Citations
How to cite a website in MLA, APA, and Chicago
Every US college style manual handles website citations differently. Below are the exact formats for MLA 9, APA 7, and Chicago 17 — with fallback rules for the two hardest cases: no author and no publication date.
APA 7 — website citation
Standard format (reference list): Author Last, First Initial. (Year, Month Day). Title of the page. Site Name. URL. Example: Smith, J. (2024, March 12). How algorithmic feeds shape teen body image. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/xxx. In-text: (Smith, 2024).
APA 7 — no author
Move the title to the author position and shorten it in-text. Reference: How algorithmic feeds shape teen body image. (2024, March 12). Pew Research Center. https://... In-text: ("How Algorithmic Feeds," 2024).
APA 7 — no date
Use 'n.d.' in both the reference and in-text. Reference: Smith, J. (n.d.). Title. Site Name. URL. In-text: (Smith, n.d.). Also include a retrieval date for content that may change: 'Retrieved March 15, 2026, from URL.'
MLA 9 — website citation
Standard format (Works Cited): Author Last, First. "Title of the Page." Name of Site, Publisher (if different from site name), Date, URL. Example: Smith, John. "How Algorithmic Feeds Shape Teen Body Image." Pew Research Center, 12 Mar. 2024, www.pewresearch.org/xxx. In-text: (Smith).
MLA 9 — no author or no date
No author: start with the title in quotation marks. No date: omit it entirely — MLA does not require 'n.d.' Add an accessed date only if the content is likely to change: 'Accessed 15 Mar. 2026.'
Chicago 17 — website citation (notes-bibliography)
Footnote: John Smith, "How Algorithmic Feeds Shape Teen Body Image," Pew Research Center, March 12, 2024, https://www.pewresearch.org/xxx. Bibliography: Smith, John. "How Algorithmic Feeds Shape Teen Body Image." Pew Research Center. March 12, 2024. https://www.pewresearch.org/xxx.
Chicago 17 — author-date variant
Reference list: Smith, John. 2024. "How Algorithmic Feeds Shape Teen Body Image." Pew Research Center. March 12, 2024. https://... In-text: (Smith 2024).
Government websites (all three styles)
Treat the agency as the author. APA: U.S. Department of Education. (2024). Title. URL. MLA: United States, Department of Education. "Title." URL. Chicago: U.S. Department of Education. Year. "Title." URL.
Frequently asked questions
Do I include the URL in the in-text citation?
No — never. URLs go only in the reference list, Works Cited, or bibliography. In-text uses author + year (APA, Chicago author-date) or author + page (MLA).
What if the URL is very long?
APA 7 accepts full URLs of any length; do not break with hyphens. MLA 9 omits 'https://'. Chicago accepts either. For dynamic URLs, use a DOI if available.
How do I cite a page I found via Google Scholar?
Cite the underlying journal article or website, not the Google Scholar search page. Google Scholar is a discovery tool, not a source.
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