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How to Cite a Blog Post in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for a blog post gives the author's last name and first name, the post title in quotation marks and title case, the blog's name in italics, the date written day, month, year (16 July 2025), and the URL without https://. The in-text citation is the author's last name alone, since blog posts have no page numbers: (Coltrera).

The format

Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Post." Name of the Blog, Day Mon. Year, www.url.com.

PERRLA MLA Experts ยท Updated October 30, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Paste the post's URL into PERRLA's reference search. PERRLA recognizes many blog posts, including Substack and Medium posts and pages that sit on a site's blog, and fills in the author, the date, the post title, and the blog's name. The finished entry goes on your Works Cited page in alphabetical order, with the title in quotation marks and the blog's name in italics.

Give three things a quick look before you move on. The author: if the byline says Guest Author or Admin, change it to the person the post names as its writer. The date: make sure it matches the post, and if the post shows a "last updated" date, use that one. The blog name: match the name on the blog's masthead (Harvard Health Blog, not Harvard Health). If a post comes in as a Website reference, add it by hand as a Blog so the italics land on the blog's name.

Adding one by hand? Choose Blog, then A blog entry. Add each Individual Author (person), or use Group Author (Organization) for an organization or Username (screen name) for a writer known by a handle. Fill in the Blog Entry Title, the Blog Name, the Publication Date, and the URL (Web address). PERRLA handles the title case, the quotation marks, and the date order. Leave Retrieval Date empty unless the post has no date; PERRLA prints it as an access date at the end.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Author

Start with the writer's last name, a comma, and their first name as the post gives it. Leave off credentials like RN, MD, or PhD. End with a period.

Coltrera, Francesca.

Two authors: invert only the first name, then and and the second name in normal order. Three or more: the first author, a comma, and et al.

Jetelina, Katelyn, and Edward Nirenberg.

Credit the person who wrote the post. A medical reviewer isn't an author, and neither is a generic byline like Guest Author or Admin when the post names its real writer. If a writer goes by a handle, give the handle as the post shows it. With no author at all, start the entry with the post title.

2. Post title

Put the post title in quotation marks and title case, even when the blog uses sentence case. The period goes inside the closing quotation mark.

"The Personalities of Veins: What Thousands of IV Starts Have Taught Me."

A title that ends in a question mark keeps it, with no period added.

3. Blog name

The blog is the container, so its name goes in italics and title case, as the masthead writes it, followed by a comma.

AJN Off the Charts,

For a Substack newsletter, the publication's name is the blog name: Your Local Epidemiologist. For a Medium post that isn't in a Medium publication, use Medium.

4. No publisher for these blogs

On every blog on this page, the entry goes straight from the blog's name to the date. MLA leaves the publisher out when it has basically the blog's name (Harvard Health Blog from Harvard Health Publishing), when the writer publishes the blog alone, and when the site only hosts the posts, like Substack, Medium, or WordPress.

Your Local Epidemiologist, 26 Aug. 2026,

5. Date

Give the date the post went up, written day, month, year, with no commas inside it. Abbreviate months longer than four letters (Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.).

16 July 2025,

If the post shows a "last updated" date, use that one: it's the version you read. If there's no date at all, leave it out and add an access date at the end instead: Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

6. URL

End with the post's own URL, not the blog's home page, and a period. The https:// can come off the front.

yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/your-guide-to-fall-2026-vaccines.

Examples

A blog post with one author

A Harvard Health Blog post on heat and older adults, written by the blog's editor and medically reviewed by a physician. The writer is the author; the reviewer doesn't go in the entry. The blog's publisher, Harvard Health Publishing, has basically the same name as the blog, so it's left out.

  • In-text citation(Coltrera)
  • Narrative citationAs Coltrera explains, …

A guest post with a generic byline

A post on AJN Off the Charts, the blog of the American Journal of Nursing. The byline reads Guest Author, but the note at the end names the writer: Courtney Desy, BSN, RN, OCN, an oncology infusion nurse. She's the author, and her credentials stay out. The blog's copyright line names AJN, which the blog's own name already carries, so no publisher is added.

  • In-text citation(Desy)
  • Narrative citationDesy compares some veins to …

A Substack post with two authors

A post from Your Local Epidemiologist, the public health newsletter on Substack, by epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina and Edward Nirenberg. The newsletter's name is the blog name. Substack only hosts the newsletter, so it isn't the publisher. Both authors go in every citation.

  • In-text citation(Jetelina and Nirenberg)
  • Narrative citationJetelina and Nirenberg recommend …

In-text citations

An MLA in-text citation for a blog post is the author's last name. Blog posts have no page numbers, and MLA asks you not to count paragraphs to make one up, so most citations are the name alone.

  • One author: (Coltrera)
  • Two authors: both last names joined by and: (Jetelina and Nirenberg)
  • Three or more authors: the first author and et al.
  • Name in your sentence: when nothing is left to put in parentheses, leave them off: Desy compares some veins to a grape that slides away from a fork.
  • No author: a shortened post title in quotation marks, starting with the title's first word other than an article.
  • Two posts by the same author: add a short title after a comma: (Coltrera, "Extreme Heat").

If a post numbers its paragraphs, you can cite the number, with a comma after the name: (Author, par. 4).

Common mistakes

  • Coltrera, Francesca. Extreme Heat Endangers Older Adults: What to Know and Do. Harvard Health Blog,Coltrera, Francesca. "Extreme Heat Endangers Older Adults: What to Know and Do." Harvard Health Blog,The post is part of a larger whole, so its title goes in quotation marks. The blog is the container, so its name is in italics.
  • Coltrera, F. (2025, July 16). Extreme heat endangers older adults: What to know and do.Coltrera, Francesca. "Extreme Heat Endangers Older Adults: What to Know and Do." Harvard Health Blog, 16 July 2025,That's APA. MLA spells out the first name, uses quotation marks and title case for the post title, and puts the date after the blog's name, day first.
  • Author, Guest. "The Personalities of Veins: What Thousands of IV Starts Have Taught Me."Desy, Courtney. "The Personalities of Veins: What Thousands of IV Starts Have Taught Me."Guest Author and Admin are placeholders, not names. When the post names its writer, usually in a note at the end, that person is the author.
  • Desy, Courtney, BSN, RN, OCN.Desy, Courtney.MLA leaves credentials and titles like Dr., RN, and PhD out of the author's name.
  • (Coltrera, 2025)(Coltrera)That's APA. MLA in-text citations don't take a year, and a blog post has no page number to add.
  • Your Local Epidemiologist, Substack, 26 Aug. 2026,Your Local Epidemiologist, 26 Aug. 2026,Substack, Medium, and WordPress only host the posts, so MLA doesn't list them as publishers.

Quick checklist

  • The writer's name inverted, with no credentials, not the reviewer or a Guest Author byline
  • Post title in quotation marks and title case
  • Blog name in italics, as the masthead writes it
  • No Substack, Medium, or WordPress as a publisher
  • Day, abbreviated month, year, using a last-updated date if there is one
  • The post's own URL without https://, ending with a period

Questions students ask

Is a blog post cited like a webpage in MLA 9?

Yes, with the blog as the container. The post title goes in quotation marks, and the blog's name goes in italics where a website's name would. Then come the date and the URL.

How do I cite a Substack or Medium post in MLA?

Cite it as a blog post. The newsletter's or publication's name is the blog name, in italics. Substack and Medium only host the posts, so they don't go in as publishers. A Medium post that isn't in a Medium publication uses Medium as the blog name.

What if the blog post has no author?

First check whether an organization wrote it. If the organization also runs the blog, MLA doesn't list it as the author, so start the entry with the post title. If there's truly no author, start with the title. In the text, use a shortened title in quotation marks.

Do I need an access date for a blog post?

Usually not. MLA makes the access date optional. Add one, at the end of the entry, if the post has no date or your instructor asks for it: Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Do I count paragraphs for a blog post in MLA?

No. MLA asks you not to count paragraphs yourself. If the post has no numbered paragraphs or sections, cite the author's name alone, or name the author in your sentence and leave the parentheses off.

Can I cite a blog post in a nursing or research paper?

It depends on the assignment. Many instructors accept blogs from professional sources, like a journal's blog, for background or a clinician's perspective, but not in place of research. Check your rubric, and when a post cites a study, find and cite the study itself.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapters 5 and 6 (the core elements, containers, and in-text citations), and the MLA Style Center's posts on blog entries and WordPress as a container, omitting a publisher whose name matches the website's, last-updated dates, ampersands, and unpaginated works. The examples are the ones verified for the APA 7 page on each post itself (bylines, author notes, dates, and blog mastheads); the AJN Off the Charts post was opened again on October 27, 2026, for its copyright line (AJN).

PERRLA builds the blog post entry from its URL, with the title in quotation marks and the blog's name in italics.

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