The pattern at a glance
- Web page with an authorLast, First. "Title of Page." Website Name, Day Mon. Year, URL.
- No author"Title of Page." Website Name, Day Mon. Year, URL.
- No date... Website Name, URL. Accessed Day Mon. Year.MLA 9 makes the access date optional but recommends it for undated pages.
How MLA 9 builds a web page entry
A web page is the source and the website is its container. The page title goes in quotation marks and the website name in italics. The publisher slot is usually skipped for websites, because MLA leaves out a publisher whose name is essentially the same as the website, such as NPR on npr.org.
The date is the one shown on the page. News-style articles from research centres and broadcasters have exact dates; documentation, encyclopedia-style and organizational pages often have none. For those, MLA recommends ending the entry with "Accessed" and the day you read the page, because the content may change.
MLA 9 lets you shorten URLs by dropping https://. The generator keeps the full link, which MLA also accepts; just be consistent.
Authors with particles and organizations
Names are inverted at the start of the entry. When a surname contains a particle that is part of how the person is known, such as Van Green, the particle stays with the surname: Van Green, Ted. The Works Cited list is then alphabetised under V.
If an organization wrote the page and also runs the website, do not repeat it as author. Begin with the page title, as in the MDN example below.
Choosing the right MLA entry for online material
Not everything online is a web page. A journal article read on the publisher's site is cited as a journal article with its DOI; a newspaper article keeps its newspaper container; a report published as a stand-alone PDF is cited as a report. Use the web page pattern for content that exists only as part of a website, such as explainer pages, data summaries and documentation.
Social media posts and forum threads follow the same container logic, with the account name as author. Images and charts found on a page take a short description in place of a title when they have none.
When you quote a long web article with no page or paragraph numbers, name the section heading in your sentence so readers can find the passage without counting.
Field by field: MLA web page
The webpage form in the generator and the MLA element each field fills.
| Field | What to enter | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Person, inverted. Leave empty for organization pages that the organization publishes. | Byline or author box. |
| Title | Page title in quotation marks. | Main heading on the page. |
| Website name | Container, italic. | Logo or footer. |
| Date | Day Mon. Year, as shown. | Near the title or at the end. |
| URL | Location. | Address bar. |
| Accessed | Optional, recommended when there is no date. | The date you read the page. |
MLA web page citation examples
Three web pages read on 25 October 2026 and formatted by the generator's MLA 9 engine.
Author with a two-part surname (Pew Research Center)
MLA 9th: Reference entry
Van Green, Ted. “Few Americans Say They Are Asking AI Chatbots for 2026 Election Information.” Pew Research Center, 23 Oct. 2026, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/10/23/few-americans-say-they-are-asking-ai-chatbots-for-2026-election-information/.
In-text citation: (Van Green)
The byline is Ted Van Green, so the entry starts Van Green, Ted. Pew's RSS feed listed a different staff member for this post, a reminder to copy the name from the page.
Checked against the page itself (checked on 25 October 2026). Byline Ted Van Green, published 23 October 2026. The Pew RSS feed lists another name for this post.
Story on a broadcaster's site (NPR)
MLA 9th: Reference entry
Gaines, Lee V. “Schools Struggle to Measure How Much AI Experiments Are Helping.” NPR, 19 Oct. 2026, https://www.npr.org/2026/10/19/nx-s1-5991881/schools-struggle-to-measure-how-much-ai-experiments-are-helping.
In-text citation: (Gaines)
MLA does not separate news websites from other websites: NPR is simply the italic container.
Checked against the page itself (checked on 25 October 2026). Byline Lee V. Gaines, published 19 October 2026 (JSON-LD).
No author and no date (MDN Web Docs)
MLA 9th: Reference entry
“Overview of HTTP.” MDN Web Docs, https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Guides/Overview. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.
In-text citation: (“Overview of HTTP”)
The entry begins with the title, and the access date at the end shows when this changing documentation page was read.
Checked against the page itself (checked on 25 October 2026). No personal author and no publication date on the page, so the access date (25 October 2026) is recorded.
Formatted by the same citation engine that runs the generator above (citeproc-js with the official CSL style file). Italics follow the style.
MLA in-text citations for web pages
Web pages rarely have page numbers, so the in-text citation is usually the author's surname alone, or a short title.
- Author: (Van Green)
- Author in the sentence: Gaines reports that districts struggle to measure the effect of AI pilots.
- Title instead of author: ("Overview of HTTP")
- Paragraph numbers, only if the page numbers them: (Gaines, par. 4)
MLA web citation mistakes
- Citing the homepage. The URL should lead to the page you used.
- Italicising the page title. Page titles take quotation marks; the website is italic.
- Using the footer copyright year. A site-wide copyright year is not the date of the page.
- Counting paragraphs yourself. MLA uses paragraph numbers only when the source prints them.
MLA website citation FAQ
How do I cite a website in MLA 9?
Last, First. "Title of Page." Website Name, Day Mon. Year, URL. Without an author, start with the title; without a date, add Accessed and the date at the end.
Is the access date required in MLA 9?
No, it is optional, but MLA recommends it for pages without a publication date.
Is this MLA internet citation generator free?
Yes. The citation generator is free for everyone and runs in your browser; your list is saved only on your device.
Do I include the publisher for a website?
Only when it differs clearly from the website name. Skip it when they are the same organization.
Style guides used on this page
Rules on this page were checked against these pages on 25 October 2026.