How to Find the Author of a Website: Where to Look for Citation Info

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Kyle Smith. Kyle Smith is a wikiHow Technology Writer, learning and sharing information about the latest technology. He has presented his research at multiple engineering conferences and is the writer and editor of hundreds of online electronics repair guides. Kyle received a BS in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.

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Finding the author of a website is important if you're writing a paper or doing a project that requires citations. This information can be difficult to determine, however, especially if the website you're looking at isn't article-based. There are several places you can try to look for the author, but if you can't find one you can still cite the web page. This wikiHow will show you how to find the author of a website and cite a website in MLA or APA.

• Check at the top or bottom of an article for the author's name. You can also search for a "Contact" or "About" page.
• Look in the terms and conditions or the website's copyright information. Sometimes, you'll find the author displayed next to the copyright.
• Search Google or WHOIS to find out who the domain is registered to.

Finding a Website Author

• The author might be listed in an “article info” section, under the article title, or at the end of the article in an “about the author” section.
• Note that if you can’t find the author, your APA in-text citations will use the article title instead. Check out our complete guide to parenthetical citations for more info.

• You can also try looking at the “term of use” page to find more information about the publisher.

Look for a "Contact" or "About" page. If the specific page you are looking at does not have an author and is on a reputable website, it was probably authored under the authorization of the company or agency that runs the site. This can serve as the author if no specific author is listed.

• Look for “contact information” or “contact us” in the website’s footer.

Search Google with a portion of the text to look for the original author. If you're reading a website that isn't ethical, it may be displaying information copied from another source. Copy and paste a paragraph of text into a Google search to see if you can find who the original author is.

• Visit whois.icann.org and enter the website address into the search field.
• Look for the "Registrant Contact" information to find who registered the domain. You can still try to contact the owner through their proxy email if the registration information is blocked.

Citing a Website Without an Author

• If you’re looking for more citation information, check out our guide on citing sources in MLA format.

Get the website name. Besides the title of the article, you'll need the name of the website. For example, this article's title is "How to Find the Author of a Website" and the website name is "wikiHow."

• You can typically find the publisher at the bottom of the page, in the copyright information.

Find the date the page or article was published. This isn't always possible, but you should always try to find the publication date if you can.

Get a version number if possible (MLA). If the article or publication has a volume or version number, make sure to note this for MLA citations.

• MLA7 no longer requires including the URL for websites. The page title and site title are sufficient. Check with your instructor if you use MLA for your citation format.
• You don’t need to include the “https://” part of the URL. [1] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source

• For most publications, you can find the DOI at the top of the article. You may need to click an "Article" button or a button with the publisher's name. This will open the full article with the DOI at the top.
• You can look up a DOI by using the CrossRef search ( crossref.org ). Enter in the article title or the author to find the DOI.
• Some journal articles will have a button called “cite this source” or similar. This will generate the citation automatically for the article!

• MLA: Author . "Article Title." Website Title. Version Number. Website Publisher, Date Published. Web. Date Accessed. [3] X Research source
  • Use "n.p." if there is no publisher and "n.d." if there is no publishing date.
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  Community Q&A

  How do I find the publisher of an article? Community Answer This is usually at the bottom, with a copyright symbol and a year.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
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  What can I do if there isn't an About Page? Community Answer Try to find details of an email, then type the email or number into Google and a name might pop up.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
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  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

  When looking at the author of a website, how do I know if they are credible? Community Answer

  First, look at the author's credentials. See if they have any professional experience in the field they're writing about, and if so, look at what they did, how long they did it, and where they did it. Usually if someone has extensive experience in a particular field or about a particular topic, they are considered credible. Then, do some research about the author. Are they generally considered to be credible or are they completely unheard of? Has that author's work ever been published in any reputable journals? These questions and answers should help you decide whether or not an author can be considered credible.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

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  If you’re using Microsoft Word, take a look at our guide on how to remove citations from your document.

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