How to cite a webpage with no author, date, or title in APA Style
Webpage citations in APA Style consist of five components: author, publication date, title, website name, and URL.
Unfortunately, some of these components are sometimes missing. For instance, there may be no author or publication date. This article explains how to handle different kinds and combinations of missing information.
| What’s missing? | Solution |
|---|---|
| Nothing | – |
| No author | Use title in place of author. |
| No date | Use “n.d.” (“no date”) in place of date. |
| No title | Describe the source in brackets. |
| No author or date | Use title in place of author; use “n.d.” in place of date. |
| No author or title | Use bracketed description in place of author. |
| No date or title | Use “n.d.” in place of date; describe the source in brackets. |
| No author, date, or title | Use bracketed description in place of author; use “n.d.” in place of date. |
Basic webpage citation format
You can explore the basic citation format for a webpage using the example generator below.
No author
| Format | Page title. (Year, Month Day). Website Name. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | APA citation guidelines. (2020, October 30). Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/category/apa-style/ |
| In-text citation | (APA Citation Guidelines, 2020) |
No date
| Format | Last name, Initials. (n.d.). Page title. Website Name. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | Streefkerk, R. (n.d.). APA citation guidelines. Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/category/apa-style/ |
| In-text citation | (Streefkerk, n.d.) |
No title
| Format | Last name, Initials. (Year, Month Day). [Description of page]. Website Name. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | Streefkerk, R. (2020, October 30). [Article about APA citations]. Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/category/apa-style/ |
| In-text citation | (Streefkerk, 2020) |
No author or date
| Format | Page title. (n.d.). Website Name. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | APA citation guidelines (n.d.). Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/category/apa-style/ |
| In-text citation | (APA Citation Guidelines, n.d.) |
No author or title
| Format | [Description of page]. (Year, Month Day). Website Name. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | [Article about APA citations]. (2020, October 30). Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/category/apa-style/ |
| In-text citation | ([Article about APA citations], 2020) |
No date or title
| Format | Last name, initials. (n.d.). [Description of page]. Website Name. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | Streefkerk, R. (n.d.). [Article about APA citations]. Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/category/apa-style/ |
| In-text citation | (Streefkerk, n.d.) |
No author, date, or title
| Format | [Description of page]. (n.d.). Website Name. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | [Article about APA citations]. (n.d.). Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/category/apa-style/ |
| In-text citation | ([Article about APA citations], n.d.) |
Don’t forget: Our APA Citation Generator can handle all of these exceptions for you automatically!
Try the APA Citation Generator
5 comments
Samantha Nicole
September 27, 2020 at 7:21 PMThis is the best, thank you so much
Mary
August 27, 2020 at 4:29 PMA very useful information, now i won't get stuck anymore when it comes to citing from anywhere.
You are the best.
God bless you.
Alex Smith
July 18, 2020 at 6:31 AMHow do I cite an article in MLA format with no author or title?
Shona McCombes (Scribbr-team)
July 29, 2020 at 8:23 PMHi Alex,
You can see several examples in our guide to citing websites in MLA style.
Shwe
July 17, 2020 at 12:02 AMThank you for the amazing insight. Much needed for beginners who have started writing articles and don't know how to cite an online article.