Websites are among the most cited sources and among the most incorrectly formatted ones. This guide covers standard webpages in five citation styles, then handles the trickier cases: news articles, government sites, social media posts, and pages that no longer exist.
Standard Webpage
Source details
Author: World Health Organization
Year: 2023 Date: 15 March 2023
Title: Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030
Website: World Health Organization
URL: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241506021
APA 7
World Health Organization. (2023, March 15). Mental health action plan 2013–2030. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241506021
APA 7: site name omitted when the same as author; no "Retrieved from"; no access date for stable pages
MLA 9
World Health Organization. "Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030." World Health Organization, 15 Mar. 2023, www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241506021. Accessed 10 Apr. 2024.
MLA 9: site name in italics as container; URL without https://; accessed date required
Harvard
World Health Organization (2023) Mental health action plan 2013–2030. Available at: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241506021 (Accessed: 10 April 2024).
Harvard: "Available at:" before URL; "(Accessed: Day Month Year)" required
Chicago AD
World Health Organization. 2023. "Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030." Accessed April 10, 2024. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241506021.
Chicago AD: "Accessed [date]." before URL; title in quotes (not italics) for a webpage
Vancouver
World Health Organization. Mental health action plan 2013–2030 [Internet]. Geneva: WHO; 2023 [cited 2024 Apr 10]. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241506021
Vancouver: [Internet] tag required; [cited Year Mon Day] format; "Available from:" before URL
Special Cases
No author. APA 7
Format
Title of page. (Year, Month Day). Site Name. URL
Example
What is peer review? (2022, June 4). Nature. https://www.nature.com/...
No date. APA 7
Format
Author. (n.d.). Title. Site Name. URL
Note
Use n.d. for no date. Retrieve date only if content likely to change (e.g., Wikipedia).
Government website. Harvard
Example
Department of Health and Social Care (2023) COVID-19 response: autumn 2023. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/... (Accessed: 5 November 2023).
News article. APA 7
Example
Wanjiru, M. (2022, August 15). Universities cut arts subject places. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/...
Most citation styles now have official guidance for tweets, Instagram posts, and similar content.
APA 7. Tweet
Obama, B. [@BarackObama]. (2020, November 7). Congratulations to my friend, @JoeBiden, on his historic victory. [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/...
Include the username in square brackets after the display name; note [Tweet] after the text; include full URL
MLA 9. Social media post
@BarackObama. "Congratulations to my friend, @JoeBiden, on his historic victory." Twitter, 7 Nov. 2020, twitter.com/BarackObama/status/...
Username as author; platform in italics as container; no "www." needed
Pages That No Longer Exist: Wayback Machine
If a webpage has been removed or changed, use the Wayback Machine (web.archive.org) archived version. Cite the archived URL, not the original dead link.
APA 7. Archived page
Smith, J. (2018, April 3). Article title. Website Name. https://web.archive.org/web/20180403120000/https://example.com/article
Use the Wayback Machine URL as your URL; add "Retrieved Month Day, Year" before the URL for content likely to change
When Is an Access Date Required?
- APA 7: Only if content is likely to change or has no date (e.g., Wikipedia, informal pages). Not needed for stable institutional pages.
- MLA 9: Always include "Accessed [date]."
- Harvard: Always include "(Accessed: Day Month Year)."
- Chicago: Always include "Accessed [Month Day, Year]." before the URL.
- Vancouver: Always include "[cited Year Mon Day]."
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