86 MLA: Citing Webpages and Social Media
Sarah Bailey; Kara Blizzard; Doris Wagner; and Christina Frasier
Webpages and social media posts can take many different forms. Some have authors and publication dates, while others are anonymous and undated. For online materials whenever possible try to use stable/permanent/persistent links instead of the URL that appears in your browser (unless it’s a stable link) for your works-cited-list entries.
The examples below show elements you might need to include when citing online works.
Webpage and social media citation examples
Now that we’ve shown you the elements of webpage and social media citations, review the examples below to learn more about citing different types of online sources.
Webpage
Webpages sometimes include full citation details, but sometimes information like the author or the publication date are not available. If this is the case, skip to the next element. Including the date you accessed the page, as in the following example, can be helpful in case the information changes in the future.
“Shakespeare Lives in Science; Poisons, Potions and Drugs.” Shakespeare Lives, British Council. Accessed 14 Jan. 2022.
The example above includes these citation elements:
| Citation Element | Example |
|---|---|
| Title of Source. | “Shakespeare Lives in Science; Poisons, Potions and Drugs.” |
| Container, | Shakespeare Lives, |
| Publisher, | British Council. |
| Supplemental Element (access date). |
Accessed 14 Jan. 2022. |
Blog post
A blog post will almost always include the date of publication. If the title of the website and the publisher’s name are the same, you can omit the publisher, like in this example.
Brantz, Loryn. “11 Charts to Make You Feel Better About Not Feeling Better.” BuzzFeed, 23 Nov. 2021, https://www.buzzfeed.com/lorynbrantz/anyone-with-an-invisible-illness-will-feel-seen-by-these.
The example above includes these citation elements:
| Citation Element | Example |
|---|---|
| Author. | Brantz, Loryn. |
| Title of Source. | “11 Charts to Make You Feel Better About Not Feeling Better.” |
| Container, | BuzzFeed, |
| Publication Date, | 23 Nov. 2021, |
| Location. | https://www.buzzfeed.com/lorynbrantz/anyone-with-an-invisible-illness-will-feel-seen-by-these. |
Tweet
For a social media post like a tweet, if the author’s name (e.g., Jemma) is different from their handle (e.g., @jlm_86), you should include both in your citation. Because social media posts generally do not include titles, you can use the content of the post in place of the title. If it is long, you may shorten it using ellipses. For example:
Jemma [@jlm_86]. “Pillar post coverings in Plymouth, Devon!! Just in time for Remembrance Day . . .” Twitter, 2 Nov. 2021, twitter.com/jlm_86/status/1455484129978560513.
The example above includes these citation elements:
| Citation Element | Example |
|---|---|
| Author. | Jemma [@jlm_86]. |
| Title of Source. | “Pillar post coverings in Plymouth, Devon!! Just in time for Remembrance Day…” |
| Container, | Twitter, |
| Publication Date, | 2 Nov. 2021, |
| Location. | twitter.com/jlm_86/status/1455484129978560513. |
MLA Style Citation Tutorial, 9th ed. by Sarah Bailey; Kara Blizzard; and Doris Wagner, CC BY-SA 4.0