research paper cite a website

Citing Your Sources in APA 7th: Websites

• Books and eBooks
• Encyclopedia and Dictionary Entries
• Government Documents
• Images, Artwork, Charts, Graphs and Tables
• Journal Articles
• Newspaper and Magazine Articles
• Social Media
• Videos and Other Multimedia
• Advertisements
• Book Reviews
• ChatGPT and Generative AI
• Emails, Interviews, and Personal Communications
• Formatting Your Paper
• How to Identify Source Types
• Other Styles

How to Cite Websites

• Webpage or Document On a Website

Webpage or Document on a Website

Webpage with individual author.

Author(s) or username if no real name provided. (Year, Month Date). Title of webpage or document: Subtitle if any.  Name of Website. URL

Morin, A. (2022, January 6). How exposure to the media can harm your teen's body image . Verywell Family .  www.verywellfamily.com/media-and-teens-body-image-2611245

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

Webpage with Group or Corporate Author

Group or Corporation Name. (Year, Month Date). Title of webpage or document: Subtitle if any.  Name of Website [if different from group name]. URL

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.).  Preventing HPV-associated cancers . https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/hpv/basic_info/prevention.htm

Webpage with Unknown Author

Title of webpage or document: Subtitle if any.  (Year, Month Date). Name of Website. URL

Environmental Policy . (n.d.) Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/environmental-policy

Wikipedia Entry

Title of entry. (Year, Month Date last modified). In  Wikipedia.  URL

Oil painting. (2019, December 8). In  Wikipedia . https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oil_painting&oldid=929802398

How to Format Author Names

• Works Cited List
• In-Text Citation

Last Name, First Initial. or Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial (if provided in source).

Name Examples:

Anzaldúa, G. Kendi, I. X. Wallace, D. F.

Citation Example:

Anzaldúa, G. (2012).  Borderlands / la frontera: The new mestiza  (4th ed.). Aunt Lute Books. 

Two Authors

Last Name, A. A., & Last Name, B. B.

Wykes, M., & Gunter, B. (2005).  The media and body image: If looks could kill.  Sage.

Three to Twenty Authors

Last Name, A. A., Last Name, B. B., & Last Name, C. C.

Nguyen, T., Carnevale, J. J., Scholer, A. A., Miele, D. B., & Fujita, K. (2019). Metamotivational knowledge of the role of high-level and low-level construal in goal-relevant task performance.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 117 (5), 879-899. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000166

More Than Twenty Authors

Last Name, A. A., Last Name, B. B., Last Name, C. C., Last Name, D. D., Last Name, E. E., Last Name, F. F., Last Name, G. G., ... Last Name, Z. Z.

Pegion, K., Kirtman, B. P., Becker, E., Collins, D. C., LaJoie, E., Burgman, R., Bell, R., DelSole, R., Min, D., Zhu, Y., Li, W., Sinsky, E., Guan, H., Gottschalck, J., Metzger, E. J., Barton, N. P., Achuthavarier, D., Marshak, J., Koster, R., . . .  Kim, H. (2019). The subseasonal experiment (SubX): A multimodel subseasonal prediction experiment.  Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society ,  100 (10), 2043-2061. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0270.1

Group or Corporate Author

If the group author is different from publisher.

If the group author and the publisher are different entities, list the Group Name as the author. 

Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation. (1996).  Employability skills: Creating my future . Nelson.

If the Group Author and Publisher Are the Same

If the group author and the publisher are the same, follow the "No Author" rules instead.

If a source has no author, skip the author and start with the title. Do not use "Anonymous" as the author name unless the work is signed as "Anonymous."

"How to Teach Yourself Guitar."  eHow,  Demand Media, www.ehow.com/how_5298173_teach-yourself-guitar.html. Accessed 24 June 2016.

(Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

(Anzaldúa, 2012, p. 30)

(Last Name & Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

(Wykes & Gunter, 2012, p. 53)

Three or More Authors

(First Author's Last Name et al., Year, p. Page Number)

(Nguyen et al., 2019, p. 880)

(Group Name [Abbreviation if Any], Year, p. Page Number)

If a group author uses an abbreviation, you can introduce the abbreviation in brackets the first time you cite them; in subsequent citations, you can use only the abbreviation.

(Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation, 1996, p. 230)

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2019) After the first citation: (CDC, 2019).

If your full citation for a group author starts with the title rather than the group's name, follow the "No Author" in-text citation rules instead.

( Title of Longer Work  or "Title of Shorter Work," Year, p. Page Number)

( Fair Housing,  1985, p. 15)

("How to Teach," 2016)

Frequently Asked Questions

How do i format dates.

Many sources only require a publication year. For sources that require more information, dates should be formatted like this: Year, Month Day. Sources might provide a full date, only a month and year, or sometimes a season (such as Spring 2021); include as much information as the source provides. Do not abbreviate any month names. Example:  2021, October 17.

If there is no date, use "n.d." in place of the date.

What is a DOI?

Digital Object Identifiers, or DOIs, are unique numbers or hyperlinks assigned to some online resources, such as journal articles, to make them easier to find.

If a DOI is provided for a source, include it at the end of your citation after any page numbers. In your References list, you should always format a DOI as a URL beginning with "https://doi.org/" followed immediately by the DOI number.

Example:  For DOI "10.5642/jhummath.20170120," the URL version would be: https://doi.org/10.5642/jhummath.20170120

If no DOI is provided but a permalink or stable link is present, you can use that instead.

What if some information is missing?

If a source has no date, include the initials "n.d." (short for "no date") where you would normally put a date. If a source is missing any other information that you need for your citation, you can generally skip that element and move on to the next element in the citation. 

Examples: Some sources don't have an author; in this case, we skip the author and start our citation with the title. Most academic journals are published in volumes and issues, but some only have volumes; in this case, we list the volume number and skip the issue number. 

What if I don't know which source type I'm citing?

If you're not sure what type of source you're working with, don't worry! This is a very common challenge. Check out our page on Identifying Source Types .

What if I need to cite multiple sources by the same author?

References List:  List multiple works by the same author in order of year of publication from earliest to latest. Usually, the year of publication will be enough to distinguish between sources. If the same author has published multiple sources within the same year, add letters to the end of the year and organize alphabetically to distinguish between them, e.g. 2019a, 2019b, 2019c.

In-Text Citations:  Since in-text citations include the year of publication, no extra step is usually needed to distinguish between sources. If your full citation includes letters to distinguish between sources published in the same year, include the letters in your in-text citations as well. 

How do I cite multiple sources in a single in-text citation?

You can separate multiple in-text citations with a semi-colon to cite multiple sources at the same time. List the in-text citations in the order you used them in your sentence or paragraph. 

Example:  (Bennett, 2015; Smith, 2014). 

More Information on APA 7th

• Pierce Library's APA 7th Quick Citation Guide Downloadable PDF with sample citations (including in-text) for different types of sources and a sample Works Cited page.
• APA Style The official APA Style website from the American Psychological Association.
• Purdue OWL APA 7 Formatting & Style Guide Very thorough overview of APA 7th with examples for how to construct both in-text and Reference List entries.

• << Previous: Videos and Other Multimedia
• Next: How to Cite: Other Sources >>
• Last Updated: Sep 17, 2024 12:12 PM
• URL: https://library.piercecollege.edu/apa7

Webpage on a Website References

This page contains reference examples for webpages, including the following:

• Webpage on a news website
• Comment on a webpage on a news website
• Webpage on a website with a government agency group author
• Webpage on a website with an organizational group author
• Webpage on a website with an individual author
• Webpage on a website with a retrieval date

1. Webpage on a news website

Bologna, C. (2019, October 31). Why some people with anxiety love watching horror movies . HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anxiety-love-watching-horror-movies_l_5d277587e4b02a5a5d57b59e

Roberts, N. (2020, June 10). Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, qualifies to run for elected office . BET News. https://www.bet.com/news/national/2020/06/10/trayvon-martin-mother-sybrina-fulton-qualifies-for-office-florid.html

Toner, K. (2020, September 24). When Covid-19 hit, he turned his newspaper route into a lifeline for senior citizens . CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/04/us/coronavirus-newspaper-deliveryman-groceries-senior-citizens-cnnheroes-trnd/index.html

• Parenthetical citations : (Bologna, 2019; Roberts, 2020; Toner, 2020)
• Narrative citations : Bologna (2019), Roberts (2020), and Toner (2020)
• Use this format for articles from news websites. Common examples are BBC News, BET News, Bloomberg, CNN, HuffPost, MSNBC, Reuters, Salon, and Vox. These sites do not have associated daily or weekly newspapers.
• Use the newspaper article category for articles from newspaper websites such as The New York Times or The Washington Post .
• Provide the writer as the author.
• Provide the specific date the story was published.
• Provide the title of the news story in italic sentence case.
• List the name of the news website in the source element of the reference.
• End the reference with the URL.

2. Comment on a webpage on a news website

Owens, L. (2020, October 7). I propose a bicycle race between Biden and Trump [Comment on the webpage Here’s what voters make of President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis ]. HuffPost. https://www.spot.im/s/00QeiyApEIFa

• Parenthetical citation : (Owens, 2020)
• Narrative citation : Owens (2020)
• Credit the person who left the comment as the author using the format that appears with the comment (i.e., a real name and/or a username). The example shows a real name.
• Provide the specific date the comment was published.
• Provide the comment title or up to the first 20 words of the comment in standard font. Then in square brackets write “Comment on the webpage” and the title of the webpage on which the comment appeared in sentence case and italics.
• Provide the name of the news website in the source element of the reference.
• Link to the comment itself if possible. Otherwise, link to the webpage on which the comment appears. Either a full URL or a short URL is acceptable.

3. Webpage on a website with a government agency group author

National Institute of Mental Health. (2018, July). Anxiety disorders . U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml

• Parenthetical citation : (National Institute of Mental Health, 2018)
• Narrative citation : National Institute of Mental Health (2018)
• For a page on a government website without individual authors, use the specific agency responsible for the webpage as the author.
• The names of parent agencies not present in the author element appear in the source element (in the example, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health). This creates concise in-text citations and complete reference list entries.
• Provide as specific a date as possible for the webpage.
• Some online works note when the work was last updated. If this date is clearly attributable to the specific content you are citing rather than the overall website, use the updated date in the reference.
• Do not include a date of last review in a reference because content that has been reviewed has not necessarily been changed. If a date of last review is noted on a work, ignore it for the purposes of the reference.
• Italicize the title of the webpage.

4. Webpage on a website with an organizational group author

World Health Organization. (2018, May 24) . The top 10 causes of death . https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death

• Parenthetical citation : (World Health Organization, 2018)
• Narrative citation : World Health Organization (2018)
• For a page from an organization’s website without individual authors, use the name of the organization as the author.
• Because the author of the webpage and the site name are the same, omit the site name from the source element to avoid repetition.

5. Webpage on a website with an individual author

Horovitz, B. (2021, October 19). Are you ready to move your aging parent into your home? AARP. https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/home-care/info-2021/caregiving-questions.html

Schaeffer, K. (2021, October 1). What we know about online learning and the homework gap amid the pandemic. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/10/01/what-we-know-about-online-learning-and-the-homework-gap-amid-the-pandemic/

• Parenthetical citations : (Horovitz, 2021; Schaeffer, 2021)
• Narrative citations : Horovitz (2021) and Schaeffer (2021)
• When individual author(s) are credited on the webpage, list them as the author in the reference.
• Provide the site name in the source element of the reference.

6. Webpage on a website with a retrieval date

U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). U.S. and world population clock . U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved January 9, 2020, from https://www.census.gov/popclock/

• Parenthetical citation : (U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.)
• Narrative citation : U.S. Census Bureau (n.d.)
• When contents of a page are designed to change over time but are not archived, include a retrieval date in the reference.

Webpage references are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Section 10.16 and the Concise Guide Section 10.14

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How to Cite a Website

Last Updated: February 9, 2023 Approved

This article was co-authored by Michelle Golden, PhD and by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD . Michelle Golden is an English teacher in Athens, Georgia. She received her MA in Language Arts Teacher Education in 2008 and received her PhD in English from Georgia State University in 2015. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 20 testimonials and 80% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 3,567,521 times.

If you're writing a research paper, you'll likely do quite a bit of research online. If you have websites that you want to use as sources for your paper, an entry for the website must appear in the reference list (also called the bibliography or Works Cited) at the end of your paper. You'll also include a citation in-text at the end of any sentence in which you've paraphrased or quoted information that appeared on that website. While the information you need to provide is generally the same across all methods, the way you format that information may vary depending on whether you're using the Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA), or Chicago style of citation.

Sample Citation Templates

• Example: Claymore, Crystal.
• If no individual author is listed, but the website is produced by a government agency, organization, or business, use that name as the author. For example, if you're using a CDC web page as a source, you would list the author as "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Tip: For your entire Works Cited entry, if an element doesn't exist or isn't provided, simply skip that part of the citation and move on to the next part.

• Example: Claymore, Crystal. "Best-Kept Secrets for Amazing Cupcake Frosting."

• Example: Claymore, Crystal. "Best-Kept Secrets for Amazing Cupcake Frosting." Crystal's Cupcakes , 24 Sept. 2018,

• Example: Claymore, Crystal. "Best-Kept Secrets for Amazing Cupcake Frosting." Crystal's Cupcakes , 24 Sept. 2018, www.crystalscupcakes.com/amazing-frosting.

• Example: Claymore, Crystal. "Best-Kept Secrets for Amazing Cupcake Frosting." Crystal's Cupcakes , www.crystalscupcakes.com/amazing-frosting. Accessed 14 Feb. 2019.

MLA Works Cited Format:

Author Last Name, First Name. "Title of Web Page in Title Case." Name of Website , Day Month Year of publication, URL. Accessed Day Month Year.

• For example, you might write: "The best cupcake frosting techniques are often the least intuitive (Claymore)."
• If you include the author's name in your text, there's no need for a parenthetical citation. For example, you might write: "Award-winning baker Crystal Claymore wasn't afraid to give away all her secrets, sharing her favorite frosting techniques on her website."

• Example: Canadian Cancer Society.

• Example: Canadian Cancer Society. (2017).
• If you're citing several pages from the same website that were published in the same year, add a lower-case letter to the end of the year so you can differentiate them in your in-text citations. For example, you might have "2017a" and "2017b."

• Example: Canadian Cancer Society. (2017). Cancer research.
• If the content you're citing is a stand-alone document, the title should be italicized. This will usually be the case if you're citing a PDF document that appears on a website. If you're not sure, use your best judgment in deciding whether to italicize it or not.

• Example: Canadian Cancer Society. (2017). Cancer research. Retrieved from http://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-101/cancer-research/?region=on

APA Reference List Format:

Author Last Name, A. A. (Year). Title of web page in sentence case. Retrieved from URL

• For example, you might write: "Clinical trials are used to test new cancer treatments (Canadian Cancer Society, 2017)."
• If you include the author's name in your text, place the year in parentheses immediately after the author's name. For example, you might write: "The Canadian Cancer Society (2017) noted that Canada is a global leader in clinical trials of cancer treatments."

• Example: UN Women.

• Example: UN Women. "Commission on the Status of Women."

• Example: UN Women. "Commission on the Status of Women." UN Women .

• Example: UN Women. "Commission on the Status of Women." UN Women . Accessed February 14, 2019.

• Example: UN Women. "Commission on the Status of Women." UN Women . Accessed February 14, 2019. http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw.

Chicago Bibliography Format:

Author Last Name, First Name. "Title of Web Page in Title Case." Name of Website or Publishing Organization . Accessed Month Day, Year. URL.

• Example: UN Women, "Commission on the Status of Women," UN Women , accessed February 14, 2019, http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw.

Community Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html
• ↑ https://libguides.up.edu/mla/common/websites
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_electronic_sources.html
• ↑ https://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/apa-referencing/7Webpages
• ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/webpage-website-references
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/web_sources.html
• ↑ http://libanswers.snhu.edu/faq/48009

About This Article

To cite a website in text using MLA formatting, include the author's last name in parentheses at the end of the sentence you're using the source in. If there is no author, include the title of the web page instead. If you're using APA formatting, include the author's last name followed by a comma and the year of publication in parentheses at the end of the sentence. If you don't know the author's name, use the name of the web page instead. For more tips from our English co-author, like how to cite a website in Chicago style, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Cite This For Me’s open-access generator is an automated citation machine that turns any of your sources into citations in just a click. Using a citation generator helps students to integrate referencing into their research and writing routine; turning a time-consuming ordeal into a simple task.

A citation machine is essentially a works cited generator that accesses information from across the web, drawing the relevant information into a fully-formatted bibliography that clearly presents all of the sources that have contributed to your work.

If you don’t know how to cite correctly, or have a fast-approaching deadline, Cite This For Me’s accurate and intuitive citation machine will lend you the confidence to realise your full academic potential. In order to get a grade that reflects all your hard work, your citations must be accurate and complete. Using a citation maker to create your references not only saves you time but also ensures that you don’t lose valuable marks on your assignment.

Not sure how to format your citations, what citations are, or just want to find out more about Cite This For Me’s citation machine? This guide outlines everything you need to know to equip yourself with the know-how and confidence to research and cite a wide range of diverse sources in your work.

Why Do I Need To Cite?

Simply put, referencing is the citing of sources used in essays, articles, research, conferences etc. When another source contributes to your work, you have to give the original owner the appropriate credit. After all, you wouldn’t steal someone else’s possessions so why would you steal their ideas?

Any factual material or ideas you take from another source must be acknowledged in a reference, unless it is common knowledge (e.g. President Kennedy was killed in 1963). Failing to credit all of your sources, even when you’ve paraphrased or completely reworded the information, is plagiarism. Plagiarizing will result in disciplinary action, which can range from losing precious points on your assignment to expulsion from your university.

What’s more, attributing your research infuses credibility and authority into your work, both by supporting your own ideas and by demonstrating the breadth of your research. For many students, crediting sources can be a confusing and tedious process, but it’s a surefire way to improve the quality of your work so it’s essential to get it right. Luckily for you, using Cite This For Me’s citation machine makes creating accurate references easier than ever, leaving more time for you to excel in your studies.

In summary, the referencing process serves three main functions:

• To validate the statements and conclusions in your work by providing directions to other sound sources that support and verify them.
• To help your readers locate, read and check your sources, as well as establishing their contribution to your work.
• To give credit to the original author and hence avoid committing intellectual property theft (known as ‘plagiarism’ in academia).

How Do I Cite My Sources With The Cite This For Me's Citation Machine?

Cite This For Me’s citation generator is the most accurate citation machine available, so whether you’re not sure how to format in-text citations or are looking for a foolproof solution to automate a fully-formatted works cited list, this citation machine will solve all of your referencing needs.

Referencing your source material doesn’t just prevent you from losing valuable marks for plagiarism, it also provides all of the information to help your reader find for themselves the book, article, or other item you are citing. The accessible interface of this citation builder makes it easy for you to identify the source you have used – simply enter its unique identifier into the citation machine search bar. If this information is not available you can search for the title or author instead, and then select from the search results that appear below the citation generator.

The good news is that by using tools such as Cite This For Me, which help you work smarter, you don’t need to limit your research to sources that are traditional to cite. In fact, there are no limits to what you can reference, whether it be a YouTube video, website or a tweet.

To use the works cited generator, simply:

• Select from APA, MLA, Chicago, ASA, IEEE and AMA * styles.
• Choose the type of source you would like to cite (e.g. website, book, journal, video).
• Enter the URL , DOI , ISBN , title, or other unique source information into the citation generator to find your source.
• Click the ‘Cite’ button on the citation machine.
• Copy your new reference from the citation generator into your bibliography or works cited list.
• Repeat for each source that has contributed to your work.

*If you require another referencing style for your paper, essay or other academic work, you can select from over 7,500 styles.

Once you have created your Cite This For Me account you will be able to use the citation machine to generate multiple references and save them into a project. Use the highly-rated iOS or Android apps to create references in a flash with your smartphone camera, export your complete bibliography in one go, and much more.

What Will The Citation Machine Create For Me?

Cite This For Me’s citation maker will generate your reference in two parts; an in-text citation and a full reference to be copied straight into your work.

The citation machine will auto-generate the correct formatting for your works cited list or bibliography depending on your chosen style. For instance, if you select a parenthetical style on the citation machine it will generate an in-text citation in parentheses, along with a full reference to slot into your bibliography. Likewise, if the citation generator is set to a footnote style then it will create a fully-formatted reference for your reference page and bibliography, as well as a corresponding footnote to insert at the bottom of the page containing the relevant source.

Parenthetical referencing examples:

In-text example: A nation has been defined as an imagined community (Anderson, 2006).* Alternative format: Anderson (2006) defined a nation as an imagined community.

*The citation machine will create your references in the first style, but this should be edited if the author’s name already appears in the text.

Bibliography / Works Cited list example: Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined Communities. London: Verso.

Popular Citation Examples

• Citing archive material
• Citing artwork
• Citing an audiobook
• Citing the Bible
• Citing a blog
• Citing a book
• Citing a book chapter
• Citing a comic book
• Citing conference proceedings
• Citing a court case
• Citing a database
• Citing a dictionary entry
• Citing a dissertation
• Citing an eBook
• Citing an edited book
• Citing an email
• Citing an encyclopedia article
• Citing a government publication
• Citing an image
• Citing an interview
• Citing a journal article
• Citing legislation
• Citing a magazine
• Citing a meme
• Citing a mobile app
• Citing a movie
• Citing a newspaper
• Citing a pamphlet
• Citing a patent
• Citing a play
• Citing a podcast
• Citing a poem
• Citing a presentation
• Citing a press release
• Citing a pseudonym
• Citing a report
• Citing Shakespeare
• Citing social media
• Citing a song
• Citing software
• Citing a speech
• Citing translated book
• Citing a TV Show
• Citing a weather report
• Citing a website
• Citing Wikipedia article
• Citing a YouTube video

What Are Citation Styles?

A citation style is a set of rules that you, as an academic writer, must follow to ensure the quality and relevance of your work. There are thousands of styles that are used in different academic institutions around the world, but in the US the most common are APA, MLA and Chicago.

The style you need to use will depend on the preference of your professor, discipline or academic institution – so if you’re unsure which style you should be using, consult your department and follow their guidelines exactly, as this is what you’ll be evaluated on when it comes to grading.

Referencing isn’t just there to guard against plagiarism – presenting your research in a clear and consistent way eases the reader’s comprehension. Each style has a different set of rules for both page formatting and referencing. Be sure to adhere to formatting rules such as font type, font size and line spacing to ensure that your work is easily legible. Furthermore, if your work is published as part of an anthology or collected works, each entry will need to be presented in the same style to maintain uniformity throughout. It is important to make sure that you don’t jump from one style to another, so follow the rules carefully to ensure your reference page and bibliography are both accurate and complete.

If you need a hand with your referencing then why not try Cite This For Me’s citation builder? It’s the quickest and easiest way to reference any source, in any style. The citation generator above will create your references in MLA format style as standard, but this powerful citation machine can generate fully-formatted references in thousands of the widely used global college styles – including individual university variations of each style. So, whether your subject requires you to use the APA citation , or your professor has asked you to adopt the Chicago style citation so that your work includes numbered footnotes, we’re sure to have the style you need. Cite This For Me also offers a citation machine and helpful formatting guide for styles such as ASA , IEEE or AMA . To access all of them, simply create your free account and search for your specific style.

Popular Citation Styles

• ACS Referencing Generator
• AMA Citation Generator
• APA Citation Generator
• APSA Referencing Generator
• ASA Citation Generator
• Bluebook Citation Generator
• Chicago Style Citation Generator
• Harvard Referencing Generator
• IEEE Referencing Generator
• MHRA Referencing Generator
• MLA Citation Generator
• Nature Referencing Generator
• OSCOLA Referencing Generator
• Oxford Referencing Generator
• Turabian Citation Generator
• Vancouver Referencing Generator

How Do I Format A Works Cited List Or Bibliography?

Drawing on a wide range of sources greatly enhances the quality of your work, and reading above and beyond your recommended reading list – and then using these sources to support your own thesis – is an excellent way to impress your reader. A clearly presented works cited list or bibliography demonstrates the lengths you have gone to in researching your chosen topic.

Typically, a works cited list starts on a new page at the end of the main body of text and includes a complete list of the sources you have actually cited in your paper. This list should contain all the information needed for the reader to locate the original source of the information, quote or statistic that directly contributed to your work. On the other hand, a bibliography is a comprehensive list of all the material you may have consulted throughout your research and writing process. Both provide the necessary information for readers to retrieve and check the sources cited in your work.

Each style’s guidelines will define the terminology of ‘ works cited ’ and ‘ bibliography ’, as well as providing formatting guidelines for font, line spacing and page indentations. In addition, it will instruct you on how to order your works cited list or bibliography – this will usually be either alphabetical or chronological (meaning the order that these sources appear in your work). Before submitting your work, be sure to check that you have formatted your whole paper – including your reference page and bibliography – according to your style’s formatting guidelines.

Sounds complicated? Referencing has never been so easy; Cite This For Me’s citation machine will automatically generate fully-formatted references for your works cited page or bibliography in your chosen style. Sign in to your Cite This For Me account to save and export your bibliography straight into Microsoft Word, Evernote, EndNote and more. If that sounds like too much work.

How Do Citations Actually Work?

Although the citation generator will create your bibliography and works cited list for you in record time, it is still useful to understand how this system works behind the scenes. Understanding how a citation machine actually generates references will greatly increase the quality of your work.

As well as saving you time with its citation maker, Cite This For Me provides the learning resources to help you fully understand the citing process and the benefits of adopting great referencing standards.

The referencing process:

• Find a book, journal, website or other source that will contribute to your work.
• Save the quote, image, data or other information that you will use in your work.
• Save the source information that enables you to find it again (i.e. URL, ISBN, DOI etc.).
• Format the source information into a reference.
• Copy and paste the reference into the body of the text.
• Repeat for each source that contributes to your work.
• Export or copy and paste the fully-formatted reference into your bibliography.

Manage all your citations in one place

Create projects, add notes, cite directly from the browser and scan books’ barcodes with a mobile app.

Sign up to Cite This For Me – the ultimate citation management tool.

• Boston University Libraries

Citing Your Sources

Citing sources, general citation guides.

• Chicago Style
• Turabian Style
• Harvard Style
• CSE (Council of Science Editors) Style This link opens in a new window
• NLM (National Library of Medicine) Style
• Citing Business Sources

Citations provide information to help your audience locate the sources you consulted when writing a paper or preparing a presentation. Improperly cited sources can result in plagiarism violations. However, the best way to avoid plagiarism is to properly cite every source used in your work. For more information about plagiarism and academic integrity, check out the  Boston University Academic Conduct Code .

Some of your instructors will specify which citation format you should use, while others will tell you to choose your own citation format as long as you use it consistently. Learn more about creating bibliographies and getting started with citation managers. 

The most common citation formats are: 

MLA (Modern Language Association) style, which is primarily used for papers in the humanities;  

APA (American Psychological Association) style, which is primarily used for papers in the social sciences;  

Chicago style (The Chicago Manual of Style), which is used for both humanities and social science papers. 

CSE (Council of Science Editors) style, which is used for scientific publishing. 

• EasyBib.com EasyBib.com has partnered with WorldCat, and can format, alphabetize and print a bibliography based on APA, MLA, or Chicago styles.
• Excelsior Online Writing Lab: Citation & Documentation This section features instructional videos that show you how to set up your papers in APA, MLA, and Chicago formats, interactive checklists, and visual support for both in-text documenting and referencing at the end of your paper.
• Purdue Online Writing Lab The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects.

• Next: MLA Style >>
• Last Updated: Sep 16, 2024 3:36 PM
• URL: https://library.bu.edu/citeys

Generate accurate APA citations for free

• Knowledge Base
• APA Style 7th edition
• APA format for academic papers and essays

APA Formatting and Citation (7th Ed.) | Generator, Template, Examples

Published on November 6, 2020 by Raimo Streefkerk . Revised on September 5, 2024.

The 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual provides guidelines for clear communication , citing sources , and formatting documents. This article focuses on paper formatting.

Generate accurate APA citations with Scribbr

Throughout your paper, you need to apply the following APA format guidelines:

• Set page margins to 1 inch on all sides.
• Double-space all text, including headings.
• Indent the first line of every paragraph 0.5 inches.
• Use an accessible font (e.g., Times New Roman 12pt., Arial 11pt., or Georgia 11pt.).
• Include a page number on every page.

Let an expert format your paper

Our APA formatting experts can help you to format your paper according to APA guidelines. They can help you with:

• Margins, line spacing, and indentation
• Font and headings
• Running head and page numbering

Table of contents

How to set up apa format (with template), apa alphabetization guidelines, apa format template [free download], page header, headings and subheadings, reference page, tables and figures, frequently asked questions about apa format.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

References are ordered alphabetically by the first author’s last name. If the author is unknown, order the reference entry by the first meaningful word of the title (ignoring articles: “the”, “a”, or “an”).

Why set up APA format from scratch if you can download Scribbr’s template for free?

Student papers and professional papers have slightly different guidelines regarding the title page, abstract, and running head. Our template is available in Word and Google Docs format for both versions.

• Student paper: Word | Google Docs
• Professional paper: Word | Google Docs

In an APA Style paper, every page has a page header. For student papers, the page header usually consists of just a page number in the page’s top-right corner. For professional papers intended for publication, it also includes a running head .

A running head is simply the paper’s title in all capital letters. It is left-aligned and can be up to 50 characters in length. Longer titles are abbreviated .

APA headings have five possible levels. Heading level 1 is used for main sections such as “ Methods ” or “ Results ”. Heading levels 2 to 5 are used for subheadings. Each heading level is formatted differently.

Want to know how many heading levels you should use, when to use which heading level, and how to set up heading styles in Word or Google Docs? Then check out our in-depth article on APA headings .

The title page is the first page of an APA Style paper. There are different guidelines for student and professional papers.

Both versions include the paper title and author’s name and affiliation. The student version includes the course number and name, instructor name, and due date of the assignment. The professional version includes an author note and running head .

For more information on writing a striking title, crediting multiple authors (with different affiliations), and writing the author note, check out our in-depth article on the APA title page .

The abstract is a 150–250 word summary of your paper. An abstract is usually required in professional papers, but it’s rare to include one in student papers (except for longer texts like theses and dissertations).

The abstract is placed on a separate page after the title page . At the top of the page, write the section label “Abstract” (bold and centered). The contents of the abstract appear directly under the label. Unlike regular paragraphs, the first line is not indented. Abstracts are usually written as a single paragraph without headings or blank lines.

Directly below the abstract, you may list three to five relevant keywords . On a new line, write the label “Keywords:” (italicized and indented), followed by the keywords in lowercase letters, separated by commas.

APA Style does not provide guidelines for formatting the table of contents . It’s also not a required paper element in either professional or student papers. If your instructor wants you to include a table of contents, it’s best to follow the general guidelines.

Place the table of contents on a separate page between the abstract and introduction. Write the section label “Contents” at the top (bold and centered), press “Enter” once, and list the important headings with corresponding page numbers.

The APA reference page is placed after the main body of your paper but before any appendices . Here you list all sources that you’ve cited in your paper (through APA in-text citations ). APA provides guidelines for formatting the references as well as the page itself.

Creating APA Style references

Play around with the Scribbr Citation Example Generator below to learn about the APA reference format of the most common source types or generate APA citations for free with Scribbr’s APA Citation Generator .

Formatting the reference page

Write the section label “References” at the top of a new page (bold and centered). Place the reference entries directly under the label in alphabetical order.

Finally, apply a hanging indent , meaning the first line of each reference is left-aligned, and all subsequent lines are indented 0.5 inches.

Tables and figures are presented in a similar format. They’re preceded by a number and title and followed by explanatory notes (if necessary).

Use bold styling for the word “Table” or “Figure” and the number, and place the title on a separate line directly below it (in italics and title case). Try to keep tables clean; don’t use any vertical lines, use as few horizontal lines as possible, and keep row and column labels concise.

Keep the design of figures as simple as possible. Include labels and a legend if needed, and only use color when necessary (not to make it look more appealing).

Check out our in-depth article about table and figure notes to learn when to use notes and how to format them.

The easiest way to set up APA format in Word is to download Scribbr’s free APA format template for student papers or professional papers.

Alternatively, you can watch Scribbr’s 5-minute step-by-step tutorial or check out our APA format guide with examples.

APA Style papers should be written in a font that is legible and widely accessible. For example:

• Times New Roman (12pt.)
• Arial (11pt.)
• Calibri (11pt.)
• Georgia (11pt.)

The same font and font size is used throughout the document, including the running head , page numbers, headings , and the reference page . Text in footnotes and figure images may be smaller and use single line spacing.

You need an APA in-text citation and reference entry . Each source type has its own format; for example, a webpage citation is different from a book citation .

Use Scribbr’s free APA Citation Generator to generate flawless citations in seconds or take a look at our APA citation examples .

Yes, page numbers are included on all pages, including the title page , table of contents , and reference page . Page numbers should be right-aligned in the page header.

To insert page numbers in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, click ‘Insert’ and then ‘Page number’.

APA format is widely used by professionals, researchers, and students in the social and behavioral sciences, including fields like education, psychology, and business.

Be sure to check the guidelines of your university or the journal you want to be published in to double-check which style you should be using.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Streefkerk, R. (2024, September 05). APA Formatting and Citation (7th Ed.) | Generator, Template, Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/format/

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics

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.

Guidelines for referring to the works of others in your text using MLA style are covered throughout the  MLA Handbook  and in chapter 7 of the  MLA Style Manual . Both books provide extensive examples, so it's a good idea to consult them if you want to become even more familiar with MLA guidelines or if you have a particular reference question.

Basic in-text citation rules

In MLA Style, referring to the works of others in your text is done using parenthetical citations . This method involves providing relevant source information in parentheses whenever a sentence uses a quotation or paraphrase. Usually, the simplest way to do this is to put all of the source information in parentheses at the end of the sentence (i.e., just before the period). However, as the examples below will illustrate, there are situations where it makes sense to put the parenthetical elsewhere in the sentence, or even to leave information out.

General Guidelines

• The source information required in a parenthetical citation depends (1) upon the source medium (e.g. print, web, DVD) and (2) upon the source’s entry on the Works Cited page.
• Any source information that you provide in-text must correspond to the source information on the Works Cited page. More specifically, whatever signal word or phrase you provide to your readers in the text must be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of the corresponding entry on the Works Cited page.

In-text citations: Author-page style

MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:

Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information:

Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads . Oxford UP, 1967.

In-text citations for print sources with known author

For print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase (usually the author’s last name) and a page number. If you provide the signal word/phrase in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the parenthetical citation.

These examples must correspond to an entry that begins with Burke, which will be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of an entry on the Works Cited page:

Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method . University of California Press, 1966.

In-text citations for print sources by a corporate author

When a source has a corporate author, it is acceptable to use the name of the corporation followed by the page number for the in-text citation. You should also use abbreviations (e.g., nat'l for national) where appropriate, so as to avoid interrupting the flow of reading with overly long parenthetical citations.

In-text citations for sources with non-standard labeling systems

If a source uses a labeling or numbering system other than page numbers, such as a script or poetry, precede the citation with said label. When citing a poem, for instance, the parenthetical would begin with the word “line”, and then the line number or range. For example, the examination of William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” would be cited as such:

The speaker makes an ardent call for the exploration of the connection between the violence of nature and the divinity of creation. “In what distant deeps or skies. / Burnt the fire of thine eyes," they ask in reference to the tiger as they attempt to reconcile their intimidation with their relationship to creationism (lines 5-6).

Longer labels, such as chapters (ch.) and scenes (sc.), should be abbreviated.

In-text citations for print sources with no known author

When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name, following these guidelines.

Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (such as an article) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television shows, entire Web sites) and provide a page number if it is available.

Titles longer than a standard noun phrase should be shortened into a noun phrase by excluding articles. For example, To the Lighthouse would be shortened to Lighthouse .

If the title cannot be easily shortened into a noun phrase, the title should be cut after the first clause, phrase, or punctuation:

In this example, since the reader does not know the author of the article, an abbreviated title appears in the parenthetical citation, and the full title of the article appears first at the left-hand margin of its respective entry on the Works Cited page. Thus, the writer includes the title in quotation marks as the signal phrase in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader directly to the source on the Works Cited page. The Works Cited entry appears as follows:

"The Impact of Global Warming in North America." Global Warming: Early Signs . 1999. www.climatehotmap.org/. Accessed 23 Mar. 2009.

If the title of the work begins with a quotation mark, such as a title that refers to another work, that quote or quoted title can be used as the shortened title. The single quotation marks must be included in the parenthetical, rather than the double quotation.

Parenthetical citations and Works Cited pages, used in conjunction, allow readers to know which sources you consulted in writing your essay, so that they can either verify your interpretation of the sources or use them in their own scholarly work.

Author-page citation for classic and literary works with multiple editions

Page numbers are always required, but additional citation information can help literary scholars, who may have a different edition of a classic work, like Marx and Engels's  The Communist Manifesto . In such cases, give the page number of your edition (making sure the edition is listed in your Works Cited page, of course) followed by a semicolon, and then the appropriate abbreviations for volume (vol.), book (bk.), part (pt.), chapter (ch.), section (sec.), or paragraph (par.). For example:

Author-page citation for works in an anthology, periodical, or collection

When you cite a work that appears inside a larger source (for instance, an article in a periodical or an essay in a collection), cite the author of the  internal source (i.e., the article or essay). For example, to cite Albert Einstein's article "A Brief Outline of the Theory of Relativity," which was published in  Nature  in 1921, you might write something like this:

See also our page on documenting periodicals in the Works Cited .

Citing authors with same last names

Sometimes more information is necessary to identify the source from which a quotation is taken. For instance, if two or more authors have the same last name, provide both authors' first initials (or even the authors' full name if different authors share initials) in your citation. For example:

Citing a work by multiple authors

For a source with two authors, list the authors’ last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation:

Corresponding Works Cited entry:

Best, David, and Sharon Marcus. “Surface Reading: An Introduction.” Representations , vol. 108, no. 1, Fall 2009, pp. 1-21. JSTOR , doi:10.1525/rep.2009.108.1.1

For a source with three or more authors, list only the first author’s last name, and replace the additional names with et al.

Franck, Caroline, et al. “Agricultural Subsidies and the American Obesity Epidemic.” American Journal of Preventative Medicine , vol. 45, no. 3, Sept. 2013, pp. 327-333.

Citing multiple works by the same author

If you cite more than one work by an author, include a shortened title for the particular work from which you are quoting to distinguish it from the others. Put short titles of books in italics and short titles of articles in quotation marks.

Citing two articles by the same author :

Citing two books by the same author :

Additionally, if the author's name is not mentioned in the sentence, format your citation with the author's name followed by a comma, followed by a shortened title of the work, and, when appropriate, the page number(s):

Citing multivolume works

If you cite from different volumes of a multivolume work, always include the volume number followed by a colon. Put a space after the colon, then provide the page number(s). (If you only cite from one volume, provide only the page number in parentheses.)

Citing the Bible

In your first parenthetical citation, you want to make clear which Bible you're using (and underline or italicize the title), as each version varies in its translation, followed by book (do not italicize or underline), chapter, and verse. For example:

If future references employ the same edition of the Bible you’re using, list only the book, chapter, and verse in the parenthetical citation:

John of Patmos echoes this passage when describing his vision (Rev. 4.6-8).

Citing indirect sources

Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited within another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example:

Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original source, rather than citing an indirect source.

Citing transcripts, plays, or screenplays

Sources that take the form of a dialogue involving two or more participants have special guidelines for their quotation and citation. Each line of dialogue should begin with the speaker's name written in all capitals and indented half an inch. A period follows the name (e.g., JAMES.) . After the period, write the dialogue. Each successive line after the first should receive an additional indentation. When another person begins speaking, start a new line with that person's name indented only half an inch. Repeat this pattern each time the speaker changes. You can include stage directions in the quote if they appear in the original source.

Conclude with a parenthetical that explains where to find the excerpt in the source. Usually, the author and title of the source can be given in a signal phrase before quoting the excerpt, so the concluding parenthetical will often just contain location information like page numbers or act/scene indicators.

Here is an example from O'Neill's  The Iceman Cometh.

WILLIE. (Pleadingly) Give me a drink, Rocky. Harry said it was all right. God, I need a drink.

ROCKY. Den grab it. It's right under your nose.

WILLIE. (Avidly) Thanks. (He takes the bottle with both twitching hands and tilts it to his lips and gulps down the whiskey in big swallows.) (1.1)

Citing non-print or sources from the Internet

With more and more scholarly work published on the Internet, you may have to cite sources you found in digital environments. While many sources on the Internet should not be used for scholarly work (reference the OWL's  Evaluating Sources of Information  resource), some Web sources are perfectly acceptable for research. When creating in-text citations for electronic, film, or Internet sources, remember that your citation must reference the source on your Works Cited page.

Sometimes writers are confused with how to craft parenthetical citations for electronic sources because of the absence of page numbers. However, these sorts of entries often do not require a page number in the parenthetical citation. For electronic and Internet sources, follow the following guidelines:

• Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name).
• Do not provide paragraph numbers or page numbers based on your Web browser’s print preview function.
• Unless you must list the Web site name in the signal phrase in order to get the reader to the appropriate entry, do not include URLs in-text. Only provide partial URLs such as when the name of the site includes, for example, a domain name, like  CNN.com  or  Forbes.com,  as opposed to writing out http://www.cnn.com or http://www.forbes.com.

Miscellaneous non-print sources

Two types of non-print sources you may encounter are films and lectures/presentations:

In the two examples above “Herzog” (a film’s director) and “Yates” (a presentor) lead the reader to the first item in each citation’s respective entry on the Works Cited page:

Herzog, Werner, dir. Fitzcarraldo . Perf. Klaus Kinski. Filmverlag der Autoren, 1982.

Yates, Jane. "Invention in Rhetoric and Composition." Gaps Addressed: Future Work in Rhetoric and Composition, CCCC, Palmer House Hilton, 2002. Address.

Electronic sources

Electronic sources may include web pages and online news or magazine articles:

In the first example (an online magazine article), the writer has chosen not to include the author name in-text; however, two entries from the same author appear in the Works Cited. Thus, the writer includes both the author’s last name and the article title in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader to the appropriate entry on the Works Cited page (see below).

In the second example (a web page), a parenthetical citation is not necessary because the page does not list an author, and the title of the article, “MLA Formatting and Style Guide,” is used as a signal phrase within the sentence. If the title of the article was not named in the sentence, an abbreviated version would appear in a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence. Both corresponding Works Cited entries are as follows:

Taylor, Rumsey. "Fitzcarraldo." Slant , 13 Jun. 2003, www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/fitzcarraldo/. Accessed 29 Sep. 2009. 

"MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL , 2 Aug. 2016, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/. Accessed 2 April 2018.

Multiple citations

To cite multiple sources in the same parenthetical reference, separate the citations by a semi-colon:

Time-based media sources

When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or podcast, include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference. For example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).

When a citation is not needed

Common sense and ethics should determine your need for documenting sources. You do not need to give sources for familiar proverbs, well-known quotations, or common knowledge (For example, it is expected that U.S. citizens know that George Washington was the first President.). Remember that citing sources is a rhetorical task, and, as such, can vary based on your audience. If you’re writing for an expert audience of a scholarly journal, for example, you may need to deal with expectations of what constitutes “common knowledge” that differ from common norms.

Other Sources

The MLA Handbook describes how to cite many different kinds of authors and content creators. However, you may occasionally encounter a source or author category that the handbook does not describe, making the best way to proceed can be unclear.

In these cases, it's typically acceptable to apply the general principles of MLA citation to the new kind of source in a way that's consistent and sensible. A good way to do this is to simply use the standard MLA directions for a type of source that resembles the source you want to cite.

You may also want to investigate whether a third-party organization has provided directions for how to cite this kind of source. For example, Norquest College provides guidelines for citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers⁠ —an author category that does not appear in the MLA Handbook . In cases like this, however, it's a good idea to ask your instructor or supervisor whether using third-party citation guidelines might present problems.