how to cite a source with no author.

APA says to use “the specific agency responsible for the webpage as the author” for a government page and to “use the name of the organization as the author” for an organization page.

MLA gives the same first checkpoint in broader terms: “For works created by a corporate author—an institution, a government body, or another kind of organization—list that entity as the author.” MLA then adds an important publisher exception, covered in the comparison below.

When no individual or group author can be found, the title moves to the author position.

If the date is also missing, use the no-date form.

When the author and site name are the same, APA says, “Because the author of the webpage and the site name are the same, omit the site name from the source element to avoid repetition.” The group author stays in the author position.

MLA says, “begin the works-cited-list entry with the title of the work. Do not use Anonymous in place of an author's name.” The in-text citation then keys to the entry's first element.

The second example demonstrates the contrast: when the entry begins with an author, the in-text key is that author; when it begins with a title, the key follows the title.

MLA states the exception this way: “if a corporate author is also the work's publisher, list that entity as the publisher and skip the Author element.”

APA says, “For a missing author, do not use 'Anonymous' as the author unless the work is actually signed 'Anonymous.'” MLA likewise says not to use Anonymous in place of an author's name.

In APA, a work with no author is cited in the text by its title and year, either in parentheses or in your sentence. The title keeps the formatting it would have anywhere in your writing: italics for a work that stands alone, such as a book, report, or webpage, and quotation marks for part of a larger work, such as an article or chapter. In your text, titles use title case, even when the reference list entry uses sentence case.

APA's own Wikipedia example shows the pattern. The reference entry for the article uses sentence case with no italics, and the in-text citation puts the title in quotation marks with title case:

1. 01Check for a person
   Look carefully for an individual author.
2. 02Check for a group
   Identify a responsible agency or organization.
3. 03Apply the style's repetition rule
   APA and MLA handle an organization that is also publisher in opposite slots.
4. 04Move the title only when needed
   A truly unauthored work starts with its title.

Use the citation generator to assemble the entry, then use the source checker to confirm whether an author or organization is actually present.