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How to Cite a Source with No Author

Most pages that look authorless were written by an organization. This guide is the recoverability workflow for a missing byline: when APA 7, MLA 9, and Chicago 18 treat a group as the author, when the title moves into that slot, and when Anonymous is actually required. It is the companion to how to cite a group author, not a second copy of how to cite a website in APA, MLA, or Chicago, and it is not the no-date or no-title guide.

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Photo: Thomas Martinsen, Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
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How to Cite a Source with No Author: Quick Answer

Look for a person, then an organization, then an editor or translator, before you decide the work has no author. Only after that search fails do APA 7, MLA 9, and Chicago 18 move the title into the author position. Do not write Anonymous unless the work is signed that way. Chicago has one extra exception: you may use Anonymous in a bibliography only to group several anonymous works together.

Title-first patterns after the author search fails

APA 7 official missing-author table:

Title. (Date). Source.

APA 7 official in-text table:

(Title, year)

MLA 9 official webpage (specimen URL now 404s; keep the official line):

"English Language Arts Standards." Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2017, www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/.

MLA 9 official in-text:

The homily argues that rebelling against the English monarch amounts to rebelling against God (“Homily” 97).

Chicago 18 official anonymous book:

1. A True and Sincere Declaration of the Purpose and Ends of the Plantation Begun in Virginia, of the Degrees Which It Hath Received, and Means by Which It Hath Been Advanced (London, 1610).

Chicago 18 web note versus bibliography:

Notes usually begin with the page title. The bibliography still lists the site owner when there is one.

Find an author before you move the title

Students treat a missing byline as a missing author. That is the usual error. A government agency, a standards body, a newsroom, or a university can be the author even when no person is named. The MLA Style Center puts the warning in one sentence:

MLA Style Center

Review a source carefully before deciding that it has no author. It’s important to credit authors for their work.

APA Style restated the same recoverability test on 26 May 2026: a webpage with no byline is usually a group-author page, not a title-first page. The names come from the page context or the About page (Publication Manual §9.7 and Example 113).

  1. Read the byline, the end of the page, and any "About the author" or staff line.
  2. Open the About, copyright, or colophon page. An organization named there is often the author, not decoration.
  3. For a report or PDF, check the cover, title page, and suggested-citation block.
  4. If an editor, compiler, or translator is named and no author is, that person takes the author slot. The work is not authorless.
  5. If you can identify a likely author who is not on the title page, Chicago lets you put that name in brackets with a question mark. That is still an author entry, not a title-first entry.
  6. Only then move the title to the front of the entry.

A group author is not a missing author

APA 7 §9.11, MLA's corporate-author rule, and Chicago's institutional-author rule all treat an organization as an author. The World Health Organization, the National Institute of Mental Health, or the American Nurses Association belongs in the author element. Moving the title first because "no person wrote it" produces the wrong citation and the wrong in-text pointer. The full abbreviation and agency-name workflow lives in how to cite a group author; this page only marks the line between a group and a truly empty author slot.

CMOS 18 §13.86, University of Minnesota reprint

If a publication issued by an organization, association, commission, or corporation carries no personal author’s name on the title page, the organization is listed as author in the bibliography, even if it is also given as publisher.

The live APA Style webpage examples now lead with NIMH and WHO for that pattern: use the organization, italicize the page title, put a parent agency in the source when it is not already in the author element, and omit a repeated site name. The clinical-practice references page still prints the ANA and NINR specimens. Quote the official line when you are matching APA; check the page you actually opened when you are citing the live site.

APA 7 group authors, official webpage examples

Official government group author (webpage examples):

National Institute of Mental Health. (2018, July). Anxiety disorders. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml

Official organizational group author (webpage examples):

World Health Organization. (2018, May 24). The top 10 causes of death. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death

Official ANA specimen (clinical-practice page; live hub title is now Healthy Work Environment):

American Nurses Association. (n.d.). Health work environment. https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work-environment/

Official NINR specimen (clinical-practice page; live April 12, 2024 page still matches):

National Institute of Nursing Research. (2024, April 12). Exploring the recovery journey of trauma patients. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.ninr.nih.gov/newsandevents/featured-research/exploring-recovery-journey-trauma-patients

Parenthetical:

(American Nurses Association, n.d.; National Institute of Mental Health, 2018; National Institute of Nursing Research, 2024; World Health Organization, 2018)

Two leftovers sit inside those official APA lines. The NIMH specimen still ends in /index.shtml and is dated July 2018; the live topic page is Anxiety Disorders and was last reviewed in December 2024. The ANA specimen still titles the hub Health work environment; the live nursingworld.org page now titles the same URL Healthy Work Environment. Keep the official strings when you are copying APA. Cite the title and URL you actually used when you are documenting the live page.

MLA makes one extra cut. If the corporate author is also the publisher, skip the Author element and list the organization only as publisher. The first item in the works-cited entry is then the title, and the in-text citation uses that title, not the organization. That is an MLA publisher rule, not proof that nobody wrote the report.

MLA Style Center, corporate author versus publisher

Corporate author, different publisher:

Hart Research Associates. It Takes More Than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success. Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2013, www.aacu.org/publications-research/periodicals/it-takes-more-major-employer-priorities-college-learning-and.

Same organization is author and publisher:

Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America. National Endowment for the Arts, June 2004.

In-text for the Hart report:

Eighty percent of employers believe that all college students “should acquire broad knowledge in the liberal arts and sciences” (Hart).

Write Anonymous only when the work is signed Anonymous

APA 7 §8.14 and §9.12, and the missing reference information page, draw a hard line. MLA says the same thing in fewer words. Inventing Anonymous as a polite placeholder is a style error in APA and MLA. Chicago agrees for a single anonymous work, then adds the grouping exception in §13.81.

APA Style, missing reference information

For a missing author, do not use “Anonymous” as the author unless the work is actually signed “Anonymous.” If the work is signed “Anonymous,” use “Anonymous” in the reference and in-text citation.
If the work is not actually signed “Anonymous,” the title moves to the beginning of the reference and is used in place of the author name, as shown in the table.

APA's own illustration is a template, not a recoverable book. Use it only as the signed-Anonymous pattern. The Alamo Colleges reprint of that Style Center page keeps the same three lines.

APA Style template for a work signed Anonymous

Reference:

Anonymous. (2017). Stories from my time as a spy. Bond Publishers.

Parenthetical:

(Anonymous, 2017)

Narrative:

Anonymous (2017)

MLA Style Center

When a work is published without an author’s name, begin the works-cited-list entry with the title of the work. Do not use Anonymous in place of an author’s name:

CMOS 18 §13.81, University of Minnesota reprint

If the author or editor is unknown, the note or bibliography entry should normally begin with the title. An initial article is ignored in alphabetizing.
Although the use of Anonymous is generally to be avoided for works with no attribution, it may stand in place of the author’s name in a bibliography in which several anonymous works need to be grouped.

APA 7: move the title into the author position

When no individual or group author can be determined, APA 7 §9.4 and §9.12 start the reference with the title, then the date, then the source. The in-text citation uses that title and the year. Alphabetize the reference by the first significant word of the title, ignoring A, An, or The (§9.49). Section 8.14 adds the in-text typography: keep italics if the reference title is italic; use double quotation marks if it is not; use title case in the text even though the reference list uses sentence case.

APA 7 missing-author table, Alamo reprint of the Style Center

Reference:

Title. (Date). Source.

Parenthetical:

(Title, year)

Narrative:

Title (year)

Author and date both missing:

Title. (n.d.). Source.

Keep the title's typography when it moves. APA's missing-information page states the italics rule that students reverse:

APA Style on italics in the title and source

In general, the title is italicized for a work that stands alone (e.g., book, report, webpage on a website), and some part of the source is italicized for a work that is part of a greater whole (e.g., journal article, newspaper article).
  • Standalone work (book, report, webpage): italic title in the reference and in the in-text citation, in title case in the text.
  • Part of a greater whole (article, chapter, Wikipedia entry): roman title in the reference; double quotation marks and title case in the text.
  • Shorten a long title in the text, but keep enough of the opening words to match the reference list.
  • The in-text citation uses the year only, even when the reference has a month and day.

Official example: a Wikipedia entry

Wikipedia has no personal author. APA does not invent one and does not credit "Wikipedia" as a group author for an entry. The Wikipedia reference examples page (Publication Manual §10.3) starts with the entry title and points to a dated revision, not the live page. Ask whether Wikipedia is an acceptable source before you cite it; the mechanics here assume you have already made that call. See Wikipedia for research.

APA 7, official Wikipedia example

Reference:

Oil painting. (2019, December 8). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oil_painting&oldid=929802398

Parenthetical:

("Oil Painting," 2019)

Narrative:

"Oil Painting" (2019)

Official leftover: alphabetize The Beatles under B

The September 2026 version of this page stated §9.49 without APA’s own title-first specimen. The APA Style blog uses a second official Wikipedia entry to show that a title beginning with The files under the next word. Quotation marks stay in the text because the string is a title, not an author name.

APA Style blog, official title-first alphabetizing specimen

In this example, “The Beatles” is the title of the Wikipedia page and is alphabetized in the “B”s in the reference list:

Reference:

The Beatles. (2022, February 8). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Beatles&oldid=1070659191

Parenthetical among other works:

(Adams, 1992; “The Beatles,” 2022; Clarke, 2014)
Quotation marks are used for “The Beatles” in the in-text citations because “The Beatles” is the article’s title, not an author name.

Worked example: an unsigned magazine leader

Unsigned news and magazine pieces are the other common true no-author case. The MLA Style Center cites The Economist leader "Why Big Tech Should Fear Europe" (23 March 2019). Here is the same recoverable article in APA 7, following the periodical pattern: sentence-case title, italic journal, no invented byline. This APA line is applied, not an official Style Center specimen.

APA 7 rendering of that unsigned Economist leader

Reference (applied APA 7, not an official APA specimen):

Why big tech should fear Europe. (2019, March 23). The Economist. https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/03/23/why-big-tech-should-fear-europe

Parenthetical:

("Why Big Tech Should Fear Europe," 2019)

Narrative:

"Why Big Tech Should Fear Europe" (2019)

MLA 9: begin the works-cited entry with the title

MLA Handbook, 9th edition, p. 108, and the source-with-no-author post (published 9 August 2017) agree: skip the Author element; do not write Anonymous. Cite the work in the text by the first item in the works-cited entry. If that item is a long title, shorten it to a noun phrase (p. 237) and keep the same italics or quotation marks.

MLA Style Center, official no-author examples

Webpage:

"English Language Arts Standards." Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2017, www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/.

Unsigned early modern text in an anthology:

"An Homily against Disobedience and Wylful Rebellion." 1570. Divine Right and Democracy: An Anthology of Political Writing in Stuart England, edited by David Wootton, Penguin Books, 1986, pp. 94–98.

In-text for the homily:

The homily argues that rebelling against the English monarch amounts to rebelling against God (“Homily” 97).

The Common Core URL in that official MLA line is leftover. https://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/ now 404s. The live ELA hub is English Language Arts Standards, and the CoreStandards.org home page still carries a technical-challenges disclaimer. Keep the 2017 MLA specimen when you are quoting the Style Center. If you are citing the standards themselves, use the URL that opened for you.

Name the organization, the site, or the title in prose

MLA also lets you attribute an unsigned web article in the sentence instead of only in parentheses. The Style Center uses that same Economist leader. The post still carries an eighth-edition flag (published 20 December 2019), but the ninth-edition Handbook keeps the same attribution choice. If the organization is responsible for the prose, name the organization. If a periodical publishes unnamed leaders, name the periodical or the title.

MLA Style Center, attributing an unsigned leader

Works cited:

"Why Big Tech Should Fear Europe." The Economist, 23 Mar. 2019, www.economist.com/leaders/2019/03/23/why-big-tech-should-fear-europe.

Name the periodical:

According to The Economist, “[I]f you want to understand where the world’s most powerful industry is heading, look not to Washington and California, but to Brussels and Berlin” (“Why”).

The same post also shows an unsigned Style Center article whose organization is responsible for the prose. That is still not a missing-author case in the sentence: you name the MLA, then point to a shortened title.

MLA Style Center, organization responsible for the page

Prose plus parenthetical:

The Modern Language Association recommends formatting a recommended reading list the same way you format a works-cited list (“How”).

Works cited:

“How Do I Format a Recommended Reading List?” The MLA Style Center, Modern Language Association of America, 20 Mar. 2019, style.mla.org/format-recommended-reading-list/.

Chicago 18: title first in notes; owner first for most websites

The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition, splits the problem. A truly anonymous book is entered by title and alphabetized by the first significant word (§13.81). A web page is different. The official Notes and Bibliography citation guide says a note may start with the page title, but the bibliography still lists the owner or sponsor of the site (§14.104). Treating every website as authorless in the bibliography is the Chicago-specific failure mode.

CMOS 18 §14.104, citation-guide rule

In the notes, the title will usually come first (as in the examples above); in a bibliography entry, the source should be listed under the owner or sponsor of the site.

Anonymous book, or a guessed author

If the title page names no author, first ask whether an editor, compiler, or translator should stand in that place. Only a work that remains anonymous is entered by title. Ignore A, An, or The when you alphabetize. Pre-1900 books may still carry a place of publication (§14.31); modern books no longer need one (§14.30). If you can identify a likely author who is not named, CMOS 13.81 puts that name in brackets with a question mark instead of moving the title. The University of Lethbridge reprint of §13.81 (last updated 13 August 2026) still prints the 1610 pamphlet as the anonymous-work specimen.

CMOS 18 §13.81, official anonymous 1610 pamphlet

Note:

1. A True and Sincere Declaration of the Purpose and Ends of the Plantation Begun in Virginia, of the Degrees Which It Hath Received, and Means by Which It Hath Been Advanced (London, 1610).

Bibliography:

A True and Sincere Declaration of the Purpose and Ends of the Plantation Begun in Virginia, of the Degrees Which It Hath Received, and Means by Which It Hath Been Advanced. London, 1610.

Author-date parenthetical (applied from the bibliography's first element):

(True and Sincere Declaration 1610)

CMOS 18 §13.81, University of Minnesota guessed-author specimen

Note:

1. [James Hawkes?], A Retrospect of the Boston Tea-Party, with a Memoir of George R. T. Hewes, by a Citizen of New-York (New York, 1834), 128-29.

Bibliography:

[Hawkes, James?]. A Retrospect of the Boston Tea-Party, with a Memoir of George R. T. Hewes. By a Citizen of New-York. New York, 1834.

Web page with a site owner

Google's privacy policy is the citation guide's dated website. The note leads with the page title. The bibliography leads with Google. That is not a missing-author case in the reference list, even though no person is named. CMOS also says a sentence in the text is often enough. The same Quick Guide page gives two more owner-first websites: Wikimedia's Manual of Style and Yale's facts page, which is the official access-date and Wayback pair.

CMOS 18 citation guides, Google privacy policy

It is often sufficient simply to describe web pages and other website content in the text (“As of November 15, 2023, Google’s privacy policy stated . . .”).

Note:

1. “Privacy Policy,” Privacy & Terms, Google, effective November 15, https://policies.google.com/privacy.

Shortened note:

2. Google, “Privacy Policy.”

Bibliography:

Google. “Privacy Policy.” Privacy & Terms. Effective November 15, 2023. https://policies.google.com/privacy.

Official author-date reference (citation-guide-2, not a UTRGV leftover):

Google. 2023. “Privacy Policy.” Privacy & Terms. Effective November 15. https://policies.google.com/privacy.

Official author-date in-text:

(Google 2023)

The September 2026 page labeled that author-date Google line as a UTRGV reprint. The live Author-Date citation guide prints it as an official specimen. Keep the November 15, 2023 effective date when you are quoting CMOS; do not silently update it to whatever the live privacy policy now says.

CMOS 18 citation guides, Yale Facts access date, archive, and author-date n.d.

Note, access date:

3. “About Yale: Yale Facts,” Yale University, accessed March 8, 2022, https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

Note, Wayback Machine:

3. “About Yale: Yale Facts,” Yale University, archived March 8, 2022, at https://web.archive.org/web/20220308143337/https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

Bibliography, access date:

Yale University. “About Yale: Yale Facts.” Accessed March 8, 2022. https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

Official author-date reference (leftover from the notes-only September page):

Yale University. n.d. “About Yale: Yale Facts.” Accessed March 8, 2022. https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

Official author-date archive alternative:

Yale University. n.d. “About Yale: Yale Facts.” Archived March 8, 2022, at https://web.archive.org/web/20220308143337/https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts.

The live Yale Facts page now reports 2025 enrollment and FY24/FY25 research figures. CMOS still prints the March 8, 2022 access date and, in author-date, lowercase n.d. That specimen is a dated snapshot, not a claim that Yale has no current facts page.

CMOS 18 citation guides, Wikimedia Manual of Style

Note:

2. “Wikipedia: Manual of Style,” Wikimedia Foundation, last modified December 19, 2023, 21:54 (UTC), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style.

Bibliography:

Wikimedia Foundation. “Wikipedia: Manual of Style.” Last modified December 19, 2023, at 21:54 (UTC). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style.

Official author-date reference:

Wikimedia Foundation. 2023. “Wikipedia: Manual of Style.” Last modified December 19, at 21:54 (UTC). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style.

Official author-date in-text (year does not match the 2023 reference):

(Wikimedia Foundation 2022)

That 2022 in-text year against a 2023 reference is leftover on the official Author-Date guide itself. Quote both official lines when you are documenting CMOS. When you cite the live Manual of Style, use the last-modified year you actually recorded — do not copy the mismatched 2022 parenthetical onto a 2023 (or later) revision.

How the three styles disagree

The title-first move looks shared until you cite the same page in all three styles. APA italicizes a standalone webpage title and keeps a year in the text. MLA uses quotation marks for a short work and drops the year. Chicago's note may look title-first while the bibliography still names the site owner. Chicago also keeps a group as the author even when that group is the publisher; MLA often does not.

Same missing-author problem, three answers
DecisionAPA 7MLA 9Chicago 18
Group wrote the pageOrganization is the author (§9.11). Live specimens: NIMH, WHO, ANA, NINR.Organization is the author, unless it is also the publisher.Organization is the author even if it is also the publisher (§13.86). For websites, the bibliography owner is that organization (§14.104).
No person or groupTitle. (Date). Source.Begin works cited with the title.Anonymous book: title first (§13.81). Website: title in the note, owner in the bibliography (§14.104).
Anonymous as a wordOnly if the work is signed Anonymous.Do not write Anonymous as a placeholder.Omit the author unless you are grouping several anonymous works in one bibliography (§13.81).
Guessed authorUse the known author if you have one; otherwise title first.Credit the author you can identify; otherwise begin with the title.Put the guessed name in brackets with a question mark ([Hawkes, James?]).
In-text pointerTitle plus year; quotes or italics match the work type.Shortened title; no year.Note number, or author-date using the bibliography's first element.
AlphabetizeBy title, ignoring A/An/The (§9.49). Official leftover: The Beatles files under B.By the first works-cited element.By title or owner, ignoring A/An/The (§13.81).

Use this guide

The author slot is empty or you are about to write Anonymous. You need the recoverability test and the title-first patterns.

Use a sibling guide

An organization wrote the work: cite a group author. The date slot is empty: cite a source with no date. The title slot is empty: cite a source with no title. The publisher slot is empty: cite a website with no publisher.

Failure modes students actually hit

Official specimen URLs that no longer open

Copying an official example is not the same as citing a live page. The MLA Common Core specimen still prints www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/, and that path 404s. The APA NIMH specimen still prints /index.shtml and July 2018; the live anxiety-disorders page drops that suffix and was last reviewed in December 2024. The ANA specimen still says Health work environment on a URL whose live H1 is Healthy Work Environment. Keep official strings inside quote boxes. For your own paper, record the title and URL that resolved.

Website name is not automatically the author

A site name is a container or source element until you can show that the organization is responsible for the page. APA then uses the organization as author and usually drops the repeated site name. MLA may skip the author entirely when that organization is also the publisher. Chicago still wants the owner in the bibliography for a web page even when the note starts with the title.

Government documents

Use the specific agency that issued the work, not a generic "U.S. Government" line and not the title. APA's NIMH and NINR examples above are the model: child agency as author, parent department in the source. For the full government patterns see citing a government report in APA, MLA, and Chicago.

No author and no date

Do both jobs. Move the title first, then apply the date rule for your style. APA becomes Title. (n.d.). Source. and (Title, n.d.) in the text. MLA begins with the title and omits the date. Chicago notes still usually begin with the title; the bibliography still lists a site owner when one exists, and the Quick Guide's Yale Facts line is the official access-date pattern — author-date now prints that same page as Yale University. n.d. The date half lives in how to cite a source with no date.

Sacred and classical texts

A Bible, Qur'an, or classical poem is not a license to skip the reference list. Cite the edition or translation you used, which does have an editor, translator, or publisher, and use the work's standard locator in the text (book, chapter, verse, or line). APA 7 and CMOS treat the version as the reference; MLA cites the edition in works cited. Do not invent Anonymous as the author of scripture.

Two title-first works that would clash in the text

If two title-first references would shorten to the same in-text form, keep more of each title until they differ. APA also adds the year, so two 2019 Wikipedia entries need distinct shortened titles. MLA has no year to separate them, so the shortened title has to do all the work. The Beatles specimen is the alphabetizing reminder, not a license to cite Wikipedia as an author named Beatles.

Common mistakes

  • Writing Anonymous or Anon. because no person is named.
  • Treating WHO, NIMH, MLA, or a university as a missing author.
  • Using a website's brand name as the author without checking whether the organization wrote the page.
  • Copying APA title-case in-text form into an MLA citation, or adding a year to MLA.
  • Listing a Chicago website under the page title in the bibliography when the site has an owner.
  • Forgetting Chicago's §13.81 grouping exception and assuming Anonymous is never allowed.
  • Copying a leftover official URL (Common Core /ELA-Literacy/, NIMH /index.shtml) as if it were the live page.
  • Copying CMOS's official Wikimedia 2022 parenthetical onto a 2023 reference.
  • Skipping the citation because the source looks informal or unsigned. Recoverability, not a byline, is the test.

Frequently asked questions

Do I write Anonymous if a webpage has no byline?
No, unless the page is actually signed Anonymous. APA 7 and MLA 9 treat invented Anonymous as an error. Chicago 18 does the same for a single work, then allows Anonymous only to group several anonymous works in one bibliography (§13.81). Look for a group author first; if none exists, start the entry with the title.
Is an organization the author or the publisher?
In APA, a group that wrote the work is the author; if that group is also the publisher, omit the publisher. Official leftover specimens on the webpage-examples page are NIMH (parent agencies in the source) and WHO (site name omitted). In MLA, a corporate author that is also the publisher is listed only as publisher, and the title comes first. In Chicago, §13.86 keeps the organization as author even when it is also the publisher, and a website's owner usually leads the bibliography even when the note starts with the title.
How do I format an APA in-text citation with no author?
Use the title and the year. Italicize a standalone title (Stories from My Time as a Spy, 2017). Put quotation marks around a title that is part of a larger work ("Oil Painting," 2019; "The Beatles," 2022). Shorten long titles. Keep title case in the text even though the reference list uses sentence case.
Does MLA put a year in a no-author in-text citation?
No. MLA points to the first element of the works-cited entry, usually a shortened title, plus a locator if you have one: ("Homily" 97). Adding a year is APA or Chicago author-date, not MLA.
Why does my Chicago bibliography start with Google when the footnote starts with Privacy Policy?
Because CMOS 18 §14.104 wants notes to lead with the page title and the bibliography to lead with the site owner. That is the standard website pattern, not a contradiction. A truly anonymous book is title-first in both places (§13.81). The official author-date Google line is on the Author-Date citation guide, not a third-party reprint.
How do I cite Wikipedia if it has no author?
APA starts with the entry title and cites a dated revision from View history, as in the official Oil painting example. The Style blog’s Beatles line is the official reminder that The is ignored in the reference list. MLA and Chicago can also cite the revision or the page plus an access or archive date. Chicago's Quick Guide Wikipedia line lists Wikimedia Foundation as the bibliography owner, not the article title; the official author-date in-text still prints 2022 against a 2023 reference, so match the year you recorded. Wikipedia remains a tertiary source; prefer the works it cites when you can. See Wikipedia for research.
What if the source has no author and no date?
Move the title first, then apply the no-date rule. APA uses (n.d.) in the reference and the text. MLA omits the date. Chicago notes usually begin with the title and add an access date or a Wayback URL; the bibliography still names a site owner when there is one, and the official author-date Yale Facts line is Yale University. n.d. Details are in how to cite a source with no date.
Should I cite the About page to find an author?
Use the About page as evidence, not as a second source, unless you are quoting that page. If it names an organization responsible for the content you used, that organization is the author of the page you are citing. APA §9.7 says the same thing for webpages with no byline. If it only names a web team or a host, keep looking or treat the work as title-first.
How are title-first entries alphabetized?
By the first significant word of the title. Ignore A, An, and The. APA §9.49 and CMOS §13.81 both say so. A True and Sincere Declaration files under T, not A. APA’s official leftover specimen is The Beatles, which files under B.
When does Chicago allow Anonymous?
When the work is attributed that way, or when you need to group several anonymous works in one bibliography. CMOS 13.81 says the word is generally to be avoided. For one unsigned pamphlet, begin with the title. For a guessed author who is not on the title page, use brackets and a question mark, as in the official [Hawkes, James?] specimen.

Leave the author blank when it is truly blank

If you cannot recover a person or a group, do not type Anonymous into the generator. Leave the author field empty so the formatter moves the title first in APA, MLA, and Chicago instead of inventing a byline.

Website citation generator →Wikipedia citation generator →In-text citation generator →