

How to Cite a Website Without an Authorĭepending on your class subject or industry, you might use APA, MLA or Chicago Styles, all of which differ in what information is necessary for a proper citation.


The sections below will serve as a guide for properly accrediting the un-named authors in both of these scenarios. However, as long as the source is reliable and the information is vital to your work it is still seen as appropriate and professional to cite an anonymous source.Īlthough an article without an author and an article written anonymously may seem similar, they actually have different citation formats across the different styles. This might be useful if the writer is branching into a new field of study, or if they need to hide their identity for safety reasons. Writers occasionally chose to publish anonymously, as it removes their reputation and personal ties from the work. Similarly, sometimes online information won’t disclose an author’s name but instead lists “anonymous” as the author. When there is absolutely no author name to be found in the content, you still must cite the source accurately. This can occur for a variety of reasons, for example, if an article was written by a whole team of employees, or if the work was a combination of both the website staff work and newswire material. Of course, if you have any experience at all with research, you already know how common it is to find online information with no author attributed. This is true even for students who have been well-trained in the use of primary sources and physical references: books, magazines, and newspapers, among others. In fact, it’s rare not to head to the internet when you start researching a topic. Today, a staggering majority of our information is found online. How To Cite a Website Without an Author: APA, MLA, and Chicago Style
