PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/X (Twitter) post

How to Cite an X (Twitter) Post in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for an X (formerly Twitter) post starts with the account's name, plus its @handle in square brackets when the handle is different from the name, then the post's full text in quotation marks as the title, X in italics, the day, month, and year it was posted, and the post's URL without https://. The in-text citation is the name alone: (World Health Organization).

The format

Account Name [@handle]. "Full text of the post." X, Day Month Year, x.com/handle/status/#.

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 A social media post. Set the role to Username (screen name). For a person, type the first and last name in First and Last; for an organization, type its full name in Last and leave First empty. Type the handle with its @ in the Name box when it's different from the name, or leave Name empty when the handle just repeats it. Paste the post's text into Post Content, type X in Platform Name, pick the date, and paste the post's URL. Leave Description of attached content empty, since MLA doesn't use it. PERRLA puts the text in quotation marks, italicizes X, writes the date day-month-year, and drops the https:// from the link.

Pasting a post's link into PERRLA's reference search? PERRLA reads the post from X and fills in the name, the handle, the date, and the URL. Then check a few things before you save. The search keeps only the first 20 words of the post, the way APA wants it, so for MLA replace Post Content with the whole post (or shorten it yourself with an ellipsis at the end). And when an account's name ends with an abbreviation in parentheses, like World Health Organization (WHO), the search brings in the name with the abbreviation tacked on, so delete it from the Last box. The search also always fills in the handle; if it just repeats the person's name, you can clear the Name box.

Citing a profile? Choose Page or profile on a social media platform, type the tab's name (like Posts) in Page Title, leave Page Description empty for MLA, and click Today under Retrieval Date so the entry ends with the date you viewed it.

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

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Account name and handle

MLA uses the name on the account as the author: the name in bold above the post, not the @handle under it. For a person, give the name last name first. For an organization, give its full name. When the handle is different from the name, add it in square brackets after the name, @ sign included, and end with a period.

World Health Organization [@WHO].

When the handle simply repeats the person's name, like Eric Topol and @EricTopol, MLA says you can leave the handle out, since the URL already points to the account.

Topol, Eric.

Some display names tack an abbreviation on in parentheses, like World Health Organization (WHO). MLA has no specific rule for this. These examples give the full name alone, since the handle in brackets already shows the short form. If all you know is the handle, start the entry with the handle itself.

2. Text of the post as the title

X posts don't have titles, so the post's own words stand in for one. Put the full text in quotation marks, exactly as written: spelling, capitalization, @mentions, and hashtags. The period goes inside the closing quotation mark. Unlike APA, MLA has no 20-word limit.

"Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China."

A few adjustments. Leave out emojis; the MLA Style Center says not to reproduce them in Works Cited entries. Run line breaks together with single spaces. A link at the very end of a post, like the shortened link to an article, can come off, the way the MLA Style Center's own examples quote a post's words without its trailing link. A long post can be shortened: keep the opening words and end with an ellipsis (three spaced periods) before the period that closes the title.

Post that's only a photo or a video? Describe it in your own words, with no quotation marks and no italics, like Photo of a flu vaccine clinic.

3. X as the container

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

X,

Use X for posts from before the name change too. The MLA Style Center says to cite every post on the platform, old or new, with X as the container, since the old posts now live there. MLA adds no label like [Post] or [Tweet].

4. Date

Give the day, month, and year of the post, in that order, followed by a comma. Abbreviate months longer than four letters (Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.).

14 Jan. 2020,

X shows short dates in the feed, like "Oct 21" or "5h." Open the post itself to see the full date under the text.

5. URL

End with the post's own link, the one with /status/ and a number in it, and a period. MLA drops the https:// from the front.

x.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152.

Copy the link the way your browser shows it. A share code on the end, like ?s=20, isn't needed to find the post; MLA's own examples sometimes keep one, so trimming it is up to you. A dated post doesn't need an access date, though MLA lets you add one. A profile, which changes all the time, should end with the date you viewed it: Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

Examples

A post from an organization, from before Twitter became X

The World Health Organization's January 14, 2020, post on early reports from Wuhan, often cited in papers on COVID-19 communication. It went up as a tweet, but the container is X, the way the MLA Style Center now cites older posts. The whole post is the title, hashtags included, and the Chinese flag emoji after #China is left out.

  • In-text citation(World Health Organization)
  • Narrative citationIn January 2020, the World Health Organization reported that …

A post from an individual

Cardiologist Eric Topol sharing a new Nature article. His name goes last name first. His handle, @EricTopol, just repeats his name, so it's left out. The title is the whole post, with the @mention kept and the line break run together; the link to the article at the end of the post is left off.

  • In-text citation(Topol)
  • Narrative citationAs Topol notes, …

An X profile

To cite an account rather than one post, cite its profile. The title is the name of the tab you're citing (Posts is the default; other tabs include Replies, Highlights, and Media), in quotation marks. A profile has no single date and changes all the time, so the entry ends with the date you viewed it.

  • In-text citation(American Nurses Association)
  • Narrative citationThe American Nurses Association's posts on X …

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation for an X post gives the first word or words of the Works Cited entry, which is usually the account's name. Use the name, not the handle, and no date. Posts have no page numbers, so the name stands alone.

  • Organization: (World Health Organization)
  • Individual: (Topol)
  • Handle only: when the entry starts with the handle, so does the citation: (@handle)
  • Name in your sentence: no parenthetical is needed: Eric Topol shared a new study of a personal health agent.
  • Two posts from the same account: add a short version of each title, in quotation marks, after a comma: (World Health Organization, "Preliminary investigations").

In your prose, MLA now asks you to say post and posted, not tweet and tweeted. In the Works Cited list, an X entry is alphabetized by the account's name like any other source; an entry that starts with a handle is alphabetized as if the @ weren't there.

Common mistakes

  • World Health Organization [@WHO]. (2020, January 14). Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities… [Image attached] [Post]. X.World Health Organization [@WHO]. "Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities…" X, 14 Jan. 2020,That's APA. MLA puts the post's text in quotation marks instead of italics, drops the bracketed labels, italicizes X, and moves the date after the platform.
  • World Health Organization [@WHO]. "Preliminary investigations…" Twitter, 14 Jan. 2020,World Health Organization [@WHO]. "Preliminary investigations…" X, 14 Jan. 2020,The MLA Style Center uses X as the container for every post on the platform, including ones from the Twitter years.
  • "Just published @Nature A 3-agent AI personal health agent exceeded performance of a large language model/chatbot and serves as a""Just published @Nature A 3-agent AI personal health agent exceeded performance of a large language model/chatbot and serves as a foundation to build on for integrating sensor data, medical knowledge and coaching."The 20-word cutoff is APA's rule. MLA uses the whole post as the title, or shortens it with an ellipsis so the reader can see something was cut.
  • (World Health Organization, 2020)(World Health Organization)MLA in-text citations don't use the year, and a post has no page number to add.
  • (@WHO)(World Health Organization)The in-text citation matches the first words of the Works Cited entry, and that's the account's name. Use the handle only when the entry starts with it.
  • X, 14 Jan. 2020, https://x.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152X, 14 Jan. 2020, x.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152.MLA drops https:// from the front of the URL, and the entry ends with a period.

Quick checklist

  • Account name (person last name first), then the @handle in brackets if it's different
  • The full post in quotation marks, as written, minus emojis
  • A long post shortened with an ellipsis at the end
  • X in italics, even for posts from the Twitter years
  • Day, month, and year, with no [Post] or [Tweet] label
  • The post's own link, without https://, ending with a period
  • An access date for a profile

Questions students ask

Do I write Twitter or X in an MLA citation?

Write X. The MLA Style Center recommends X as the container for every post on the platform, including ones posted before the name change, so your Works Cited list doesn't mix the two. In your sentences, call them posts rather than tweets.

Do I have to include the @handle?

Include it when it's different from the account's name, like World Health Organization [@WHO]. When the handle just repeats the name, as with Eric Topol and @EricTopol, MLA says you can leave it out because the URL already leads to the account. If you have no URL, keep the handle so your reader can find the post.

How do I cite a thread or a reply?

Each post in a thread, and each reply, has its own date and link, so cite the specific post you quote or discuss, with its own text as the title and its own URL. If you use several posts, each one gets its own entry.

Do I need to mention the account in my Works Cited list if I only name it?

No. When you mention an account in general terms, the MLA Style Center says a handle or URL in parentheses in your sentence is enough, like the American Nurses Association (@ANANursingWorld). Once you quote or discuss a specific post, that post gets a Works Cited entry.

Do I cite the post or the article it links to?

Cite what you used. If you're writing about the post itself, like how a researcher shared a study, cite the post. If you're using the study's findings, read the study and cite it as a journal article.

What if the post is only an image or a video?

Describe it in place of the title, in your own words, with no quotation marks and no italics: Account Name [@handle]. Video of a nurse demonstrating hand hygiene. X, … MLA uses a description for any source without a title.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 5 (the core elements, including text from the work or a description as the title) and chapter 6 (in-text citations), and the MLA Style Center's posts on citing social media, citing Twitter now that its name is X, citing a social media profile, citing posts on Twitter, access dates for social media, emojis in post titles, hashtags, and alphabetizing posts. Example posts are the ones verified for the APA 7 page; each post's text, account name, handle, and date re-read from X's embed data on October 27, 2026. The profile's access date is the APA page's October 21 viewing.

PERRLA builds the X entry from your details, with the handle in brackets, the post in quotation marks, and <em>X</em> in italics.

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