- Last Name, First Name. (User Name). “Entire text of tweet (don’t change the CapitalizatioN)”, Date, Time. Tweet.
It’s essential to give credit where it’s due, especially in academic papers, but it’s good practice anywhere, anytime, and with anything. Thus the MLA has come up with a standard format for citing Tweets.
Begin the entry in the works-cited list with the author’s real name and, in parentheses, user name, if both are known and they differ. If only the user name is known, give it alone.
Next provide the entire text of the tweet in quotation marks, without changing the capitalization. Conclude the entry with the date and time of the message and the medium of publication (Tweet). For example:
- Athar, Sohaib (ReallyVirtual). “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).” 1 May 2011, 3:58 p.m. Tweet.
— Modern Language Association (MLA), 2012: How do I cite a tweet?
(via Madrigal, 2012: How Do You Cite a Tweet in an Academic Paper?)