Write the name of the author and the year of publication in parentheses to cite the online essay within your paper. For example: (John Smith. 2009).
Write the name of the author in the bibliography, followed by the year of publication in parentheses, the name of the essay in italics, "[Online]," the date of the document if available, "Available from:", the URL of the Web page, then [Accessed:], followed by the date you accessed the essay, within the square brackets.
Separate each element with a period. The final entry in the bibliography should look something like this: Smith, John. (2009). Introduction to Philosophy. [Online]. September 2009. Available from: http://www.john-smiths-website.edu/philosophy/intro.doc. [Accessed: 19th October 2010].
Cite the name of the author followed by the year of the essay in parentheses for a citation within your paper. For example: (Jane Doe, 2008.)
Write the name of the author first in the bibliography entry, followed by the title of the essay in quotation marks, the name of the website in italics, the date of the document, "Web" and the date you accessed it. As of January 2011, MLA no longer requires you to provide the URL.
Separate each element with a period. The bibliography entry should look like this: Doe, Jane. "History of Religious Art in the Middle East." Springfield University History Lab. October 2010. 20 December 2010.
Write the full name of the author in a footnote, followed by the title of the essay in quotation marks, the name of the website in italics, "accessed" and the date you accessed the Web page, followed by the URL. Separate elements with commas, like this: Joe Bloggs, "Analysis of Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens," Literature Central, accessed January 9 2011, http://www.literature-central-website.org/dickens/Bloggs.htm. Chicago Style does not allow in-text citations, only footnotes.
Replace the URL with the Digital Object Identifier (DOI), if the essay has one, as with most journal articles, for example. It will look something like this: doi:10.1086/599247.
Write the name of the author in the bibliography entry, followed the essay title in quotation marks, the name of the website in italics, the date of access and the URL. Separate elements by periods for a bibliography, not commas. For example: Bloggs, Joe. "Analysis of Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens." Literature Central. Accessed January 9 2011. http://www.literature-central-website.org/dickens/Bloggs.htm