How to Cite a Paraphrased Paragraph From a Website

Proper citations lend professionalism and polish to your work.

For professional and academic integrity in your essays and papers, it is crucial that you properly cite your sources, including websites. Even paraphrasing without proper citation is considered plagiarism. With the prevalence of scholarly work published online, much of your research may be gleaned from the Internet. Using a combination of in-text citations and a separate Works Cited page at the end of your paper will allow you to paraphrase specific paragraphs from websites where no page number is given.

Instructions

1. Copy URLs of your online sources as you do research and especially when you write your paper. Collect these in a list on a separate page that will form a Works Cited page to appear at the end of your paper. You can revise this list as you work on your paper, deleting irrelevant sources and adding newly relevant ones.

2. Create in-text citations for passages in your essay where you paraphrase specific paragraphs. In-text citations are parenthetical citations that appear within the body of the paper and briefly indicate the author's last name, title of article or website. As two examples: (Surname) or ("Article Title").

3. Include the author's name in parentheses at the end of your paraphrased paragraph or sentence. If no author is available, as is the case with many websites, then cite the article name. If there is no article title, then list the website name. For electronic sources, it's not necessary to include page or paragraph numbers.

4. List partial URLs in your in-text citation only if your source has a major domain name, for example, (CNN.com). Do not include entire URLs, such as (http://www.cnn.com).

5. Generate a Works Cited page by listing the full citations. For electronic sources, list the following in order:
   Author's surname, first name. "Title of Article." Name of website (in italics). Publisher's name. Date website was published. Web. Date you accessed the site. <URL in angled brackets.>

   The MLA Style Guide requires the medium of publication, which is why you must include either the word "Print" or the word "Web" in the citation (see above for an example). You may skip information that is not provided on the website--begin the citation with "Article Title" if no author is given.

References

• Purdue OWL: MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Purdue OWL: MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics