Source: “the owl” at Purdue University http://owl.english.purdue/edu
Writing Question of the Week
Here's our writing question of the week, brought to you by the Online Writing Lab Tutors here at Purdue.
I'm writing my thesis and I found some information from websites. Could you please help me as to how to cite them
in the reference section?
Here's the answer. : Citing electronic sources such as websites, just like citing any other source, depends on
choosing and following the appropriate guidelines for the discipline in which you are writing.
Each discipline has specific guidelines for how to cite sources and format papers. These guidelines are explained in
a style manual or style guide. Examples of style manuals include the, MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly
Publishing, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, and the Chicago Manual of Style.
How do you choose the appropriate style manual for formatting your thesis or paper? One of the best things to do is
to ask your adviser or instructor for guidelines; they should be able to tell you which style you should be using for
citation and formatting. Our OWL also has a partial list of style manuals and websites that explain these styles for
various disciplines at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_docsources.html. We also have a handout
just on citing electronic sources at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_docelectric.html. You can
choose the appropriate style from the list and find links to some websites that explain how to cite electronic sources
in that style.
Here are some brief guidelines for citing information from websites in two of the more popular citation styles.
When creating a citation, it's important to give as much information about the source as you can, so that people can
retrieve your information later. Since information on the web can be removed or the address changed, it's important
to indicate when you retrieved the information in case it turns up missing later.
Modern Language Association (MLA) style
Author(s). Name of Page. Date of Posting/Revision. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site. Date of
Access.
For example:
Felluga, Dino. Undergraduate Guide to Literary Theory. 17 Dec. 1999. Purdue University. 15 November 2000.
<http://omni.cc.purdue.edu%7Efelluga/theory2.html>.
For more information about MLA style, see their page at visit our OWL handout on MLA style at http://
owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html
American Psychological Association (APA) style
Author, A. A. (2000). Title of work. Retrieved month day, year, from source.
For example:
Chou, L., McClintock, R., Moretti, F., & Nix, D. H. (1993). Technology and education: New wine in new bottles:
Choosing pasts and imagining educational futures. Retrieved August 24, 2000, from Columbia University, Institute
for Learning Technologies Web site: http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/publications/papers/newwine1.html.
For more information about this, see the new official APA style website's guide to citing electronic media (from
which these examples were taken) at http://www.apastyle.org/elecgeneral.html. We're currently revising our OWL's
APA handout to match the new guidelines in the 5th edition of their style manual, and we'll let you know when
we're done with that update.
