How to Cite an App in MLA
Mobile apps are a constantly available source of information, and students are increasingly turning to these tools to conduct research and write papers. MLA has specific guidelines for citing a mobile app that are different than those for citing a website in MLA. Here are some tips on how to cite a mobile app in MLA format, 9th edition.
Works Cited Structure:
Author Last Name, First Name (if available). App Title. *Rights holder, version number, date of publication. Title of Website with App, download URL.
*Note that the rights holder may be an individual but is often a group or company, and that the date reflects the year the version you used was released, even though previous versions may have been released in different years. An easy way to find the rights holder is to look for the copyright symbol (©).
The rights holder is the person or group that owns the right to distribute the app itself; most often this is the “seller.” The author is the person who built the app or maintains it over time. Unless the individual author is clearly available, citing the rights holder is preferred.
Works Cited Example:
Reuters. Thomson Reuters Corporation, Vers. 3.2.1, 2017. Apple App Store, itunes.apple.com/us/app/reuters/id602660809?mt=8.
In-text Citation Structure:
(Author’s Last Name OR App Name)
In-text Citation Example:
(Reuters)