PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Reddit post

How to Cite a Reddit Post in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for a Reddit post starts with the author's username (or a real name the post gives, with the username in square brackets), then the post's title in quotation marks and title case, Reddit in italics, the day, month, and year it was posted, and the post's URL without https://. A comment has no title, so it gets a description instead: Comment on, then the post's title in quotation marks. The in-text citation is the name alone: (MonteResident).

The format

Username. "Title of the Post." Reddit, Day Month Year, www.reddit.com/r/subreddit/comments/#/title/.

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

Choose Social Media, then An online forum post. Set the role to Username (screen name) and type the username, without u/, in Name. If the post tells you who the person is, like an expert who names themself in an AMA, also type the first and last name in First and Last (an organization's name goes in Last). Type the post's title in Forum Thread Title, type Reddit in Platform Name, pick the date, and paste the URL. Leave Description of attached content empty, since MLA doesn't use it. PERRLA puts the title in quotation marks and title case, italicizes Reddit, writes the date day-month-year, and drops the https:// from the link.

Citing a comment? Leave Forum Thread Title empty and type the description in Post Content: Comment on, then the post's title in quotation marks and title case. PERRLA prints it as written, with no quotation marks around the whole description.

Pasting a thread's link into PERRLA's reference search? PERRLA reads the post from Reddit and fills in the username, the title, the date, and a clean link. Before you save, clear Description of attached content: the search fills it with APA's Online forum post, which would print at the end of an MLA entry. A comment's link brings in the comment's first 20 words and APA's description, so for MLA, replace Post Content with the Comment on description and clear Description of attached content. Use the full link with /comments/ in it; share links that end in /s/ and a code need to be opened first.

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

MLA uses the name on the account, and on Reddit that's usually the username. Write it exactly as Reddit shows it: capital letters, underscores, and hyphens included. End with a period.

MonteResident.

When the post itself tells you who's behind the account, like an AMA host who introduces themself, give the real name first (a person last name first, an organization as written) and the username in square brackets after it. Don't guess who's behind an anonymous account.

Khosla, Seema [FargoSleepDoc].

What about the u/ Reddit puts in front of usernames? The MLA Style Center's own Reddit examples go both ways: its post's author keeps it (U/reggiew07) and its commenter doesn't (Varro-reatinus). The u/ is Reddit's label rather than part of the name, so these examples leave it off. Whichever you choose, use it the same way in every entry and in your in-text citations.

2. Title

A Reddit post has its own title, and that's the title in your entry: in quotation marks, in title case, with the period inside the closing quotation mark. Unlike APA, MLA has no 20-word limit, so the whole title goes in.

"IAmA Resident Physician at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx Where Resident Doctors Are Working to Unionize While Our Nurses Are on Strike over Patient Safety. AMA!"

Keep the post's own spelling, like IAmA, but not its capitalization: title case lowercases short words like in, on, over, and the in the middle of a title. MLA also writes an ampersand (&) in a title as and, so experts & scientists becomes experts and scientists. When a title ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, no period is added after it. Leave out emojis.

If the post's title is just the name of something else, like a book being reviewed, MLA uses a description in its place, with no quotation marks: Review of Title of the Book, by Author Name.

3. Comment description

Comments have no title, so MLA describes them instead: the words Comment on, then the title of the post it appeared under, in quotation marks and title case. The description itself takes no quotation marks or italics.

Comment on "We Are Sleep Experts from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine PAAC – Here to Answer All of Your Questions about Healthy Student Sleep This School Year. Ask Us Anything!"

MLA's own examples sometimes name who wrote the post too, like Comment on U/reggiew07's review of a book; add that when it helps your reader. Use the comment's own date and the comment's own link, not the post's.

4. Reddit as the container

Reddit is the container, the site that holds the post, so its name goes in italics, followed by a comma.

Reddit,

The subreddit, like r/IAmA, isn't the container and doesn't get its own spot; it's already in the URL. MLA adds no label like [Online forum post].

5. Date and URL

Give the day, month, and year the post went up, then the link to the post or comment, without https://, and a period.

10 Jan. 2023, www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/108gxcl/iama_resident_physician_at_montefiore_hospital_in/.

Reddit shows how long ago something went up, not the date. On a computer, hover over that time stamp to see the full date. To get a comment's own link, select the comment's time stamp, or use Share on the comment, then copy the address.

Examples

A post by a username only

A resident physician's AMA from the January 2023 New York nurses' strike at Montefiore and Mount Sinai. The poster never gives a real name, so the username is the author. The whole 26-word title goes in, in quotation marks and title case, and it ends with an exclamation point, so no period follows it.

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

A post by an organization

The CREST.BD network's 2023 World Bipolar Day AMA, answered by psychiatrists, psychologists, researchers, and people living with bipolar disorder. The group's name comes first, then its username in square brackets, and the & in the title becomes and.

  • In-text citation(CREST.BD)
  • Narrative citationThe CREST.BD experts point out that …

A comment by an expert

Sleep physician Seema Khosla answering a question in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's 2022 student sleep AMA, which she posted as FargoSleepDoc and opened by giving her name. Her real name comes first, with the username in brackets, and a description of the comment takes the title's place.

  • In-text citation(Khosla)
  • Narrative citationAs Khosla advises, …

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation for a Reddit post or comment gives the first word or words of the Works Cited entry: the username, or the last name when the entry starts with a real name. No date, and no page number.

  • Username only: (MonteResident), spelled exactly as in the entry
  • Real name known: (Khosla), with no username in the citation
  • Organization: (CREST.BD)
  • Name in your sentence: no parenthetical is needed: Khosla notes that the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends seven to nine hours of sleep for adults.
  • Two sources in one citation: separate them with a semicolon: (CREST.BD; Khosla).

In the Works Cited list, Reddit entries are alphabetized by the first word of the entry, like any other source.

Common mistakes

  • MonteResident. (2023, January 10). IAmA resident physician at Montefiore Hospital in The Bronx where resident doctors are working to unionize while our nurses are [Online forum post]. Reddit.MonteResident. "IAmA Resident Physician at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx Where Resident Doctors Are Working to Unionize While Our Nurses Are on Strike over Patient Safety. AMA!" Reddit, 10 Jan. 2023,That's APA. MLA puts the whole title in quotation marks and title case, drops the [Online forum post] label, italicizes Reddit, and moves the date after the platform.
  • MonteResident. "IAmA Resident Physician…" r/IAmA, 10 Jan. 2023,MonteResident. "IAmA Resident Physician…" Reddit, 10 Jan. 2023,The container is Reddit, the site. The subreddit's name is already in the URL.
  • Khosla, Seema [FargoSleepDoc]. "We Are Sleep Experts from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine…"Khosla, Seema [FargoSleepDoc]. Comment on "We Are Sleep Experts from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine…"Citing the post's title on its own makes the entry point to the whole post. A comment gets a description that names the post it answers.
  • (MonteResident, 2023)(MonteResident)MLA in-text citations don't use the year, and Reddit posts have no page numbers.
  • Reddit, 10 Jan. 2023, https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/s/…Reddit, 10 Jan. 2023, www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/108gxcl/iama_resident_physician_at_montefiore_hospital_in/.Share links are redirects that can stop working. Open the link, use the full address with /comments/ in it, and drop the https://.

Quick checklist

  • Username as Reddit shows it, or a real name the post gives, then the username in brackets
  • The post's whole title in quotation marks and title case
  • A comment: Comment on "Title of the Post" in place of a title
  • Reddit in italics, not the subreddit
  • Day, month, and year of the post or comment
  • The full /comments/ link without https://, ending with a period

Questions students ask

Do I include u/ before the username?

The MLA Style Center hasn't settled it: its Reddit post example keeps the u/ (U/reggiew07) and its comment example leaves it off (Varro-reatinus). The u/ is Reddit's label, not part of the name, so leaving it off is the simpler choice. Whichever you pick, use it the same way in every entry and every in-text citation.

Can I use Reddit as a source in a nursing or college paper?

Usually as evidence of what people are saying, not as evidence of what's true. A Reddit thread can show how patients describe an experience or how nurses talked about a strike. For clinical facts, find the study or guideline behind them, and check your assignment's rules, since some instructors don't accept social media at all.

What if the author deleted their account?

Reddit shows [deleted] in place of the username, so there's no author to name. Start the entry with the post's title in quotation marks, and use a shortened version of the title, in quotation marks, for the in-text citation.

How do I cite a reply to a comment?

The same way as a comment: Comment on, then the original post's title in quotation marks. Use the reply's own date and its own link.

Do I need an access date for a Reddit post?

MLA makes it optional. Reddit doesn't let anyone change a post's title, so an entry built on the title doesn't need one. A comment or a post's text can be edited, so add one if you're quoting text that could change or if your instructor asks for it.

How do I cite a whole subreddit?

When you mention a subreddit in general, the MLA Style Center's advice for social media accounts applies: name it in your sentence, like r/nursing, with its URL in parentheses, and skip the Works Cited entry. When you use something specific from it, cite the post or comment.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 5 (the core elements, titles, and descriptions in place of titles) and chapter 6 (in-text citations), and the MLA Style Center's posts on citing Reddit (forum post and forum comment examples), citing social media, citing a social media profile, ampersands, punctuation after titles that end in a question mark or exclamation point, and emojis. Example posts and comment are the ones verified for the APA 7 page; titles, usernames, and the comment's place in the AMA re-read from Reddit's oEmbed data on October 27, 2026, and dates from the APA page's check of Reddit's API records.

PERRLA builds the Reddit entry from your details, with the title in quotation marks and title case and <em>Reddit</em> in italics.

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