Web Where?

Step 4: How to cite Internet resources in a bibliography

If you are serious about using Internet information in your research, you must be serious about citing web pages in proper bibliographic format.  The object of any bibliography is to document where the authors found information, to create a means of verifying information and/or to provide guidance to additional research and reading.  The same purpose underlies web page citation and requires provision of the retrieval path or URL (web address).

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN WEB SITE CITATION:
(Some really good advice--Write it down the first time and you won't have to struggle to find that site again.  Or better yet, bookmark it!)

• Author of web site
• Site title
• Date the site was created
• Address of web site
• Date you accessed the site

Follow the Format:  Style Sheets

The most important thing to remember about bibliographic citation is to follow examples precisely.  Substitute your information (author, title, etc.) for the information in the examples.  Duplicate punctuation and spacing.   What style sheet has your professor specified?  Some commonly used style sheets include:

APA ~ American Psychological Association -- The APA permits the citation of web sites by simply including the URL in the text of the paper.  

Example:  Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators provides a tutorial for internet searching (http://www.discoveryschool.com/schrockguide/.)

To include a web site in an APA style bibliography, follow this example:

Schrock, K.  (1995)  Kathy Schrock's guide for educators.  Retrieved January 30, 2007, from http://www.discoveryschool.com/schrockguide/.

MLA ~ Modern Language Assocation -- The MLA requires a full citation with author, date of creation, title, date of access, and URL.  

Schrock, Kathleen.  1 June 1995.  Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators.  30 January 2007. <http://www.discoveryschool.com/schrockguide/>.

BONUS INFORMATION:  Check out the Citation Machine, which creates bibliographic citations in APA and MLA format online!  You can then cut and paste your entries into your Works Cited or Bibliography page.

On your worksheet, write the five essential elements needed for a web page citation.

   More Bibliographic Citation Style Examples

NEXT:  CONCLUSION!

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