The Modern Language Association (MLA) style has different citation formats for various sources. For instance, researchers’ reliance on electronic sources, such as websites, has increased drastically due to the availability of the Internet. In this case, if someone wants to know how to cite MLA website, this article covers the main principles of works cited page and in-text citations. Hence, the MLA style outlines specific guidelines that control the development of regular and government website work cited entries and in-text citations.
Work Cited Entries in MLA Website
Firstly, the model used in developing MLA work cited for websites has three fundamental components. These elements are the author’s name, the title of the source, and publication information. In this case, the author’s name is the first element of the citation entry when it is available. Basically, people write the author’s last name followed by a comma and the other names of the author. Also, the title of the source is the element. It may either be the title of an individual webpage or the entire website by considering how to cite MLA website. However, there are cases in citing a website where the author may choose to cite an entire website instead of a webpage. On the other hand, it may create difficulties in tracing the exact location of a piece of information.
Moreover, people place the title of a webpage in quotation marks. In turn, they italicize the title of a website in the MLA citation. The convention of italicizing more significant works and using quotation for smaller works is applied in this context. Then, the publication information in the MLA format citation includes the name of the website, publisher, electronic publication date, uniform resource locator (URL), and date of retrieval. However, writers should not repeat the name of the website if it is the title of the source. It should be noted that the “http://” section of the URL is excluded. As a result, illustrations of the MLA website citation on how to cite MLA website are provided below:
General Format:
Author’s name. “Title of the Webpage.” Website Name. Publisher’s name, publication date, URL. Access date.
Regular Website:
Howard, Jacklyn. “How to Make Fish Fingers.” Modern Cook. Longman Kitchen Appliances, 2019, www.moderncook.com/article_45778/. Accessed 7 June 2019.
In turn, if someone wants to know how to cite a website by considering government sources, they must conform to the standard format. For instance, a government website is cited similarly as a regular website except for the author’s name, which is usually not available. Basically, people develop the citation by collecting general information from the webpage. Besides, there is no special formatting for government sources on how to cite MLA website. Hence, a sample of the government website citation is:
Government Website:
“Performance of State Schools.” Education. Ohio Department of Education, 2017, www.education.oh.gov/stateschools_performance. Accessed 8 June 2019.
MLA In-Text Citations for Websites
Webpages employ a slightly modified form of the MLA in-text citation. Webpages typically lack page numbers, which causes the parenthetical citation to lack a crucial component. In this case, people may include either the author’s name or the title of the article in the statement as a form of in-text citation. Alternatively, people may use numbered paragraphs or sections in the MLA format in text citation as a replacement for the page number. The abbreviations “par.” and “sec.” are placed before paragraph and section numbers respectively to avoid confusion.
Conclusion on How to Cite MLA Website
Websites in MLA format have a unique citation format. Basically, regular and government websites conform to the same citation structure by considering the theme of how to cite MLA website. In turn, the in-text citations for websites may vary from the traditional author-page style to compensate for the lack of page numbers. However, people need to understand how to cite in MLA format to write good papers and organize appropriate MLA Works Cited website.