how to cite websites in mla without author

MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition): No Author, No Date etc.

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What to do when information is missing, no page numbers, no database name, how to alphabetize titles in works cited list.

If there is no author given, your citation will start with the title of the work. You must put these citations in correct alphabetical order in your Works Cited list.

When putting works in alphabetical order, ignore initial articles such as "the", "a", or "an". For example the title  The Best of Canada  would be alphabetized as if it started with the word  Best  instead of the word  The.

If the title begins with a number, alphabetize it as if the number was spelled out. For example the title  5 Ways to Succeed in Business  would be alphabetized under F as if it had started with the word  Five .

For example, this is how the following titles would be alphabetized:

Anthropology in Action  [A] The Best of Canada  [B... ignore "The"] Easy Plant Care  [E] 5 Ways to Succeed in Business  [F... 5=Five] A Special Kind of Madness  [S... ignore "A"]

If no author or creator is provided, start the citation with the title of the source you are citing instead. Do not use "Anonymous" as the author's name. Use the first one, two, or three main words from the title, in either  italics  or in "quotation marks" (the same way it is written in your Works Cited list). You should provide enough words to make it clear which work you're referring to from your Works Cited list.

"How to Teach Yourself Guitar."  eHow,  Demand Media, www.ehow.com/how_5298173_teach-yourself-guitar.html. Accessed 24 June 2016.

In-text citation would be ("How to Teach")

  Note : An author/creator won't necessarily be a person's name. It may be an organization or corporation, for example Health Canada or a username on a site such as YouTube. Also, it is possible for the author's name to be written as only initials. If the author is known only by initials, treat the initials as one unit. Use the initials in your in-text citation and list the entry under the first initial in your Works Cited page. 

If no date is provided, skip that information in your citation. It is recommended that you add the date you accessed the work at the end of the citation in your Works Cited list. Access date is given by putting the word "Accessed" followed by the date you viewed or accessed the work (format =  Day Month (shortened) Year).

Example:  

"Audit and Assurance."  Chartered Professional Accountants Canada , www.cpacanada.ca/en/business-and-accounting-resources/audit-and-assurance. Accessed 6 Sept. 2019.

Some sources, such as online materials, won't have page numbers provided. If this is the case, leave the page numbers out of the citation. For your in-text citation, just use the author's name or the title of the work if there is no author given. For your Works Cited list, just leave the page number part out.

Williamson, Jennifer. "Canada: Business: Attire."  Global Road Warrior,  World Trade Press, 2018, www.globalroadwarrior/com/#mode=country&regionId=27&uri=country-content&nid=13.08&key=country-attire. Accessed 17 July 2016.

In-text citation would be (Williamson)

  Note   If there are no page, chapter, paragraph, or section numbers in the original text, then don't include any. Never count pages or paragraphs yourself .

If you find an article through the  search bar on the main library page, you might be unsure which database the article is from, because this searches across many different databases.

You can find the name of the database a few ways:

Method 1. Click on the title of the article in the search results list. This will bring you to a page with a description of the article as well as other useful information. Scroll down to the bottom of this list of information, and you should see "Database" listed near the bottom.

Method 2. You can also find the name of the database in the summary of information just below the title of the article in the search results list. It will look something like this:

Notice the name of the database is listed at the end.

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MLA Style (9th Edition) Citation Guide: Websites

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Table of Contents

Entire website - no separate pages or sections, page or section from a website.

Note: For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

It can sometimes be difficult to find out who the author of a website is. Remember that an author can be a corporation or group, not only a specific person. Author information can sometimes be found under an "About" section on a website.

If there is no known author, start the citation with the title of the website instead.

The best date to use for a website is the date that the content was last updated. Otherwise look for a copyright or original publication date. Unfortunately this information may not be provided or may be hard to find. Often date information is put on the bottom of the pages of a website.

If you do not know the complete date, put as much information as you can find. For example you may have a year but no month or day. If the source does not include a copyright/last modified date, then omit the date and include an access date in your citation instead.

Access Date

Date of access is optional in MLA 8th/9th edition; it is recommended for pages that may change frequently or that do not have a copyright/publication date.

In your works cited list, abbreviate months as follows: 

January = Jan. February = Feb. March = Mar. April = Apr. May = May June = June July = July August = Aug. September = Sept. October = Oct. November = Nov. December = Dec.

Spell out months fully in the body of your paper. 

Author, or compiler name (if available).  Title of Website,  Name of Organization Affiliated with the Website, Date of copyright or date last modified/updated, URL. Accessed access date.

Works Cited List Example:

Mabillard, Amanda.  Shakespeare Online,  29 Dec. 2011, www.shakespeare-online.com. Accessed 6 July 2016.

In-Text Citation Example:

(Author's Last Name)

(Mabillard)

Note: In this example, the name of the organization affiliated with the website is omitted since it is the same as the website title.

Created by an Unknown Author, or the Author is the same as the Website Title/Publisher

 "Title of Section."  Title of Website,  Publisher or Sponsoring Organization, Date of publication or last modified date, URL. Accessed Date Month (abbreviated) Year.

Note: The publisher or sponsoring organization can often be found in a copyright notice at the bottom of the home page or on a page that gives information about the site . If the website publisher is the same as the author and title of the web site , then include only the title of the web site. 

“ Athlete's Foot - Topic Overview.”  WebMD, 25 Sept. 2014, www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/athletes-foot-topic-overview.

("Title of Section")

(“Athlete's Foot - Topic Overview”)

Created by a Known Author

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Page or Document."  Title of Website,  Publisher or Sponsoring Organization, Date of copyright or date last modified/updated, URL. Accessed Date Month (abbreviated) Year.

Morin, Amy. "How to Prevent the Media From Damaging Your Teen's Body Image."  Verywell Family,  About Inc., 6 Oct. 2019, www.verywellfamily.com/media-and-teens-body-image-2611245. Accessed 1 Nov. 2019.

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Citing a Website Without Authors

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Using articles published on websites as sources in academic papers is an increasingly common practice, and for good reason. They are easy to access and can contain a breadth of valuable information. It can be challenging, however, to properly cite websites when there is no clear author for the article, or if there are numerous authors listed. So how can you go about creating accurate references for these types of sources? Read on for informative tips that will help you create citations like these for your next paper.

Below are formulas and examples for how to cite a web page in MLA formatting , APA style , and Harvard referencing, which are some of the most popular styles on Cite This For Me. (The Harvard example in this article adheres to the rules in Harvard – Cite Them Right style specifically). The examples for “many authors” assume that there are six or more authors listed in the source.

How to cite a web page in MLA style with no author

“Title of the Article or Individual Page.” Title of the website , Name of the publisher, Date of publication, URL.

“Facts About Giant Pandas.” Smithsonian National Zoological Park , Smithsonian Institute, 2004, www.nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/giantpandas/pandafacts.

How to cite a web page in MLA style with many authors

First Author Last Name, First Name, et al. “Title of the Article or Individual Page.” Title of the website , Name of the publisher, Date of publication, URL.

Smith, Martha, et al. “The Early Works of Emily Dickinson.” Dickinson Electronic Archives, University of Maryland, 1994, www.emilydickinson.org/index.html .

How to cite a web page in APA style with no author

Title of web page. (Year, Month Date of publication). Retrieved from URL

India: Country specific information. (2013, October 3). Retrieved from http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1139.html

How to cite a web page in APA style with many authors

Author 1 Last Name, First Middle Initial, Author 2 Last Name, First Middle Initial, Author 3 Last Name, First Middle Initial, Author 4 Last Name, First Middle Initial, Author 5 Last Name, First Middle Initial, Author 6 Last Name, First Middle Initial . . . Final Author Last Name, First Middle Initial. (Year, Month Date of publication). Retrieved from URL.

Satalkar, B., Choi, M.J., Angeli, L.L., Harland, A.A., Stamos, J.A., Thomas, S.T., . . . Rubin, J.H. (2010, July 15). Water aerobics. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com  

How to cite a web page in Harvard style with no author

Web page title (Year published) Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).

Palladio’s Italian villas (2005) Available at: http://www.boglewood.com/palladio/ (Accessed: 23 December 2018).

*Need more help? Check out our Harvard referencing tool .

How to cite a web page in Harvard style with many authors

Author Last Name, First Middle Initial et al. (Year published) Web page title. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).

Burton, P.A et al. (2012) The world’s oldest castles. Available at: http://www.castlesofspain.co.uk/ (Accessed: 14 December 2018).

Need help learning how to write an annotated bibliography ? Trying to make an in-text citation for a website ? Cite This For Me has citing guides and tools to help you with this and more!

If the webpage’s author is not available, use the title of the webpage in the in-text citation. For a webpage title, enclose the title in double quotation marks and use title case, not sentence case, in the in-text citation.

In case the title is too long, use a shortened version.

Webpage Example In-Text Citation With No Author:

“Nephrology in 2020 and Beyond” 2020 states… (paraphrase)

The article “Nephrology in 2020 and Beyond” (2020) states that…

Parenthetical:

The article explains the theory that future nephrology will focus on proactive kidney disease diagnoses (“Nephrology in 2020 and Beyond,” 2020).

For a shortened version, use only the noun in the noun phrase of the title:

(“Nephrology,” 2020).

If the webpage’s author is not available, use the title of the webpage first in the reference entry.

Webpage Example Reference Entry With No Author:

Nephrology. (2022, January 25). In Wikipedia . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephrology

When a webpage does NOT have an author, use the title of the article or webpage to reference it within the text. Unlike other formats, do not include the year in which the webpage was created. If the title is long, use a shortened form, creating a noun phrase and excluding beginning articles. The phrase must include the first words shown in its citation on the Works Cited page.

Format: Parenthetical Citation

(“Title of the article”)

( Title of the Webpage )

Example: Parenthetical Citation

(“All Things Elon”)

( Writing Characters )

Format: Narrative Citation

According to “Title of the Article,” it is known that . . .

According to Title of the Webpage , it is . . .

Example: Narrative Citation

According to “A Crow’s Voice,” the crow is one of the most intelligent of all birds out there.

According to Investing in NFTs , these digital assets are one of the fastest growing sectors.

As per the MLA 9 handbook, if you don’t find an author’s name, don’t state it as “Anonymous.”  Instead, omit the author’s name and fill in the next element of the works-cited entry: the name of the webpage.

“Title of the Article or Individual Page.” Website Name , Publisher, Day Month Year Published, URL.

“Stanley Crane Dies at Smithsonian’s National Zoo.” Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute , Smithsonian Institute, 9 Feb. 2022,

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/news/stanley-crane-dies-smithsonians-national-zoo

For footnotes for a webpage with no authors, include as much of the following information as possible: the title or description of the page, the title of the website, the owner or sponsor of the site, and the URL. If available, include the publication date or modification date; if not available, include the access date.

“Title of the Webpage,” Title of the Website, Owner of the Site, Published/Updated/Accessed Month Day, Year, URL.

15. “Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic,” World Health Organization, WHO, last modified October 14, 2021, accessed February 19, 2022, https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019.

For a bibliography entry for a webpage with no author, include as much of the following information as possible: the title or description of the page, the title of the website, the owner or sponsor of the site, and the URL. If available, include the publication date or modification date; if not available, include the access date in your citation. When formatting the citation for your bibliography, include the site owner at the beginning of your citation in the author field.

Website Owner Name. “Webpage Name.” Website Name. Published/Updated/Accessed Month Day, Year. URL.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “New Era of Smarter Food Safety.” FDA. Last modified January 27, 2022. https://www.fda.gov/food/new-era-smarter-food-safety.

How To Cite a Website Without an Author: APA, MLA, and Chicago Style

• Posted on April 19, 2022 April 15, 2022

Today, a staggering majority of our information is found online. In fact, it’s rare not to head to the internet when you start researching a topic. This is true even for students who have been well-trained in the use of primary sources and physical references: books, magazines, and newspapers, among others.

Of course, if you have any experience at all with research, you already know how common it is to find online information with no author attributed. This can occur for a variety of reasons, for example, if an article was written by a whole team of employees, or if the work was a combination of both the website staff work and newswire material. When there is absolutely no author name to be found in the content, you still must cite the source accurately.

Similarly, sometimes online information won’t disclose an author’s name but instead lists “anonymous” as the author. Writers occasionally chose to publish anonymously, as it removes their reputation and personal ties from the work. This might be useful if the writer is branching into a new field of study, or if they need to hide their identity for safety reasons. However, as long as the source is reliable and the information is vital to your work it is still seen as appropriate and professional to cite an anonymous source.

Although an article without an author and an article written anonymously may seem similar, they actually have different citation formats across the different styles. The sections below will serve as a guide for properly accrediting the un-named authors in both of these scenarios.

How to Cite a Website Without an Author

Depending on your class subject or industry, you might use APA, MLA or Chicago Styles, all of which differ in what information is necessary for a proper citation. In lieu of the author’s last name, you will need other basic identifiers such as website name, the title of the article, date of publication, access date, and HTML address.

Additionally, depending on your citation style you may require additional information, such as:

• Day month year
• The entire website or specific headings
• Page numbers

Any type of source, including journal article, newspaper article, magazine article, or research paper, may fall under this reference type if there is no author listed on the website. For our purposes, let’s assume you are dealing with a basic website, with no author or an anonymous author, and look at the three basic formatting approaches now.

Named for the American Psychological Association, APA style is commonly used in the social and behavioral sciences, such as psychology, education, and social work. Here is the correct APA citation format for a website without an author. This complete citation is placed at the end of a work, typically in a reference page:

Title. (Year, Month Day). Retrieved from URL of the specific document

An example looks like this:

Chiweenies take over Manhattan for midsummer parade. (2013, October 14). Retrieved from http://www.hellodoggy.com/id/576768/chiweenies-manhattan-midsummer-parade

Note that for an APA reference, there is no period at the end of the citation and no italics are needed. Additionally, and sentence case is used- where only the first word of the title is capitalized. Since the title takes the place of the author’s name, you do not need to list the website separately from the URL.

In-text citations are a shortened version of the above citation placed within the written work to accompany information from the source. APA in-text citations include an abbreviated title, in quotes, followed by the year, in parentheses. An in-text citation for the same example as above is provided here:

(“Chiweenies take over Manhattan,” 2013).

MLA format is another citation style based on a handbook published by Modern Language Association and is most typically used in the humanities. The MLA citation style differs from APA in that it does require the name of the website as well as the organization if there is one. A template for an MLA citation for a website without an author is provided below. This longer citation is placed at the end of the article, on the works cited page:

Name of Organization. Title of Web Document. Title of Website, year if given, URL of specific document. Accessed access date.

Formatted properly, it looks like this:

I Heart Chiweenies. Chiweenies Take Over Manhattan for Midsummer Parade. Hello Doggy, 2013, http://www.hellodoggy.com/id/576768/chiweenies-manhattan-midsummer-parade . Accessed March 2, 2021.

If you do not have a parent organization name that is separate from the website name, you should leave it out and put nothing in the author slot.

For an in-text citation or parenthetical citation, cite only the organization name and page or paragraph number, unless you do not have an organization name, in which case the style requires quotes around the title. Different from APA, MLA uses titlecase for all website citations.

A template for an organization name with paragraph number:

(I Heart Chiweenies, Paragraph 5).

A template for no organization name and no page number:

(“Chiweenies Take Over Manhattan for Midsummer Parade”).

Chicago Style

Chicago Style is another method for citation and is most frequently seen in the history field, but occasionally used by the humanities as well. For a Chicago-style reference list entry, you must differentiate between a footnote and a bibliography entry. A footnote does not require anything in the author slot, and a template looks like:

“Title,” Website Name, accessed date. URL.

For example:

“Chiweenies Take Over Manhattan for Midsummer Parade,” Hello Doggy, accessed March 2, 2021, http://www.hellodoggy.com/id/576768/chiweenies-manhattan-midsummer-parade .

A bibliography citation, on the other hand, does require the name of the website to take the place of an author’s name. An example would look like this:

Hello Doggy. “Chiweenies Take Over Manhattan for Midsummer Parade.” Accessed March 2, 2021, http://www.hellodoggy.com/id/576768/chiweenies-manhattan-midsummer-parade .

In all cases where the title comes first, and the title begins with an article (such as a, an, the), omit the article and begin with the first word. In our example, this is not applicable, but if the correct title began with “The Chiweenies Take Over … ” you would omit the “The.” Additionally, Chicago Style uses title case but does not feature italics or include the parent organization in any citations.

For an in-text citation, the title of the website goes first, followed by a title abbreviation in quotation marks. An example would be:

(Hello Doggy, “Chiweenies Take Over Manhattan”).

Citing a Website with an Anonymous Author

As mentioned previously, sometimes an author may not want their name associated with their work for a variety of reasons. This is common on blogs with guest posters or on forums, where instead of a name in the author slot it simply states “Anonymous”, “Author” or “Unknown Contributor.”

The citation should still include the title of the webpage, date, and so forth. However, some of the citation styles treat this situation differently than an article with no author.

Whether you’re writing a paper for a boss or adhering to the highest Harvard referencing standards, you want to make sure your citation formats are correct. The different citation formats are listed below.

In APA format, citing a website without a specified author but with a placeholder displaying Anonymous is relatively simple. The one adjustment is to switch out the author’s name with the designation found on the webpage, as shown in the template below:

Designation. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site name. URL

Again, there is no period at the end of the URL and no access date in the citation. With a designation of simply “Author,” an example would look like this:

Author. (2013, October 14). Chiweenies take over Manhattan for midsummer parade. Hello Doggy. Retrieved from http://www.hellodoggy.com/id/576768/chiweenies-manhattan-midsummer-parade

An in-text citation uses the designation and year, or if there is an applicable page or paragraph number that information should also be included.

(Author, 2013) Or (Author, 2013, p. 120)

MLA style dictates that you do not use Anonymous, Author or any other nonspecific designation in place of an actual author’s name. The style states you should treat these “names” as though they do not exist, and default to the standard referencing guides as listed above. As a reminder, the template for this citation is provided below:

As with MLA format, Chicago Style asks you to omit the anonymous designation and stick to the reference format used for a webpage with no author. A template and example for a footnote are restated below:

As a reminder, the format changes for the bibliography page, as you should use the name of the website in place of the Anonymous distinction. A sample citation is provided here:

Creating Citations for a Website Without an Author

All of the above citation styles can be performed manually by plugging in the correct variables to the specified format for long-form (bibliographies, works cited, footnotes) and short-form (in-text) citations. However, as the number of sources you use grows this can become tedious work.

Plus, it leaves you open to a few dangers. First, if you do not format a citation correctly your grade will suffer as a result. The second, more considerable, hazard is that if you do it incorrectly and no one can find your reference, they might think you are making it up. Or, in the case of a website, when someone does a search for that content and finds it verbatim without a proper citation, they might think you are plagiarizing.

Unfortunately, accidental plagiarism is almost as serious as intentional plagiarism in school. In the business world, there is no difference as both can lead to an equally serious lawsuit.

You can avoid that danger by using Quetext’s citation generator for effortless and perfect citations, created automatically. All you do is plug the webpage into the generator, choose your style and hit go. The citation guide will immediately spit out perfectly formatted references that match your needed format.

Final Steps Before Submitting Your Work

No matter how you create your citations, make sure to check your work in full before submitting it to a teacher or manager. That way, you know exactly what you’re turning in and can stand behind your work with confidence knowing you have not committed plagiarism through poor paraphrasing or citations.

If you’re still not confident, you can use software such as Quetext’s plagiarism checker to ensure you have not unintentionally plagiarized from one of your sources. That way, even if you accidentally left out a reference, the system will spot it for you and make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Sign Up for Quetext Today!

Click below to find a pricing plan that fits your needs.

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA Works Cited Page: Books

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

When you are gathering book sources, be sure to make note of the following bibliographic items: the author name(s), other contributors such as translators or editors, the book’s title, editions of the book, the publication date, the publisher, and the pagination.

The 8 th  edition of the MLA handbook highlights principles over prescriptive practices. Essentially, a writer will need to take note of primary elements in every source, such as author, title, etc. and then assort them in a general format. Thus, by using this methodology, a writer will be able to cite any source regardless of whether it’s included in this list.

Please note these changes in the new edition:

• Commas are used instead of periods between Publisher, Publication Date, and Pagination.
• Medium is no longer necessary.
• Containers are now a part of the MLA process. Commas should be used after container titles.
• DOIs should be used instead of URLS when available.
• Use the term “Accessed” instead of listing the date or the abbreviation, “n.d."

Below is the general format for any citation:

Author. Title. Title of container (do not list container for standalone books, e.g. novels), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs URL or DOI). 2 nd  container’s title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location, Date of Access (if applicable).

Basic Book Format

The author’s name or a book with a single author's name appears in last name, first name format. The basic form for a book citation is:

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book . City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.

* Note: the City of Publication should only be used if the book was published before 1900, if the publisher has offices in more than one country, or if the publisher is unknown in North America.

Book with One Author

Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science . Penguin, 1987.

Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House . MacMurray, 1999.

Book with More Than One Author

When a book has two authors, order the authors in the same way they are presented in the book. Start by listing the first name that appears on the book in last name, first name format; subsequent author names appear in normal order (first name last name format).

Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring . Allyn and Bacon, 2000.

If there are three or more authors, list only the first author followed by the phrase et al. (Latin for "and others") in place of the subsequent authors' names. (Note that there is a period after “al” in “et al.” Also note that there is never a period after the “et” in “et al.”).

Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition . Utah State UP, 2004.

Two or More Books by the Same Author

List works alphabetically by title. (Remember to ignore articles like A, An, and The.) Provide the author’s name in last name, first name format for the first entry only. For each subsequent entry by the same author, use three hyphens and a period.

Palmer, William J. Dickens and New Historicism . St. Martin's, 1997.

---. The Films of the Eighties: A Social History . Southern Illinois UP, 1993.

Book by a Corporate Author or Organization

A corporate author may include a commission, a committee, a government agency, or a group that does not identify individual members on the title page.

List the names of corporate authors in the place where an author’s name typically appears at the beginning of the entry.

American Allergy Association. Allergies in Children . Random House, 1998.

When the author and publisher are the same, skip the author, and list the title first. Then, list the corporate author only as the publisher.

Fair Housing—Fair Lending. Aspen Law & Business, 1985.

Book with No Author

List by title of the book. Incorporate these entries alphabetically just as you would with works that include an author name. For example, the following entry might appear between entries of works written by Dean, Shaun and Forsythe, Jonathan.

Encyclopedia of Indiana . Somerset, 1993.

Remember that for an in-text (parenthetical) citation of a book with no author, you should provide the name of the work in the signal phrase and the page number in parentheses. You may also use a shortened version of the title of the book accompanied by the page number. For more information see the In-text Citations for Print Sources with No Known Author section of In-text Citations: The Basics .

A Translated Book

If you want to emphasize the work rather than the translator, cite as you would any other book. Add “translated by” and follow with the name(s) of the translator(s).

Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason . Translated by Richard Howard, Vintage-Random House, 1988.

If you want to focus on the translation, list the translator as the author. In place of the author’s name, the translator’s name appears. His or her name is followed by the label, “translator.” If the author of the book does not appear in the title of the book, include the name, with a “By” after the title of the book and before the publisher. Note that this type of citation is less common and should only be used for papers or writing in which translation plays a central role.

Howard, Richard, translator. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason . By Michel Foucault, Vintage-Random House, 1988.

Republished Book

Books may be republished due to popularity without becoming a new edition. New editions are typically revisions of the original work. For books that originally appeared at an earlier date and that have been republished at a later one, insert the original publication date before the publication information.

For books that are new editions (i.e. different from the first or other editions of the book), see An Edition of a Book below.

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble . 1990. Routledge, 1999.

Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine . 1984. Perennial-Harper, 1993.

An Edition of a Book

There are two types of editions in book publishing: a book that has been published more than once in different editions and a book that is prepared by someone other than the author (typically an editor).

A Subsequent Edition

Cite the book as you normally would, but add the number of the edition after the title.

Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students . 3rd ed., Pearson, 2004.

A Work Prepared by an Editor

Cite the book as you normally would, but add the editor after the title with the label "edited by."

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre,  edited by Margaret Smith, Oxford UP, 1998.

Note that the format for citing sources with important contributors with editor-like roles follows the same basic template:

...adapted by John Doe...

Finally, in the event that the source features a contributor that cannot be described with a past-tense verb and the word "by" (e.g., "edited by"), you may instead use a noun followed by a comma, like so:

...guest editor, Jane Smith...

Anthology or Collection (e.g. Collection of Essays)

To cite the entire anthology or collection, list by editor(s) followed by a comma and "editor" or, for multiple editors, "editors." This sort of entry is somewhat rare. If you are citing a particular piece within an anthology or collection (more common), see A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection below.

Hill, Charles A., and Marguerite Helmers, editors. Defining Visual Rhetorics . Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004.

Peterson, Nancy J., editor. Toni Morrison: Critical and Theoretical Approaches . Johns Hopkins UP, 1997.

A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection

Works may include an essay in an edited collection or anthology, or a chapter of a book. The basic form is for this sort of citation is as follows:

Last name, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection , edited by Editor's Name(s), Publisher, Year, Page range of entry.

Some examples:

Harris, Muriel. "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers." A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One to One , edited by Ben Rafoth, Heinemann, 2000, pp. 24-34.

Swanson, Gunnar. "Graphic Design Education as a Liberal Art: Design and Knowledge in the University and The 'Real World.'" The Education of a Graphic Designer , edited by Steven Heller, Allworth Press, 1998, pp. 13-24.

Note on Cross-referencing Several Items from One Anthology: If you cite more than one essay from the same edited collection, MLA indicates you may cross-reference within your works cited list in order to avoid writing out the publishing information for each separate essay. You should consider this option if you have several references from a single text. To do so, include a separate entry for the entire collection listed by the editor's name as below:

Rose, Shirley K, and Irwin Weiser, editors. The Writing Program Administrator as Researcher . Heinemann, 1999.

Then, for each individual essay from the collection, list the author's name in last name, first name format, the title of the essay, the editor's last name, and the page range:

L'Eplattenier, Barbara. "Finding Ourselves in the Past: An Argument for Historical Work on WPAs." Rose and Weiser, pp. 131-40.

Peeples, Tim. "'Seeing' the WPA With/Through Postmodern Mapping." Rose and Weiser, pp. 153-67.

Please note: When cross-referencing items in the works cited list, alphabetical order should be maintained for the entire list.

Poem or Short Story Examples :

Burns, Robert. "Red, Red Rose." 100 Best-Loved Poems, edited by Philip Smith, Dover, 1995, p. 26.

Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl." The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories , edited by Tobias Wolff, Vintage, 1994, pp. 306-07.

If the specific literary work is part of the author's own collection (all of the works have the same author), then there will be no editor to reference:

Whitman, Walt. "I Sing the Body Electric." Selected Poems, Dover, 1991, pp. 12-19.

Carter, Angela. "The Tiger's Bride." Burning Your Boats: The Collected Stories, Penguin, 1995, pp. 154-69.

Article in a Reference Book (e.g. Encyclopedias, Dictionaries)

For entries in encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference works, cite the entry name as you would any other work in a collection but do not include the publisher information. Also, if the reference book is organized alphabetically, as most are, do not list the volume or the page number of the article or item.

"Ideology." The American Heritage Dictionary.  3rd ed. 1997. 

A Multivolume Work

When citing only one volume of a multivolume work, include the volume number after the work's title, or after the work's editor or translator.

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria . Translated by H. E. Butler, vol. 2, Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980.

When citing more than one volume of a multivolume work, cite the total number of volumes in the work. Also, be sure in your in-text citation to provide both the volume number and page number(s) ( see "Citing Multivolume Works" on our in-text citations resource .)

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria . Translated by H. E. Butler, Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980. 4 vols.

If the volume you are using has its own title, cite the book without referring to the other volumes as if it were an independent publication.

Churchill, Winston S. The Age of Revolution . Dodd, 1957.

An Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterword

When citing an introduction, a preface, a foreword, or an afterword, write the name of the author(s) of the piece you are citing. Then give the name of the part being cited, which should not be italicized or enclosed in quotation marks; in italics, provide the name of the work and the name of the author of the introduction/preface/foreword/afterword. Finish the citation with the details of publication and page range.

Farrell, Thomas B. Introduction. Norms of Rhetorical Culture , by Farrell, Yale UP, 1993, pp. 1-13.

If the writer of the piece is different from the author of the complete work , then write the full name of the principal work's author after the word "By." For example, if you were to cite Hugh Dalziel Duncan’s introduction of Kenneth Burke’s book Permanence and Change, you would write the entry as follows:

Duncan, Hugh Dalziel. Introduction. Permanence and Change: An Anatomy of Purpose, by Kenneth Burke, 1935, 3rd ed., U of California P, 1984, pp. xiii-xliv.

Book Published Before 1900

Original copies of books published before 1900 are usually defined by their place of publication rather than the publisher. Unless you are using a newer edition, cite the city of publication where you would normally cite the publisher.

Thoreau, Henry David. Excursions . Boston, 1863.

Italicize “The Bible” and follow it with the version you are using. Remember that your in-text (parenthetical citation) should include the name of the specific edition of the Bible, followed by an abbreviation of the book, the chapter and verse(s). (See Citing the Bible at In-Text Citations: The Basics .)

The Bible. Authorized King James Version , Oxford UP, 1998.

The Bible. The New Oxford Annotated Version , 3rd ed., Oxford UP, 2001.

The New Jerusalem Bible. Edited by Susan Jones, Doubleday, 1985.

A Government Publication

Cite the author of the publication if the author is identified. Otherwise, start with the name of the national government, followed by the agency (including any subdivisions or agencies) that serves as the organizational author. For congressional documents, be sure to include the number of the Congress and the session when the hearing was held or resolution passed as well as the report number. US government documents are typically published by the Government Printing Office.

United States, Congress, Senate, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearing on the Geopolitics of Oil . Government Printing Office, 2007. 110th Congress, 1st session, Senate Report 111-8.

United States, Government Accountability Office. Climate Change: EPA and DOE Should Do More to Encourage Progress Under Two Voluntary Programs . Government Printing Office, 2006.

Cite the title and publication information for the pamphlet just as you would a book without an author. Pamphlets and promotional materials commonly feature corporate authors (commissions, committees, or other groups that does not provide individual group member names). If the pamphlet you are citing has no author, cite as directed below. If your pamphlet has an author or a corporate author, put the name of the author (last name, first name format) or corporate author in the place where the author name typically appears at the beginning of the entry. (See also Books by a Corporate Author or Organization above.)

Women's Health: Problems of the Digestive System . American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2006.

Your Rights Under California Welfare Programs . California Department of Social Services, 2007.

Dissertations and Master's Theses

Dissertations and master's theses may be used as sources whether published or not. Unlike previous editions, MLA 8 specifies no difference in style for published/unpublished works.

The main elements of a dissertation citation are the same as those for a book: author name(s), title (italicized) , and publication date. Conclude with an indication of the document type (e.g., "PhD dissertation"). The degree-granting institution may be included before the document type (though this is not required). If the dissertation was accessed through an online repository, include it as the second container after all the other elements.

Bishop, Karen Lynn. Documenting Institutional Identity: Strategic Writing in the IUPUI Comprehensive Campaign . 2002. Purdue University, PhD dissertation.

Bile, Jeffrey. Ecology, Feminism, and a Revised Critical Rhetoric: Toward a Dialectical Partnership . 2005. Ohio University, PhD dissertation.

Mitchell, Mark. The Impact of Product Quality Reducing Events on the Value of Brand-Name Capital: Evidence from Airline Crashes and the 1982 Tylenol Poisonings.  1987. PhD dissertation.  ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.

List the names of corporate authors in the place where an author’s name typically appears at the beginning of the entry if the author and publisher are not the same.

Fair Housing—Fair Lending. Aspen Law & Business, 1985.

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MLA Works Cited Page: Format, Template & Examples

The Works Cited page is a part of research papers written in the Modern Language Association (MLA) format where all sources used by the author are listed. While writing research papers, authors may consult several sources and use their data or paraphrase parts of the original text. It is essential to give due credit to the used sources and cite them appropriately to avoid plagiarism. This list of sources offers an easy reference for readers who may want to refer to the original source for their own research.  

A well-formatted and accurate Works Cited page can provide readers with specific details to help them access that source. For example, for a journal article, in addition to basic details like author name, title, journal name, etc., the MLA Works Cited page also provides the volume and issue numbers, page numbers, publisher, etc. A Works Cited page gives credibility to the research paper, proving that the information published is accurate and backed by evidence. 

This article describes the template of an MLA Works Cited page along with examples and suggests steps to ensure accurate formatting of all entries. 

Table of Contents

• What is a Works Cited Page? 
• Basic Rules for an MLA Works Cited Page 
• Online journal article with DOI or URL 
• Online newspaper article 
• E-book 
• Specific type of e-book (Kindle, Nook) 
• Print book 
• Chapter in edited book 
• Web page with an author 
• Web page with no author 
• Web page with no author or organization 
• Blog post 
• Video 
• YouTube video 
• Image 
• Conference paper presentation 
• Dissertation from a database 
• Twitter (now X) posts 
• Format of an MLA Works Cited Page 
• Formatting Headings and Citation Titles on an MLA Works Cited Page 
• Single author 
• Two authors 
• Three or more authors 
• General rules 
• Key Takeaways 
• Frequently Asked Questions 

What is a Works Cited Page?

The MLA Works Cited page 1 lists all the sources used while writing research papers. This page is always the last one after the main content. A Works Cited page uses the official MLA format and has similar content as reference lists used by other styles such as the Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago style), the American Psychological Association (APA), and the American Medical Association (AMA). Each style uses a different format, emphasizing different elements. 

The Works Cited page helps avoid plagiarism by crediting the sources and allows readers to quickly locate the sources. Papers in MLA format should always have a Works Cited page and each entry on this page should be cited in the text at the corresponding location. 

Basic Rules for an MLA Works Cited Page

Here are some basic rules for writing the MLA Works Cited page: 2  

• Start your Works Cited list on a fresh page at the end of your paper, with the same formatting as other sections, such as one-inch margins, last name, page number, and header. 
• Align the title, “Works Cited,” at the top center. Don’t use italicization, boldfacing, quotation marks, or all-caps to highlight the title. 
• Left align the citations and arrange them alphabetically by authors’ last names. If author names are unavailable, arrange by the first letter in the title (other than A, An, or The). 
• Do not use serial numbering or bullets to list the entries. 
• Double space all citations. 
• Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent (Figure 1). 

• List page numbers of the sources correctly. If only one page of a print source is used, use the abbreviation “p.” before the page number (e.g., p. 232). If a page range is used, use “pp.” (e.g., pp. 232-38). 
• For online sources, include a location, like a URL or a digital object identifier (DOI). Delete “http://” from URLs. The DOI or URL is usually the last element in a citation. 
• End all entries with a period. 

Citing Sources in MLA

A citation in an MLA Works Cited page requires the following core elements. These elements should be written in the order given below, followed by the punctuation mark shown unless the particular element is the final element of the entry, in which case, it should end with a period. 4,5  

• Author’s name
• Title of source
• Title of the container, (a container is the larger publication in which the text is published. For example, if citing an article from a journal, the journal is the container) 
• Other editors, translators, contributors
• Publication date
• Location (page numbers in print versions; DOI or URL in online versions) 

A few optional elements can be included, if available: 

• Date of access (the date you last accessed the online source) 
• Date of original publication 
• Format of media source 

All style guides have their own specific formats for writing different sources in a reference list—journal articles, printed and digital books, videos, websites, etc. The MLA-style format for different types of sources is listed below: 4

Online journal article with DOI or URL

Author’s last name, First name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal , vol., no. (issue), date of publication, pp. (if available). Database Name , DOI or URL. 

Online newspaper article

Author’s last name, First name. “Title of Article.” Name of Newspaper , Publication Date, p. (if available), URL. Access date. 

Author’s last name, First name. Title of Book . E-book, publisher, publication year, DOI or URL (if available). 

Specific type of e-book (Kindle, Nook)

Author’s last name, First name. Title of Book , editor or translator (if necessary), (Kindle/Nook) ed., publisher, year. 

Author’s last name, First name. Title of Book . City*, Publisher, Publication Date. 

*City is cited only if the book is published before 1900 or if the publisher has multiple offices worldwide. 

Chapter in edited book

Author’s last name, First name. Title of Book . Edited by FirstName LastName, publisher, year, page range of chapter. 

Web page with an author

Author’s last name, First name. “Title of Webpage.” Title of Website , URL. Access date. 

Web page with no author

“Title of Article.” Title of Website , date of publication, URL. Access date. 

Web page with no author or organization

“Title of Webpage.” Title of Website (if different), publication year, URL. Access date. 

Author’s last name, First Name (or, in some cases, screen name, editor, etc.). “Title of Post.” Name of Website , version or date of post, name of organization (if different), URL. Access date. 

Title of Motion Picture/Film . Directed by First Name Last Name, performances by First Name Last Name, Studio Name, Year. Access date, Media format. 

Last Name, First Name, director/writer/producer. Title of Motion Picture/Film . Studio, Year. Access date, Media format. 

YouTube video

If author is different from the uploader: 

Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of Video.” YouTube , uploaded by [Screen name], date, URL. Access date, Media format. 

If author and uploader are the same OR if there is no clear author: 

“Title of Video.” YouTube , uploaded by [Screen name], date, URL. Access date, Media format. 

Artist’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Image , date of creation, institution, city. Name of web site , URL. 

Title of Piece . Date of creation. Name of Website , URL. 

Conference paper presentation

Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Conference Paper Title.” Conference Title that Includes Date and Location , edited by Conference Editor(s). Publisher. Date of Publication. 

Dissertation from a database

Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Dissertation (Doctoral dissertation) . Database name, date of publication, URL (if available). 

Twitter (now X) posts

Twitter Handle (First Name Last Name if Known). “The entire tweet word-for-word.”  Twitter , Day Month Year of Tweet, Time of Tweet, URL. 

Format of an MLA Works Cited Page

Here’s a list of steps for formatting the MLA Works Cited page:

• Place one-inch margins around the entire document except for the “running head.” In the page setup settings, you can view and modify the margin size. 
• Double space the entire page using the “Line spacing” or “Paragraph spacing” options in your word processing program. 
• Organize the Works Cited entries in either alphabetical (by author name or title) or non-alphabetical order. 1,2

Example: 

Benjamin, Chloe. The Immortalists . Penguin, 2018. 

Black Panther . Directed by Ryan Coogler, performance by Chadwick Boseman, Marvel Studios, 2018. 

Egan, Jennifer. Manhattan Beach . Scribner, 2017. 

Formatting Headings and Citation Titles on an MLA Works Cited Page

The following points outline the basic format for headings and titles used on a Works Cited page. 1 The running head is at the top right corner of every page of the document. It displays the last name of the author and the page number (e.g., Letterman 6). 

• The running head should be placed half an inch from the top of the page and along the right side’s one-inch margin. 
• The page title (Work/Works Cited) should be written below the running head.  
• No center alignment 
• No boldfacing, italicization, or underlining 
• Same font size (12 point) and type as the entire document 
• Separated by a double space from the first citation on the page 

Consider the following rules while formatting source titles: 1,5,7,8  

• List the full title as the original source and use title case (capitalize all principal words, except articles [a, an, the], prepositions, or coordinating conjunctions [and, for, but, or, so, nor, yet] when in the middle of the title). 

Examples:  

The Code of the Exiled, Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire  

Cheyfitz, Eric. The Poetics of Imperialism: Translation and Colonization from The Tempest to Tarzan. Expanded ed., U of Pennsylvania P, 1997. 

• Separate the subtitle from the title with a colon and space. 

Goldman, Anne. “Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante.” The Georgia Review , vol. 64, no. 1, 2010, pp. 69-88. 

• Italicize titles if the source is self-contained and independent, e.g., titles of books, plays, films, periodicals, journals, magazines, databases, and websites. 

Example: Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye . Little Brown, 1991. 

• Enclose titles in quotation marks if the source is part of a larger work, e.g., articles, essays, chapters, poems, short stories, webpages, songs, television episodes, and speeches. 
• Titles beginning with numbers are placed in the reference list as if the title was written out alphabetically. 

Formatting Author Names on an MLA Work Cited Page

Few important rules to consider when formatting author names: 1,2  

Single author

• List author names alphabetically by the author’s last name (or, for entire edited collections, editor names). The format for writing author names is as follows: 

Last name, first name, middle name or middle initial  

Said, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism . Knopf, 1994. 

• To cite more than one work by the same author, order the entries alphabetically by title, and use three hyphens in place of the author’s name for every entry after the first. 

Alcott, Louisa May. “Eight Cousins.” Project Gutenberg , 2018, www.gutenberg.org/files/2726/2726-h/2726-h.htm . 

—. Little Women . Bantam Classics, 1983. 

—. Rose in Bloom . CreateSpace, 2018. 

Two authors

The first listed author’s name on the source is the first author in the reference.  

Last name, First name of author 1, and First name Last name of author 2 

Pavear, Richard, and Larissa Volokhonsky, translators. Crime and Punishment . By Feodor Dostoevsky, Vintage eBooks, 1993. 

Three or more authors

Include only the first listed author’s last name, followed by a comma and their first name, followed by another comma and then “et al.”  

Example:  

Baron, Sabrina Alcorn, et al., editors. Agent of Change: Print Culture Studies after Elizabeth L. Eisenstein. U of Massachusetts P / Center for the Book, Library of Congress, 2007. 

General rules

• Do not list titles (Dr., Sir, etc.) or degrees (PhD, MA, MD, etc.) with names but include suffixes like “Jr.” or “II.”  

King, Martin Luther, Jr. 

• Alphabetize works with no known author by their title; use a shortened version of the title in the parenthetical citations in your paper. 

Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulations . […] 

Boring Postcards USA […] 

• To cite works by authors using a pseudonym or stage-name, cite the better-known name if the person is well known. For example, Lewis Carroll is the pseudonym of Charles Dodgson, and is the better-known name so only the pseudonym should be used. If the pseudonym is less well known, cite the real name in square brackets after the pseudonym.  

Van Dyne, Edith [L. Frank Baum]. Aunt Jane’s Nieces At Work . 1st World Library, 2006. 

Key Takeaways

To summarize, an MLA Works Cited page should have the following format: 

• Starts on a new page at the end. 
• Centered page title without any highlights. 
• Double-spaced citations, preferably in Times New Roman 12-pt font. 
• Left-justified entries with a hanging indent of 0.5 inches. 
• Source titles in title case. 
• Entries ordered by the first word, typically author name or the first word in the title (except articles a, an, the). If the title begins with a year or a number, alphabetize it as if the number/year is spelled out. 

Frequently Asked Questions

A1. The Works Cited page and references have a similar purpose; both include sources that have been specifically cited or paraphrased in the paper and whose data have been directly used. A bibliography includes a list of sources related to the content in a research paper, that is, sources that you may have consulted while writing your research paper, but may not have actually used, cited, or paraphrased from. 1   

A2. Yes, there are a few other styles for citing references, such as the Chicago Style, AMA Manual of Style, APA Manual of Style, and the IEEE style. All of these have different referencing formats. In addition, organizations may create their own referencing styles, commonly called a house style. 

A3. No, the Works Cited page should include only those sources that you have cited or whose data you have used in your research paper. Sources that you have only consulted while conducting research should be included in a bibliography. 

A4. Per MLA format, ignore symbols, such as hashtags when alphabetizing. Use the first letter in the entry to alphabetize. 9   Example:  @AP. “It’s been four years since the #MeToo movement took over social media. . . .” X, 15 Oct. 2021, https://twitter.com/AP/status/1449019990741590025.  “#MeToo Poll: Many in US More Willing to Call Out Misconduct.” Associated Press , 15 Oct. 2021, https://apnews.com/article/sexual-misconduct-metoo-79688da3a0c3519d2a76b5b6e6b23ba7.  “#MeToo Protest in Amsterdam after Allegations at TV Show.” Associated Press , 29 Jan. 2022, https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-business-arts-and-entertainment-netherlands-amsterdam-4bb589aae061e534b1a47ac453e9d85f . 

A5. Here is one way of adding a hanging indent in MS Word: 10   1. Highlight the text that you want to format.   2. Click the Home tab at the top of the page; in the “Paragraph” section click the small arrow in the lower-right corner to open a window with different paragraph setting options.   3. In that settings window, look for a section, “Indentation,” which has an option, “Special.” Click the drop-down menu beneath Special and select Hanging.   4. MS Word will mostly have the default spacing of the hanging indent set to 0.5 inches. To adjust the spacing, change the number in the By section.  5. Click OK to save and apply the hanging indent to your highlighted text. 

To summarize, an MLA Works Cited page is an essential part of a manuscript written using the MLA style and includes all sources used by the author to write the research paper. As described in the article, the Works Cited page and its entries have a specific format that should be strictly followed, and all the core elements included in the individual entries.  

We hope this article has provided a deeper understanding of the MLA style and will help you apply this format to all your Works Cited pages. 

References  

• What is a works cited page? EasyBib website. Accessed May 14, 2024. https://www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/mla-format/how-to-format-a-mla-works-cited-list/  
• MLA Works Cited page: Basic format. Purdue Online Writing Lab. Accessed May 14, 2024. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_page_basic_format.html  
• MLA Citation: Works Cited Example. Press Books @ MSL website. Accessed May 16, 2024. https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/csu-fyw-rhetoric/chapter/12-4-mla-works-cited-examples/  
• MLA Works Cited Page. The University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://writingcenter.uagc.edu/mla-works-cited-page  
• Section 5. List of Works Cited. MLA Handbook eighth edition. 
• Sample MLA Works Cited Page. College of San Mateo library website. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.collegeofsanmateo.edu/library/docs/MLAWorksCited7.pdf  
• MLA Style Guide, 8 th & 9 th Editions: Title of Source. Accessed May 18, 2024. https://irsc.libguides.com/c.php?g=483085&p=3303403#:~:text=Italicize%20titles%20if%20the%20source,are%20placed%20in%20quotation%20marks . 
• Frequently Asked Questions about Citing Sources in MLA Format. Harvard Guide to Using Sources. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/frequently-asked-questions-about-citing-sources-mla-format  
• How do I alphabetize a works-cited-list entry that begins with a hashtag or another symbol? MLA Style Center. Accessed May 21, 2024. https://style.mla.org/alphabetizing-hashtags-and-other-symbols/  
• Hanging Indents and Microsoft Word. MLA Style Center. Accessed May 21, 2024. https://style.mla.org/hanging-indents/  

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If I have two works with identical titles and no authors in my works-cited list, how do I distinguish between them in my parenthetical citations?

Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook . For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Writers sometimes need to cite anonymous sources with identical titles, such as articles in reference works. Since in MLA style works without authors are cited parenthetically by title, you need to provide additional information in your in-text citation to distinguish the sources.

For example, let’s say you have in your works-cited list two articles without authors titled “Harry Houdini,” one from  Encyclopedia.com and one from  Wikipedia :

“Harry Houdini.”  Encyclopedia.com , 2016, www.encyclopedia.com/ people/literature-and-arts/theater-biographies/harry-houdini. “Harry Houdini.”  Wikipedia : The Free Encyclopedia , Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Houdini.

In your parenthetical citations, provide the title of the article and then add in brackets additional information to clarify which source you are using—usually, the first unique piece of information. In this case, that information is the title of the website:

As one source notes, “No one before or since has so completely defined the art of escape as Harry Houdini, magician, actor, and stage personality” (“Harry Houdini” [ Encyclopedia.com ]). Houdini “tried to escape from special handcuffs commissioned by London’s  Daily Mirror ,” while the spectators remained “in suspense for an hour” (“Harry Houdini” [ Wikipedia ]).

For more on differentiating between sources with the same title in your in-text citations, see our previous post . For tips on how to distinguish between them when you are discussing the works in your prose, see here .

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Consider your source's credibility. ask these questions:, contributor/author.

• Has the author written several articles on the topic, and do they have the credentials to be an expert in their field?
• Can you contact them? Do they have social media profiles?
• Have other credible individuals referenced this source or author?
• Book: What have reviews said about it?
• What do you know about the publisher/sponsor? Are they well-respected?
• Do they take responsibility for the content? Are they selective about what they publish?
• Take a look at their other content. Do these other articles generally appear credible?
• Does the author or the organization have a bias? Does bias make sense in relation to your argument?
• Is the purpose of the content to inform, entertain, or to spread an agenda? Is there commercial intent?
• Are there ads?
• When was the source published or updated? Is there a date shown?
• Does the publication date make sense in relation to the information presented to your argument?
• Does the source even have a date?
• Was it reproduced? If so, from where?
• If it was reproduced, was it done so with permission? Copyright/disclaimer included?

What You Need to Know About MLA Formatting

Writing a paper soon? If your assignment requires the use of Modern Language Association (MLA) style, then you're in luck! EasyBib® has tools to help you create citations for over 50 source types in this style, as well as a guide to show you how an MLA paper should be formatted. Review the guide to learn how to format a paper's title page, paragraphs, margins, quotations, abbreviations, numbers, tables, and more! There are even tips on editing, as well as on the type of paper you choose to print your paper on—yes, it's that comprehensive!

A Handy Guide for Using APA Format

Ever wonder how to cite a book with no author in APA style? Do you know how graphics should be formatted in a paper? Thanks to our EasyBib® guide on citing and formatting in American Psychological Association (APA) style, you don't have to guess anymore! We break down the guidelines for you into separate, digestible chunks of information that range from the ways to present headers, to use of abbreviations, to how to format titles for citations. There are also several helpful citation examples for you to review. Read up and start learning today!

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Jump start your knowledge of the Chicago Manual of Style (or Turabian style) with our structured EasyBib® guides. Each one will teach you the structure of a Chicago-style citation, followed by a real-life citation example for you to examine. Begin with our "“"Quick Guide" on citing common source types (books, magazines, newspapers, and websites). Then, discover why we have footnotes and how they work, or choose a "How to Cite" guide based on the source type you're using (e.g. photo, film, tweet, journal, blog, video on YouTube, conference paper, etc.). You're in charge of your own learning path!

Student & Teacher Blog for Better Papers

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