Citing Online Resources (Commonly used)

The following list of examples is extracted from the Handouts of Workshop conducted for SST students (by NLB, 2010 March)
Source: Book
  • Ingre, D. (2003). Survivor's guide to technical writing. Mason, OH: South-Western Educational
Source: eBook
Do a web search for the homepage of the publisher of the book and use the homepage URL.
  • Hamiliton, P. & Shopes, L. (Eds). 2008. Oral history and public memories. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Retrieved March 10, 2010, from http://www.temple.edu/tempress/ 
Source: Newspapers
  • Redd, S. (2009, January 29). Masters awards first seawater plant tender. The Washington Gazette, p. PN13 (PN = Prime News Section).
Source: Encyclopedia Article (from Database)
  • Smith, A. J. (2001). Child development. In B. Strickland (Ed.), The Gale encyclopedia of psychology. Retrieved from http://www.gale.cengage.com/
Source: Free Website
  • American Psychological Association. (2008). Electronic references. Retrieved May 29, 2008, from the American Psychological Association Web site: http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
Source: CD-ROM
  •  Eastham, D. (1997). Inside JavaBeans [CD]. Herndon, VA: MindQ.
Source: Video
  • Heyman, D. (Producer), & Columbus, C. (Director). (2004). Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone [Motion picture]. United States: Warner Home Video.
  • Harrison-Hansley, M. & Sussman, A (Producers). (2005). Living with ADHD [DVD]. Available from http://www.films.com/
The citation format (APA style) below are extracted from "Purdue OWL: APA Formatting and Style Guide" (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/). Visit the website for the complete guide.

Chapter/Section of a Web document or Online Book Chapter

  • Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. In Title of book or larger document (chapter or section number). Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
  • E.g.: Engelshcall, R. S. (1997). Module mod_rewrite: URL Rewriting Engine. In Apache HTTP Server Version 1.3 Documentation (Apache modules.) Retrieved from http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/mod_rewrite.html
  • E.g.: Peckinpaugh, J. (2003). Change in the Nineties. In J. S. Bough and G. B. DuBois (Eds.), A century of growth in America. Retrieved from GoldStar database.
NOTE: Use a chapter or section identifier and provide a URL that links directly to the chapter section, not the home page of the Web site.

Online Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Often encyclopedias and dictionaries do not provide bylines (authors' names). When no byline is present, move the entry name to the front of the citation. Provide publication dates if present or specify (n.d.) if no date is present in the entry.
  • E.g.: Feminism. (n.d.). In Encyclopædia Britannica online. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/724633/feminism

Graphic Data (e.g. Interactive Maps and Other Graphic Representations of Data)

Give the name of the researching organization followed by the date. In brackets, provide a brief explanation of what type of data is there and in what form it appears. Finally, provide the project name and retrieval information.
  • E.g.: Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment. (2007). [Graph illustration the SORCE Spectral Plot May 8, 2008]. Solar Spectral Data Access from the SIM, SOLSTICE, and XPS Instruments. Retrieved from http://lasp.colorado.edu/cgi-bin/ion-p?page=input_data_for_ spectra.ion

Online Lecture Notes and Presentation Slides

When citing online lecture notes, be sure to provide the file format in brackets after the lecture title (e.g. PowerPoint slides, Word document).
  • E.g.: Hallam, A. Duality in consumer theory [PDF document]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Web site: http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ501/Hallam/index.html
  • E.g.: Roberts, K. F. (1998). Federal regulations of chemicals in the environment [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://siri.uvm.edu/ppt/40hrenv/index.html

Nonperiodical Web Document, Web Page, or Report

List as much of the following information as possible (you sometimes have to hunt around to find the information; don't be lazy. If there is a page like http://www.somesite.com/somepage.htm, and somepage.htm doesn't have the information you're looking for, move up the URL to http://www.somesite.com/):
  • Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of document. Retrieved from http://Web address
  • E.g.: Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderland, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General format. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
NOTE: When an Internet document is more than one Web page, provide a URL that links to the home page or entry page for the document. Also, if there isn't a date available for the document use (n.d.) for no date.

Blog (Weblog) and Video Blog Post

Include the title of the message and the URL. Please note that titles for items in online communities (e.g. blogs, newsgroups, forums) are not italicized. If the author’s name is not available, provide the screen name.
  • E.g.: J Dean. (2008, May 7). When the self emerges: Is that me in the mirror? [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://www.spring.org.uk/the1sttransport. (2004, September 26). Psychology Video Blog #3 [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqM90eQi5-M

Wikis

Please note that the APA Style Guide to Electronic References warns writers that wikis (like Wikipedia, for example) are collaborative projects which cannot guarantee the verifiability or expertise of their entries.
  • E.g.: OLPC Peru/Arahuay. (n.d.). Retrieved from the OLPC Wiki: http://wiki.laptop. org/go/OLPC_Peru/Arahuay
Source :
Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderland, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, October 15). Nonperiodical Web Document, Web Page, or Report . Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/

Another Useful Site: Citation Machine
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)