English III British Literature
Tutorial and Guidelines: Citing Web Resources in MLA Style
This is the Basic Format we will use in the following tutorial:
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number, Name of
institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource
creation (if available), URL, DOI or permalink. Date of access (if applicable).
Entire Site:
Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory. Purdue U, 28 Nov. 2003,
www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/. Accessed 10 May 2006.
A Page from a Website
Lundman, Susan. "How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow,
www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html. Accessed 6 July 2015.
Let’s use the following website to demonstrate how to properly cite a website source in
MLA… click on the following link:
http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day.
If the link does not work, google “St. Patrick’s Day,” and click on the history.com link.
If you scroll through this page, you may not find an author for this site. At the bottom of the
page, there is a date and an organization name instead.
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Since there is no author or editor, you will start with the title of the page, which is
“St. Patrick’s Day.”
Next, look for the name of the website, which is History.com.
Check for a version number on the website. If there is none, you cannot list it.
Next, look for the institution or organization name. This will usually be at the
bottom of the page. For this site, the organization name is A&E Television
Networks, LLC.
Also at the bottom of the page, the creation date is listed: 1996-2012.
The URL is www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day.
The date of access is the date you visited the website: 11 January 2017.
Now, let’s pull it all together…
“St. Patrick’s Day.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, LLC., 1996-2012,
www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day. Accessed 11 January 2017.
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English III British Literature
** Your Works Cited page… should be its own page, labeled Works Cited (centered and
plain). All resources should be alphabetized according to the first letter of the entry. Be
sure to indent the second line of each entry as noted in the examples.
Works Cited
Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory. Purdue U, 28 Nov. 2003,
www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/. Accessed 10 May 2006.
Lundman, Susan. "How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow,
www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html. Accessed 6 July 2015.
“St. Patrick’s Day.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, LLC., 1996-2012,
www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day. Accessed 11 January 2017.
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In-Text Citations: All information must be cited within your slides and correspond with
your Works Cited page.
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Shakespeare died at 52 of unknown causes (Mabillard).
Explanation: The first word in your Works Cited Entry (see MLA tutorial) is the
author’s name, Mabillard; therefore, that is what you use to cite the source within
the slide.
Ben Jonson predicted Shakespeare’s success (Shakespeare Online).
Explanation: This information comes from the home page, and there is no specific
author listed; therefore, you use the first word listed in your Works Cited entry – the
web site name.
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Evaluating Web Sites…
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Accuracy. If your page lists the author and institution that published the page and
provides a way of contacting him/her and . . .
Authority. If your page lists the author credentials, and its domain is preferred
(.edu, .gov, .org, or .net), and. . .
Objectivity. If your page provides accurate information with limited advertising, it
is objective in presenting the information, and . . .
Currency. If your page is current and updated regularly (as stated on the page), and
the links (if any) are also up-to-date, and . . .
Coverage. If you can view the information properly--not limited to fees, browser
technology, or software requirement, then . . .
English III British Literature
You may have a Web page that could be of value to your research!