Alright, people, here’s the skinny on how to cite a webpage. This guide is designed with simplicity in mind, so it’s going to be sparse. Here we go…

There are three “styles” which one can possibly use to cite any particular reference. These three styles are: MLA style, APA style, and Chicago style. The particular style you should use is dependent upon your school or university. It is possible that your particular school or university will permit any style of citation. If not, check with your teacher or professor to find out which style their institution accepts or prefers.

It is important to note that some or most of the information that follows may not be available. If so, cite the information that is available and leave the rest out. Parts of citation where availability of information is unlikely are marked with an asterisk (*).

MLA: The MLA style of referencing websites is as follows:

Author*. “Title of Page"

Title of Webpage (underlined). Editor*. Publication or update date*. Sponsor*. Date you visited the site <site URL>

-The author of the site may also be identified by the terms compiler or maintainer. If no such person is identified, begin with the title of the page, and be sure to underline the title. The title of the page is different from the title of the webpage in that the page was created for the webpage. One is larger than, and contains, the other. The title of the page can be found, most often, on top of the page one is viewing at that exact moment- think of it as what was on your screen when you obtained the actual information you are using. The webpage itself is the entirety of the site, or the home name. The Webpage title is, most likely, the title of the page found on the site’s home page. Honestly, the editor is often not available. If the information is there, use it. If not, go on. The sponsor would be some larger organization or individual who has brought the webpage into being. In most cases, the name of the sponsor will be the domain name (Example: if you have a website with the domain name www.yogabuddies.com the sponsor would very likely be yogabuddies incorporated, or the yogabuddies group, etc.). The URL of the page is in the address field on your browser.

APA:

Author*. (Date of Publication*). Title of Webpage. Month day, and year you visited the site, from URL.

-Again, the URL is to be given here, but without the arrows. The title of the webpage should be given in italics. If there is no date given for the webpage’s publication, put n.d. in the parenthesis, to indicate “no date.” If only the year is given, give only the year. An example of this would be- (1997). Here, if you are taking a specific article from a larger site, give both the page or article title and the site title in the Title of Webpage field.

CHICAGO:

Author*. “Title of Page.” Title of Website. URL (Date you visited the site).

-Again, we have the same distinctions between webpage title and website title. Be careful here. Otherwise, this style is pretty straightforward.

Hope this Hub was helpful. Good luck with all your endeavors.

Until next time,

-mterry7