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Citing from the Internet

The recommendations in the sixth edition of The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers on documenting online resources have been revised to reflect evolving computer technology. The guidelines that cover the Internet are summarized below. Sources on the Internet that students and scholars use in their research include scholarly projects, reference databases, the texts of books, articles in periodicals, and professional and personal sites. Entries in a works cited list for such sources should contain as many items from the list below as are relevant and available. Following this list are sample entries for some common kinds of Internet sources. 

  1. Name of the author, editor, compiler, or translator of the source (if given), reversed for alphabetizing and, if appropriate, followed by an abbreviation, such as ed.
     

  2. Title of an article, poem, short story, or similar short work in the Internet site (enclosed in quotation marks). Or title of a posting to a discussion list or forum (taken from the subject line and put in quotation marks), followed by the description Online posting
     

  3. Title of a book (underlined)
     

  4. Name of the editor, compiler, or translator of the text (if relevant and if not cited earlier), preceded by the appropriate abbreviation, such as Ed.
     

  5. Publication information for any print version of the source
     

  6. Title of the Internet site (e.g., scholarly project, database, online periodical, or professional or personal site (underlined) or, for a professional or personal site with no title, a description such as Home page
     

  7. Name of the editor of the site (if given)
     

  8. Version number of the source (if not part of the title) or, for a journal, the volume number, issue number, or other identifying number
     

  9. Date of electronic publication, of the latest update, or of posting
     

  10. For a work from a subscription service, the name of the service and--if a library or a consortium of libraries is the subscriber--the name and geographic location (e.g., city, state abbreviation) of the subscriber
     

  11. For a posting to a discussion list or forum, the name of the list or forum
     

  12. The number range or total number of pages, paragraphs, or other sections, if they are numbered
     

  13. Name of any institution or organization sponsoring the site (if not cited earlier)
     

  14. Date when the researcher accessed the source
     

  15. URL of the source or, if the URL is impractically long and complicated, the URL of the site's search page. Or, for a document from a subscription service, the URL of the service's home page, if known; or the keyword assigned by the service, preceded by Keyword; or the sequence of links followed, preceded by Path.

Examples:

An Online Scholarly Project, Information database, or Professional or Personal Site:

 The History Channel Online. 1998. History Channel. 19 June 1998

            <http://historychannel.com/>.

UCMP Glossary. Ed. Allen Collins et al. Oct. 1995. U of California Museum of

Paleontology, Berkeley. 19 June 1998

<http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/glossary.html.>.

A Document within a Scholarly Project or Information Database:

Dove, Rita. “Lady Freedom among Us.” The Electronic Text Center. Ed. David Seaman.

1998. Alderman Lib., U of Virginia. 19 June 1998

<http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/subjects/afam.html>.

“Fresco.” Britannica Online. Vers. 98.2. April 1998. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 8 May

1998 <http://www.eb.com:180>.

Personal Site:

Lancashire, Ian. Home page. 28 Mar. 2002. 15 May 2002

            <http://www.chass.utoronto.ca:8080/~ian/>

Book:

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston, 1845. 30 Jan.

1997 <gopher://gopher.vt.edu:10010/02/73/1>.

An Article in a Scholarly Journal:

Sohmer, Steve. “12 June 1599: Opening Day at Shakespeare’s Globe.” Early Modern

Literary Studies 3.1 (1997): 46 pars. 26 June 1998

<http://www.humanities.ualberta.ca/emls/03-1/aohmuli.html>.

An Article in a Newspaper or on a Newswire:

“Endangered Species Act Upheld.” AP Online 22 June 1998. 22 June 1998

<http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Court-Endangered-Species.html>.

A Review:

Ebert, Roger. Rev. of The Truman Show, dir. Peter Weir. Chicago Sun-Times Online 5

June 1998. 16 June 1998 <http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebertl/05show.htm>.

An Online Government Publication:

United States. Dept. of Justice. Natl. Inst. Of Justice. Prosecuting Gangs: A National

 Assessment. By Claire Johnson, Barbara Webster, and Edward Connors. Feb.

1995. 29 June 1998 <http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles/pgang.txt>.

Posting to a Discussion List

Merrian, Joanne. "Spinoff:Monsterpiece Theatre." Online posting. 30 Apr. 1994. Shaksper:

The Global Electronic Shakespeare Conf. 23 Sept. 2002

<http://www.shaksper.net/archives/1994/0380.html>.

Source: MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers; 6th ed.

 

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