PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Comment on an article or post

How to Cite a Comment on an Article or Webpage in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for a comment on an online article starts with the commenter (last name, first name, or a username exactly as shown), then the words Comment on and the article's title in quotation marks and title case, then the website's name in italics, the date of the comment written day, month, year, and the comment's own link. The in-text citation is the commenter's name alone, since comments have no page numbers: (Davis).

The format

Last Name, First Name (or username). Comment on "Title of the Article." Website Name, Day Mon. Year, URL.

PERRLA MLA Experts · Updated October 27, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Comments are added by hand. PERRLA's reference search doesn't read comments on articles or webpages (a Reddit comment's link is the one exception), so start with the form. Choose Online Comment, then Comment on an article. In Is the comment on an article or webpage?, pick Comment on an article for a newspaper, magazine, journal, or blog, or Comment on a webpage for a news website. The MLA entry looks the same either way.

The commenter's role is Individual Commenter w/ username. Type a screen name in Name. If the comment shows a real name, type it in First, Middle, and Last instead, and leave off degrees and titles like RN or Dr. If the comment shows both, fill in both, and PERRLA puts the username in square brackets after the real name. An organization commenting goes in as Organizational Commenter w/ username.

Type the article's title in Article or Page Title, the site's name in Source Title, the comment's date in Date of Comment, and the comment's own link in URL. PERRLA writes Comment on, the quotation marks, the title case, the italics, and the in-text citation.

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

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Commenter

The person who wrote the comment is the author, not the person who wrote the article. A real name goes last name first, then the first name, ending with a period. Leave off degrees and titles, like RN, MSN, PhD, or Dr.

Davis, Frankie.

A username goes exactly as the comment shows it, capital letters and all, and isn't flipped around.

Cbergst.

If a comment shows both a real name and a username, give the real name first and the username after it in square brackets.

2. Comment on the article's title

Most comments have no title of their own, so MLA describes the comment instead: the words Comment on, then the title of the article or post it was left on. The description itself is in plain type. The article's title goes in quotation marks and title case, with the period inside the closing quotation mark.

Comment on "Retrieval Practice: The Most Powerful Learning Strategy You’re Not Using."

Use the article's title, not the comment's words. Unlike APA, MLA doesn't copy the first words of the comment into the entry.

3. Website name

The site where the article and its comments appear is the container. Give its name in italics and title case, followed by a comma.

Cult of Pedagogy,

This is the same for a blog, a newspaper, a magazine, a journal, or a news website.

4. Date of the comment

Give the date the comment was posted, not the article's date, written day, month, year. Abbreviate months longer than four letters (Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.).

12 Oct. 2017,

The article in these examples went up on 24 Sept. 2017, and its comments run for years after that. Some sites show only "3 years ago." Hover over that text, or open the comment's own link, to find the exact date.

5. URL

End with a link to the comment itself, without the https://, and a period. Look for a timestamp, a share button, or a link icon on the comment: it usually opens a URL ending with the comment's number. If the comment has no link of its own, use the article's URL.

www.cultofpedagogy.com/retrieval-practice/#comment-101068.

Examples

A comment signed with a real name

A nurse educator's comment, signed Frankie Davis RN MSN, under Jennifer Gonzalez's 2017 Cult of Pedagogy post on retrieval practice. The name goes last name first, and the credentials come off. The date is the comment's, 18 days after the post.

  • In-text citation(Davis)
  • Narrative citationDavis suggests using these strategies with nursing students in clinical settings.

A comment signed with a username

A teacher's reply in the same comment section, signed Cbergst, about a review game played in rounds. A username stays exactly as written. The comment is a reply to another reader, but it was left on the same post, so the entry still names the post. Link to the reply itself.

  • In-text citation(Cbergst)
  • Narrative citationAnother teacher, Cbergst, plays the same game with the second and third rounds switched.

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation for a comment is the commenter's name, the first thing in the Works Cited entry. Comments have no page numbers, so there's no number to add, and you don't count paragraphs to make one up.

  • Real name: last name only: (Davis)
  • Username: spelled exactly as the comment does: (Cbergst)
  • Name in your sentence: with nothing left to put in parentheses, leave them off: Davis suggests using these strategies with nursing students in clinical settings.

If you cite two comments by the same person, name the article each one was left on in your sentence, so your reader can tell which entry you mean.

Common mistakes

  • Gonzalez, Jennifer. "Retrieval Practice: The Most Powerful Learning Strategy You’re Not Using."Davis, Frankie. Comment on "Retrieval Practice: The Most Powerful Learning Strategy You’re Not Using."The commenter wrote the comment, so the commenter is the author. Citing the article's author points your reader to the wrong words.
  • Davis, Frankie, RN, MSN.Davis, Frankie.MLA leaves degrees and professional titles out of the author's name, even when the commenter signs with them.
  • Davis, F. (2017, October 12). Thank you. These strategies can be applied with nursing students in the clinical settings to help them retrieve pathophysiology of [Comment on the article "Retrieval practice: The most powerful learning strategy you’re not using"].Davis, Frankie. Comment on "Retrieval Practice: The Most Powerful Learning Strategy You’re Not Using." Cult of Pedagogy, 12 Oct. 2017,That's APA, which copies the first 20 words of the comment. MLA describes the comment with Comment on and the article's title, and puts the date after the website.
  • Cult of Pedagogy, 24 Sept. 2017,Cult of Pedagogy, 12 Oct. 2017,24 Sept. 2017 is the date of the post. Use the date of the comment you're citing.
  • www.cultofpedagogy.com/retrieval-practice/.www.cultofpedagogy.com/retrieval-practice/#comment-101068.Link to the comment itself when the site gives it a link, so your reader lands on the words you cited and not the top of a page with dozens of comments.

Quick checklist

  • The commenter as author: last name, first name, or the username as shown
  • Degrees and titles left off
  • Comment on, then the article's title in quotation marks and title case
  • The website's name in italics
  • The comment's date, not the article's, as day, month, year
  • A link to the comment itself, ending with a period

Questions students ask

Can I cite a comment in an MLA paper?

Yes. MLA treats a comment like any other source you can find again: who wrote it, what it was left on, where, and when. A comment is one person's opinion, though, so use it for what someone said, like a reader's reaction, not as evidence for a clinical or research claim.

Do I quote the comment's words in the Works Cited entry?

No. That's an APA habit. MLA describes an untitled comment with Comment on and the title of the article it was left on. Quote the comment's words in your paper, where you use them.

How do I cite a reply to a comment?

The same way. The person who wrote the reply is the author, the reply's date is the date, and the entry still names the article the comments are on. Link to the reply itself if you can.

Should I include the time of the comment?

Only if it helps. MLA lets you add the time after the date when a site shows it, which can tell apart several comments from one person on the same day. Many sites, like the one in these examples, show only the date.

What about comments on Facebook, Reddit, or YouTube?

They follow the same idea: the commenter, a description that starts with Comment on and names the post, the platform in italics, the date, and the link. This page covers comments left on articles and webpages.

Do I use the username or the real name?

Whatever the comment shows. A comment signed only with a username is cited by the username, spelled exactly as written. A comment signed with a real name is cited by the last name.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 5 (authors and usernames, descriptions in place of a title, containers, dates, and URLs) and chapter 6 (in-text citations), and the MLA Style Center's posts on citing material posted on Reddit (a comment described as Comment on the post), a comment thread in a Facebook group, and unpaginated works. Example comments verified on October 27, 2026, on the post's own page: commenter, date, comment text, each comment's link, the post's title, and the site name.

PERRLA builds the comment entry from what you type in, Comment on, quotation marks, and all.

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