How to Cite a Website, Book or Article in APA, MLA and Chicago
Writing & text · October 17, 2026 · 2 min read
A citation tells the reader where your information came from, so they can find it and so the author gets credit. Every style asks for the same core details, laid out differently. Gather the details first, then format them.
The details to collect
- Author or authors, or the organization if there is no person.
- Title of the page, book or article.
- The name of the website or journal that holds it.
- Publisher, for books.
- Date of publication, at least the year.
- Volume, issue and page numbers for journal articles.
- The web address, or the DOI for a journal article.
The same website in three styles
APA: Doe, J. (2023, May 12). How to write a paper. Purdue OWL. https://example.com/page MLA: Doe, Jane. "How to Write a Paper." Purdue OWL, 12 May 2023, example.com/page. Chicago: Doe, Jane. "How to Write a Paper." Purdue OWL. May 12, 2023. https://example.com/page.
Look at the pattern. APA puts the date right after the author and uses initials. MLA and Chicago use full first names, and the date moves later. Italics mark the name of the larger work, such as the website, in MLA, while APA italicizes the title of a standalone page or book.
In-text citations
- APA: the author and year in brackets, like (Smith, 2021).
- MLA: the author and page, with no comma, like (Smith 45).
- Chicago author-date: author, year and page, like (Smith 2021, 45). Chicago notes use a numbered footnote instead.
Two authors are joined with and or an ampersand depending on the style, and three or more are usually shortened to the first author and et al.
The reference list
Put the list on its own page, in alphabetical order by the first author's last name, with a hanging indent so the first line sticks out. APA calls it References, MLA calls it Works Cited, and Chicago calls it Bibliography.
Build yours
The Citation Generator formats websites, books and journal articles in all three styles, and keeps a sorted list you can copy with the italics intact. There are also focused pages for APA and MLA. Always compare the result with your teacher's or journal's instructions, because they can differ.