When citing an article with no DOI that appears in a database, should I provide the URL specific to my institution?
Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook.
Provide the information that is most useful for your reader. If your readers are composed exclusively of people at your institution, use the institution-specific link; otherwise, consider shortening the URL to the host name to make the citation reader-friendly to those outside your institution.
Read more on shortening URLs.