How To-109: "How to Cite a Wikipedia Article in MLA Format"

How to Cite a Wikipedia Article in MLA Format

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Whether you are a college student or still in high school, citing sources will always be the one burden you will have to carry until the end of your studies. Unfortunately, Wikipedia doesn’t automatically just give readers citations, if it did, this is how it would be. As an example, the Wikipedia article "Sakura", about cherry blossoms, will be used.

Steps

1. Write the title of the article within quotation marks (“”) making sure to place a full-stop (.) after the title. Do not write it in Italics.
   
2. Leave a space then type the title of the online encyclopedia, which in this case is Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Place a full-stop (.) and underline it.
   
3. Leave another space then type the date when the page was last modified and place a full-stop (.) at the end. This is usually found at the end of the webpage.
   
4. Leave another space then type in the publisher, in this case it is Wikimedia Foundation, and place a full-stop (.) at the end.
   
5. Leave another space and type in the date that you accessed the article.
   
6. Leave another space and type in the URL of the article in between angled parenthesis (< >) , make sure to include http:// and place a full-stop (.) at the end.

Tips

• If you want to cite the article within the text, place the title of the article within parnthesis () instead of the author like you would usually do. Ex. (Sakura)
  
• Ask your professor or teacher to check over your citation. They are the ones who will be grading you, if you ask them before hand then they can't remove any marks when you hand in your final paper.
  
• Remember: Your bibliography should be in alphabetical order.

Warnings

• This method of citation in not addressed in the MLA handbook.

Related wikiHows

• How to Cite an Interview in MLA Format
  
• How to Cite a Web Site
  
• How to Write a Term Paper
  
• How to Become a Freelance Writer

Sources and Citations

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakura

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