How to Cite a Website

What you need to collect

Before citing a website, gather these details — note that some may be missing (handled below):

• Author: Person or organisation responsible for the content. Look for a byline, "About" page, or footer credit.
• Publication date: When the page was published or last updated. Often near the byline or at the page bottom.
• Title of the web page: The specific page title, not the website name.
• Website name: The name of the overall website (e.g., NHS, BBC, Wikipedia).
• URL: The full, direct URL of the specific page.
• Access date: The date you accessed the page (required by some styles — MLA, Harvard, Chicago).

No identifiable author

If there is no individual or organisation identified as the author, use the title of the web page in place of the author name. The formatting depends on the style (italicised or in quotation marks).

No publication date

• APA 7th: Use "n.d." (no date) — (Organisation, n.d.)
• MLA 9th: Omit the date; always include an access date
• Harvard: Use "no date" or "n.d." — (Organisation, no date)
• Chicago: Include an access date in place of a publication date

APA 7th edition

MLA 9th edition

Harvard

Chicago Notes-Bibliography

Vancouver

Government and institutional websites

Government sites (NHS, CDC, WHO, ONS, NICE) and major institutional sites are commonly cited in academic work. The author is usually the organisation itself unless a specific named author is credited. Use the full organisation name as the author.

Social media

Social media posts (Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn) can be cited when the post is the original source of information or data. Use the real name as the author and the username in brackets. Include the date, full text of a short post (or a description), and the URL.

Common mistakes when citing websites

• Citing the homepage URL instead of the specific page URL — always link to the exact page
• Omitting the access date — required by MLA, Harvard, Chicago, and Vancouver for websites (content can change)
• Not identifying an organisation as the author when there is no individual author — avoid "no author" if an organisation owns the content
• Using Wikipedia as an academic source — cite the Wikipedia source directly, or use a more authoritative source
• Including visited-date instead of published-date as the year — the year in the citation should be the publication year, not when you accessed it (access date is a separate element)
• Breaking the URL across a line without guidelines — if you must break it, do so after a slash or hyphen