How do I document sources from the Web in the works-cited list for my research paper?

The MLA guidelines on documenting online sources in a research paper are explained in detail in the sixth edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (2003). What follows here is a summary of the guidelines in the MLA Handbook that cover the World Wide Web.

Sources on the Web that students use in their research include scholarly projects, information databases, the texts of books, articles in periodicals, and personal sites. Entries in a works-cited list for such sources contain as many items from the list below as are relevant and available. Following this list are sample entries for some common kinds of Web sources.

1. Name of the author, editor, compiler, or translator of the source (if given), reversed for alphabetizing and, if appropriate, followed by an abbreviation, such as ed.
2. Title of an article, poem, short story, or similar short work in the Internet site (enclosed in quotation marks). Or title of a posting to a discussion list or forum (taken from the subject line and put in quotation marks), followed by the description Online posting
3. Title of a book (underlined [ Should I use underlining or italics?])
4. Name of the editor, compiler, or translator of the text (if relevant and if not cited earlier), preceded by the appropriate abbreviation, such as Ed.
5. Publication information for any print version of the source
6. Title of the Internet site (e.g., scholarly project, database, online periodical, or professional or personal site (underlined [ Should I use underlining or italics?]) or, for a professional or personal site with no title, a description such as Home page
7. Name of the editor of the site (if given)
8. Version number of the source (if not part of the title) or, for a journal, the volume number, issue number, or other identifying number
9. Date of electronic publication, of the latest update, or of posting
10. For a work from a subscription service, the name of the service and--if a library or a consortium of libraries is the subscriber--the name and geographic location (e.g., city, state abbreviation) of the subscriber
11. For a posting to a discussion list or forum, the name of the list or forum
12. The number range or total number of pages, paragraphs, or other sections, if they are numbered
13. Name of any institution or organization sponsoring the site (if not cited earlier)
14. Date when the researcher accessed the source
15. URL of the source or, if the URL is impractically long and complicated, the URL of the site's search page. Or, for a document from a subscription service, the URL of the service's home page, if known; or the keyword assigned by the service, preceded by Keyword; or the sequence of links followed, preceded by Path.

Victorian Women Writers Project. Ed. Perry Willett.
 
May 2000. Indiana U. 26 June 2002 <http://
 
www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/>.

Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet. 19 
 
June 2001. Lib. of Congress, Washington. 18 May
 
2002 <http://thomas.loc.gov/>.

Lancashire, Ian. Home page. 28 Mar. 2002. 15 May 
 
2002 <http://www.chass.utoronto.ca:8080/~ian/>.

Nesbit, E[dith]. Ballads and Lyrics of Socialism.
 
London, 1908. Victorian Women Writers Project.
 
Ed. Perry Willett. May 2000. Indiana U. 26 June    
 
2002 <http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/
 
nesbit/ballsoc.html>.

Nesbit, E[dith]. "Marching Song." Ballads and Lyrics 
 
of Socialism. London, 1908. Victorian Women     
 
Writers Project. Ed. Perry Willett. May 2000.   	               
 
Indiana U. 26 June 2002 <http://     
 
www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/nesbit/     
 
ballsoc.html#p9>.

Sohmer, Steve. "12 June 1599: Opening Day at 
 
Shakespeare's Globe." Early Modern Literary
 
Studies 3.1 (1997): 46 pars. 26 June 2002 
 
<http://www.shu.ac.uk/emls/03-1/sohmjuli.html>.

Levy, Steven. "Great Minds, Great Ideas." Newsweek
 
27 May 2002. 20 May 2002 <http://www.msnbc.com/
 
news/754336.asp>.

Youakim, Sami. "Work-Related Asthma." American
 
Family Physician 64 (2001): 1839-52. Health
 
Reference Center. Gale. Bergen County 
 
Cooperative Lib. System, NJ. 12 Jan. 2002     
 
<http://www.galegroup.com/>.

"Table Tennis." Compton's Encyclopedia Online. Vers.
 
2.0. 1997. America Online. 4 July 1998.
 
Keyword: Compton's.

Merrian, Joanne. "Spinoff: Monsterpiece Theatre."
 
Online posting. 30 Apr. 1994. Shaksper: The 
 
Global Electronic Shakespeare Conf. 23 Sept.
 
2002 <http://www.shaksper.net/archives/1994/
 
0380.html>.
 

For more information, see I am using a source on the Web that has no page numbers. How do I cite it in my research paper?

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