Citing Electronic/Online Sources in
MLA, 7th ed. Format
The Uni High Version
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Citing PAPER materials in MLA
DISCLAIMER
TIPS ON FORMATTING YOUR CITATIONS
Electronic and online sources covered here:
Websites
Articles from online databases (like Academic Search Premier or LexisNexis)
Articles from online magazines and journals
Articles from online newspapers
Editorials from online newspapers
Letters to the editor from online newspapers
Online books
E-mail messages
Articles and other content from CD-ROMs
Videos or DVDs
Non-text web-based materials (artwork, sound and video clips, etc.)
Web logs (or "Blogs")
Websites § Back to Top
*Note: URLs are optional. Only include a URL when the reader could not locate the source without it or your teacher requires you to. URLs should be placed after the date of access enclosed in brackets and ending in a period.
Lastname, Firstname Middlename or Organization (as author). Title of Page.
Title of website (if different from page; if included, place the title of the page
in quotation marks). Publisher or sponsor of the website (if found; if not, write
N.p.), Date published (if found; if not, write n.d.). Web. Date accessed.
Duck, Donald. "My Greatest Accomplishments in the Biz." Donald Duck's World.
Disney, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2006.
Mouse, Mickey. How I Came to Be a Cultural Icon. N.p., 12 Nov. 2006. Web. 22
Jan. 2007.
"Are You Allergic to Your Pet?" ASPCA: The American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals. ASPCA, n.d. Web. 17 June 2009.
Hautaluoma, Grey, Ashley Edwards, Nancy Neal Jones, and George H. Diller. "NASA
Returning to the Moon with First Lunar Launch in a Decade." Press Release
Archives. NASA, 18 June 2009. Web. 19 June 2009.
Grabianowski, Ed. "How Recycling Works." HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, 17
Aug. 2007. Web. 19 June 2009.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Over the Top: Green Roof Research at the
Environmental Protection Agency." Research and Development. US EPA, 9 Apr.
2009. Web. 19 June 2009.
Westerfeld, Scott. "Update on the Uglies Movie." Westerblog. N.p., 21 June
2009. Web. 22 June 2009.
Articles from online databases (like Academic Search Premier or LexisNexis) § Back to Top
These are usually articles from journals, magazines, or newspapers that can be accessed over the Web using a database such as LexisNexis, Academic Search Premier or MAS Ultra - School Edition.
*Note: URLs are optional. Only include a URL when the reader could not locate the source without it or your teacher requires you to. URLs should be placed after the date of access enclosed in brackets and ending in a period.
Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Title of Journal Vol.Issue# (YYYY):
pp-pp. Database Title. Web. Date accessed.
Berkley, Catherine S., et al. "One-Year Changes in Activity and in Inactivity
Among 10- to 15-Year-Old Boys and Girls." New York Times (Apr. 7, 2007): 836- 43. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 12 Sept. 2007.
"Study Reveals What Kids Are Reading for School." T H E Journal 35.6 (June 2008):
4. Academic OneFile. Web. 20 May 2009.
"Voices Debate the Coming of a Postliterate Age." Futurist 42.4 (July/Aug. 2008): 31.
MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 17 June 2009.
Articles from online magazines and journals § Back to Top
These are journals or magazines that are published directly on the web. Articles obtained directly from the website of a magazine or journal are cited differently than magazine and journal articles you find in article databases like Academic Search Premier and Lexis-Nexis (which include articles from many different publications).
Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Title of Magazine DD MONTH
[abbreviate except for May, June, and July] YYYY: pp-pp (use n. pag. if there
are no page numbers). Web. Date accessed.
Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Title of Journal Vol.Issue# (YYYY):
pp-pp (use n. pag. if there are no page numbers). Web. Date accessed.
Foley, Barbara. "From Situational Dialectics to Pseudo-Dialectics: Mao, Jiang, and Capitalist Transition." Cultural Logic. 2006: n. pag. Web. 10 Jan. 2008.
Grossman, Lev. "The Quest for Cool." Time. 8 Sept. 2007: n. pag. Web. 10 Sept. 2007.
Harry, Dirty. "Movies I Love." Movie Characters Speak 4.6 (2006): 12-19. Web. 15
Mar. 2008.
Lennox, Mary. "The Social Ramifications of Growing Up with Only an Uncle." Children's Literature Characters Study Themselves 12.5 (2006): 222-35. Web. 14 Dec.
2008.
Articles from online newspapers § Back to Top
Use this format for articles from newspapers available in full-text format over the web. Note that if you found a newspaper article through an article database like Lexis-Nexis or EBSCO, you should cite it using the "Articles from online databases" format given above.
Lastname, Firstname Middlename (if found). "Article Title." Newspaper Title DD Mon. YYYY. Web. Date accessed.
"Crazy Citation Phenomenon." MLA News 31 Oct. 2006. Web. 1 Nov. 2008.
Weintraub, Elaine. "Adding History to Island's Heritage Trail." Vineyard Gazette 22 Aug. 2006. Web. 19 Feb. 2008.
Sutton, William. "I Bet Bermuda Is Nice This Time of Year." Uni High Teacher Times
On the Web 14 May 2006. Web. 15 May 2007.
Editorials from online newspapers § Back to Top
Editorials are newspaper articles that are written by the editorial staff of a newspaper, often in response to what other people have said about the paper. They are usually collected on a special page (or web page) of the newspaper and are often published anonymously. For these reasons, editorials are cited differently by MLA than other newspaper articles.
Lastname, Firstname MiddleInitial (if found) . "Title." Editorial. Newspaper Title Date of publication. Web. Date accessed.
Bird, Big. "Feathers or Fins." Editorial. Sesame Street Times 13 Sept. 2007. Web. 14 Sept. 2007.
"Natural Allies, Not Enemies." Editorial. Vineyard Gazette 9 Sept. 2007. Web. 13 Sept. 2007.
Letters to the editor from online newspapers § Back to Top
This citation is almost identical to the one used for editorials (see above). If the name of the letter-writer is given, include it. If not, don't.
Lastname, Firstname Middlename (if found). Letter. Periodical Title Date of publication. Web. Date of access.Letter. Violet Rays 16 May 2006. Web. 16 Oct. 2007.
Wiggin, Ender. Letter. Intergalactic Times 14 Apr. 2006. Web. 16 Sept. 2008.
Online books § Back to Top
These are books that have been published in print and now are on the web. For books published exclusively online, use the format for a website.
Lastname, Firstname Middlename. "Part of book (if not using the whole book)." Title. City of Publication: Publisher, YYYY. Title of the database or website.
Web. Date of access.
Borbely, Alexander. "A Historical View of Sleep." Secrets of Sleep. Basic, 1988.
Google Book Search. Web. 22 June 2009.
Martin, Charlotte M. The New York Press and Its Makers in the Eighteenth Century.
New York: Putnam, 1898. Brittle Books from the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign. Web. 19 July 2009.
Lockwood, George B. The New Harmony Movement. New York: Appleton, 1905.
Digitized Books from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Web. 4
Aug. 2009.
E-mail messages § Back to Top
Citing e-mails can be a little complicated because you may be citing either an e-mail that someone sent to you or an e-mail sent to someone else that was later given to you. If you are citing an e-mail that was sent to you, then use the "Message to author" option shown below.
Lastname, Firstname Middlename (of original sender). "Re: Subject Line." Message to author or another person's name (name of original recipient).
Date of message. E-mail.
Hamm, Mia. "Re: Ending the Soccer League." Message to Joe Schmo. 13 Apr. 2006.
E-mail.
Jordan, Michael. "Re: Basketball Horror Stories." Message to author. 1 Oct. 2006..
E-mail.
Article from a CD-ROM Encyclopedia § Back to Top
Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Title of Work. City of Publication:
Publisher, YYYY. CD-ROM.
Bluster, Phil. "Crocodile Wrestling." World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book,
2008. CD-ROM.
Title. Dir. Director’s Firstname Lastname (after the director’s name you can
include other information such as full names of performers, writers, and
producers if you think that information is important). YYYY (of original
release). Distributor, YYYY (of release in this medium). Medium (meaning
videocassette or DVD).
Apocalypse Now. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen.
1979. Paramount, 2000. Videocassette.
Juno. Dir. Jason Reitman. Perf. Ellen Page and Michael Cera. 2007. 20th Century Fox,
2008. DVD.
Non-text web-based materials (artwork, sound and video clips, etc.) § Back to Top
In general, use the format for the print/physical counterpart of whatever you are citing, adding the title of the website or database where you found the material, the Web notation, and the date accessed. Listed below are a few common examples of non-text web-based materials.
Artwork:
Lastname, Firstname Middlename (if found). Name of item. Date of composition
(if unknown, write N.d.). Medium of composition. Institution that houses the
work, City of institution. Title of Database or Website. Web. Date accessed.
Cassatt, Mary. Sleepy Baby. 1910. Pastel on paper. Dallas Museum of Art. ARTstor.
Web. 14 June 2009.
Cezanne, Paul. Card Players. 1890-95. Oil on canvas. Musee d'Orsay, Paris. Oxford
Art Online. Web. 8 Sept. 2009.
Video and Sound Clips:
Lastname, Firstname Middlename (if found). Title. Date of Publication or Creation. Name of website where the item was found. Web. Date accessed.
clevverTV. New Moon Movie Trailer - Official (HD). 1 June 2009. YouTube. Web. 22
June 2009.
If you are citing a clip from a published work, cite the work completely according to the guidelines in 5.7 of the MLA Handbook, including the additional information as shown below.
"Woo Is Just Not You." How I Met Your Mother. CBS. 17 Nov. 2008. Metacafe.
Web. 2 July 2009.
Spektor, Regina. "Human of the Year." Far. Sire, 2009. Allmusic. Web. 22 June 2009.
Disclaimer: This handout is only meant as a guide. If we tried to cover all citations you might make, we’d have a book—which is exactly what the Modern Language Association (MLA) publishes every couple of years. You should check the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition, if you have a question that this guide doesn’t answer. See the library for a copy (call number R 808.02 M72ml 2009 in the reference section).
Formatting your citations: In making your list of works cited, begin each entry flush with the left margin; if the entry runs more than a line long, the next lines should be indented one-half inch from the left margin. On many word processors you can accomplish this by paragraph formatting for a "hanging indent." (Whichever you choose, be consistent throughout.) Also use double spacing for your entire list, both between and within entries.
This citation guide was last revised 6/2009.