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Citing Electronic Sources in MLA Format

LAC Guide (updated 9/2006)

MLA reference formats for electronic sources can be confusing, particularly since electronic mediums and MLA guidelines continue to evolve. Listed here you’ll find samples of the most frequently used electronic sources followed by explanatory and advisory notes. (Please Note: The browser with which you view the following citations may slightly alter format. All APA citations should appear double-spaced in hanging indent.)

Databases

This is an example of the type of electronic source that you will (and should) use most frequently: a peer reviewed journal article retrieved from an aggregated electronic database. Notice that the information contained in the first part of the reference is identical to the information that you would list if you had actually pulled the journal from library shelves. The database information (name of database and name of subscription service) that follows indicates that you didn’t. Most articles that you use at LAC will be retrieved through the Academic Search Premier database unless you choose a specialty database like Biosis, Medline, Maine Newstand, or ERIC. Instead, list the name of the library from which you retrieved the article and the date on which you retrieved it.

In this example, no author is listed so the article title is moved into the author’s position. Typically, a journal article that lists no author isn’t really an “article” at all--it is frequently an editorial, a book review, or part of a regular column within the journal. In this case, the Kansas City Business Journal produced “Dealing With It” by summarizing a section of R. Brayton Bower’s documentary Anger in the Workplace. Rather than using this short piece, try to locate an article written by Bower himself, or view the documentary and list that as a source.

This is an example of a book accessed through our eBook collection. Cite the source as you would the printed version of the book, then indicate [Electronic version] after the book’s title. As the most recent edition of the MLA Publication Manual does not specify a form for electronic books, the format for this type of citation may change in future.

Websites

In this example, Denise Casey (a researcher for Oak Ridge National Laboratory) is identified as the author of the material on the site. “Sequencing Technologies” is the title of the page we accessed; Primer on Molecular Genetics from the U. S. Department of Energy is the title of the entire document/website. List both titles, much like you would list an article from a journal. Follow this with the date of copyright (or last update), the sponsor of the site (if different from author), date accessed, and the URL.

In this example, although no individual author is listed, the American Heart Association serves as a “corporate” or “organization” author. Only one title is listed here, underlined to indicate that it is an independent document rather than part of a larger document. No date of copyright or last update is available for this source so only the date accessed and the URL follow the title.

In this example, we have neither an individual nor a corporate author. In fact, if you access this website, although the information seems good, you won’t find any indication of the credentials of the site’s composer. WARNING: As a general rule, avoid referencing websites that don’t list an author/author’s credentials--the information you’re reading may not be accurate.

E-mail

To cite an e-mail, list the name of the person who sent the e-mail, the “title” taken from the subject line of the e-mail, the name of the recipient, and the date the e-mail was sent. Because e-mail does not have “pages,” no page numbers will be listed in your in-text citation.

In-text Citations

To cite your electronic sources in text, the MLA recommends citing just the author in parentheses unless the source you use has permanent page breaks (as in a pdf file or full image source). If the source has permanent page breaks, cite (Casey 2); if not, cite (Casey). If the electronic source uses paragraph or section numbers, you may replace the page number with an abbreviation and the paragraph or section number (Casey, para. 12).