How to Cite Internet Sources When Writing a Paper

With the rise of the Internet age and an ever-expanding pool of online resources available for academic research, the ability to properly cite such materials in an academic paper is essential for students ranging from high school to college and beyond. While there are several different style guides with their own specific requirements, this article will focus on the Modern Language Association (MLA) style, which is frequently used when writing about literature and language, and is also known for its simplicity.

Things You'll Need

  • Computer with Internet access
  • Word-processing software
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Instructions

    • 1

      Quote the Internet source within the text of your paper and follow it with the last name of the author in parentheses. If there is no specific author for your source, instead use the title of the Web page. Follow this parenthetical citation with a period.

    • 2

      Write the author of the Internet source on the "Works Cited" page of your document, starting with the last name, followed by a comma, then the first name and a period. If there is no specific author for your online source or Web page, skip this step.

    • 3

      Write the title of the specific Web page in quotation marks next to the author, with a period after the final word. This will not be the name of the website, but rather the heading of the article or page content within it.

    • 4

      Write the title of the website from which the source content came in italics, followed by a comma and then the publication date, spelling out the month and separating it from the year with a comma. Put a period at the end of this date.

    • 5

      Write the nature of the content accessed, which in this case would be "Web," followed by a period.

    • 6

      Write the date on which you accessed this content, starting with the day, followed by the month spelled out and then the year, with no punctuation between words. Add a period at the end.

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