "The Kuiper Belt Objects - NASA | Outer Space | Cassini."
• The same info twice in the citation, e.g.: "The Kuiper Belt." The Kuiper Belt, 4 Apr. 2019, www.etc.etc.

Look for what's actually written on the page itself (probably in the upper left corner) rather than in the address bar for the website's name. Every website has to be Something.com or Whatever.org or RandomExamples.net; that doesn't mean the website organizers consider the domain ending (.com, .net, etc) to be part of the website's official name.

Ex, For this Census Bureau article, the website is United States Census Bureau, not Census.gov.

By contrast, Space.com is actually Space.com, as we can see by the inclusion of ".com" on the site logo:

To get an idea of who the publisher is, look towards the very bottom of the page for the copyright notice or for an About page. For example, the publisher of Space.com is Future US.

If the name of the website is the same of the publisher, as is the case with the New York Times, just skip the publisher to avoid redundancy in the citation.

You can also exclude any business labels in the publisher name -- Inc, Ltd, LLC, and so on.

1. A byline date is sometimes used near the top of the webpage: May 1, 2004.
2. A date of last update may be found at the top or bottom of the page and looks something like: Updated: 8:43 a.m. MT May 10, 2009.
3. If the website has no date associated with it, your citation will skip over where the date should be.
4. If all you can find is the copyright date for the page, chances are this is a generic footer used across the website. Skip the date element.

For sources that are likely to be edited and don't have an officially noted date, it is recommended that you add an access date after the URL. All dates in MLA are formatted as DD Mon. YYYY, e.g. Accessed 5 Nov. 2013. 

The URL (the http://www.etc... in the address bar of your browser) gives a particular location of a webpage.

Exclude the http:// when you include the address.

The citation will vary based on whether you're emphasizing the text of the post, the image, a video, a story, a highlight, or a profile.

If the username is similar to the person's real name, you don't need to include both -- just use the real name.

Post: Use the text as the title element

Ward, Alie. "This week’s Ologies is an encore of Ferroequinology (TRAINS)! So much trivia, history, mysteries, love and lore of the ol’ railroad plus futurecasting with bullet trains and Hyperloops. PS: I drove this locomotive and it was THRILLING." Instagram, 9 Mar. 2022, www.instagram.com/p/Ca6POgcuIxB/.

Photo with title

Tanaka, Tatsuya . "Sweets Go Round." Instagram, 19 Apr. 2022, www.instagram.com/p/CcgiXENqKsY/.

Photo without title: Write a brief description

@ku.ma2088. Photo of a teddy bear peeling a sweet potato. Instagram, photo 1, 17 Apr. 2022, www.instagram.com/p/Cccin2GPe8C/.

No Video Title or Official Description: Make Up A Short Description

@drglaucomflecken. Video skit on the nature of academic publishing. TikTok, 2022, www.tiktok.com/@drglaucomflecken/video/7065161158809931055.

Title or Description Provided:

@drglaucomflecken. "Explaining Medicine to Your Non-Medical Friends."  Tiktok, 2022, www.tiktok.com/@drglaucomflecken/video/6961502487358491910.