How to Cite a Website

how to cite a website

Citation isn’t just about following rules so you don’t get flagged for plagiarism. According to data from Turnitin, unintentional plagiarism is one of the most common academic pitfalls students face, simply because they don't know how to handle digital sources.

You’re telling your reader, "I didn’t make this up. Here is exactly where I found it." So, let’s fix this. We’re going to break down exactly how to cite a website in the three big styles—APA, MLA, and Chicago—and we’re going to do it without the academic headache.

Which Style you’re supposed to use

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, you need to know which style you’re actually supposed to use. If you’re an English major trying to use APA, you’re going to have a bad time.

APA (American Psychological Association): Usually for Psychology, Education, and Sciences. It cares deeply about dates because in science, new info is better than old info.
MLA (Modern Language Association): Usually for Literature, Arts, and Humanities. It cares about authors and location.
Chicago (Turabian): Usually for History and Business. It loves footnotes.

If you are sitting there wondering, *"Wait, why do we even have different styles?"*, you might want to check out our deep dive on APA vs MLA: Key Differences. It explains why historians hate the way psychologists write (and vice versa).

How to Cite a Website in APA Format

If you’re in the social sciences, APA is your life now. The current standard is the 7th Edition, which actually made things a lot easier for digital sources. The APA Style guidelines finally realized we aren't citing websites from 1998 anymore.

The Basic Formula (Reference List)

In APA, the reference list entry needs four elements: Author, Date, Title, and Source.

Format:

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Site Name. URL

Let’s look at an example:

Let’s say you’re citing an article about sleep patterns from Healthline.

Reference Entry:

Riley, J. (2023, August 15). The science of sleep cycles. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/science-of-sleep

How to Cite a Website APA in Text

This is what goes inside your essay, right after the sentence where you used the info. APA is an author-date style.

Parenthetical: (Riley, 2023)
Narrative: Riley (2023) states that REM sleep is crucial for...

The "Missing Info" Nightmare

This is where it gets tricky. What if there’s no author? What if there’s no date? This happens all the time online.

How to cite a website with no author APA:

If there’s no individual person listed, check if an organization is responsible. If the American Heart Association posted it, they are the author.

Reference:

American Heart Association. (2022, January 10). Understanding blood pressure. https://www.heart.org/blood-pressure

In-Text: (American Heart Association, 2022)

No Date?

Use n.d. (which stands for "no date").

(Smith, n.d.)

How to Cite a Website in MLA Format

English and Humanities majors, gather 'round. MLA is a bit more poetic. It views the website as a "Container." Think of the specific webpage as a song, and the whole website as the Album.

(By the way, if you are setting up your document and struggling with the page layout itself, check out our guide to formatting an MLA header so you don't lose points on margins).

The Basic Formula (Works Cited)

MLA 9th Edition wants you to list the "Core Elements." The MLA Style Center emphasizes flexibility, but here is the standard structure:

Format:

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Page." Title of Website, Publisher (only if different from website title), Publication Date, URL.

Let’s try an example:

You’re citing a movie review from Rolling Stone.

Works Cited Entry:

Fear, David. "The Best Movies of 2024." Rolling Stone, 12 Dec. 2024, www.rollingstone.com/movies/lists/best-movies-2024.

Notice a few things here:

The page title is in "Quotation Marks."
The website name is in Italics.
You don’t usually need the "https://" anymore in MLA, but check with your prof.

How to Cite a Website in Text MLA

MLA is an author-page style. But wait—websites don’t have page numbers! Exactly. So, for websites, you just use the Author’s Last Name.

Parenthetical: (Fear)
Narrative: David Fear argues that cinema is evolving...

How to Cite a Website in Chicago Style

Okay, history buffs. Chicago style is... distinct. It has two systems, but the one you probably need is Notes and Bibliography (NB). This uses footnotes. You know, those little tiny numbers floating above the words? $^1$

The Footnote (The "Note")

When you write a sentence, you put a superscript number at the end. At the bottom of the page, you write the citation.

Format (Footnote):

First Name Last Name, "Title of Web Page," Title of Website, publishing organization (if applicable), publication date or modification date, URL.

Example:

Sarah Bond, "Ancient Roman Maps," History Today, June 4, 2021, https://www.historytoday.com/roman-maps.

Scifocus Citation Generator Tool

You might be asking, "Why am I memorizing this? Can't I just use a generator?"

Here’s the truth: Old-school citation generators are kind of dumb. They scrape metadata blindly. If the website coded their data poorly, the generator spits out garbage like Author: Home Page. If you hand that in, your professor knows you didn't check your work.

But AI has changed the game.

You don't need to struggle through this manually anymore. You can use the Scifocus Citation Generator Tool. Unlike basic scrapers, our AI understands context. It identifies the difference between a blog post, a journal article, and a news report, formatting it perfectly in APA, MLA, or Chicago instantly.

It’s like having a librarian in your pocket. You can paste your link, get the citation, and get back to writing.

The Tricky Stuff: "Help, my source is weird!"

You’re not always citing a clean article from the New York Times. Sometimes you’re citing something messy.

Yes, you can cite a Tweet. (Or an "X," I guess).

APA: Use the author's real name (if known) and their handle in brackets.

Gates, B. [@BillGates]. (2023, February 14). Innovations in climate energy [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/...

2. Citing a Website with No Date

If a website content is likely to change (like a Wiki or a homepage that updates daily), you might want to add a Retrieval Date.

APA:

Home Page. (n.d.). University of Oxford. Retrieved November 20, 2024, from https://www.ox.ac.uk

Final Thoughts: Don't Let Format Kill Your Flow

Look, citation is tedious. It feels like administrative busywork when you just want to argue your point. But think of it this way: citations are your receipts. They prove you did the work.

When you’re writing, don’t stop to perfect the citation right then. You’ll lose your creative momentum. Just paste the URL in brackets like [CITE THIS] and keep writing. Come back at the end, head over to Scifocus, and let our tools handle the heavy lifting.

For more tips on surviving academic writing without losing your mind, check out our full library of articles at Scifocus Blogs.

You’ve got this. The essay is going to be fine.

FAQ

How do you cite a website in an essay if it's actually a PDF found online?

Good catch. If the PDF is a government report or a journal article found on a website, cite it by its format (e.g., Report), not just as a generic website. In APA, add the format description in brackets: Title of report [PDF]. In MLA, citing the container (the website hosting it) is usually enough, but ensure the URL points directly to the file.

Is it okay to use Wikipedia if I cite it correctly?

Be careful. Most professors frown on Wikipedia as a primary source. However, pro tip: Scroll to the bottom of the Wikipedia entry to the "References" section. Find the original source they used, read that, and cite the original source instead.

How to cite a website apa 7th edition if the author is "Staff" or "Anonymous"?

If the author is explicitly listed as "Anonymous," use that word. But if it just lists no name (or says "Staff"), treat it as a corporate/group author (e.g., "BBC News"). If there is no corporate author and no person, move the Title to the front.

Do I need to include the "Accessed" date in my citations?

APA: Only if the content is likely to change (like a live map).
MLA: It’s optional now, but highly recommended for web sources since URLs rot. Including "Accessed 20 Nov. 2024" protects you if the link dies later.

How can I check if my citations are correct automatically?

The best way is to use a dedicated tool rather than guessing. The SciFocus Citation Generator is designed to handle these edge cases for you, ensuring your bibliography is distinct and accurate.