How to Cite a Website in APA 7 and MLA 9

Need to cite a web page and not sure where the periods, italics, and dates go? You're in the right place. Below you'll find real, correctly-formatted examples for both APA 7 and MLA 9 — covering the short in-text citation and the full entry that goes at the end of your paper. Copy the pattern, swap in your own details, and you're set.

First, what counts as "a website"?

This guide is for a single web page or article that lives on a website — like a news story, an org's info page, or a blog post. You usually need four things: who wrote it, when it was published, what it's called, and where it lives (the site name and link). If a piece is missing (no author, no date), that's normal — you'll see how to handle that in the Common mistakes list below.

APA 7: webpage on a website

APA 7 uses an author–date style. The short note in your text points the reader to the full entry in your References list. In the full entry, the page title is in italics, but the site name is not, and there's no period after the URL.

APA 7 examples

In-text (parenthetical): (Mantel, 2025)

In-text (narrative): Mantel (2025) explains that…

Reference-list entry: Mantel, B. (2025, April 24). How to be a caregiver for someone with multiple sclerosis. AARP. https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/health/info-2025/multiple-sclerosis-care-plan/

How the APA entry is built

Author: Last name, then initials — Mantel, B.
Date: Year, Month Day in parentheses — (2025, April 24). No date? Use (n.d.).
Title: The page title in italics, sentence case (only the first word and proper nouns capitalized).
Site name: Plain text, not italic — AARP.
URL: The full link, with no period after it.

MLA 9: a page on a website

MLA 9 builds every entry from the same set of "core elements." For a web page you'll list the author, the title of the work in quotation marks, the website title in italics (this is the "container"), the date, and the URL. In your text, the citation is short — and because web pages usually have no page numbers, you just give the author's last name.

MLA 9 examples

In-text (parenthetical): (Deresiewicz)

In-text (narrative): Deresiewicz argues that…

Works Cited entry: Deresiewicz, William. "The Death of the Artist—and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur." The Atlantic, 28 Dec. 2014, theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/01/the-death-of-the-artist-and-the-birth-of-the-creative-entrepreneur/383497/.

How the MLA entry is built

Author: Last name, First name — Deresiewicz, William.
Title of the work: In quotation marks, title case (most words capitalized).
Website title (container): In italics — The Atlantic.
Date: Day Month Year, with the month abbreviated — 28 Dec. 2014.
URL: Drop the https:// and start with the domain. End with a period.
Access date: Optional, and not needed when the page shows a clear publication date.

Common mistakes to avoid

Italicizing the wrong thing. In APA the page title is italic and the site name is not. In MLA it's flipped — the website title is italic and the page title goes in quotation marks.
Putting a period after an APA URL. APA references end the URL with no period. (MLA does end with a period.)
Adding a page number to an MLA web citation. Web pages rarely have page numbers, so the in-text note is just the author's name — (Baron), not (Baron 1).
Forgetting "n.d." when there's no date. In APA, a missing date becomes (n.d.) in both the in-text citation and the reference.
Skipping the author when an organization wrote it. If no person is named, use the company or agency as the author (for example, a government office or nonprofit).
Mismatched entries. The first word of your in-text citation must match the first word of the full entry, so your reader can find it. Run your draft through our APA format checker or MLA format checker to catch mismatches.

Quick reminders before you submit

Alphabetize your References or Works Cited list by the first word of each entry. Use a hanging indent (the first line is flush left; the rest is indented). And double-check the small stuff — capital letters, commas, and italics are exactly where points get lost. For more styles and examples, browse our citation guides, including the Chicago format checker if your class uses that style instead.

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FAQ

What if the web page has no author?

Move the title into the author spot. In APA, the entry then starts with the page title, and your in-text citation uses a short version of the title, like ("Page Title," 2025). In MLA, start the Works Cited entry with the title in quotation marks, and use a shortened title in your in-text note, like ("Death of the Artist"). If an organization clearly created the page, you can use that group as the author instead.

Do I need to include the date I looked at the page?

Usually no. In MLA 9, an access date is optional and isn't needed when the page shows a clear publication date — though it's handy for pages that change or have no date. In APA 7, you only add a "Retrieved [date] from" note for content that's designed to change over time and isn't archived, like a live, frequently-updated page.

How do I handle a web page with no date?

In APA, write (n.d.) — short for "no date" — in place of the year, both in the in-text citation and the reference. In MLA, simply leave the date out of the Works Cited entry; an access date is helpful here so a reader knows the version you saw. Always look hard for a date first (near the title, the byline, or the page footer) before deciding there isn't one.