Citing
Internet Documents
There are two basic methods for citing material from web
pages and electronic documents in essays and term papers. One is the MLA (Modern
Language Association) standard. The other is the APA (American Psychological
Association) standard. Find out from your instructor which you are to use.
Both standards for citing electronic documents are shown below.
For a more detailed discussion of this method see the
book: The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (4th edition) or visit
the MLA site: http://www.mla.org .
How to create your works-cited list:
At the end of your paper should appear a works-cited list
alphabetized by the author's last name. Anyone using this list should be able to locate
the documents that you site. All citations in the list should refer to references in the
text, and all text references must be cited in the list.
The basics:
- Quotations in the body of your paper are handled exactly like
those for non-electronic sources. See your instructor or http://www.mla.org for specific instructions.
- Author's names are recorded (last name, first name). For
multiple authors, reverse the name of only the first author. Follow this with a
comma and then list the other authors (first name last name) with a comma between authors
only, not between their first and last name. To cite more than one work by a particular
author, order each work alphabetically by title, and then use three hyphens in place of
the author's name for every entry after the first. When an author appears both as the sole
author of a text and as the first author of a group, list sole-author entries first. If no
author is given for a particular work, alphabetize by the title of the item.
- Make the first line of each entry left justified. Following
lines are indented 1/2", making a "hanging indent."
- Double space all references.
- Capitalize all words in the titles of articles, and books,
except for conjunctions (a, of, about) unless they are the first word. Underline or
italicize titles of books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and films, etc.
How to cite electronic documents:
Citing a Web page:
Author(s). Name of Page. Date of Posting or Revision.
Date of Access. <electronic address>.
Use the complete name of cite as in
http://www.source.com/page6.aspl
Citing an online magazine or article:
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.
Issue (Year): Pages/Paragraphs. Date of Access
<electronic address>.
Use complete dates if possible, not just volume and
number. If available, use paragraph numbers.
Citing email:
Author. Email to the author. Date.
Citing a list-serve document:
Author. "Title of Posting." Online posting. Date. Name of
listserv. Date of access <electronic address for
retrieval>.
Citing an online database:
Provide the bibliographic data for the original source as for
any other of its type, then add the name of the database along with the important data
(such as version number or abstract number).
For extensive examples, see: The MLA Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers or visit: www.mla.org .
A webpage:
Smith, John. Abortion Arguments. 1997. 01 Jul. 1998
<http://www.abortionfacts.com/abortion.aspl>
An online journal article:
Smith, Jill. "Abortion and Breast Cancer." Journal of
Abortion Complications 3 (1998): 12 pars.
01 Jul. 1998 <http://www.abortionfacts.com.aspl/>.
A CD Rom:
The Abortion Factbook. CD-ROM. Chicago: Quanta, 1998.
How to create your reference list:
At the end of your paper should appear a reference list.
Anyone using this list should be able to locate the documents that you site. All citations
in the list should refer to references in the text, and all text references must be given
in the list.
The Basics:
- Quotations in the body of your paper are handled exactly like
those for non-electronic sources. See your instructor or other sources for APA
methods of quoting sources.
- Author's names are recorded (last name, first name). Use
the last name and initials for each author of a particular work. If you have
more than one work by a particular author, order them by publication date, oldest to
newest. When an author appears as a sole author and as the first author of a group, list
the one-author entries first. If no author is given for a particular source, alphabetize
by the title of the piece.
- Use the ampersand (&) not (and) when recording multiple
authors of a single work.
- Indent the first line of each entry in your reference list
five spaces. Lines following should be left justified.
- Double space all references and between all entries (the whole
list will be uniformly double-spaced).
- Only the first word of a title of a work is capitalized.
Underline titles of books and journals.
How to cite electronic documents:
Citing a web page:
Smith, Rick A. (Date of Publication or Revision).
Abortion [online]. Available: http://abortion.aspl.
Citing an online journal or magazine:
Smith, Rick A.,(Publication Date of Journal). Abortion
and You. In Abortion Facts Journal [online].
Available: http://www.abortionfacts.com (Date
of your access to the site).
Email is personal and does not appear in your reference list.
When you cite an email message in your paper, reference it in your parenthetical
citation: J.P. Henny has agreed with this idea recently in a communication to me (J. P.
Henny, email to author, June 10, 1998).
Examples
See the also The Publication Manual of the APA
for extensive examples of citing electronic documents.
A webpage:
Monahan, B. (1970). Writing pro-life essays. [online].
Available: http://abortionfacts.com/writing.aspl.
(July 10, 1997)
An online journal article:
Greenly, I. (1980). How abortion has damaged America.
[3 pars.] Journal of Abortion Ethics [online serial],
5. Available: http://www.abortionfacts.aspl. (June
30, 1997)
