Nowadays, people must know the rules of MLA website citation. It is because web sources have become common in academic papers. Since the era of the Internet results in digital articles, webpages have become credible sources too. In this case, people need to know not only how to cite books and scholarly sources but also web articles. Therefore, this guide on the MLA website citation covers the main rules for making Works Cited entries and in-text citations to follow academic standards and avoid plagiarism cases.
General Aspects
Websites are familiar sources for researchers. However, not all people know how to cite a website. Basically, creating correct Modern Language Association (MLA) style webpage citations requires a knowledge of the specific guidelines on citing a website that differentiates them from the other MLA citations. An in-depth discussion of guidelines on the MLA website citation focuses on the critical features of website work cited entry and modifications of its corresponding in-text citation.
Work Cited Entry and MLA Website Citation
A work cited entry of an MLA website citation has some unique features for MLA Works Cited. Firstly, the final detail in the entry is the retrieval date of the webpage. In this case, people formulate MLA citation by the word, “Accessed.” Moreover, the inclusion of the access date is not mandatory. However, scholars include it due to the dynamic nature of a website’s content. Secondly, a universal resource locator (URL) must be provided for each webpage used in an essay. Writers provide a web address to allow the reader to quickly locate the exact version of the webpage used by the author. As a result, it is essential for validation purposes or accessing detailed explanations in the MLA format citation.
Other Fearutes
Furthermore, the MLA website citation explains that the “http://” element of the URL is excluded in citations. Basically, this rule defines the presentation of a web address in MLA formatted essays. Finally, the name of the website is italicized, while the article’s title is placed in quotation marks. It should be noted that if any element is not available, people omit it while they display the available elements in a continuous form. Also, there should be no repetition of similar element content, for example, identical publisher and website’s names. The general format and MLA Works Cited example are:
General Format:
Author, editor, corporate author, or compiler’s name. “Title of the Web Page.” Website’s Name. Sponsor or Publisher’s Name, online publication date, URL. Retrieval Date.
Example:
Hugh, Kate. “MLA Website Citation.” Academic Writing. World Writing, 24 Jan. 2012, www.academic.com/article2560. Accessed 11 June 2019.
In-Text Citation for MLA
The author-page format in the MLA website citation is maintained with slight modifications to accommodate the differences of the web pages from traditional print sources. Typically, page numbers are not present on web pages in the MLA citation example. In this case, paragraph numbers are the alternatives that people use to facilitate a consistent MLA in-text citation. They use the abbreviation “par.” in the MLA format paper. Moreover, the use of shortened article titles or corporate authors as substitutes for the author’s last name is adopted. However, the first element in any Works Cited entry should correspond to the associated in-text citation. This regulation in the MLA style citation implies that the ‘author’ in the author-page format must be the first element of the Works Cited entry. Hence, webpage in-text citations may appear to be different from standard in-text citations.
Conclusion on MLA Website Citation
MLA website citation regulates the use of web sources by specific MLA guidelines. In this case, all researchers who use the MLA style must internalize certain features: access date, URL, and formatting of article titles and website names. Moreover, the use of paragraph numbers and the compatibility of in-text citations and work cited entries should not be assumed. In turn, people also should know what is MLA format, rules of how to cite MLA website and citing a website MLA, and other guidelines, like MLA format in text citation, MLA website in text citation, and MLA format Works Cited.