Particularly, the Modern Language Association (MLA) style has guidelines for documentation of electronic materials that have become increasingly common sources in scholarly writing. For instance, online articles are one of the electronic materials highlighted in the MLA Handbook. In this case, the MLA Works Cited website entries focus on the general elements and unique formatting features.
Key Aspects of Websites in the MLA Works Cited
Online entries in the MLA Works Cited contain some general information regardless of its nature. Firstly, the author’s name is included when available on the website. Besides, the name of a corporate author or the title of the webpage may be used in instances where the author’s name is absent. Secondly, the title of the source is provided for organizing the MLA Works Cited website. In this case, people place the title of a short study in quotation marks while they put the longer or whole work in italics. However, if the web page lacks a title, a descriptive term is used as a substitute for the title.
Other Features
Then, people know the publication information. Basically, it includes the name of the website, electronic publication date or the date of the most recent update, date of retrieval, and uniform resource locator (URL). Also, authors should strive to provide the most detailed publication information to facilitate the quick location of the source material. Hence, all online sources contain most of the elements described that must be documented in the MLA Works Cited website entries.
Formatting MLA Works Cited
Since the date of publication and URL have particular guidelines, it makes website citations in MLA unique. In particular, the word “Accessed” appears before the retrieval date in citing a website MLA. Also, the inclusion of the word may aid in differentiating the electronic publication date and the date when the author extracted information from a webpage. However, the URL should be written in full. On the other hand, the “https://” component is excluded from the web address in the MLA Works Cited website entries. Hence, a web address is a crucial piece of information for locating internet sources. As a result, illustrations of the general formats and examples of entries are:
Entire Website
General format: Author or editor’s names (if available). Name of the Website. Name of the Publisher or Sponsor, publication date, URL or permalink. Date of access (if necessary).
Example: Teller, Jack. MLA Works Cited Website. Carlton College, 19 Dec. 2010, english.carlton.edu/resources/publiclib_34. Accessed 21 June 2019.
Individual Page on a Website
General format: Author or editor’s names (if available). “Title of the webpage.” Name of the Website. Name of the Publisher or Sponsor, publication date, URL or permalink. Date of access (if necessary).
Example: Banks, Sarah. “MLA Works Cited Website.” Research Library. London University Press, 21 May 2018, www.researchlib.lup.edu/article22223. Accessed 21 June 2019.
Unknown or Corporate Author
Unknown Author: “Recent Advancements in Cancer Treatment.” Cancer Campaign. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 Dec. 2001, www.cancercampaign.com/cancer_treatment/post6678. Accessed 21 June 2019.
An organization as the author: American Psychological Association. “MLA Works Cited Website.” Psychology Today. Global Mental Health Association, 15 Dec. 2012, www.psychotoday.com/documentation_APA_style/22990. Accessed 21 June 2019.
Conclusion on MLA Works Cited Website
In conclusion, the elements of the MLA Works Cited website entries may vary depending on the availability of the required information. In this case, authors are expected to make a decent effort to find most of the elements because of the unstable nature of webpage content. Hence, people must understand how to cite in MLA format and how to cite MLA website if they want to write high-quality papers. In turn, poorly-organized entries lead to plagiarism cases. Besides, the examples used in this discussion are created from random information for illustrations.