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How to cite a website
A web page citation needs five things: who wrote it, when it was published, the page title, the website name and the URL. When the author is an organisation, the organisation is the author. When there is no date, each style has its own fallback.
Examples in each style
World Health Organization. (2023, October 12). Climate change and health. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health
Parenthetical: (World Health Organization, 2023)
Narrative: World Health Organization (2023)
“Climate Change and Health.” World Health Organization, 12 Oct. 2023, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health.
Parenthetical: (“Climate Change and Health”)
World Health Organization. “Climate Change and Health.” World Health Organization, October 12, 2023. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health.
Full note: 1. World Health Organization, “Climate Change and Health,” World Health Organization, October 12, 2023, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health.
Short note: 2. World Health Organization, “Climate Change and Health.”
World Health Organization (2023) Climate Change and Health. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health (Accessed: 27 September 2026).
Citation: (World Health Organization, 2023)
Narrative: World Health Organization (2023)
What to watch out for
- Cite the specific page, not the home page. Copy the URL from the address bar of the page you actually used.
- No author? APA and Chicago move the title into the author position; MLA simply starts with the title.
- No date? APA writes (n.d.), Harvard writes (no date), and MLA adds an access date at the end instead.
- If the organisation and the website name are the same, APA and MLA list the name only once.
World Health Organization. (2023, October 12). Climate change and health. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health
In-text citation
Formatting runs in your browser. Auto-fill uses Crossref (DOI), Open Library and Google Books (ISBN) and the page’s own metadata (URL). Always check against the source.
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Questions students ask
Do I need an access date?
APA 7 only for pages that are designed to change (like a live dashboard). MLA 9 recommends one when the page has no publication date. Harvard (Cite Them Right) always includes one for web sources. Chicago asks for it only when there is no publication or revision date.
Should I remove “https://” from the URL?
In MLA 9 it is recommended to drop http:// or https://. APA 7, Chicago and Harvard keep the full URL.
Is the website name in italics?
In MLA the website (the container) is italicised. In APA 7 the site name is plain text, and the page title is italicised instead. In Chicago, a website title is set in roman (plain) text unless it is a book or journal.