If you quote fewer than 200 words from any source you are within the rules of "fair use" and do not have to ask permission of the work's author/editor to cite them in a scholarly paper. But you do still have to cite the source in a works cited page, and the rules for electronic citation vary. But, in general, the basic MLA format for citation of an electronic source is:
This is for a Works Cited Page:
Name of site owner, author or editor. Title of Web Site, Date of latest posting, if available. Online.
Internet. Name of organization sponsoring Web site. Access or printout date <URL>.
If any of the "required" pieces is not available, you should skip it and put what is available; for a site with no title, description of site (such as "Home page"). If a website does not have an author , source of publication (like a University) or editor's name listed, however, you should consider whether or not the site is really reliable, and perhaps make a trip to your library for some more reputable sources.
For example, if you are citing our sister site, Domestic Goddesses, in general, the citation should look like this:
Wells, Kim. Domestic Goddesses. August 23, 1999. Online. Internet. Fill in date you access/print
out site. <http://www.womenwriters.net/domesticgoddess/>.
If you are citing a particular paper on the website, your citation should look like this:
Strickland, Margaret. "'Like a Wild Creature in its Cage, Paced That Handsome Woman': the
Struggle Between Sentiment and Sensation in the Writings of Louisa May Alcott." Domestic
Goddesses. Editor, Kim Wells. August 23, 1999. Online. Internet. Fill in date you access/print
out site. <http://www.womenwriters.net/domesticgoddess/strickland.htm>.
If you're citing a secondary page within the website that it not also authored by someone other than the website editor (as in the above example) you should make the citation like this:
Wells, Kim. "Sarah Orne Jewett." Domestic Goddesses. August 23, 1999. Online. Internet. Fill in
date you access/print out site. <http://www.womenwriters.net/domesticgoddess/jewett1.htm>.
This is for the Body Of Your Paper-- you need both the reference in your paper AND the Works Cited Page
When you refer to an idea in a paper, even if it is not a direct quotation, you should reference the person from whom you got the idea. For example, if I were quoting the paper by Li Di-Lu on Chopin's The Awakening, this is how I would (and how you should according to MLA guidelines) do it:
Critical theory varies on how to read Edna's suicide. For example, one can even read it from a Buddhist standpoint as Edna's attempt to find herself (Lu, The Awakenend One, np).
This is how to parenthetically refer to an idea that one gets from an author. Now, if I were directly quoting the idea from Lu's paper, this is how to do it.
Critical theory varies on how to read Edna's suicide. For example, one can even read it from a Buddhist standpoint. Li Di-Lu states:
If read as a suicide, then Edna Pontellier's last swim is a consequence of her awakening to the limitations of her femaleness in a male-dominant society. But on a metaphysical level, especially from the Buddhist perspective, The Awakening's final scene can be seen as Edna's ultimate gesture in trying to grasp the essence of her being. (The Awakenend One, np)