Beyond the Book: A Clear Guide to MLA for Digital Sources
Let's be honest, most of the research you do for school happens on a screen. You find articles, watch tutorials, and maybe even get ideas from a social media post.
When you use this information in a paper, you have to give credit where it's due. This is called citing your sources, and for many classes in the humanities, that means using the Modern Language Association (MLA) format.
This guide is designed to make citing your online sources simple. We'll walk through the process without any confusing jargon. You will learn the basic recipe for any MLA citation and see clear, copy-and-paste examples for everything from a news website to a YouTube video.
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The Building Blocks: Understanding MLA's Core Elements
Before getting into specific examples, it’s helpful to know the basic recipe for every MLA citation. The 9th edition of the MLA Handbook uses a flexible system based on nine "core elements." Think of these as pieces of a puzzle. Your job is to find as many pieces as you can for each source. It's perfectly fine if a source doesn't have all nine, you just include the ones you can find.
Here are the nine core elements, in the order they should appear:
Author. This is the person or group who created the work. It’s the first piece of your citation.
Title of source. This is the name of the specific thing you are citing, like an article, a video, or a single blog post. This part goes in quotation marks.
Title of container, This is the larger place that holds the source. For example, a website is the container for a blog post. The container's title is written in italics.
Other contributors, Were other people involved who deserve credit, like an editor or a translator? Their names would go here.
Version, Is the source a specific version or edition? This could be a "2nd ed." for a book or "Kindle ed." for an e-book.
Number, Is the source part of a numbered series? This is common for academic journals, which have volume and issue numbers (e.g., "vol. 12, no. 4").
Publisher, This is the company or organization that produced and shared the work. For a website, the publisher is often the same as the website's name.
Publication date, This is the date when the source was made available to the public.
Location. This tells your reader exactly where to find the source. For digital sources, this is almost always a URL or a DOI (Digital Object Identifier).
The Container System: Like Nesting Dolls
The most important concept here is the "container." A container is simply the larger work that holds the source you are citing.
Think of it like a set of nesting dolls.
Your source is the smallest doll (e.g., an article).
That doll sits inside a larger one (e.g., the news website it was published on).
Sometimes, you have two containers. For instance, an article (the source) might be in a journal (container 1), which you found in a library database (container 2). In that case, you list them both. This system is what makes MLA so flexible for citing all kinds of digital sources.
<ProTip title="💡 Pro Tip:" description="If you cant find a piece of information like a publisher or publication date, you can usually just skip it and move to the next element in the list. MLA is designed to be flexible." />
How to Cite Common Digital Sources: Step-by-Step Examples
Now that you have the building blocks, let's put them into practice with the types of digital sources you'll probably use the most.
Citing a Web Page or Article
Web pages are the bread and butter of online research. Citing them correctly is a great skill to have. It's easy once you know what information you need to grab.
The Formula: Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Page or Article." Title of the Website, Publisher (only if different from the website), Publication Date, URL.
Finding the Author: The author's name is usually at the very top or bottom of the article. If you can't find a specific person's name, that's okay! You can just start the citation with the title of the page instead.
Finding the Publisher: Look at the copyright information in the footer at the very bottom of the page. If the publisher's name is the same as the website's name, you can leave it out to keep the citation clean.
Example with an Author: Smith, Helena. "The Women Who Brought Down Greece's Golden Dawn." The Guardian, 22 Oct. 2020, www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/22/the-women-who-brought-down-greeces-golden-dawn.
Example with No Author: "Athlete’s Foot – Topic Overview." WebMD, 25 Sept. 2014, www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/athletes-foot-topic-overview.
<ProTip title="💡 Pro Tip:" description="The publication date on a web page is often found near the title or at the very bottom. If a page has been updated, always use the most recent date listed." />
Citing an Online Journal Article
For more serious research, you'll often use academic journals found in library databases. These sources are excellent, and their citations just need a few extra details.
The Formula: Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Title of Journal, vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Publication Year, pp. Page Range, Name of Database, DOI or URL.
Volume and Issue Number: Journals are published in batches, known as volumes and issues. You can almost always find this information listed at the top or bottom of the article's first page.
DOI vs. URL: A DOI, or "Digital Object Identifier," is a unique code that permanently points to an article. It's like a social security number for a piece of research. Because a DOI never changes, it's much more reliable than a URL, which can break. Always use a DOI if one is available.
Example: Goldman, Anne. "Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante." The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, Spring 2010, pp. 69-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.
Citing an E-Book
Whether you're reading on a Kindle, a tablet, or a website, citing an e-book is nearly identical to citing a print book. You just need to add one small detail.
The Formula: Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Version, Publisher, Publication Year.
Version: This is where you clarify that you didn't read a physical copy. Simple phrases like "Kindle ed.," "Nook ed.," or just "e-book" work perfectly.
Example: Silvia, Paul J. How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing. 2nd ed., Kindle ed., APA LifeTools, 2019.
<ProTip title="💡 Note:" description="For e-books, the publisher info is usually on the copyright page, just like in a physical book. It might be a few clicks or swipes away from the cover." />
How to Cite Modern Media: Videos, Podcasts, and Social Media
Information is everywhere, and a good idea can come from a YouTube video or even a simple tweet. MLA has straightforward guidelines for citing these modern sources.
Citing a YouTube Video
When citing a YouTube video, your goal is to credit both the video's creator and the channel that posted it.
The Formula: "Title of the Video." YouTube, uploaded by Uploader's Name, Publication Date, URL.
Title: Put the video's full title in quotation marks.
Uploader: The "uploader" is the name of the channel. Using the phrase "uploaded by" makes your citation extra clear.
Example: "World's Largest Horn Shatters Glass." YouTube, uploaded by Mark Rober, 29 Nov. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFEB0chiuJA.
If the person who created the video is well-known and central to the work (like the host of a popular show), you can list them in the author spot.
Example with a Clear Author: CrashCourse. "The Constitution, the Articles, and Federalism: Crash Course US History #8." YouTube, 21 Mar. 2013, youtu.be/bO7FQsCcbD8.
Citing a Social Media Post
From Instagram to TikTok, social media posts can be cited, too. The main goal is to capture the text of the post and identify the account that shared it.
The Formula: Author’s Name [@handle]. “Full text of the post…” Platform Name, Day Month Year, URL.
Author: Use the person’s real name if known, followed by their handle in brackets. If the real name isn’t available, use the account name alone.
Title: For social media, the text of the post serves as the title. You don’t need to include the entire post, just the first sentence or a short representative phrase.
Platform: Include the name of the social media platform (e.g., Twitter, Instagram, Facebook).
Example (Tweet): Chaucer Doth Tweet [@LeVostreGC]. “A daye wythout anachronism ys lyke Emily Dickinson wythout her lightsaber.” Twitter, 7 Apr. 2018, twitter.com/LeVostreGC/status/982829987286827009.
<ProTip title="Reminder:" description="Always try to use the permanent link to the specific post, not just a link to the user profile. Most platforms have a share button that lets you copy a direct link." />
Putting It All Together: Your Works Cited Page
Once you have all your citations, you need to format them on a Works Cited page at the end of your paper. This page has a few simple rules.
Title: The page should be titled Works Cited and centered at the top.
Spacing: The whole page should be double-spaced, with no extra lines between entries.
Alphabetical Order: Put your citations in alphabetical order based on the first word of each entry (which is usually the author's last name).
The Magic of the Hanging Indent
The most important formatting rule for a Works Cited page is the hanging indent. This just means the first line of each citation is on the left margin, and all the lines below it are indented by half an inch. This formatting makes the long list of authors' names easy to scan.
Example of a Hanging Indent:
Lundman, Susan. “How to Make Vegetarian Chili.” eHow, www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html. Accessed 6 July 2025.
"World's Largest Horn Shatters Glass." YouTube, uploaded by Mark Rober, 29 Nov. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFEB0chiuJA.
<ProTip title="⚙️ How-To:" description="In Microsoft Word or Google Docs, you can create a hanging indent easily in the paragraph formatting options. Just look for a special indentation setting called “hanging”." />
A Quick Look at In-Text Citations
As you write your paper, you also need to point to your sources in the text itself. This is called an in-text or parenthetical citation, and it's usually very simple for digital sources.
The standard format is to put the author's last name in parentheses at the end of the sentence where you share their information. Since most digital sources don't have page numbers, the author's name is often all you need.
Example: One study showed that using digital tools in the classroom has been increasing for years (Smith).
If you already use the author's name in your sentence, you don't need to add anything at the end.
Example: Smith has shown that using digital tools in the classroom has been increasing for years.
If your source doesn't have an author, just use a shortened version of the title in quotation marks.
Example: It is clear that some chili recipes have stood the test of time ("Vegetarian Chili").
<ProTip title="📝 Organization Tip:" description="To make your life easier, create your Works Cited entries as you find your sources. This prevents the last-minute stress of trying to find a website you saw three weeks ago." />
Confidently Citing Your Digital World
Using the MLA format for digital sources might look like a lot to learn, but it all comes down to a simple, flexible system. Once you understand the nine core elements and the idea of containers, you can build a citation for almost any source you find online. Whether it’s from a website, a database, a YouTube video, or a social media feed, giving proper credit is a core part of writing with integrity.
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Remember, the whole point of a citation is to help your reader find the exact source you used. As long as you provide clear, accurate information, you're doing it right. Keep this guide handy, practice with your own sources, and you'll soon see that mastering the MLA format for digital sources is a skill you can use with confidence in any paper you write.