Cite a Wikipedia Article in MLA Format

Citing Wikipedia can be challenging, as the articles are constantly changing and the authors are anonymous. However, Wikipedia keeps up to date with MLA citations and can help you generate a proper citation. For academic papers, Wikipedia articles are not usually considered a good source. Be sure to check with your publisher or your instructor before you base a substantial portion of a paper on a Wikipedia article.

Steps

Listing a Wikipedia Article in your Works Cited

  1. Start by crediting Wikipedia Contributors. Since Wikipedia articles are written by many volunteers, there isn't a single author you can cite. However, you can credit the many volunteers who wrote the article.[1]
    • If you prefer, you can leave this citation off, and simply begin with the name of the article.[2]
  2. Follow this with the name of the article in quotation marks. The title of the article is the subject of the article. For instance, if you are citing an article about blueberries, the title of the article would be "Blueberry." You should be able to easily see the title of your article at the top of your Wikipedia page.[1]
    • Put a period after the title, and enclose the title and period together in quotation marks.
    • Your citation so far should read: Wikipedia Contributors. "Blueberry."
  3. Credit Wikipedia in italics. The full name of Wikipedia is Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Italicize this and put it after the article title, followed by a period.
    • Now your citation goes: Wikipedia contributors. "Blueberry." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.[3]
  4. Credit Wikipedia with no italics. Wikipedia is both the website and the publisher of your article, so you have to list it twice. This time, don't italicize Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Follow this second listing with a comma rather than a period.
    • Now you have: Wikipedia contributors. "Blueberry." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, [1]
  5. Finish with the date and the word "Web." List the date of the page's last revision. To find this, click on the tab to the right of the title that says "View history." The top date listed is the date of the last revision.[3]
    • List the first the day of the month, then the month abbreviated (ex. Oct, Dec, Sept), followed by a period.
    • After this write the word "Web" and a period.
    • Next, list the date again, followed by a period.
    • Example: 11 Jan. 2017. Web. 11 Jan. 2017.
    • Now your citation reads: Wikipedia contributors. "Blueberry." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 11 Jan. 2017. Web. 11 Jan. 2017.
  6. Include URLS in some cases. MLA used to require URLs, but no longer does. However, with a generic subject such as blueberries, you might choose to include a URL at the end of your citation. In this case, cite it within "<" and ">"[3]
    • For instance, you might write: Wikipedia contributors. "Blueberry." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 11 Jan. 2017. Web. 11 Jan. 2017.< https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueberry>
  7. Use the Wikipedia Citation Generator. Rather than writing all this out, use Wikipedia's tool for generating page citations. Go to the article you are citing, and locate the "Tools" menu to the left of the article. Click "Cite this page." Scroll down until you see the citation in MLA format. You can copy this into your Works Cited.

Citing Within the Text

  1. Position your parentheses. At the end of a sentence in which you quote, paraphrase, or otherwise use information from a Wikipedia article, you must cite the article. Place parentheses before the period that ends the sentence, but after quotation marks if they are used.[4]
  2. Put the start of your citation within the parentheses. If you are citing Wikipedia contributors, put that within your parentheses. If you have opted to forgo the authors and instead have started your Works Cited citation with the title of the article, put that in the parentheses.
    • For instance, you might write: Blueberries are a great source of nutrients (Wikipedia Contributors).
    • Alternatively, you might write: Blueberries are a great source of nutrients (Blueberry).
  3. Cite multiple Wikipedia articles. If you are citing more than one Wikipedia article, you can include both the contributors and the title within your parentheses.
    • You could write: Blueberries are a great source of nutrients (Wikipedia contributors, Blueberry).

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ACiteThisPage&page=Blueberries#MLA_style
  2. ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_Wikipedia
  4. ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/
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