How to Cite a Website

A website citation generally needs five pieces of information: the author (a person or an organization), the page title, the site name, the publication or last-updated date, and the URL. Not every page has all five; use what's actually available rather than guessing at a missing author or date.

Finding the information

• Author: often listed under a byline, or attributed to the organization running the site if no individual is named.
• Title: the page or article title, usually the largest heading on the page.
• Site name: the name of the website itself, which may differ from the page title.
• Date: look for a publish date or "last updated" note, often near the top or bottom of the article.
• URL: the full web address, copied directly from the address bar.

How the format changes by style

APA puts the date in parentheses right after the author and skips the site name if it matches the author. MLA puts the title in quotation marks and lists the site name in italics. Chicago's notes-bibliography style adds an access date before the URL, since Chicago assumes web content can change or disappear.

When there's no listed author

If no individual or organizational author is given, most styles let you start the citation with the title instead, and alphabetize it by title in your reference list. Don't invent an author name to fill the field.

Build a website citation in any of 14 styles with the citation generator.