Skip to main content

Cedar Park High School Library


Video Tutorial: Website - MLA Style


Choose the Web search engine you like best.  Regardless of search engine, ONLY search your key terms.  DO NOT type in a question or complete sentence because then you're asking the search engine to find these 'extra' words which can affect your results.  For example, do not search 'What is the average annual salary for a zookeeper?'.  The key words in this question are average, annual, salary and zookeeper.  Only search your key words/terms.

Advanced Searches

It's usually best to start simple - enter the key words into the basic search field.

HOWEVER, sometimes it is more advantageous to use the advanced search function.  

Advantages to Advanced Searches:

  1. Results are more relevant
  2. You can search for specific content, for example:  pdf files, audio and video content.
  3. It's easy.  Advanced search is not for advanced searchers.
  4. Results are ad-free.
  5. You can search specific domains, for example: .gov and .edu

Example Citation

"Kindergarten and Elementary School Teachers: How to Become a Kindergarten or 
     Elementary School Teacher." Occupational Outlook Handbook, United States 
     Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 8 Jan. 2014, 
     kindergarten-and-elementary-school-teachers.htm. Accessed 7 Oct. 2014. 

Citing a Website in NoodleTools

When citing something from the free Internet in Noodle Tools, please remember the difference between a Web site and a Web page.  If you performed a search through a search engine, chances are you are looking at and citing a page from a larger Web site

To find the name of the Web site, truncate the URL by highlighting all characters after the .com or .net or .org, then press the 'enter' key.  The title of the Web site will be on their home page. 

Chances are, if you could not find an author, editor, publisher of the site and/or publication date on the page you're citing, you'll find them here on the home page.  Sometimes to find all the information, you may need to go to the 'contact us' or 'about' sections of the site. 

Remember, if ANYONE, can find the information on the page or site, you MUST include it in your citation.