Citing Net Sources > Quick Guide

This guide shows the elements commonly used when creating bibliographic references for Internet sources. It is a research aid, not a definitive source on citation format. See the style manuals listed in this guide for further information.

General Rules

• APA: APA Style Guide to Electronic References, 2007.
• MLA: MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th edition, 2009). Also: MLA Style FAQ, 2009.

Citing Web Pages

Individual work	Examples
Cite these elements: Author/Editor Title of page Site title Publication date/Last modified Publisher/sponsor Access date Address	APA Style: Stolley, K. (2006, Sept. 28). Avoiding plagiarism. The OWL at Purdue. Purdue University Writing Lab. Retrieved July 27, 2007, from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/ MLA Style: Stolley, Karl. "Avoiding Plagiarism." The OWL at Purdue. Purdue University Writing Lab. 30 September 2008. Web. 27 July 2009. <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/>.

Citing Parts of Individual Works

Part of a work	Examples
Cite these elements: Author/Editor Title of part Source title Site title (if different) Publication date/Last modified Publisher/sponsor Access date Address	APA Style: Du Bois, W.E.B. (1903). Of the dawn of freedom. In The Souls of Black Folk. Retrieved July 27, 2007, from Bartleby.com: Great Books Online, http://www.bartleby.com/114/ MLA Style: Du Bois, W.E.B. "Of the Dawn of Freedom." The Souls of Black Folk. 1903. N. pag. Bartleby.com: Great Books Online. Web. 27 July 2009. <http://www.bartleby.com/114/>.

Citing Online Articles

• Provide information about the article you are citing and also about the source in which it was published.

• If the online article also provides information about a printed version, include that information (volume and issue number, paging) in your citation as well.

• Rules vary significantly for articles located using a subscription (library) database. See the examples below for details.

Magazine, journal, newspaper article	Example
Cite these elements: APA Author Title of article Source information (title, volume/issue, pub. date, paging if available) Access date (not needed for APA if content will not change) Address: APA uses Digital Object Identifier (DOI) if available; otherwise article URL When found with subscription database and no DOI available: database name only	APA Style: Cook, P. E., & Hinman, L. (1999). Criminal profiling: science and art. Journal Of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 15(3), 230-241. doi: 10.1177/1043986299015003002 OR Cook, P. E., & Hinman, L. (1999). Criminal profiling: science and art. Journal Of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 15(3), 230-241. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete.

Magazine, journal, newspaper article	Example
Cite these elements: MLA Author Title of article Source information (title, volume/issue, pub. date, paging if available) When found with subscription database: database name Access date Address: URL (when found using subscription database, provide database name only, as above)	MLA Style: Cook, Patrick E. and Dayle L. Hinman. "Criminal Profiling: Science and Art." Journal Of Contemporary Criminal Justice 15.3 (1999): 230-241. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 July 2009.

Citing Postings and Messages

Mailing List Message

Examples

Cite these elements: Author Pub. date of message Title/Subject line of message List name Access date (MLA only) Address (Web message archive or e-mail address)

APA Style: McKiernan, G. (9 July 2007). They*re everywhere you go*: hip and cool librarians. Message posted to Web4lib electronic mailing list, archived at http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/web4lib/2007-July/044571.html MLA Style: McKiernan, Gerry. "They*re Everywhere You Go*: Hip and Cool Librarians." Message to Web4lib electronic mailing list. 9 July 2007. E-mail. 27 July 2009. <http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/web4lib/2007-July/044571.html>.

Blog Posting	Examples
Cite these elements: Author Pub. date of posting Title/Subject line of posting Blog title (MLA only) Access date (MLA only) Address	APA Style: Kroski, E. (2006, April 7). Community 2.0. Message posted to: http://infotangle.blogsome.com/ MLA Style: Kroski, Ellyssa. "Community 2.0." InfoTangle. Blogsome. 7 April 2006. Web. 27 July 2009. <http://infotangle.blogsome.com/>.

Personal E-Mail Message	Examples
Cite these elements: Author/Sender Date of message Title/Subject line of message (MLA only) Description/Recipient	APA Style: E-mail messages should be cited only within the text of the paper. They are not included in the References. For example: Anthony Boyle (personal communication, Aug. 31, 2006) stated that this notion of utopia was consistent with the view held by many religious scholars. MLA Style: Boyle, Anthony T. "Re: Utopia." Message to the author. 31 Aug. 2006. E-mail.

Other Formats

See Citing Multimedia for examples of citations for images, audio and video files found online.

Additional Sources of Information

• American Psychological Association. APA Style.org.
  http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
  

• Modern Language Association of America. MLA Handbook.
  http://www.mlahandbook.org/fragment/public_index
• Ohio State University Libraries. Citation Style Guides.
  http://library.osu.edu/sites/guides/

• University of Chicago Press. Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide.
  http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
  

• Purdue University. The Owl at Purdue.
  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/