How to Cite a Website: APA, MLA, and Chicago Made Simple
By Shihab Mia July 13, 2026 7 min read
Quick answer
To cite a website you need five core pieces: the author or organization, the page title, the website name, the publication or last-updated date, and the URL. APA 7: Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the page. Site Name. URL. MLA 9: Author. "Page Title." Website Name, Day Month Year, URL. Chicago (author-date): Author. Year. "Title." Site Name. Month Day, Year. URL. If there is no author, start with the title. If there is no date, use n.d. in APA or omit it in MLA.
Citing a website looks fussy, but every style is really asking the same five questions: who wrote it, what is it called, where does it live, when was it published, and how do I find it again. Once you can answer those, the punctuation almost writes itself. This guide gives you the exact formula for the three styles you will meet in school and at work, worked examples you can copy, and a rescue plan for the two problems that trip everyone up: a missing author and a missing date.
What information do you need to cite a website?
You need five core elements, plus an access date in some styles. Gather these before you touch any formatting and the rest is just rearranging.
- Author or organization. A person's name if one is credited, otherwise the company, agency, or group that published the page.
- Page title. The title of the specific page or article, not the whole site.
- Website name. The name of the overall site, such as BBC News, Mayo Clinic, or the US Department of Labor.
- Date. The publication date or the last-updated date. If none exists, you will substitute a placeholder.
- URL. The direct web address of the page. Use the stable or permanent link if the site offers one.
- Access date (some styles). The day you viewed the page. MLA recommends it, and APA uses it only for pages likely to change without a fixed date.
A quick way to find most of this: check the top and bottom of the article for a byline and a dated line, and read the site's footer for the organization name. If you are also tracking down how old a source is, our guide on how to count days between dates shows a fast way to work out an access date range.
How do you cite a website in APA 7?
In APA 7, the format is: Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the page. Site Name. URL. Invert the author name to last name plus initials, and put the full date in parentheses.
Note two APA specifics. The page title is in sentence case and italicized when the page stands alone, while the site name follows in plain text. If the author and the site name are the same organization, you can drop the site name to avoid repeating it.
Kim, S. (2024, March 12). How screen time affects sleep. Sleep Foundation. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/screen-time
- APA 7 reference entry example
In-text, APA uses author and year: (Kim, 2024). When there is no author, move the title to the front and cite a short version in text, such as ("How Screen Time Affects Sleep," 2024).
How do you cite a website in MLA 9?
In MLA 9, the format is: Author. "Page Title." Website Name, Day Month Year, URL. Accessed Day Month Year. The page title goes in quotation marks and the website name is italicized.
MLA writes dates in day-month-year order and abbreviates longer months, so 12 March 2024 becomes 12 Mar. 2024. The access date is optional but strongly recommended, especially when the page has no clear publication date, because it tells your reader exactly which version you saw.
Kim, Sara. "How Screen Time Affects Sleep." Sleep Foundation, 12 Mar. 2024, www.sleepfoundation.org/screen-time. Accessed 5 July 2026.
- MLA 9 works-cited entry example
MLA drops the https:// from the URL in the works-cited list. In-text, MLA uses the author's last name with no date: (Kim). With no author, use a shortened title in quotation marks: ("How Screen Time").
How do you cite a website in Chicago style?
In Chicago author-date, the format is: Author. Year. "Title." Site Name. Month Day, Year. URL. The year sits right after the author, and the fuller date appears again before the URL.
Kim, Sara. 2024. "How Screen Time Affects Sleep." Sleep Foundation. March 12, 2024. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/screen-time.
- Chicago author-date reference example
Chicago also has a notes-and-bibliography system used in history and the humanities, where the same source appears as a numbered footnote. If your instructor asked for footnotes rather than a year after the author, you are using notes-and-bibliography, so confirm which Chicago variant your assignment expects before you format.
Website citation formats side by side
The same page, three styles. Use this table as a quick reference when you are switching between assignments.
The same web page cited in three major styles
| Style | Order of elements | Date format | Access date |
|---|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | Author (Year, Month Day). Title. Site Name. URL. | Year, Month Day | Only for undated, changeable pages |
| MLA 9 | Author. "Title." Site Name, Day Month Year, URL. | Day Month Year | Recommended |
| Chicago (author-date) | Author. Year. "Title." Site Name. Month Day, Year. URL. | Month Day, Year | Optional, often omitted |
Worked example: citing a page step by step
Say you are citing a US Department of Labor page on overtime rules for an APA paper. Here is the full process from blank page to finished entry.
- Find the author. No person is bylined, so the organization is the author: U.S. Department of Labor.
- Find the page title. Copy the specific page heading, for example "Overtime Pay."
- Find the website name. The overall site is the U.S. Department of Labor. Because it matches the author, you will not repeat it.
- Find the date. Look for a published or last-reviewed date near the top or bottom. Suppose it reads 2023.
- Copy the URL. Grab the direct link to that page, not the homepage.
- Assemble APA order. U.S. Department of Labor. (2023). Overtime pay. https://www.dol.gov/overtime
- Check the details. Title in sentence case and italics, period after each element, no full stop after the URL.
If you were writing about that topic, you would pair the citation with the actual rule, which our overtime pay guide explains: under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, nonexempt workers earn at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. Stating the rule accurately and citing the primary source, the US Department of Labor, is exactly the kind of credibility a good citation is meant to signal.
What if there is no author or no date?
Missing pieces are normal on the web, and each style has a rule. Do not invent an author or guess a date.
No author
- APA and MLA: move the page title to the front of the entry and cite a shortened title in text.
- If a group runs the site: treat the organization as the author rather than leaving it blank.
No date
- APA: use n.d. in place of the year, written as (n.d.).
- MLA: omit the date and rely on the access date to anchor the version you read.
- Chicago: include an access date and, if needed, note that no date was given.
Common mistakes to avoid
Most lost marks come from a handful of repeat errors. Scan this list before you submit.
- Citing the homepage instead of the page. Always link the exact page you used.
- Confusing page title with site name. The article headline is the page title; the brand is the site name.
- Mixing date formats. APA uses Year, Month Day; MLA uses Day Month Year; keep them consistent within a style.
- Leaving live hyperlinks and colored text. Most styles want plain, static URLs.
- Forgetting the access date in MLA. Add it, especially for undated or frequently updated pages.
- Guessing missing details. Use n.d. or move the title rather than inventing information.
Good to know
Style rules get small updates, so when a grade depends on it, confirm against your assigned style guide or your instructor's rubric. The five core elements, author, title, site, date, and URL, stay the same across every version, so if you capture those you can reformat into any style in minutes.
Once you are comfortable citing, it helps to tighten the surrounding writing too. If you are unsure whether a sentence is complete or a fragment, our note on what a run-on sentence is is a quick companion read for cleaning up an essay before submission.
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