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APA In-Text Citations and Sample Essay 7th Edition

This handout focuses on how to format in-text citations in APA.

Proper citation of sources is a two-part process . You must first cite each source in the body of your essay; these citations within the essay are called in-text citations . You MUST cite all quoted, paraphrased, or summarized words, ideas, and facts from sources. Without in-text citations, you are technically in danger of plagiarism, even if you have listed your sources at the end of the essay.

In-text citations point the reader to the sources’ information on the references page. The in-text citation typically includes the author's last name and the year of publication. If you use a direct quote, the page number is also provided.

More information can be found on p. 253 of the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

Citation Rules

Direct quotation with the author named in the text.

Heinze and Lu (2017) stated, “The NFL shifted its responses to institutional change around concussions significantly as the field itself evolved” (p. 509).

Note: The year of publication is listed in parenthesis after the names of the authors, and the page number is listed in parenthesis at the end of the quote.

Direct Quotation without the Author Named in the Text

As the NFL developed as an organization, it “shifted its responses to institutional change around concussions significantly” (Heinze & Lu, 2017, p. 509).

Note: At the end of the quote, the names of the authors, year of publication, and page number are listed in parenthesis.

Paraphrase with 1-2 Authors

As the NFL developed as an organization, its reactions toward concussions also transformed (Heinze & Lu, 2017).

Note: For paraphrases, page numbers are encouraged but not required.

Paraphrase with 3 or More Authors

To work toward solving the issue of violence in prisons begins with determining aspects that might connect with prisoners' violent conduct (Thomson et al., 2019).

Direct Quotation without an Author

The findings were astonishing "in a recent study of parent and adult child relationships" ("Parents and Their Children," 2007, p. 2).

Note: Since the author of the text is not stated, a shortened version of the title is used instead.

Secondary Sources

When using secondary sources, use the phrase "as cited in" and cite the secondary source on the References page.

In 1936, Keynes said, “governments should run deficits when the economy is slow to avoid unemployment” (as cited in Richardson, 2008, p. 257).

Long (Block) Quotations

When using direct quotations of 40 or more words, indent five spaces from the left margin without using quotation marks. The final period should come before the parenthetical citation.

At Meramec, an English department policy states:

To honor and protect their own work and that of others, all students must give credit to proprietary sources that are used for course work. It is assumed that any information that is not documented is either common knowledge in that field or the original work of that student. (St. Louis Community College, 2001, p. 1)

Website Citations

If citing a specific web document without a page number, include the name of the author, date, title of the section, and paragraph number in parentheses:

In America, “Two out of five deaths among U.S. teens are the result of a motor vehicle crash” (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2004, Overview section, para. 1).

Here is a print-friendly version of this content.

Learn more about the APA References page by reviewing this handout .

For information on STLCC's academic integrity policy, check out this webpage .

For additional information on APA, check out STLCC's LibGuide on APA .

Sample Essay

A sample APA essay is available at this link .

In-Text Citations

In scholarly writing, it is essential to acknowledge how others contributed to your work. By following the principles of proper citation, writers ensure that readers understand their contribution in the context of the existing literature—how they are building on, critically examining, or otherwise engaging the work that has come before.

APA Style provides guidelines to help writers determine the appropriate level of citation and how to avoid plagiarism and self-plagiarism.

We also provide specific guidance for in-text citation, including formats for interviews, classroom and intranet sources, and personal communications; in-text citations in general; and paraphrases and direct quotations.

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Course Adoption

Teaching APA Style? Become a course adopter of the 7th edition Publication Manual

Instructional Aids

Guides, checklists, webinars, tutorials, and sample papers for anyone looking to improve their knowledge of APA Style

How to Cite a Website in APA Format

To cite a website in APA format , you must include the author’s name , the publication date , the page or article title , the website’s name , and the URL , in that order . This is the basic information you use whether you’re citing a web page, blog post, online article, online video, or even a social media post; however, the format changes slightly for each, which we explain below.  To cite websites in APA (7th edition, the most recent), use this formula when listing sources in the bibliography or on the reference page: 

Last name of author, First name initial. (Year, Month Day of publication). Title of article or post. Website name. URL with active https link

Let’s look at an example so you know precisely how to cite websites in APA format. Say you want to use our blog post on punctuation as a source. When you plug in this article’s information using the above formula, it should look like this: 

Kramer, L. (2021, April 9). Punctuation: Everything you need to know. Grammarly .  https://www.grammarly.com/blog/punctuation/

In APA reference citations, titles use the sentence case except for periodicals (newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, etc.), so capitalize only the first word of a title, the first word after a colon, or proper nouns. In text, however, use the standard title case.

The in-line citations for a website in APA format are even easier. Simply use this formula: 

(Author’s last name, Year of publication)

Using the example above, the in-line citation would read:

(Kramer, 2021) 

If you’re using the author’s name in your text when writing a research paper , you don’t need to repeat it in the citation—the year alone in parenthesis is acceptable. 

As Kramer explained, apostrophes are used for both possessive nouns and contractions (2021). 

That covers the basics of how to cite a website in APA format for both primary and secondary sources . However, there’s still a lot of variation, like when to italicize and how to cite sources without authors or dates. Let’s take a closer look at these specifics. 

Here’s a tip: Citations can be tricky, but they don’t have to trip you up. Grammarly’s Citation Generator ensures your essays have flawless citations and no plagiarism.

How to cite a website in APA format: Blogs and articles from print publications 

The first thing to ask yourself when citing websites in APA format is whether the source is an online version of a print publication or an online-only news site. The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal , and The Guardian are examples of newspapers that publish both in print and online. 

If the text comes from an online version of a print article, cite it on the reference page the same way you would a blog post—just like our example above. The reason it’s important is that, with blogs and websites for print publications, you italicize the name of the website , not the article title.  

Brown, D. (2022, May 1). Quitting Twitter? What people say about life after social media. The Wall Street Journal . https://www.wsj.com/articles/quitting- twitter- what-people-say-about-life-after-social- media-11651415387

In-line citations are the same regardless. 

(Brown, 2022)

How to cite a website in APA format: Online-only news sites

If, however, your source is available only online and is not a blog , italicize the name of the article , not the website. This is the case for popular online news sites like HuffPost , BBC News , and Vox , because none of them publish print periodicals. The order of the information remains the same.

Matthews, D. (2022, April 28). An expert on why wars start, and how to prevent them. Vox. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/4/28/23041726/chris- blattman-why-we-fight-war-peace

Nothing changes for the in-line citation. 

(Matthews, 2022)

How to cite a website in APA format: Video

Citing video sources in APA format is a little different because you have to specify, in brackets, that the source is a video. You can also use the name of the channel if there’s no specific author. To cite video content, use this formula: 

Author or channel. (Year, Month Day of publication). Title of the video in italics [Video]. Website that hosts the video. URL 

Let’s use our YouTube video as an example of how to cite an online video in APA format. Notice that “[Video]” comes after the title, but before the period. 

Grammarly. (2022, February 2). Communicate like a pro | Win at work with Grammarly [Video] . YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=MVuKxKvniME

For in-line citations, follow the same format as above. If there is no specific author, use the channel’s name in place of an author’s. 

(Grammarly, 2022)

How to cite a website in APA format: Social media

Citing social media works differently because there’s a wider array of content. As with videos, you have to specify the type of content, such as a status update, tweet, or reel, and mention whether the post includes videos, images, polls, etc.  In-line citations remain the same , so our main concern is how to reference the sources in the bibliography. Let’s look at the specific formulas for Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 

How to cite Twitter in APA format

Twitter citations in APA include the word “Tweet” in brackets, the user’s Twitter handle, and up to 20 words of the actual tweet (including hashtags). Attachments can be written as “[Video attached],” “[Image attached],” or “[Poll attached].”

Author or channel. [@Twitter handle]. (Year, Month Day of publication). The first 20 words of the tweet in italics [Media attachments] [Tweet]. Twitter. URL

As an example, let’s use one of our Twitter Polls to illustrate how to include attachments. 

Grammarly. [@Grammarly]. (2022, April 20). What’s the most overused email phrase? [Poll attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/Grammarly/status/1516818998070964225

How to cite Instagram in APA format

Instagram posts are cited in APA format largely the same way as tweets. Keep in mind that you must specify the type of content: “[Photographs],” “[Video],” “[Reels],” etc. 

Author or channel. [@Instagram handle]. (Year, Month Day of publication). The first 20 words of the caption in italics [Type of content]. Instagram. URL

In this example, let’s use one of author Margaret Atwood’s Instagram reels. The publication date of content like reels is often unavailable, so simply use “n.d.” for “no date.” 

Atwood, M. [@therealmargaretatwood]. (n.d.). Are you in? The deadline for Practical Utopias: an Exploration of the Possible is tomorrow, December 31st to join us [Reels]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CYHcOQZtwxX/ igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

How to cite Facebook in APA format

Facebook posts follow many of the same APA-format rules as other social media, including mentions of media attachments. The “post type” can refer to status updates, videos, photos, infographics, etc. 

Author or channel. (Year, Month Day of publication). The first 20 words of the post in italics [Media attached] [Post type]. Facebook. URL

This example comes from a posted photo, so the post type is “Image.” 

Takei, G. (2014, January 17). Early grammar police [Image attached] [Image]. Facebook.  https://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei/photos/a.209629375733190/849667811729340/

How to cite websites with no authors in APA format

Not all articles and websites list specific authors, but these can still be valid sources . In this case, use the website’s name in place of an author’s. 

Website name. (Year, Month Day of publication). Title of article or post in italics . URL

When writing out the reference page citation, you can omit the website’s name before the URL since it’s already listed. 

Grammarly. (2021, January 14). What Is a Noun? https://www.grammarly.com/blog/nouns/

Continue to use the website’s name in place of the author’s for in-line citations. 

(Grammarly, 2021)

How to cite websites with multiple authors in APA format

There are different APA formats for citing sources with one author, two authors, between three and 20 authors, and more than 21 authors. We’ve already covered how to cite websites with one author in APA format, so let’s look at the others. 

How to cite a website in APA format: Two authors

With two authors, separate the names with an ampersand both on the reference page and in the in-line citation.  

Reference page:

Lareau, A. & Conway, E.

In-line citation:

(Lareau & Conway, 2003)

How to cite a website in APA format: 3–20 authors

On the reference page, list all the authors, separated by commas and with an ampersand before the last. For the in-line citation, list the first author followed by “et al.”

Reference page: 

Chase, R., Freidman, C., & Lincoln, M. 

(Chase et al., 1973)

How to cite a website in APA format: More than 20 authors

Although rare, if your source has more than 20 authors, list only the first 20 on the reference page, followed by an ellipsis , and then the final author credited. 

Writer, A., Writer, B., Writer, C., Writer, D., Writer, E., Writer, F., Writer, G., Writer, H., Writer, I., Writer, J., Writer, K., Writer, L., Writer, M., Writer, N., Writer, O., Writer, P., Writer, Q., Writer, R., Writer, S., Writer, T., . . . Writer, Z.

The in-line citation is written the same way as citations for 3–20 authors. 

(Writer et al., 2022)

How to cite websites with no dates in APA format

No publication date? No problem! In APA format, you can simply write “n.d.” (which stands for “no date”) in place of the actual date in both reference-page citations and in-line citations. Note that “n.d.” has no spaces.  Reference page :

Grammarly. (n.d.). About Us . https://www.grammarly.com/about

In-line citation: 

(Grammarly, n.d.)

Home ➔ Citation Questions ➔ How to Cite an Article in an Essay? (APA and MLA)

How to Cite an Article in an Essay? (APA and MLA)

Before we get to all the different cases that change the way to cite an article in your essay, we must clarify a couple of things first.

• There are more than two citation styles out there. But, we will cover only APA and MLA because these are the most common ones.
• This article covers in-text citations, so it won’t go over the references page and how you should organize your sources there.

Note: For references, you can try our free online tools that support many styles — Citation Generators.

Usually, your assignment sheet instructions say what style you must stick to. If it doesn’t, ask your tutor for help.

MLA In-Text Citations (Modern Language Association)

Indicating your citations in the essay’s body is meant to be as short and as readable as possible. It’s quite different from the references pages where you indicate tons of details about the source. Your in-text citation is a link to the works cited page at the end of your paper.

There are two ways of using a quote in an essay MLA. The in-text method requires only the page number of the source used in parentheses at the end of the quote. The parenthetical one requires you to include both the author’s last name and the page number.

Using a Direct Quote

The author’s words are left unchanged and enclosed within quotation marks. Examples:

Use the author’s last name before the quote.

Smith states, “Citing an article in your essay correctly is fundamental if you want to avoid plagiarism” (26).

Don’t use the author’s last name before the quote.

The report states, “There are two ways of in-text citation” (Smith 26).

Use a lengthy excerpt (block quote) without quotation marks but with left indentation (half an inch). Moreover, note that you will have to place a period before the parentheses. A quote is regarded as long if it takes four or more lines in your essay.

Smith elaborates further: All the citation rules might seem too complicated, especially if you haven’t dealt with them before. One of the reasons for that could be the fact that students neglect to buy a corresponding style manual or to consult with their tutor. (26)

Note: If you refer to a web source or an article with no pagination, don’t mention the page number at all.

Paraphrasing or summarizing

When paraphrasing the source , you don’t have to use quotation marks:

According to Smith, you must learn how to cite a source in your essay not to plagiarize (26).

Sometimes, you might choose to paraphrase individual quotes from multiple pages. In such a case, you can indicate the pages or a page range separated by a comma like this: (Smith 26, 28, 31-33).

My source has more than one author

Case 1: two authors.

Just use “and” to separate them. For instance:

Moisson and Zakher have found that “Having a 20-minute nap during the day improves information retention by 500%” (127).

“Napping three times a week lowers the risk of dying of heart disease by 37%” (Moisson and Zakher 127).

Case 2: More than two authors

Mention the last name of the first author followed by “et al.” (which means “and others”). For example:

“Daytime napping brings many advantages” (Moisson et al. 127).

The author is unknown

The author’s name might be unknown. If it’s the case, use the first several words from the article’s title but omit “A,” “An,” or “The” at the beginning. It can be written in quotes or italics, depending on how it’s written in your list of references. The number of words you pick to use depends on the title. You want as many as to make it clear for the reader what source the quote is from. For example:

( Astrophysics 221) or (“Global Warming” 310)

What if I have two authors with the same surname?

To avoid confusion, use the author’s initials or their full names (if the initials are also identical) like this:

Some researchers claim that North America’s global warming early signs were enough to start taking measures (H. Black 22), others refuse to even acknowledge global warming as a planet-scale issue (T. Black 35).

MLA citation examples with references

Take a look at some more examples of MLA in-text citations with their respective reference entries.

Newspaper article

On October 1, 2019, Hanoi (Vietnam) became the leader in the list of cities with the highest levels of air pollution. (Smith 3)

Works Cited page

3. Smith, Thomas. “Hanoi Wrapped in Clouds.”  The Morning Sun  [Houston, TX] 1 Oct. 2019, p. 7.

Scholarly article

Features of the child’s interaction with their relatives, the degree of relatives’ responsiveness to the signals received from the child, and the completeness of satisfying their needs in many aspects determine the nature of relations with people formed from the first years of life. (Spencer 5)

5. Spencer, Laura. “Aggressive behavior in adolescents and the identity of the parents.”  Psychological Science and Education , vol. 50, no. 5, 2018, p. 14.

Magazine article

To restore the movement of qi energy, the doctor acts on certain acupuncture points — areas where the meridians come closest to the surface of the body. (Turnbull 5)

5. Turnbull, Katarina. “The Best Procedures for Your Vitality.”  The Health,  19 May. 2018, p. 70.

Journal article

The construction of the Okayama castle complex was completed in 1615, and the castle served as a residence for local daimyo (feudal lords) throughout the entire Edo period (XVII-XIX century).  (Gilliam 2)

1. Gilliam, Szymon. “Cities with Historic Gardens.”  Big in Japan,  3 Apr. 2019, p. 24.

Research article

Research on social networks in higher education institutions usually focuses on one of the two main groups of participants — teachers or students. (Kent 8)

8. Kent, Oscar. ” Social Networks of Students: Factors of Formation and Influence On Education.”  Education Today, vol.11, no. 2, 2018, p.31 .

APA In-Text Citations (American Psychological Association)

This style is the most commonly adopted one in the fields of health and social sciences. Remember to include all the articles you used in the references at the end of your essay .

To cite in an essay, using APA style, you will need to include the author’s name, the date of publication, and the page number where you found the information.

If compared to MLA, APA style is a bit more complicated and requires the writer to specify more details. Apart from the author’s last name and the page number, you’d also need to include the year of publication.

Smith states (2005), “Citing an article in your essay properly is essential to avoid plagiarism” (p. 26).

The manual states, “There are two ways of in-text citation” (Smith, 2005, p. 26).

In APA, a quote is recognized as long if it’s over 40 words. You don’t need to use quotation marks, and the indentation here is five spaces from the left margin. Example:

Smith (2005) elaborates on this issue: All the citation rules might be very confusing, especially if you haven’t dealt with them before. One of the reasons for that could be the fact that students neglect to buy a corresponding style manual or to consult with their tutor. (p. 26)

There are two ways you can format paraphrasing:

According to Smith (2005), you must be aware of citation rules to avoid plagiarism in your essay.

You must learn how to cite properly in your paper to avoid plagiarism-related issues (Smith, 2005, p. 26).

Use “and” to separate them in text and use an ampersand (&) to separate them in parentheses. For instance:

The result of research by Crompton and Gibson (2009) suggests that… (Crompton & Gibson, 2009, p. 55).

Case 2: 3–5 authors

Mention all authors the first time you cite them. For all other instances, write only the last name of the first author and add “et al.”

(Foster, Peattie, Rajagopalan, Frankfeldt, 2001) (Foster et al., 2001)

Case 3: 6+ authors

Use the first author’s name with “et al.” after it.

Hanks et al. (2008) suggest that… (Hanks et al., 2008, p. 43)

If the author’s name is unknown, use the first word or words of the source’s title. Titles of reports and books must be written in italics or underlined, whereas article titles and chapters should be put inside quotation marks.

Similar results were received after all students learned more about citing sources in essays (“Citation Guide,” 2016).

APA citation examples with references

Check more examples of in-text citations in APA style with their corresponding references.

Earlier, journalists reported on the British Prime Minister’s plan to establish centers for customs clearance of goods across the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and to leave the duty-free regime for food and agricultural products. (Morton, 2019)

Morton, M. (2019, October 11). New Brexit Agreement Proposals. The Day.

This position is quite common in the context of human study; it constitutes the ideology of most modern psychological assistance services and underlies the technology and many methods of psychotherapeutic and psychocorrectional work. (Watt, 2019)

Watt, A. (2019). Three Paradigms in Psychology – Three Strategies for Psychological Impact. The Art of Psychology, 9 (7), 24.

16-year-old Greta insists that, according to the 2015 Paris Agreement, the governments of the 195 countries that have signed this document are obliged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere immediately. (Iles, 2019)

Iles, V. (2019, September 30). Greta Tunberg’s Stolen Childhood. Generation Today, 127 (234), 17. https://doi.org/10.1416/generation.aay3410

The most accepted ways in which graduates respond to the conflicts are “Competition” (27%) and “Cooperation” (24%). (Reide, 2019)

Reide, B. (2019). Psychological Features of Communication and Response in Conflict Situations In The Professional Education System. Interscience, 12(5), 36.

It is surprising that 78% of respondents neglect sleep and stay up late on the Internet, forget about eating, personal hygiene, household duties, study, etc. (Benjamin, 2018)

Benjamin, P. (2018). Internet Addiction in Teenagers. Cyber Community, 7 (6), 41. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm00002415

You will find a lot more rules related to the citation style you’re using because there are many types of sources and exceptions to those sources. So, by acquiring a fresh style manual, you’ll be on the safe side when it comes to citing and paraphrasing in your essay.

The list of references

• Research and Citation — The Purdue University Online Writing Lab
• Citation Guide (MLA and APA) — Lane Community College
• MLA Citation Guide (8th Edition): In-Text Citation — Columbia College

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APA Style (7th Edition) Citation Guide: Websites

• Introduction
• Journal Articles
• Magazine/Newspaper Articles
• Books & Ebooks
• Government & Legal Documents
• Biblical Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Films/Videos/TV Shows
• How to Cite: Other
• Additional Help

Table of Contents

Entire Website - No Separate Pages or Sections

Page or Section from a Website

Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

This Microsoft support page contains instructions about how to format a hanging indent in a paper.

It can sometimes be difficult to find out who the author of a website is. Remember that an author can be a corporation or group, not only a specific person. Author information can sometimes be found under an "About" section on a website.

If there is no known author, start the citation with the title of the website instead.

The best date to use for a website is the date that the content was last updated. Otherwise look for a copyright or original publication date. Unfortunately this information may not be provided or may be hard to find. Often date information is put on the bottom of the pages of a website.

If you do not know the complete date, put as much information as you can find. For example you may have a year but no month or day.

If an original publication date and a last updated date are provided, use the last updated date. If the more current date is "last reviewed" instead of "last updated," use the original publication date (since the review may not have changed the content).

If there is no date provided, put the letters (n.d.) in round brackets where you'd normally put the date.

Titles should be italicized when the document stands alone (e.g. books, reports, websites, etc.), but not when it is part of a greater whole (e.g. chapters, articles, webpages, etc.).

Website Name

Provide website names in title case without italics after titles of work. Include a period after the website name, followed by the URL. When the author of the work is the same as the website name, omit the site name from the reference.

Retrieval Date

If the content of a website is likely to change over time (e.g. Wikis), you must provide the date you last visited the website.

If a URL is too long to fit onto one line, try to break it at a slash (/).

Entire Website

Note: If you are quoting or paraphrasing part of a website, you should create a reference for a Page or Section. If you mention a website in general, do not create a reference list entry or an in-text citation. Instead, include the name of the website in the text and provide the URL in parentheses.

The Department of Justice has a site called ReportCrime.gov (https://www.reportcrime.gov/) to help people identify and report crimes in their area.

Note : If you cite multiple webpages from a website, create a reference for each. Include the date you retrieved the information if the content is likely to change over time.

Created by a Corporate or Group Author

Corporation/Group/Organization's Name. (Year website was last updated/published, Month Day if given). Title of page: Subtitle (if any). Website Name. URL

Example in which the content is unlikely to change over time:

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. (2019, November 21). Justice served: Case closed for over 40 dogfighting victims . https://www.aspca.org/news/justice-served-case-closed-over-40-dogfighting-victims

Example in which the content is likely to change over time:

Adidas. (2020). Sustainability . Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.adidas.com/us/sustainability

Note: When the author and site name are the same, omit the site name in the reference.

In-Text Paraphrase:

(Corporation/Group's Name, Year)

Example: (Adidas, 2020)

In-Text Quote:

(Corporation/Group's Name, year, Section Name section, para. Paragraph Number if more than one paragraph in section)

Example: (Adidas, 2020, Sustainability section, para. 1)

Note: When there are no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, you may cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from.

Abbreviating Corporation/Group Author Name in In-Text citations:

Author names for corporations/groups can often be abbreviated. The first time you refer to the author, provide the full name, along with the abbreviation.

If the group name appears in the text of your paper, include the abbreviation in the in-text parenthetical citation:

Example: The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA, 2019) assisted in the rescue of 40 dogs.

If the group name first appears within a parenthetical citation, include the full group name as well as the abbreviation in square brackets:

Example: Forty dogs were rescued in Bendena, Kansas (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals [ASPCA], 2019).

Provide the full group name (without an abbreviation) in the reference list entry: 

Created by an Individual Author 

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year website was last updated/published, Month Day if given). Title of page: Subtitle (if any). Website Name. URL

Price, D. (2018, March 23). Laziness does not exist . Medium. https://humanparts.medium.com/laziness-does-not-exist-3af27e312d01

Shillam, S. (2018). Message from the Dean . University of Portland. Retrieved October 1, 2018, from https://nursing.up.edu/about/index.html

(Author Last Name, Year)

Example: (Shillam, 2018)

(Author Last Name, Year, Section Name section, para. Paragraph Number if more than one paragraph in section)

Example: (Shillam, 2018, Message from the dean section, para. 2)

Created by an Unknown Author 

Title of page: Subtitle (if any). (Year website was last updated/published, Month Day if given). Website Name. URL

Example in which the content is unlikely to change over time (because the restaurant has closed) :

Jarra's Ethiopian Restaurant [Reviews]. (2012, November 9). Yelp. https://www.yelp.com/biz/jarras-ethiopian-restaurant-portland

Powell's City of Books [Reviews]. (2020, February 25). Yelp. Retrieved February 28, 2020, from https://www.yelp.com/biz/powells-city-of-books-portland-4

("Title," Year)

Example: ("Powell's City of Books," 2020)

("Title," Year, Section Name section, para. Paragraph Number if more than one paragraph in section)

Example: ("Powell's City of Books," 2020, Review Highlights)

Note: When there are no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, you may cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from. In this example, there is only one paragraph under the specific heading, so no paragraph number is needed.

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😕 What is an MLA Citation Generator?

An MLA citation generator is a software tool designed to automatically create academic citations in the Modern Language Association (MLA) citation format. The generator will take information such as document titles, author, and URLs as in input, and output fully formatted citations that can be inserted into the Works Cited page of an MLA-compliant academic paper.

The citations on a Works Cited page show the external sources that were used to write the main body of the academic paper, either directly as references and quotes, or indirectly as ideas.

👩‍🎓 Who uses an MLA Citation Generator?

MLA style is most often used by middle school and high school students in preparation for transition to college and further education. Ironically, MLA style is not actually used all that often beyond middle and high school, with APA (American Psychological Association) style being the favored style at colleges across the country.

It is also important at this level to learn why it's critical to cite sources, not just how to cite them.

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Writing citations manually is time consuming and error prone. Automating this process with a citation generator is easy, straightforward, and gives accurate results. It's also easier to keep citations organized and in the correct order.

The Works Cited page contributes to the overall grade of a paper, so it is important to produce accurately formatted citations that follow the guidelines in the official MLA Handbook .

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's MLA Citation Generator?

It's super easy to create MLA style citations with our MLA Citation Generator. Scroll back up to the generator at the top of the page and select the type of source you're citing. Books, journal articles, and webpages are all examples of the types of sources our generator can cite automatically. Then either search for the source, or enter the details manually in the citation form.

The generator will produce a formatted MLA citation that can be copied and pasted directly into your document, or saved to MyBib as part of your overall Works Cited page (which can be downloaded fully later!).

MyBib supports the following for MLA style:

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / MLA Format / MLA Website Citation

How to Cite a Website in MLA

If you are a student faced with creating an MLA website citation for the first time, you may be confused about where to begin. This guide is here to answer all of your questions and take the guesswork out of creating an MLA citation for websites.

All academic fields require students and researchers to document their sources. Those studying the humanities, including fields in language literature, will typically follow MLA format when structuring their papers as well as when documenting sources.

Citing your sources is a necessary part of any research paper or project. This element serves both to give credit to the researchers and authors whose work informed yours, as well as to preserve academic integrity. Any source that provided you with ideas or information that you have included in your work and which are not considered common knowledge must be included, including websites.

The Modern Language Association is not associated with this guide. All of the information, however, is based on the MLA Handbook, Ninth Edition as well as the MLA website, and is presented as guidance for students writing in this style.

If you are looking for help with APA format , our reference library can provide you with guidance for this and more styles .

What You Need

To cite a website, you should have the following information:

• Title of source.
• Title of the container ,
• Other contributors (names and roles),
• Publication date,
• Location of the source (such as DOI, URL, or page range).

The Modern Language Association refers to these guidelines as “core elements” on page 105 of the Handbook. If your teacher has asked you to cite your sources in this format, these elements will form the foundation for each MLA website citation included in your MLA Works Cited list, as well as the entries for sources in any other format.

If one of the elements does not apply, students may omit it. Supplemental items may also be included when necessary. In addition to the supplemental details discussed below, a list of additional supplemental components can be found on the MLA website.

If it’s an APA citation website page or an APA reference page you need help with, we have many other resources available for you!

Table of Contents

This guide includes the following sections:

• MLA9 Changes
• Citing websites with an author
• Citing websites with no author
• Citing websites with no formal title
• Citing social media websites
• In-text citations

Changes to MLA Citation for Websites in Ninth Edition

In previous editions, students and researchers creating an MLA website citation were not required to include the URL. However, beginning with MLA 8, it is recommended that you include the URL when creating a citation for a website unless your teacher instructs you otherwise. Even though web pages and URLs can be taken down or changed, it is still possible to learn about the source from the information seen in the URL.

When including URLs in a citation, http:// and https:// should be omitted from the website’s address ( Handbook 195). Additionally, If you are creating a citation that will be read on a digital device, it is helpful to make the URL clickable so that readers can directly access the source themselves.

If the website’s publisher includes a permalink or DOI (Digital Object Identifier), these are preferable as they are not changeable in the same manner as URLs. Whether you include a URL, permalink, or DOI, this information should be included in the location portion of your citation.

Another change that occurred with the eighth edition that impacts how to cite a website in MLA is the removal of the date the website was accessed. While you may still find it useful to include this information or your teacher may request it, it is no longer a mandatory piece of your citation. Should you choose to add this optional information, you may list it after the URL in the following manner:

• Accessed Day Month Year.
• Accessed 2 May 1998.
• Accessed 31 Apr. 2001.
• Accessed 17 Sept. 2010.

For an overview of additional formatting changes in the ninth edition, including resources to help with writing an annotated bibliography , check out the rest of EasyBib.com’s writing and citation guides, and try out our plagiarism checker for help with grammar and to avoid unintentional plagiarism.

MLA 9: Citing Websites With an Author

To make an MLA 9 citation for a website, you will need the following pieces of information:

• author’s name
• title of the article or page
• title of the website
• name of the publisher (Note: Only include the name of the publisher when it differs from the name of the website.)
• date the page or site was published (if available)

Citing a Website in MLA

Place the author’s name in reverse order, the last name first, followed by a comma, and then the first name followed by a period. The title of the web page or article is placed in quotation marks, with a period before the end quotation. The title of the website is written in italics followed by a comma. If the name of the publisher differs from the name of the website, include it after the title. Immediately following the publisher is the date that the page or article was published or posted. Finally, end with the URL, permalink, or DOI, followed by a period.

View Screenshot | Cite your source

In-text website citation with one author

The in-text citation for a website with an author is reflected as the author’s last name in parentheses, followed by a period. Unless the website includes numbered paragraphs or sections, you should not include any additional information. For the website used in the example above, the in-text citation would be written as follows:

Cite your source

An APA parenthetical citation is similar, except it also includes the year the source was published.

To learn more about formatting MLA in-text & parenthetical citations , be sure to check out the rest of EasyBib.com’s resources and citation guides.

How to cite a website with two authors in MLA 9

According to Section 5.7 of the Handbook , for a website with two authors, place the authors’ names in the same order as the source (similar to an APA citation ). The first name should be formatted in reverse order as was done for a single author. The second name, however, is written as First Name Last Name and is followed by a period, as demonstrated in the template that follows:

In-text website citation with two authors

The in-text citation for a website with two authors should include both authors’ last names, in the order in which they are listed in the source and your works cited:

How to cite a website with three or more authors in MLA 9

For a source with three or more authors, you should place the authors’ names in the same order as the source. The first name is listed in reverse order and is followed by a comma and et al. Et al is the abbreviation for et alia, a gender-neutral Latin phrase meaning “and others.”

In-text website citation with 3+ authors

The in-text citation for a website with three or more authors should contain only the first author’s last name, followed by et al. ( Handbook 232):

Click on this page if you’re looking for information on how to create an APA in-text citation .

MLA 9 Citation for Websites with No Author

Sometimes, websites do not state who wrote the information on the page. When no author is listed, you may omit the author information from the MLA citation for the website and begin, instead, with the title ( Handbook 108).

Note about web pages by organizations/corporations:  Often, web pages are published by organizations or corporations with no author indicated. In these cases, you can assume that the publisher also authored the web page (like the example above). Since the author and publisher are the same in these cases, you can skip showing an author and just indicate the organization /corporation as the publisher ( Handbook 119 ).

In-text website citation with no author

The in-text citation for a website without an author is noted with the first noun phrase or words in the title in quotations and parenthesis, followed by a period. Unless the website includes numbered paragraphs or sections, you should not include any additional information. For the website used in the example above, the in-text citation would be written as follows:

MLA 9 Citation for Websites Without a Formal Title

When citing a web page that does not include a formal title, it is acceptable to include a description of the page. Do not place the description in italics or quotation marks. Follow the description with the name of the website.

In-text website citation without a title

The in-text citation for a website without a formal title uses a shortened version of the webpage description for the in-text citation. Use the first noun phrase of the description from your Works Cited citation in parenthesis, followed by a period. For the website used in the example above, the in-text citation would be written as follows:

MLA 9 Citation for Social Media Websites

In an increasingly digital world, social media platforms have become one of the most popular sources students turn to when writing a research paper. From Black history facts , to quotes from notable people, such as Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill , social media has become a mega influence in our world.

When citing social media in your work,  follow the same format as an MLA citation for a website. Here are some examples of ways you can cite various social media platforms in your work:

How to cite Twitter in MLA 9

Many notable individuals use Twitter as a platform to share intriguing ideas. It’s a shame Twitter was unavailable to long-gone scientists, authors, and presidents such as Albert Einstein , Mark Twain , and Abraham Lincoln . Luckily, we have the Twitter profiles of today’s great minds at our fingertips!

To cite a tweet, you will begin with the account holder’s name and their Twitter handle in square brackets, followed by a period ( Handbook 118). After this, in quotations, you should enter the full text of the tweet, including any hashtags. The publisher, Twitter, is then listed in italics, followed by the date the tweet was posted in day, month, year format. Finally, include a URL to the tweet followed by a period.

Note:  When the account name and username are similar, the username can be excluded from the citation. For example, if the account’s username was @FirstNameLastName or @OrganizationName.

In-text website citation of a Twitter post

The in-text citation for a Twitter post is reflected as the author’s last name in parentheses, followed by a period. For the tweet used in the example above, the in-text citation would be written as follows:

How to cite Instagram in MLA 9

To cite an Instagram post, begin with the account holder’s name and their username in square brackets. In quotations, list the title of the photo, if it is given. If there is no title, write a brief description of the picture but do not place it in italics or quotation marks. The publisher, Instagram, is then listed in italics. Any other contributors (such as the photographer, if it is not the same as the account holder) are then listed, after which you will add the date the photo was published and the URL.

In-text website citation of an Instagram post

The in-text citation for an Instagram post is reflected as the author’s last name or the name of the account in parentheses, followed by a period. For the Instagram post used in the example above, the in-text citation would be written as follows:

How to cite Facebook in MLA 9

To cite a Facebook post, begin with the account holder’s name or username. In quotations, list the title or caption of the post, if it is given. If there is no title or caption, write a brief description of the post, but do not place it in italics or quotation marks. Examples: Image of Malcolm X, or, Muhammed Ali headshot.

The publisher, Facebook, is then listed in italics, after which you will add the date posted and URL.

In-text website citation of a Facebook post

The in-text citation for a Facebook post is reflected as the author’s last name or the name of the account in parentheses, followed by a period. For the Facebook post used in the example above, the in-text citation would be written as follows:

Social media and website comments

Citing the comments left on social media or a website begins with the commenter’s name or username. To indicate that you are citing a comment, follow the name with a period and then the words Comment on , followed by the title of the source (for example, the name of the article) in quotation marks. This is then followed by the title of the website in italics, and the publisher, if applicable. The date is then listed, followed by the URL, permalink, or DOI.

In-text citation of a social media comment

The in-text citation for a social media comment is reflected as the author’s last name in parentheses, followed by a period. For the post used in the example above, the in-text citation would be written as follows:

In-text Citations for Websites

In-text citations generally consist of parentheses and the last names of the authors or the first few words of the web page title.

Since there are no page numbers, unless the web page includes numbered paragraphs or sections, you don’t need to include any additional information.

When you have multiple authors, place them in the same order they are listed in the source.

If what you really need is an APA book citation or a reference for an APA journal , there are more guides on EasyBib.com for you to explore.

Visit our EasyBib Twitter feed to discover more citing tips, fun grammar facts, and the latest product updates.

Troubleshooting

Solution #1: when and how to reference entire websites versus specific pages in mla.

Reference an entire website when your information comes from multiple pages or if you are describing the entirety of the website. If your information is only from one page, only cite the singular page.

Whole website, author known

• Write the author’s name in last name, first name format with a period following.
• Next, write the name of the website in italics.
• Write the contributing organization’s name with a comma following.
• List the date in day, month, year format with a comma following.
• Lastly, write the URL with a period following.

Works cited example:

Night, Samuel. Food Creations , International Hypothetical Chefs’ Club, 21 May 2021,                 www.foodcreationshypotheticalwebsite.com/best_macaroni_recipe.

In-text example:

Whole website, author unknown

• If there is no specific author, begin the citation by writing the website name in italics.

Food Creations , International Hypothetical Chefs’ Club, 21 May 2021, www.foodcreationshypotheticalwebsite.com/best_macaroni_recipe.

( Food Creations )

Webpage, author known

If information is from only a few pages or the pages cover multiple topics, reference each page

• If an author is named, write the author’s name in last name, first name format.
• If a title is not provided, create your own description of the page.
• List the title of the website in italics with a comma following.
• Write the date that the page was created followed by a comma.
• Lastly, list the URL followed by a period.

Blake, Evan. “Best Southern Macaroni Recipe.” Food Creations , International Hypothetical Chefs’ Club, 21 May 2021, www.foodcreationshypotheticalwebsite.com/best_macaroni_recipe.

Webpage, author unknown

If an author is not named, write the name of the page in quotation marks with a period following.

“Best Southern Macaroni Recipe.” Food Creations , International Hypothetical Chefs’ Club, 21 May 2021, www.foodcreationshypotheticalwebsite.com/best_macaroni_recipe.

(“Best Southern Macaroni Recipe”)

Solution #2: Referencing a conversation on social media in MLA

The in-text citation should identify the author and talk about the format (e.g., video, post, image, etc.) in prose.

Lilly West’s photo of traditional Japanese sweets shows an example of nature influencing Japanese design.

The basic structure of a works-cited reference for social media stays the same no matter the format or the social media service (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). Here are works- cited-list entry guidelines:

• The name is listed in last name, first name format with a period following. If an organization, just write the organization’s name as it’s usually presented.
• If the username is very different from the author’s real name, include it in brackets after the user’s real name but before the period.
• Write the title, post text, or description of the post in quotation marks. End it with a period.
• Write the website name in italics with a comma afterward.
• List the day, month, and year that the post was created followed by a comma.
• List the URL followed by a period. Leave out “https://” and “http://”.

Facebook example:

West, Lily. “Kyoto Japanese sweets.” Facebook , 30 May 2021, www.facebook.com/hypotheticalexample/thispostisnotreal.

Twitter reference example:

West, Lily [@lilianhypotheticalwestbest]. “Kyoto Japanese sweets.” Twitter, 30 May 2021, www.twitter.com/hypotheticalexample/thispostisnotreal.

Instagram reference example:

West, Lily [@lilianhypotheticalwestbest]. “Kyoto Japanese sweets.” Instagram , 30 May 2021,            www.instagram.com/hypotheticalexample/thisphotoisnotreal.

Solution #3: How to cite a social media post without a title or text

If there is no text or title where the title element usually goes, instead describe the post without quotation marks. Example:

West, Lily [@lilianhypotheticalwestbest]. Photo of traditional Japanese sweets on a green plate. Instagram , photographed by Bethany Lynn, 30 May 2021,   www.instagram.com/hypotheticalexample/thisphotoisnotreal.

Solution #4: How to cite a social media post with a long title or text

If the text is very long, you can shorten it by adding ellipsis at the end of the text. Example:

West, Lily [@lilianhypotheticalwestbest]. “Nothing is better in life than feeling like all of the effort you’ve invested has finally. . . .” Twitter, 17 Feb. 2021, www.twitter.com/hypotheticalexample/thispostisnotreal.

• Works Cited

MLA Handbook . 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.

Published October 31, 2011. Updated June 5, 2021.

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau. Michele Kirschenbaum is a school library media specialist and the in-house librarian at EasyBib.com. Elise Barbeau is the Citation Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital marketing, libraries, and publishing.

MLA Formatting Guide

MLA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Sample Paper
• MLA 8 Updates
• MLA 9 Updates
• View MLA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all MLA Examples

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It’s 100% free to create MLA citations. The EasyBib Citation Generator also supports 7,000+ other citation styles. These other styles—including APA, Chicago, and Harvard—are accessible for anyone with an EasyBib Plus subscription.

No matter what citation style you’re using (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.), the EasyBib Citation Generator can help you create the right bibliography quickly.

Yes, there’s an option to download source citations as a Word Doc or a Google Doc. You may also copy citations from the EasyBib Citation Generator and paste them into your paper.

Creating an account is not a requirement for generating MLA citations. However, registering for an EasyBib account is free, and an account is how you can save all the citations you create. This can help make it easier to manage your citations and bibliographies.

Yes! Whether you’d like to learn how to construct citations on your own, our Autocite tool isn’t able to gather the metadata you need, or anything in between, manual citations are always an option. Click here for directions on using creating manual citations.

If any important information is missing (e.g., author’s name, title, publishing date, URL, etc.), first see if you can find it in the source yourself. If you cannot, leave the information blank and continue creating your citation.

It supports MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, and over 7,000 total citation styles.

If there is no author, the title becomes the website page’s identifier.

In-text example (no author): ( Honey Bee Medley )

Works cited example (no author): Honey Bee Medley . Hivemind Press, 2018, www.hivebees.com/honey-bees.

If there is no publication date, include an accessed date instead.

Works cited example (no author, no date): Honey Bee Medley . Hivemind Press, www.hivebees.com/honey-bees. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020.

If there is no title, briefly describe the source.

Works cited example (no author, no date, no title): Collage of honey bees. Hivemind Press, www.hivebees.com/honey-bees. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020.

To cite a website that has no page number in MLA, it is important that you know the name of the author, title of the webpage, website, and URL. The templates for an in-text citation and works-cited-list entry of a website that has no page number, along with examples, are given below:

In-text citation template and example:

You can use a time stamp if you are referring to an audio or video. Otherwise, use only the author’s surname.

(Author Surname)

Works-cited-list entry template and example:

Author or Organization Name. “Title of the Webpage.” Website Name . Publication Date, URL.

Dutta, Smita S. “What is Extra Sensory Perception?” Medindia . 16 Nov. 2019, www.medindia.net/patients/patientinfo/extra-sensory-perception.htm#3 .

Abbreviate the month in the date field.

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Personal essay: Kim Kardashian says it’s time for the Menendez brothers to be freed

We are all products of our experiences. They shape who we were, who we are, and who we will be. Physiologically and psychologically, time changes us, and I doubt anyone would claim to be the same person they were at 18. I know I’m not!

You think you know the story of Lyle and Erik Menendez. I certainly thought I did: In 1989, the brothers, aged 21 and 18, respectively, viciously shot and killed their parents in their Beverly Hills home. In 1996, after two trials, they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As is often the case, this story is much more complex than it appears on the surface. Both brothers said they had been sexually, physically and emotionally abused for years by their parents. According to Lyle, the abuse started when he was just 6 years old, and Erik said he was raped by his father for more than a decade. Following years of abuse and a real fear for their lives, Erik and Lyle chose what they thought at the time was their only way out — an unimaginable way to escape their living nightmare.

Their first trial was heard before two separate juries, one for each brother. Their abuse claims formed the foundation of their defense, with family members testifying on their behalf. After hearing this evidence, over half of the 24 jurors voted not guilty on the murder charges, resulting in hopelessly deadlocked juries and mistrials, widely seen as a blow to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.

Soon, the Menendez brothers’ case would continue to play out amid another high-profile murder case prosecuted by the same DA’s office. More than four months after the Menendez mistrials, O.J. Simpson was charged with the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. Then, eight days after Simpson’s acquittal, opening arguments began in Erik and Lyle’s second trial.

However, this time, the judge had changed the rules: both brothers were tried together before a single jury, much of the abuse evidence was deemed inadmissible , and manslaughter was no longer an option . Some witnesses from the first trial were barred from testifying about the alleged abuse, depriving the jurors of crucial evidence. The prosecutor, having successfully argued to exclude the abuse testimony, mocked the brothers’ defense during his closing arguments for not producing any evidence of abuse.

Their lawyer has since said the judge’s rulings essentially acted as a “directed” verdict. And so, the brothers were convicted. They were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and have remained incarcerated for almost 35 years. Their only way out of prison now is death. 

The first trial was televised for all to see, and Erik and Lyle’s case became entertainment for the nation, their suffering and stories of abuse ridiculed in skits on “Saturday Night Live.” The media turned the brothers into monsters and sensationalized eye candy — two arrogant, rich kids from Beverly Hills who killed their parents out of greed. There was no room for empathy, let alone sympathy.

Erik and Lyle had no chance of a fair trial against this backdrop. Back then, there were limited resources for victims of sexual abuse, particularly for boys. There were virtually no systems in place to support survivors, and public awareness of the trauma of male sexual abuse was minimal, often clouded by preconceived judgments and homophobia. Can anyone honestly deny that the justice system would have treated the Menendez sisters more leniently? Despite overwhelming family testimony acknowledging the abuse Erik and Lyle suffered, the public remained skeptical. Robbed of their childhoods by their parents, then robbed of any chance of freedom by a criminal justice system eager to punish them without considering the context or understanding the “why,” and without caring about whether the punishment fit the crime, Erik and Lyle were condemned before the trial even began.

According to Erik and Lyle, they were physically, sexually and emotionally abused by their parents since childhood, and their father repeatedly raped them when they were just little boys. Many people believe the crimes the brothers committed are unforgivable — but what about the decades of alleged abuse they suffered as children?

I have spent time with Lyle and Erik; they are not monsters. They are kind, intelligent, and honest men. In prison, they both have exemplary disciplinary records. They have earned multiple college degrees, worked as caregivers for elderly incarcerated individuals in hospice, and been mentors in college programs — committed to giving back to others. When I visited the prison three weeks ago , one of the wardens told me he would feel comfortable having them as neighbors. Twenty-four family members, including their parents’ siblings, have released statements fully supporting Lyle and Erik and have respectfully requested that the justice system free them. 

The killings are not excusable. I want to make that clear. Nor is their behavior before, during or after the crime. But we should not deny who they are today in their 50s. The trial and punishment these brothers received were more befitting a serial killer than two individuals who endured years of sexual abuse by the very people they loved and trusted. I don’t believe that spending their entire natural lives incarcerated was the right punishment for this complex case. Had this crime been committed and trialed today, I believe the outcome would have been dramatically different. I also strongly believe that they were denied a fair second trial and that the exclusion of crucial abuse evidence denied Erik and Lyle the opportunity to fully present their case, further undermining the fairness of their conviction.

With their case back in the spotlight — and considering the revelation of a 1988 letter from Erik to his cousin describing the abuse — my hope is that Erik and Lyle Menendez’s life sentences are reconsidered.

We owe it to those little boys who lost their childhoods, who never had a chance to be heard, helped or saved.

Kim Kardashian is a businesswoman, media star and criminal justice reform advocate.

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications)

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

The MLA Handbook highlights principles over prescriptive practices. Essentially, a writer will need to take note of primary elements in every source, such as author, title, etc. and then assort them in a general format. Thus, by using this methodology, a writer will be able to cite any source regardless of whether it’s included in this list.

However, this guide will highlight a few concerns when citing digital sources in MLA style.

Best Practices for Managing Online Sources

Because online information can change or disappear, it is always a good idea to keep personal copies of important electronic information whenever possible. Downloading or even printing key documents ensures you have a stable backup. You can also use the Bookmark function in your web browser in order to build an easy-to-access reference for all of your project's sources (though this will not help you if the information is changed or deleted).

It is also wise to keep a record of when you first consult with each online source. MLA uses the phrase, “Accessed” to denote which date you accessed the web page when available or necessary. It is not required to do so, but it is encouraged (especially when there is no copyright date listed on a website).

Important Note on the Use of URLs in MLA

Include a URL or web address to help readers locate your sources. Because web addresses are not static (i.e., they change often) and because documents sometimes appear in multiple places on the web (e.g., on multiple databases), MLA encourages the use of citing containers such as Youtube, JSTOR, Spotify, or Netflix in order to easily access and verify sources. However, MLA only requires the www. address, so eliminate all https:// when citing URLs.

Many scholarly journal articles found in databases include a DOI (digital object identifier). If a DOI is available, cite the DOI number instead of the URL.

Online newspapers and magazines sometimes include a “permalink,” which is a shortened, stable version of a URL. Look for a “share” or “cite this” button to see if a source includes a permalink. If you can find a permalink, use that instead of a URL.

Abbreviations Commonly Used with Electronic Sources

If page numbers are not available, use par. or pars. to denote paragraph numbers. Use these in place of the p. or pp. abbreviation. Par. would be used for a single paragraph, while pars. would be used for a span of two or more paragraphs.

Basic Style for Citations of Electronic Sources (Including Online Databases)

Here are some common features you should try to find before citing electronic sources in MLA style. Not every web page will provide all of the following information. However, collect as much of the following information as possible:

• Author and/or editor names (if available); last names first.
• "Article name in quotation marks."
• Title of the website, project, or book in italics.
• Any version numbers available, including editions (ed.), revisions, posting dates, volumes (vol.), or issue numbers (no.).
• Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date.
• Take note of any page numbers (p. or pp.) or paragraph numbers (par. or pars.).
• DOI (if available, precede it with "https://doi.org/"), otherwise a URL (without the https://) or permalink.
• Date you accessed the material (Date Accessed). While not required, saving this information it is highly recommended, especially when dealing with pages that change frequently or do not have a visible copyright date.

Use the following format:

Author. "Title." Title of container (self contained if book) , Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs and/or URL, DOI or permalink). 2 nd container’s title , Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location, Date of Access (if applicable).

Citing an Entire Web Site

When citing an entire website, follow the same format as listed above, but include a compiler name if no single author is available.

Author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number (if available), Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available), DOI (preferred), otherwise include a URL or permalink. Date of access (if applicable).

Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site . Version number, Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available), URL, DOI or permalink. Date of access (if applicable).

The Purdue OWL Family of Sites . The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 23 Apr. 2008.

Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory . Purdue U, 28 Nov. 2003, www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/. Accessed 10 May 2006.

Course or Department Websites

Give the instructor name. Then list the title of the course (or the school catalog designation for the course) in italics. Give appropriate department and school names as well, following the course title.

Felluga, Dino. Survey of the Literature of England . Purdue U, Aug. 2006, web.ics.purdue.edu/~felluga/241/241/Home.html. Accessed 31 May 2007.

English Department . Purdue U, 20 Apr. 2009, www.cla.purdue.edu/english/. Accessed 31 May 2015.

A Page on a Web Site

For an individual page on a Web site, list the author or alias if known, followed by an indication of the specific page or article being referenced. Usually, the title of the page or article appears in a header at the top of the page. Follow this with the information covered above for entire Web sites. If the publisher is the same as the website name, only list it once.

Lundman, Susan. “How to Make Vegetarian Chili.”  eHow , www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html. Accessed 6 July 2015.

“ Athlete's Foot - Topic Overview. ”   WebMD , 25 Sept. 2014, www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/athletes-foot-topic-overview.

Citations for e-books closely resemble those for physical books. Simply indicate that the book in question is an e-book by putting the term "e-book" in the "version" slot of the MLA template (i.e., after the author, the title of the source, the title of the container, and the names of any other contributors).

Silva, Paul J.  How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing. E-book, American Psychological Association, 2007.

If the e-book is formatted for a specific reader device or service, you can indicate this by treating this information the same way you would treat a physical book's edition number. Often, this will mean replacing "e-book" with "[App/Service] ed."

Machiavelli, Niccolo.  The Prince , translated by W. K. Marriott, Kindle ed., Library of Alexandria, 2018.

Note:  The MLA considers the term "e-book" to refer to publications formatted specifically for reading with an e-book reader device (e.g., a Kindle) or a corresponding web application. These e-books will not have URLs or DOIs. If you are citing book content from an ordinary webpage with a URL, use the "A Page on a Web Site" format above.

An Image (Including a Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph)

Provide the artist's name, the work of art italicized, the date of creation, the institution and city where the work is housed. Follow this initial entry with the name of the Website in italics, and the date of access.

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV . 1800. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Museo Nacional del Prado , www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-family-of-carlos-iv/f47898fc-aa1c-48f6-a779-71759e417e74. Accessed 22 May 2006.

Klee, Paul. Twittering Machine . 1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Artchive , www.artchive.com/artchive/K/klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html. Accessed May 2006.

If the work cited is available on the web only, then provide the name of the artist, the title of the work, and then follow the citation format for a website. If the work is posted via a username, use that username for the author.

Adams, Clifton R. “People Relax Beside a Swimming Pool at a Country Estate Near Phoenix, Arizona, 1928.” Found, National Geographic Creative, 2 June 2016, natgeofound.tumblr.com/.

An Article in a Web Magazine

Provide the author name, article name in quotation marks, title of the web magazine in italics, publisher name, publication date, URL, and the date of access.

Bernstein, Mark. “ 10 Tips on Writing the Living Web. ”   A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites , 16 Aug. 2002, alistapart.com/article/writeliving. Accessed 4 May 2009.

An Article in an Online Scholarly Journal

For all online scholarly journals, provide the author(s) name(s), the name of the article in quotation marks, the title of the publication in italics, all volume and issue numbers, and the year of publication. Include a DOI if available, otherwise provide a URL or permalink to help readers locate the source.

Article in an Online-only Scholarly Journal

MLA requires a page range for articles that appear in Scholarly Journals. If the journal you are citing appears exclusively in an online format (i.e. there is no corresponding print publication) that does not make use of page numbers, indicate the URL or other location information.

Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future Directions.” Social Work and Society: The International Online-Only Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, 2008, www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed 20 May 2009.

Article in an Online Scholarly Journal That Also Appears in Print

Cite articles in online scholarly journals that also appear in print as you would a scholarly journal in print, including the page range of the article . Provide the URL and the date of access.

Wheelis, Mark. “ Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. ”   Emerging Infectious Diseases , vol. 6, no. 6, 2000, pp. 595-600, wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/00-0607_article. Accessed 8 Feb. 2009.

An Article from an Online Database (or Other Electronic Subscription Service)

Cite online databases (e.g. LexisNexis, ProQuest, JSTOR, ScienceDirect) and other subscription services as containers. Thus, provide the title of the database italicized before the DOI or URL. If a DOI is not provided, use the URL instead. Provide the date of access if you wish.

Alonso, Alvaro, and Julio A. Camargo. “ Toxicity of Nitrite to Three Species of Freshwater Invertebrates. ”   Environmental Toxicology, vol. 21, no. 1, 3 Feb. 2006, pp. 90-94. Wiley Online Library , https://doi.org/10.1002/tox.20155. Accessed 26 May 2009.

Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.” Historical Journal, vol. 50, no. 1, 2007, pp. 173-96. ProQuest , https://doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X06005966. Accessed 27 May 2009.

E-mail (including E-mail Interviews)

Give the author of the message, followed by the subject line in quotation marks. State to whom the message was sent with the phrase, “Received by” and the recipient’s name. Include the date the message was sent. Use standard capitalization.

Kunka, Andrew. “ Re: Modernist Literature. ”  Received by John Watts, 15 Nov. 2000.

Neyhart, David. “ Re: Online Tutoring. ” Received by Joe Barbato, 1 Dec. 2016.

A Listserv, Discussion Group, or Blog Posting

Cite web postings as you would a standard web entry. Provide the author of the work, the title of the posting in quotation marks, the web site name in italics, the publisher, and the posting date. Follow with the date of access. Include screen names as author names when author name is not known. If both names are known, place the author’s name in brackets.

Author or compiler name (if available). “Posting Title.” Name of Site , Version number (if available), Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), URL. Date of access.

Salmar1515 [Sal Hernandez]. “Re: Best Strategy: Fenced Pastures vs. Max Number of Rooms?” BoardGameGeek , 29 Sept. 2008, boardgamegeek.com/thread/343929/best-strategy-fenced-pastures-vs-max-number-rooms. Accessed 5 Apr. 2009.

Begin with the user's Twitter handle in place of the author’s name. Next, place the tweet in its entirety in quotations, inserting a period after the tweet within the quotations. Include the date and time of posting, using the reader's time zone; separate the date and time with a comma and end with a period. Include the date accessed if you deem necessary.

@tombrokaw. “ SC demonstrated why all the debates are the engines of this campaign. ”   Twitter, 22 Jan. 2012, 3:06 a.m., twitter.com/tombrokaw/status/160996868971704320.

@PurdueWLab. “ Spring break is around the corner, and all our locations will be open next week. ”   Twitter , 5 Mar. 2012, 12:58 p.m., twitter.com/PurdueWLab/status/176728308736737282.

A YouTube Video

Video and audio sources need to be documented using the same basic guidelines for citing print sources in MLA style. Include as much descriptive information as necessary to help readers understand the type and nature of the source you are citing. If the author’s name is the same as the uploader, only cite the author once. If the author is different from the uploader, cite the author’s name before the title.

McGonigal, Jane. “Gaming and Productivity.” YouTube , uploaded by Big Think, 3 July 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkdzy9bWW3E.

“8 Hot Dog Gadgets put to the Test.” YouTube, uploaded by Crazy Russian Hacker, 6 June 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBlpjSEtELs.

A Comment on a Website or Article

List the username as the author. Use the phrase, Comment on, before the title. Use quotation marks around the article title. Name the publisher, date, time (listed on near the comment), and the URL.

Not Omniscient Enough. Comment on “ Flight Attendant Tells Passenger to ‘Shut Up’ After Argument Over Pasta. ”  ABC News, 9 Jun 2016, 4:00 p.m., abcnews.go.com/US/flight-attendant-tells-passenger-shut-argument-pasta/story?id=39704050.

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Anthropic CEO goes full techno-optimist in 15,000-word paean to AI

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wants you to know he’s not an AI “doomer.”

At least, that’s my read of the “mic drop” of a ~15,000 word essay Amodei published to his blog late Friday. (I tried asking Anthropic’s Claude chatbot whether it concurred, but alas, the post exceeded the free plan’s length limit.)

In broad strokes, Amodei paints a picture of a world in which all AI risks are mitigated, and the tech delivers heretofore unrealized prosperity, social uplift, and abundance. He asserts this isn’t to minimize AI’s downsides — at the start, Amodei takes aim, without naming names, at AI companies overselling and generally propagandizing their tech’s capabilities. But one might argue that the essay leans too far in the techno-utopianist direction, making claims simply unsupported by fact.

Amodei believes that “powerful AI” will arrive as soon as 2026. By powerful AI, he means AI that’s “smarter than a Nobel Prize winner” in fields like biology and engineering, and that can perform tasks like proving unsolved mathematical theorems and writing “extremely good novels.” This AI, Amodei says, will be able to control any software or hardware imaginable, including industrial machinery, and essentially do most jobs humans do today — but better.

“[This AI] can engage in any actions, communications, or remote operations … including taking actions on the internet, taking or giving directions to humans, ordering materials, directing experiments, watching videos, making videos, and so on,” Amodei writes. “It does not have a physical embodiment (other than living on a computer screen), but it can control existing physical tools, robots, or laboratory equipment through a computer; in theory it could even design robots or equipment for itself to use.”

Lots would have to happen to reach that point.

Even the best AI today can’t “ think ” in the way we understand it. Models don’t so much reason as replicate patterns they’ve observed in their training data.

Assuming for the purpose of Amodei’s argument that the AI industry does soon “solve” human-like thought, would robotics catch up to allow future AI to perform lab experiments, manufacture its own tools, and so on? The brittleness of today’s robots imply it’s a long shot.

Yet Amodei is optimistic — very optimistic.

He believes AI could, in the next 7-12 years, help treat nearly all infectious diseases, eliminate most cancers, cure genetic disorders, and halt Alzheimer’s at the earliest stages. In the next 5-10 years, Amodei thinks that conditions like PTSD, depression, schizophrenia, and addiction will be cured with AI-concocted drugs, or genetically prevented via embryo screening (a controversial opinion ) — and that AI-developed drugs will also exist that “tune cognitive function and emotional state” to “get [our brains] to behave a bit better and have a more fulfilling day-to-day experience.”

Should this come to pass, Amodei expects the average human lifespan to double to 150.

“My basic prediction is that AI-enabled biology and medicine will allow us to compress the progress that human biologists would have achieved over the next 50-100 years into 5-10 years,” he writes. “I’ll refer to this as the ‘compressed 21st century’: the idea that after powerful AI is developed, we will in a few years make all the progress in biology and medicine that we would have made in the whole 21st century.”

These seem like stretches, too, considering that AI hasn’t radically transformed medicine yet — and may not for quite some time, or ever. Even if AI does reduce the labor and cost involved in getting a drug into pre-clinical testing, it may fail at a later stage, just like human-designed drugs. Consider that the AI deployed in healthcare today has been shown to be biased and risky in a number of ways, or otherwise incredibly difficult to implement in existing clinical and lab settings. Suggesting all these issues and more will be solved roughly within the decade seems, well, aspirational.

But Amodei doesn’t stop there.

AI could solve world hunger, he claims. It could turn the tide on climate change. And it could transform the economies in most developing countries; Amodei believes AI can bring the per-capita GDP of sub-Saharan Africa ($1,701 as of 2022) to the per-capita GDP of China ($12,720 in 2022) in 5-10 years.

These are bold pronouncements, although likely familiar to anyone who’s listened to disciples of the “Singularity” movement, which expects similar results. To Amodei’s credit, he acknowledges that such developments would require “a huge effort in global health, philanthropy, [and] political advocacy,” which he posits will occur because it’s in the world’s best economic interest.

That would be a dramatic change in human behavior if so, given people have shown time and again that their primary interest is in what benefits them in the shorter term. ( Deforestation is but one example among thousands.) It’s also worth noting that many of the workers responsible for labeling the datasets used to train AI are paid far below minimum wage while their employers reap tens of millions — or hundreds of millions — in capital from the results.

Amodei touches, briefly, on the dangers of AI to civil society, proposing that a coalition of democracies secure AI’s supply chain and block adversaries who intend to use AI toward harmful ends from the means of powerful AI production (semiconductors, etc.). In the same breath, he suggests that AI, in the right hands, could be used to “undermine repressive governments” and even reduce bias in the legal system. (AI has historically exacerbated biases in the legal system.)

“A truly mature and successful implementation of AI has the potential to reduce bias and be fairer for everyone,” Amodei writes.

So, if AI takes over every conceivable job and does it better and faster, won’t that leave humans in a lurch economically speaking? Amodei admits that, yes, it would, and that at that point, society would have to have conversations about “how the economy should be organized.”

But he offers no solution.

“People do want a sense of accomplishment, even a sense of competition, and in a post-AI world it will be perfectly possible to spend years attempting some very difficult task with a complex strategy, similar to what people do today when they embark on research projects, try to become Hollywood actors, or found companies,” he writes. “The facts that (a) an AI somewhere could in principle do this task better, and (b) this task is no longer an economically rewarded element of a global economy, don’t seem to me to matter very much.”

Amodei advances the notion, in wrapping up, that AI is simply a technological accelerator — that humans naturally trend toward “rule of law, democracy, and Enlightenment values.” But in doing so, he ignores AI’s many costs. AI is projected to have — is already having — an enormous environmental impact. And it’s creating inequality. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and others have noted the labor disruptions caused by AI could further concentrate wealth in the hands of companies and leave workers more powerless than ever.

These companies include Anthropic, as loath as Amodei is to admit it. Anthropic is a business, after all — one reportedly worth close to $40 billion. And those benefiting from its AI tech are, by and large, corporations whose only responsibility is to boost returns to shareholders, not better humanity.

A cynic might question the essay’s timing, in fact, given that Anthropic is said to be in the process of raising billions of dollars in venture funds. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman published a similarly technopotimist manifesto shortly before OpenAI closed a $6.5 billion funding round. Perhaps it’s a coincidence.

Then again, Amodei isn’t a philanthropist. Like any CEO, he has a product to pitch. It just so happens that his product is going to “save the world” — and those who think otherwise risk being left behind. Or so he’d have you believe.

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I’m Running Out of Ways to Explain How Bad This Is

What’s happening in America today is something darker than a misinformation crisis.

Produced by ElevenLabs and News Over Audio (NOA) using AI narration.

Updated at 9:43 a.m. ET on October 11, 2024

The truth is, it’s getting harder to describe the extent to which a meaningful percentage of Americans have dissociated from reality. As Hurricane Milton churned across the Gulf of Mexico last night, I saw an onslaught of outright conspiracy theorizing and utter nonsense racking up millions of views across the internet. The posts would be laughable if they weren’t taken by many people as gospel. Among them: Infowars’ Alex Jones, who claimed that Hurricanes Milton and Helene were “weather weapons” unleashed on the East Coast by the U.S. government, and “truth seeker” accounts on X that posted photos of condensation trails in the sky to baselessly allege that the government was “spraying Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton” in order to ensure maximum rainfall, “just like they did over Asheville!”

As Milton made landfall, causing a series of tornados, a verified account on X reposted a TikTok video of a massive funnel cloud with the caption “WHAT IS HAPPENING TO FLORIDA?!” The clip, which was eventually removed but had been viewed 662,000 times as of yesterday evening, turned out to be from a video of a CGI tornado that was originally published months ago. Scrolling through these platforms, watching them fill with false information, harebrained theories , and doctored images—all while panicked residents boarded up their houses, struggled to evacuate, and prayed that their worldly possessions wouldn’t be obliterated overnight—offered a portrait of American discourse almost too bleak to reckon with head-on.

Even in a decade marred by online grifters, shameless politicians, and an alternative right-wing-media complex pushing anti-science fringe theories, the events of the past few weeks stand out for their depravity and nihilism. As two catastrophic storms upended American cities, a patchwork network of influencers and fake-news peddlers have done their best to sow distrust, stoke resentment, and interfere with relief efforts. But this is more than just a misinformation crisis. To watch as real information is overwhelmed by crank theories and public servants battle death threats is to confront two alarming facts: first, that a durable ecosystem exists to ensconce citizens in an alternate reality, and second, that the people consuming and amplifying those lies are not helpless dupes but willing participants.

Read: November will be worse

Some of the lies and obfuscation are politically motivated, such as the claim that FEMA is offering only $750 in total to hurricane victims who have lost their home. (In reality , FEMA offers $750 as immediate “Serious Needs Assistance” to help people get basic supplies such as food and water.) Donald Trump , J. D. Vance , and Fox News have all repeated that lie. Trump also posted (and later deleted) on Truth Social that FEMA money was given to undocumented migrants, which is untrue. Elon Musk, who owns X, claimed —without evidence—that FEMA was “actively blocking shipments and seizing goods and services locally and locking them away to state they are their own. It’s very real and scary how much they have taken control to stop people helping.” That post has been viewed more than 40 million times. Other influencers, such as the Trump sycophant Laura Loomer, have urged their followers to disrupt the disaster agency’s efforts to help hurricane victims. “Do not comply with FEMA,” she posted on X. “This is a matter of survival.”

The result of this fearmongering is what you might expect. Angry, embittered citizens have been harassing government officials in North Carolina, as well as FEMA employees. According to an analysis by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an extremism-research group, “Falsehoods around hurricane response have spawned credible threats and incitement to violence directed at the federal government,” including “calls to send militias to face down FEMA.” The study also found that 30 percent of the X posts analyzed by ISD “contained overt antisemitic hate, including abuse directed at public officials such as the Mayor of Asheville, North Carolina; the FEMA Director of Public Affairs; and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.” The posts received a collective 17.1 million views as of October 7.

Online, first responders are pleading with residents, asking for their help to combat the flood of lies and conspiracy theories. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said that the volume of misinformation could hamper relief efforts. “If it creates so much fear that my staff doesn’t want to go out in the field, then we’re not going to be in a position where we can help people,” she said in a news conference on Tuesday. In Pensacola, North Carolina, Assistant Fire Chief Bradley Boone vented his frustrations on Facebook: “I’m trying to rescue my community,” he said in a livestream. “I ain’t got time. I ain’t got time to chase down every Facebook rumor … We’ve been through enough.”

It is difficult to capture the nihilism of the current moment. The pandemic saw Americans, distrustful of authority, trying to discredit effective vaccines, spreading conspiracy theories, and attacking public-health officials. But what feels novel in the aftermath of this month’s hurricanes is how the people doing the lying aren’t even trying to hide the provenance of their bullshit. Similarly, those sharing the lies are happy to admit that they do not care whether what they’re pushing is real or not. Such was the case last week, when Republican politicians shared an AI-generated viral image of a little girl holding a puppy while supposedly fleeing Helene. Though the image was clearly fake and quickly debunked, some politicians remained defiant. “Y’all, I don’t know where this photo came from and honestly, it doesn’t matter,” Amy Kremer , who represents Georgia on the Republican National Committee, wrote after sharing the fake image. “I’m leaving it because it is emblematic of the trauma and pain people are living through right now.”

Kremer wasn’t alone. The journalist Parker Molloy compiled screenshots of people “acknowledging that this image is AI but still insisting that it’s real on some deeper level”—proof, Molloy noted, that we’re “living in the post-reality.” The technology writer Jason Koebler argued that we’ve entered the “‘Fuck It’ Era” of AI slop and political messaging, with AI-generated images being used to convey whatever partisan message suits the moment, regardless of truth.

This has all been building for more than a decade. On The Colbert Report , back in 2005, Stephen Colbert coined the word truthiness , which he defined as “the belief in what you feel to be true rather than what the facts will support.” This reality-fracturing is the result of an information ecosystem that is dominated by platforms that offer financial and attentional incentives to lie and enrage, and to turn every tragedy and large event into a shameless content-creation opportunity . This collides with a swath of people who would rather live in an alternate reality built on distrust and grievance than change their fundamental beliefs about the world. But the misinformation crisis is not always what we think it is.

Read: Florida’s risky bet

So much of the conversation around misinformation suggests that its primary job is to persuade. But as Michael Caulfield, an information researcher at the University of Washington, has argued , “The primary use of ‘misinformation’ is not to change the beliefs of other people at all. Instead, the vast majority of misinformation is offered as a service for people to maintain their beliefs in face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.” This distinction is important, in part because it assigns agency to those who consume and share obviously fake information. What is clear from comments such as Kremer’s is that she is not a dupe; although she may come off as deeply incurious and shameless, she is publicly admitting to being an active participant in the far right’s world-building project, where feel is always greater than real.

What we’re witnessing online during and in the aftermath of these hurricanes is a group of people desperate to protect the dark, fictitious world they’ve built. Rather than deal with the realities of a warming planet hurling once-in-a-generation storms at them every few weeks, they’d rather malign and threaten meteorologists, who, in their minds, are “nothing but a trained subversive liar programmed to spew stupid shit to support the global warming bullshit,” as one X user put it. It is a strategy designed to silence voices of reason, because those voices threaten to expose the cracks in their current worldview. But their efforts are doomed, futile. As one dispirited meteorologist wrote on X this week, “Murdering meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes.” She followed with: “I can’t believe I just had to type that.”

What is clear is that a new framework is needed to describe this fracturing. Misinformation is too technical, too freighted, and, after almost a decade of Trump, too political. Nor does it explain what is really happening, which is nothing less than a cultural assault on any person or institution that operates in reality. If you are a weatherperson, you’re a target. The same goes for journalists, election workers, scientists, doctors, and first responders. These jobs are different, but the thing they share is that they all must attend to and describe the world as it is. This makes them dangerous to people who cannot abide by the agonizing constraints of reality, as well as those who have financial and political interests in keeping up the charade.

In one sense, these attacks—and their increased desperation—make sense. The world feels dark; for many people, it’s tempting to meet that with a retreat into the delusion that they’ve got everything figured out, that the powers that be have conspired against them directly. But in turning away, they exacerbate a crisis that has characterized the Trump era, one that will reverberate to Election Day and beyond. Americans are divided not just by political beliefs but by whether they believe in a shared reality—or desire one at all.

This article previously stated that Bradley Boone is the assistant fire chief in Pensacola, Florida. In fact, he is based in Pensacola, North Carolina.

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The Beginner's Guide to Writing an Essay | Steps & Examples

An academic essay is a focused piece of writing that develops an idea or argument using evidence, analysis, and interpretation.

There are many types of essays you might write as a student. The content and length of an essay depends on your level, subject of study, and course requirements. However, most essays at university level are argumentative — they aim to persuade the reader of a particular position or perspective on a topic.

The essay writing process consists of three main stages:

• Preparation: Decide on your topic, do your research, and create an essay outline.
• Writing : Set out your argument in the introduction, develop it with evidence in the main body, and wrap it up with a conclusion.
• Revision:  Check your essay on the content, organization, grammar, spelling, and formatting of your essay.

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Table of contents

Essay writing process, preparation for writing an essay, writing the introduction, writing the main body, writing the conclusion, essay checklist, lecture slides, frequently asked questions about writing an essay.

The writing process of preparation, writing, and revisions applies to every essay or paper, but the time and effort spent on each stage depends on the type of essay .

For example, if you’ve been assigned a five-paragraph expository essay for a high school class, you’ll probably spend the most time on the writing stage; for a college-level argumentative essay , on the other hand, you’ll need to spend more time researching your topic and developing an original argument before you start writing.

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Before you start writing, you should make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to say and how you’re going to say it. There are a few key steps you can follow to make sure you’re prepared:

• Understand your assignment: What is the goal of this essay? What is the length and deadline of the assignment? Is there anything you need to clarify with your teacher or professor?
• Define a topic: If you’re allowed to choose your own topic , try to pick something that you already know a bit about and that will hold your interest.
• Do your research: Read  primary and secondary sources and take notes to help you work out your position and angle on the topic. You’ll use these as evidence for your points.
• Come up with a thesis:  The thesis is the central point or argument that you want to make. A clear thesis is essential for a focused essay—you should keep referring back to it as you write.
• Create an outline: Map out the rough structure of your essay in an outline . This makes it easier to start writing and keeps you on track as you go.

Once you’ve got a clear idea of what you want to discuss, in what order, and what evidence you’ll use, you’re ready to start writing.

The introduction sets the tone for your essay. It should grab the reader’s interest and inform them of what to expect. The introduction generally comprises 10–20% of the text.

1. Hook your reader

The first sentence of the introduction should pique your reader’s interest and curiosity. This sentence is sometimes called the hook. It might be an intriguing question, a surprising fact, or a bold statement emphasizing the relevance of the topic.

Let’s say we’re writing an essay about the development of Braille (the raised-dot reading and writing system used by visually impaired people). Our hook can make a strong statement about the topic:

The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability.

2. Provide background on your topic

Next, it’s important to give context that will help your reader understand your argument. This might involve providing background information, giving an overview of important academic work or debates on the topic, and explaining difficult terms. Don’t provide too much detail in the introduction—you can elaborate in the body of your essay.

3. Present the thesis statement

Next, you should formulate your thesis statement— the central argument you’re going to make. The thesis statement provides focus and signals your position on the topic. It is usually one or two sentences long. The thesis statement for our essay on Braille could look like this:

As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness.

4. Map the structure

In longer essays, you can end the introduction by briefly describing what will be covered in each part of the essay. This guides the reader through your structure and gives a preview of how your argument will develop.

The invention of Braille marked a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by blind and visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people’s social and cultural lives.

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The body of your essay is where you make arguments supporting your thesis, provide evidence, and develop your ideas. Its purpose is to present, interpret, and analyze the information and sources you have gathered to support your argument.

Length of the body text

The length of the body depends on the type of essay. On average, the body comprises 60–80% of your essay. For a high school essay, this could be just three paragraphs, but for a graduate school essay of 6,000 words, the body could take up 8–10 pages.

Paragraph structure

To give your essay a clear structure , it is important to organize it into paragraphs . Each paragraph should be centered around one main point or idea.

That idea is introduced in a  topic sentence . The topic sentence should generally lead on from the previous paragraph and introduce the point to be made in this paragraph. Transition words can be used to create clear connections between sentences.

After the topic sentence, present evidence such as data, examples, or quotes from relevant sources. Be sure to interpret and explain the evidence, and show how it helps develop your overall argument.

Lack of access to reading and writing put blind people at a serious disadvantage in nineteenth-century society. Text was one of the primary methods through which people engaged with culture, communicated with others, and accessed information; without a well-developed reading system that did not rely on sight, blind people were excluded from social participation (Weygand, 2009). While disabled people in general suffered from discrimination, blindness was widely viewed as the worst disability, and it was commonly believed that blind people were incapable of pursuing a profession or improving themselves through culture (Weygand, 2009). This demonstrates the importance of reading and writing to social status at the time: without access to text, it was considered impossible to fully participate in society. Blind people were excluded from the sighted world, but also entirely dependent on sighted people for information and education.

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The conclusion is the final paragraph of an essay. It should generally take up no more than 10–15% of the text . A strong essay conclusion :

• Returns to your thesis
• Ties together your main points
• Shows why your argument matters

A great conclusion should finish with a memorable or impactful sentence that leaves the reader with a strong final impression.

What not to include in a conclusion

To make your essay’s conclusion as strong as possible, there are a few things you should avoid. The most common mistakes are:

• Including new arguments or evidence
• Undermining your arguments (e.g. “This is just one approach of many”)
• Using concluding phrases like “To sum up…” or “In conclusion…”

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.

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Checklist: Essay

My essay follows the requirements of the assignment (topic and length ).

My introduction sparks the reader’s interest and provides any necessary background information on the topic.

My introduction contains a thesis statement that states the focus and position of the essay.

I use paragraphs to structure the essay.

I use topic sentences to introduce each paragraph.

Each paragraph has a single focus and a clear connection to the thesis statement.

I make clear transitions between paragraphs and ideas.

My conclusion doesn’t just repeat my points, but draws connections between arguments.

I don’t introduce new arguments or evidence in the conclusion.

I have given an in-text citation for every quote or piece of information I got from another source.

I have included a reference page at the end of my essay, listing full details of all my sources.

My citations and references are correctly formatted according to the required citation style .

My essay has an interesting and informative title.

I have followed all formatting guidelines (e.g. font, page numbers, line spacing).

Your essay meets all the most important requirements. Our editors can give it a final check to help you submit with confidence.

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An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates.

In high school, you may have to write many different types of essays to develop your writing skills.

Academic essays at college level are usually argumentative : you develop a clear thesis about your topic and make a case for your position using evidence, analysis and interpretation.

The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:

• An opening hook to catch the reader’s attention.
• Relevant background information that the reader needs to know.
• A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.

The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

• It gives your writing direction and focus.
• It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main point of a paragraph . Everything else in the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

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