Learning how to cite a source with no date is one of the most common questions students face, because plenty of real sources, especially web pages, brochures, and historical documents, never display a clear publication year. The good news is that every major style has a tested rule for this exact situation. In APA you use the abbreviation “n.d.” (no date). In MLA you simply leave the date out and may add an optional access date. In Chicago you can note “n.d.” or rely on an access date for online material. This guide walks through each style with worked examples, then shows you where to look before you give up on finding a date at all.
When a date is truly missing (and where to look first)
Before treating a source as undated, search the source thoroughly. A surprising number of “undated” pages actually have a date hidden somewhere. Check the bottom of a web page for a copyright line, look near the byline or headline, scan the page for “last updated” or “published” labels, and review the URL, which sometimes contains a year. For PDFs, open the document properties to see a creation date. For printed material, check the back of the title page or the final page.
A copyright date that covers the whole site (for example, a footer reading “© 2010-2026”) is not the same as a publication date for a specific page, so use it cautiously. Only when no reliable date can be found should you fall back on the no-date conventions below. If you are unsure whether a source even qualifies as citable, our overview of what a citation is and the broader guide to how to cite sources can help you decide.
APA: using “n.d.” in the reference and in-text
In APA 7th edition, when a work has no date, you place “n.d.” in the position where the year would normally go, both in the reference list and in the in-text citation. The abbreviation stands for “no date” and is lowercase with periods and no spaces. This keeps your APA reference page consistent and tells readers the omission was intentional, not an error.
For an undated web page, the reference still includes the author, the “n.d.” date, the page title in sentence case and italics, the site name, and the URL. The in-text citation pairs the author with “n.d.” in place of a year, which is the same pattern explained in our guide to APA in-text citations.
Riverside Health Collective. (n.d.). Understanding seasonal allergies. Wellness Notes. https://www.example.org/seasonal-allergies
In-text: (Riverside Health Collective, n.d.)
If the source also has no author, move the title into the author position and keep “n.d.” for the date: (Understanding seasonal allergies, n.d.). For more on that combination, see how to handle a source with no author. When you are ready to assemble the entry, the APA citation generator inserts “n.d.” automatically once you leave the date field blank.
Narrative vs parenthetical with n.d.
“n.d.” works in both citation forms. Parenthetical: (Riverside Health Collective, n.d.). Narrative: Riverside Health Collective (n.d.) explains that pollen counts peak in spring. The difference between these two placements is covered in detail in our guide to parenthetical vs narrative citations.
MLA: omit the date and add an optional access date
MLA 9th edition does not use an abbreviation for missing dates. Instead, you simply skip the publication date element in the works-cited entry. Because online content can change, MLA recommends adding an access date at the end of the entry, written as “Accessed” followed by the day, month, and year. This access date is especially useful when no publication date exists, since it gives readers a fixed point in time for the version you consulted. See our full MLA works-cited page walkthrough for how the elements fit together.
Riverside Health Collective. “Understanding Seasonal Allergies.” Wellness Notes, www.example.org/seasonal-allergies. Accessed 7 June 2026.
In-text: (Riverside Health Collective)
Notice that MLA in-text citations never include a year in the first place, so a missing date changes nothing about the parenthetical reference. You still cite by author (and page number, if one exists). Our guide to MLA in-text citations explains why the date stays out of the parenthesis. To build an entry with an access date and no publication date, the MLA citation generator handles the optional fields for you, and the broader MLA format guide covers spacing and indentation.
Chicago: “n.d.” in notes and bibliography plus access dates
Chicago style (17th and 18th editions) handles missing dates in two ways depending on the source. For published works with no date, you use “n.d.” in the same place a year would appear, in both notes and the bibliography. For online sources where no publication or revision date is shown, Chicago lets you add an access date, which is similar to the MLA approach. Our Chicago style guide covers the notes-bibliography system in full.
Full note: 1. Riverside Health Collective, “Understanding Seasonal Allergies,” Wellness Notes, accessed June 7, 2026, https://www.example.org/seasonal-allergies.
Shortened note: 2. Riverside Health Collective, “Understanding Seasonal Allergies.”
Bibliography: Riverside Health Collective. “Understanding Seasonal Allergies.” Wellness Notes. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://www.example.org/seasonal-allergies.
For a printed book with no publication date, Chicago places “n.d.” where the year would go: Author Last, First. Title of Book. City: Publisher, n.d. The Chicago author-date variant follows APA-like logic, using (Author n.d.) in the text and “n.d.” in the reference list entry. You can produce either form with the Chicago citation generator, and if your program uses the closely related Turabian rules, the Turabian citation generator applies the same date conventions.
Common mistakes to avoid
Watch for these frequent errors when working with undated sources:
Treating a copyright year as a publication date
A site-wide copyright range tells you when the site was active, not when a single page was written. If only a copyright range is available, it is usually safer to treat the page as undated.
Writing “N.D.” or “no date” instead of “n.d.”
APA and Chicago both use lowercase “n.d.” with periods. Do not capitalize it mid-sentence and do not spell it out in the citation itself.
Adding an access date when a publication date exists
MLA and Chicago use access dates mainly when no reliable publication or revision date is available, or for content likely to change. Do not pad a complete citation with an access date out of habit.
Forgetting “n.d.” in the in-text citation
In APA, the in-text citation must match the reference, so “n.d.” appears in both places. Leaving the year position empty looks like a mistake. This consistency rule is part of the wider logic of in-text citations across styles, and getting it right helps you avoid plagiarism by clearly attributing every source.
Quick comparison across styles
To summarize: APA writes “n.d.” in the reference and in-text citation; MLA omits the date entirely and may add “Accessed [date]”; Chicago notes-bibliography uses “n.d.” for undated published works and “accessed [date]” for changeable online content, while Chicago author-date mirrors APA. The contrasts here are part of the broader picture in our overview of citation styles explained and the side-by-side APA vs MLA comparison. If your undated source happens to be a web page, pair this guide with how to cite a website.
A missing date is never a reason to skip a citation. Each style gives you a clear, accepted way to signal the gap, whether that means typing “n.d.”, recording the day you accessed the page, or both. Search the source carefully first, choose the convention that matches your assigned style, and keep your in-text and reference entries consistent. When you want the formatting handled automatically, leave the date field blank in the appropriate generator and the tool will apply the correct no-date convention for you.