You'll very likely cite these 3 source types--books, journal articles, and websites--again and again. Learning the basic format for these will make citation painless! We strongly suggest you memorize the basic format, even if you usually use citation generators.
Book, print
Author's Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.
If a book is accessed through a database, include the name of the database and permalink. See Citation Element 3: Title of Container and Citation Element 9: Location in Section 1: Core Elements
Author's Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Year. Ebook Platform Name, URL.
Use this format if each chapter of the book is by a different author. See Citation Element 3: Title of Container and Citation Element 4: Other Contributors for more information
Chapter Author. “Chapter Title.” Book Title, edited by Firstname Lastname, Publisher, Year, page numbers.
Chapter Author. "Chapter Title.” Book Title, edited by Firstname Lastname, Publisher, Year, page numbers. Database, URL.
Author's Name. Title of Book. nth ed., Publisher, Year.
If you are citing a type of book not listed here or think there's other information that should be included for clarity, check the Core Elements list and then use your judgement!
Journal Article, online
If you are using a print journal, end the citation with the page numbers, leaving off database and doi.
Notice that this format is similar to the format of a single chapter in an e-book—the article is analogous to the chapter, and the journal to the whole book. The only difference is the addition of the volume and issue number, and the omission of the publisher. See Element 3: Title of Container
Author's Name. “Title of Article.” Journal Title, vol #, no #, year, pp #-##. Database Name, doi:10.xxxxxx.
There are many kinds of websites—from personal blogs to company webpages to educational sites to crowdsourced encyclopedias--so what a website citation looks like can depend a great deal on the source information.
On a website where an individual author is responsible for all the content, such as a personal blog, each individual page may not list the author's name--you may need to look for an about page or similar to get that information. If there is no publication or copyright year listed, include the date you accessed the article--if the webpage is updated (as often happens with Wikipedia, for example), or the URL stops working, this will at least give your reader some context about when the information existed. In general, include as much of the information from the template as exists for the source
Basic Format
Lastname, Firstname. “Name of Page.” Website Name, Publishing Organization, Date Month Year, URL.
Webpage with author and date
Webpage, where the name of the website is the name of the primary creator
Entire Website
As with much of MLA Style, there are multiple correct ways to cite an entire website! Include as much information as is available.
Website Author/Creator. Website Name. Year Range, URL.
Website Name. URL. Accessed On Date Month Year