Online Course & Discussion Boards

When referencing online course material on your MLA Works Cited page, you will typically only need a container for the location where the material is hosted. That covers material like course pages, lectures, and discussion posts.

If you are citing a lecture and it has a specific title, list that in the place of the generic title below. If you are citing a lecture that you listened to or watched online, include a time stamp of the quotation in the text of your essay in the in-text citation.

Course Page

Sands, Crystal. "English 101: English Composition." Excelsior University, 2016, mycourses.excelsior.edu.

Elements

Elements used in this citation example are author, title, publisher, publication date, and location.

Discussion Post

Brunell, David. "Re: Armstrong Article." Reflections on Assignment 1, Excelsior University, 2013, mycourses.excelsior.edu.

Elements

Elements used in this citation example are author, title, title of container, publisher, publication date, and location.

Lecture

Galvez, Lourdes. Lecture on cybersecurity. Blackboard, Online U, 9 Dec. 2020, blackboard.online.edu. Video recording.

Elements

Elements used in this citation example are author, title (description), title of container, publisher, publication date, location, and supplemental element.

Slides

“Slides 040416.” Goals of Academic Writing, taught by Sunil Gupta. Canvas. Excelsior U, 4 Apr. 2016, excelsior.instructure.com/courses/28587/files/14661915.

Elements

Elements used in this citation example are title (description), supplemental element, title of container, publisher, publication date, and location.