If no author is provided, start the citation with the title of the source you are citing. Note that an author can also be an organization or corporation (e.g., Health Canada). If and only if an item is signed as being created by Anonymous, use "Anonymous" where you'd normally put the author's name.
Example: Article from a print newspaper |
Works Cited List Citation "Get on Board for Train safety." Toronto Star, 17 June 2012, A14-15. In-text Citation ("Get on Board" A15)
If the title of the source is surrounded by quotes in the works cited list citation, follow the same format for the in-text citation. If the source has a long title, you may shorten it by using the first word/phrase from the title. |
Example: Print book |
Works Cited List Citation Introduction to Food Science. ABC Press, 2019. In-text Citation (Introduction to Food Science 20)
If the title of the source is Italicized in the works cited list citation, follow the same format for the in-text citation. |
Works Cited List Citation
If no publication date is provided, you may exclude the date element from your Works Cited List citation. MLA recommends including an access date at the end of your citation if your online source does not have a publication date. The access date is the date you viewed the online source. Example:
Ribecca, Severino. The Data Visualisation Catalogue. datavizcatalogue.com. Accessed 3 May 2021.
In-text Citation
Follow recommended in-text citation format for your source. For example:
(Severino)
Works Cited List Citation
Depending on the format of your source, the citation template may require page numbers (e.g., newspaper articles, magazine articles). If your source doesn't have page numbers, you may exclude the page element from your Works Cited List citation.
In-text Citations
When citing a work in text without page numbers, you may leave out the page element in your in-text citation. You may also consider using an alternative to help your reader locate the paraphrase or quote in your source (e.g., chapter number, slide number, time stamp). For example:
(Illowsky et al. ch. 5)
(Lim slide 2)
If your source is untitled, include a description of the source in place of a title in your citation. For example:
Works Cited List Citation
Potato chips - personally ate in the past 6 months for all respondents 14+ in Ontario. Vividata, 2018.
In-text Citation
(Potato Chips)
If the description is long, you may shorten it in your in-text citation by using the first word/phrase of the description.
If you find an article or eBook using the library website's main search make sure to click through to read the full article. Once you view the article or eBook, the database name is often displayed at the top of the page.
If it is ambiguous or says something like "searching 12 databases" and you can't tell which one database it is from, enter the name of the database provider (e.g., Proquest, EBSCO, etc.) as the database.