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Using APA Style and MLA Style to Cite the Internet Sources

Here are the References entries for this source:

 

Regardless of format, however, authors using and citing Internet sources should observe the following two guidelines:

  1. Direct readers as closely as possible to the information being cited; whenever possible, reference specific documents rather than home or menu pages.

  2. Provide addresses that work.

At a minimum, a reference of an Internet source should provide a document title or description, a date (either the date of publication or update or the date of retrieval), and an address (in Internet terms, a uniform resource locator, or URL). Whenever possible, identify the authors of a document as well.

The URL is the most critical element: If it doesn't work, readers won't be able to find the cited material, and the credibility of your paper or argument will suffer. The most common reason URLs fail is that they are transcribed or typed incorrectly; the second most common reason is that the document they point to has been moved or deleted.

APA Style to Cite the Internet Sources

Extending the citation practice of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association to include Internet sources produces the following model:

Online document

Internet sources differ in the kinds of information that are important for retrieval, and the model for each type of source reflects the information needed to retrieve that source. The following models enable you to document Internet sources in a manner consistent with the principles of APA style.

World Wide Web site

The Publication Manual notes that "the vast majority of Internet sources cited in APA journals are those that are accessed via the Web" (p. 269). It instructs authors using and citing Web sources to observe the following guidelines:

If your paper will be available online as an updateable hypertext essay, make a point of testing the URLs in your references regularly. Consider replacing (with a reference to a later version) or simply dropping any sources whose original URLs no longer work.

To cite an entire Web site (but not a specific document on the site), simply give the site's URL in the text:

To document a specific file, provide as much as possible of the following information:

Stand-alone document, no author identified, no date

*If the author of a document is not identified, begin the reference with the title of the document.

For more specific guidance, see the various sample situations in this section.

Book

An online book may be the electronic text of part or all of a printed book, or a book-length document available only on the Internet.

Article in an electronic journal (ejournal)

Abstract

Article in an electronic magazine (ezine)

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MLA Style to Cite the Internet Sources

Section 4.9 of the MLA Handbook includes models for numerous types of online sources (e.g., an online book, an advertisement, a multidisc publication). The following models for Works Cited entries, based on the recommendations of the MLA Handbook, cover the types of sources most often cited by student and professional writers.

World Wide Web site

When you document sources from the World Wide Web, the MLA suggests that your Works Cited entries contain as many items from the following list as are relevant and available:

Name of the author, editor, compiler, or translator (if available and relevant), alphabetized by last name and followed by any appropriate abbreviations, such as ed.

Although no single entry will contain all fourteen items of information, all Works Cited entries for Web sources contain the following basic information:

Online document

Formatting Works Cited Entries in HTML

Some HTML editors don’t let you easily indent the second line of a Works Cited entry. In such instances, bullet the first line of an entry.

To see how to document specific types of Web sources, refer to the examples throughout this section.

Personal site

Professional site

Book

An online book may be the electronic text of part or all of a printed book, or a book-length document available only on the Internet (e.g., a work of hyperfiction).

Article in an electronic journal (ejournal)

Article in an electronic magazine (ezine)

Newspaper article

Review

Editorial

Letter to the editor

Government publication

Scholarly project or information database

Short text within a larger project or database

Other Web sources

When documenting other Web sources—for example, an audio or film clip, a map, or a painting—provide a descriptive phrase (e.g., map) if needed.

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