How To Cite a Website

1. APA

How to Cite An Entire Website in APA Format

The basic format to cite an entire website, and not a specific page is:

Entire Website Example

Mendeley, J.A., Thomson, M., & Coyne, R.P. (2017, January 16). How and when to reference. Retrieved from https://www.howandwhentoreference.com

How to Cite A Web Page in APA Format

The basic format for a web page differ slightly from that of a website:

Note: this format is the same for online articles; page title is swapped for article title and website title is swapped for container title.

Web Page Example

Mitchell, J.A., Thomson, M., & Coyne, R.P. (2017, January 25) APA citation. How and when to reference. Retrieved from https://www.howandwhentoreference.com/APAcitation

How to Cite a Blog Post in APA Format

The basic format to cite a blog post is as follows:

Blog Post Example

Using this example, the reference would be:

Defeo, C. (2017, August 4). New webinar on research careers [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://blog.mendeley.com/2017/08/04/new-webinar-on-research-careers/

How To Cite a Tweet in APA Format

The basic format to cite a tweet is as follows:

Handle of tweet author. (Year, month date of tweet). Full text of tweet [Tweet]. Retrieved from URL

Tweet Example

Using this example the reference would be:

Mendeley_com. (2017, May 17). We applauded our final @pintofscience talk & feeling sad. But we literally zoomed from #atomstogalaxies and it was a perfect finale [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/mendeley_com/status/864947989797896194

How to Cite a Facebook Post in APA Format

The basic format for a Facebook status is as follows:

Facebook Status Example

Using this example the reference would be:

Mendeley. (2017, May 16). The pressure is always on for researchers to fund their research careers [Facebook status update]. Retrieved from https://www.Facebook.com/mendeley/photos/a.10150156999648611.291608.42920143610/10154866770358611/?type=3

How to Cite an Online Video in APA Format

The format to cite an online or YouTube video is as follows:

YouTube Example

Using this example, the reference would be:

[Mendeley]. (2014, April 3). Getting started with Mendeley [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv6_HuCYExM

Note: the word ‘Mendeley’ in the title is capitalised because it is a proper noun.

For more comprehensive coverage of APA citation rules check out our APA citation guide.

2. MLA

How to Cite an Entire Website in MLA Format

The basic format to cite an entire website in MLA format is:

Entire Website Example

Mitchell, James A., and Martha Thomson. How and When to Reference. 25 Jan. 2017:https://www.howandwhentoreference.com/APAcitation.

How to Cite a Web Page in MLA Format

This is very similar to the website reference with the addition of page title within quotation marks before site title:

Last name, first name. “Page Title”. Site Title. Sponsoring institution/publisher. Publication date day month abbreviation. year, URL.

Web Page Example

Thomson, Martha. “APA Citation”. How and When to Reference. 2 Feb. 2017: https://www.howandwhentoreference.com/APAcitation.

How to Cite a Blog Post in MLA Format

The basic format to cite a blog post in MLA is as follows:

Blog Post Example

Using the blog post example in the APA blog post section, the reference would look like this:

Defeo, Christian. “New Webinar on Research Careers”. Mendeley Blog. 4 Aug. 2017, https://blog.mendeley.com/2017/08/04/new-webinar-on-research-careers/.

How to Cite a Tweet in MLA Format

The basic format to cite a tweet is:

Tweet Example

Using the tweet example in the APA tweet section, the reference would look as follows:

Mendeley_com. “We applauded our final @pintofscience talk & feeling sad. But we literally zoomed from #atomstogalaxies and it was a perfect finale”. Twitter, 17 May 2017, 1:57p.m., https://twitter.com/mendeley_com/status/864947989797896194.

How to Cite a Facebook Status in MLA Format

The basic format of a Facebook status reference is quite similar to that of a tweet:

Facebook Example

Using the example status used in the APA FFacebook section, the reference would be:

Mendeley. Announcement of Mendeley funding. Facebook, 16 May 2017, 11:05a.m., https://www.facebook.com/mendeley/photos/a.10150156999648611.291608.42920143610/10154866770358611/?type=3.

How to Cite an Online Video in MLA Format

YouTube/online Video

YouTube Example

Using the example in the APA youtube section, the reference in MLA would be:

“Getting Started With Mendeley”. Youtube, uploaded by Mendeley, 3 Apr. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv6_HuCYExM

For more comprehensive coverage of MLA 8 citation rules check out our MLA 8 citation guide.

3. Harvard

How to Cite an Entire Website in Harvard Format

The basic format to reference an entire website in Harvard style is as follows:

Website Example

Mitchell, J.A and Thomson, M. (2017). How and when to reference [Online]. Available at: https://www.howandwhentoreference.com/APAcitation (Accessed: 21 August 2017).

How to Cite a Web Page in Harvard Format

Citing a web page is very similar to citing a website except the title of the page is added in italics:

Author surname(s), initial(s). (Year of publishing). Title of page [Online]. Title of site. Available at: URL (Accessed: day month year)

Web Page Example

Thomson, M. (2017). APA citation [Online]. How and when to reference. Available at: https://www.howandwhentoreference.com/APAcitation (Accessed: 21 August 2017).

How to Reference a Blog Post in Harvard Format

Referencing a blog post in MLA is similar in structure to referencing a web page:

Blog Post Example:

Using the blog post mentioned in the APA blog post section, the Harvard reference would be:

Defeo, C. (2017). New webinar on research careers [Blog] Mendeley blog. Available at: https://blog.mendeley.com/2017/08/04/new-webinar-on-research-careers/ (Accessed: 21 August 2017).

How to Cite a Tweet in Harvard Format

The basic format to cite a tweet in Harvard style is as follows:

Twitter handle. (Year of publishing). Text of tweet [Twitter]. Day month tweet was published on. Available at: URL (Accessed: day month year).

Tweet Example

Using the example tweet from the APA tweet section, the Harvard reference would be:

Mendeley_com. (2017). We applauded our final @pintofscience talk & feeling sad. But we literally zoomed from #atomstogalaxies and it was a perfect finale [Twitter]. 17 May. Available at: https://twitter.com/mendeley_com/status/864947989797896194 (Accessed: 21 August 2017).

How to Cite a Facebook Status in Harvard Format

This is the same as the Twitter reference except the Twitter handle is swapped for author name/group name, the text of tweet is swapped for text of post and [Twitter] is swapped for [Facebook]:

Facebook Status Example:

Using the status example from the APA Facebook section, the reference in Harvard would be:

Mendeley. (2017). The pressure is always on for researchers to fund their research careers [Facebook]. 16 May. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/mendeley/photos/a.10150156999648611.291608.42920143610/10154866770358611/?type=3 (Accessed: 21 August 2017).

How to Cite an Online Video in Harvard Format

The basic format to cite an online video is as follows:

Username. (Year posted). Title [Online video]. Day month posted. Available at: URL (Accessed: day month year).

YouTube Example

Using the YouTube video example from the APA YouTube section, the Harvard reference would be:

Mendeley. (2014). Getting started with Mendeley [Online video]. 3 April. Available at :https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=Gv6_HuCYExM (Accessed: 21 August 2017).

For more comprehensive coverage of Harvard citation rules check out our Harvard citation guide.

4. Troubleshooting

A. What to do if your reference doesn’t have an author:

Firstly look to see if there is an organisation that the work can be attributed to. If so, use this in place of the author. If this isn't possible, use the title in place of the author. The title used should be the first title listed. So for a blog post reference in which the post and blog title are listed, the post title should be listed in place of the author.

B. How to find the date of publication of a webpage:

Often the date is listed on the page, especially for things like blog posts, so search around to try and find this. If you can’t find the date, follow these steps:

  1. Search the URL for the page you want to find the publication date of in google with the ‘inurl:’ operate before it.

  1. Copy the browser address bar into the address bar of a new tab and add ‘&as_qdr=y15’ to the end. For example, if my search URL was be https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=inurl%abcd, I would put https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=inurl%abcd&as_qdr=y15 into the address bar of the new tab.

  1. Hit enter and the search results will show the publication date of the page.

For a complete guide on each of these citation types check out our APA, MLA 8 and Harvard referencing guides. These contain the general rules for each citation type along with specific examples covering books, articles, videos and more. Or visit our ultimate citation cheat sheet to see all citation formats and sources in one, easy to use table.