PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Webpage with no author

How to Cite a Webpage With No Author in MLA 9

When a webpage has no author, an MLA 9 Works Cited entry starts with the page title in quotation marks and title case. The website's name follows in italics, then the date and the URL without https://. In the text, cite the title in quotation marks, shortened to its first noun phrase if it's long: ("Nursing Union Concern").

The format

"Title of the Webpage." Website Name, Day Month Year, www.example.com/page.

PERRLA MLA Experts ยท 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 Webpage, leave the author fields empty, and fill in the Page Title, the Website Name, the Publication Date, and the URL (Web address). With no author, PERRLA starts the entry with the title and builds every in-text citation from it.

Starting from PERRLA's reference search with the page's URL? Check the author field and the website name before you save. On news sites that don't print bylines, the site's own name can land in the author field. Clear it, and PERRLA moves the title to the front for you. Then check that the website name reads BBC News, not just BBC.

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

The parts of the works cited entry

1. First, make sure there's really no author

Look for a byline before you decide a page has no author. MLA asks you to credit authors whenever the page names one. A page truly has no author when no person takes credit for it: a news story with no byline, for example. Don't write Anonymous in the author spot.

Organization pages are different. If the organization that wrote the page also runs the site, MLA starts the entry with the title anyway, so it looks just like a no-author entry. If a different organization wrote it, that organization is the author.

2. Title first

Start with the page title in quotation marks and title case, with a period inside the closing quotation mark. Use the headline printed on the page. News sites often give the browser tab or the search result a different wording.

"Nursing Union Concern over Students Unable to Find Work."

MLA title case keeps prepositions like over and from lowercase in the middle of a title, however long they are.

3. Website name

The website's name comes next, in italics, followed by a comma.

BBC News,

4. Date

Give the date as day, month, and year, with months longer than four letters abbreviated.

8 Aug. 2024,

If the page gives only a "Last Reviewed" date, MLA lets you use it. No date at all? Leave it out and add an access date at the end: Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

5. URL

End with the URL of the exact page, without https://, followed by a period.

www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ylw70dwyko.

6. The in-text citation

With no author, the title takes the author's place in the citation. Keep it in quotation marks, as in the Works Cited entry, and shorten a long title to its first noun phrase, starting with the word the entry is alphabetized by, so your reader can find it.

("Nursing Union Concern")

Webpages have no page numbers, so nothing follows the title. Name the title in your sentence and you don't need parentheses at all.

Examples

A news story with no byline

A BBC News story about nursing students in Glasgow who couldn't find jobs with their local health board. BBC News doesn't credit a writer on this story, so the title comes first and BBC News stays in as the website.

  • In-text citation("Nursing Union Concern")
  • Narrative citationThe BBC News story "Nursing Union Concern over Students Unable to Find Work" reports that ….

When the headline and the tab title don't match

Another unbylined BBC News story. The browser tab and search results call it "Measles outbreak: Two children die from viral illness," but the headline on the page reads differently. Cite the headline you see on the page.

  • In-text citation("Two Children")
  • Narrative citationBBC News reported in "Two Children Die from Measles Following Outbreaks" that ….

An organization's page, which also starts with the title

The American Heart Association's page on blood pressure readings names no person. The association wrote it and runs heart.org, so MLA starts with the title and lists the association once, as the website. The page's only date is "Last Reviewed" 14 August 2025, which MLA lets you use.

  • In-text citation("Understanding Blood Pressure Readings")
  • Narrative citationThe American Heart Association's page "Understanding Blood Pressure Readings" explains that ….

In-text citations

For a webpage with no author, the in-text citation is the title, in quotation marks, because that's the first thing in the Works Cited entry.

  • A short title: give it in full: ("Hypertension")
  • A long title: shorten it to its first noun phrase, so "Nursing Union Concern over Students Unable to Find Work" becomes ("Nursing Union Concern")
  • Title in your sentence: name the title, or a description and the title, and skip the parentheses: The BBC News story "Nursing Union Concern over Students Unable to Find Work" reports that …
  • No page numbers: nothing follows the title, since webpages don't have them

A page by an organization that runs its own site works the same way: cite its title, not the organization's name.

Common mistakes

  • Anonymous. "Nursing Union Concern over Students Unable to Find Work.""Nursing Union Concern over Students Unable to Find Work."MLA never uses Anonymous in place of a missing author's name. Start with the title.
  • BBC News. "Nursing Union Concern over Students Unable to Find Work.""Nursing Union Concern over Students Unable to Find Work." BBC News,A news site isn't the author of an unbylined story. Its name goes after the title, in italics, as the website.
  • (Nursing Union Concern)("Nursing Union Concern")A webpage title is in quotation marks in the Works Cited entry, so it stays in quotation marks in the citation.
  • "Measles Outbreak: Two Children Die from Viral Illness.""Two Children Die from Measles Following Outbreaks."Cite the headline printed on the page, not the browser tab or search result title.
  • ("Nursing Union Concern over Students Unable to Find Work")("Nursing Union Concern")Shorten a long title in the citation to its first noun phrase. The Works Cited entry keeps the full title.
  • (American Heart Association)("Understanding Blood Pressure Readings")The entry starts with the title, because the association also runs the site, so the citation does too.

Quick checklist

  • No person takes credit for the page
  • Title first, in quotation marks and title case, from the headline on the page
  • Website name in italics after the title
  • Date as day, month, year, or an access date at the end when there's none
  • URL of the exact page, without https://, ending with a period
  • In text: the title in quotation marks, shortened to its first noun phrase if long

Questions students ask

Do I write Anonymous when a webpage has no author in MLA?

No. Start the entry with the title instead.

Can I use the website's name as the author?

For a news story with no byline, no: the site goes after the title as the website. For a page an organization wrote on its own site, MLA starts with the title too and lists the organization once, as the website. Only when one organization wrote the page and a different one runs the site does the writing organization go in the author spot.

How do I shorten a long title in the citation?

Use the first noun phrase of the title, starting with the word the entry is alphabetized by, in quotation marks. "Nursing Union Concern over Students Unable to Find Work" becomes ("Nursing Union Concern"). A short title, like "Hypertension," stays whole.

Do I use italics or quotation marks for the title in the citation?

Match the Works Cited entry. A webpage title is in quotation marks there, so it's in quotation marks in the citation. Titles of whole works, like books and websites, are italic in both places.

What if the webpage has no author and no date?

Start with the title, then the website name and the URL, and end with an access date: Accessed 27 Oct. 2026. In the text, cite the title alone. The no-date guide covers the date side.

Where does a no-author webpage go on my Works Cited page?

Alphabetize it by the first word of its title, skipping A, An, and The. It sits among your other entries as if the title were an author's name.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 2 (titles and capitalization), chapter 5 (the core elements, organization authors, and optional access dates, 5.111), and chapter 6 (in-text citations, 6.3–6.30, and shortened titles, 6.10), and the MLA Style Center pages "How do I cite a source that has no author?," "In MLA style, should any part of a two-word preposition be capitalized in a title?," "How do you alphabetize a works-cited-list entry that begins with a title starting with an article?," and "When citing a work on a website, should I use the original publication date or the last-updated date?" Example sources verified on each page itself, including the absence of a byline.

PERRLA builds the MLA entry for a no-author webpage with the title in front and the in-text citation to match.

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