If you used information collected on a website for a paper you are writing, then you must cite it appropriately; if you don't state your sources you could be accused of plagiarism, a form of cheating. A citation allows the reader to get hold of fundamental information regarding the origin of your statements, for example the name of the author of the reference text, the name of the website and the address of the online page. In addition, the citations show that you have carried out research and the public, in turn, can use these sources to investigate the subject. To refer to a website within your report, you can follow certain formats, and the choice depends on the guidelines you have decided for your work. The most popular formats are the Modern Language Association (MLA), the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Chicago format.
Steps
Method 1 of 4: Preparation
Step 1. Create a citations page about your search
Leave many pages free for this purpose. It is much easier to group this type of information into one section. If you wish, you can number the quotes as you enter them and then reference them via a legend. Just make sure you don't miss the bibliography page.
Step 2. Get all the information
When you mention a website you need to have as much detail as possible about it. For instance:
- Copy the URL, which is basically the address of the site that appears in the address bar of the browser.
- Find the name of the author of the page; it could be under the title or at the bottom of the screen. Sometimes you can find the author's name on the "About us" page.
- Write the name of the web page; it is usually found at the top of the page itself.
- Write down the title of the article, if possible. It should always be listed at the beginning.
- Find the release date. This too should be at the beginning or at the end of the page, even if it is not always present.
- Take note of the date on which you read the information.
Step 3. Make sure you know the citation format standards you need to use
Your school or assignment should have a specific method. If there are no specific requests, know that the MLA format is the most popular for the humanities, the APA for scientific subjects and the Chicago for religious subjects.
Method 2 of 4: MLA format
Step 1. Learn the format
To comply with the MLA you will have to insert the reference of your citation in the text and then you will have to report it on the bibliography page at the end of the paper.
Step 2. Cite the website in the text
Immediately after the sentence extrapolated from your source, add the bibliographic reference.
- You don't have to put a period at the end of the sentence just yet.
- Add the reference in parentheses. Place the opening parenthesis after typing a space from the previous word.
- If you know the author of the web page, write his surname. Usually citations in MLA format include the author's name and the page number from which the sentence was extracted; however, since most websites don't have numbered pages, you can stick to the writer's last name.
- If you do not know the identity of the author, you can use the title of your source and write it in quotation marks. If the title is very long, you can use a shortened version. For example, to abbreviate The Yiddish Theater in 19th Century Prague you can limit yourself to "The Yiddish Theater".
- Close the brackets. You can do this directly after the last letter of the author's name or after the last quote.
- Put a period at the end of the period. This punctuation symbol closes the sentence and must be placed after the closing parenthesis without interposing a space.
Step 3. Add the website reference to the bibliography page
Use the format below; the first line must not indent, but the following ones do.
- Surname and name of the author. "Website name". Version number (if possible). Publisher or organization, date of publication (year). Publication medium (web). Date you accessed the material (day, month and year).
- Remember that the MLA format no longer requires the insertion of the URL on the citations page, because it is information that is not necessarily immutable. If your teacher asks for it anyway, put it directly after the date you accessed the site: “date of access.”
- Once complete, the quote should look like this: Smith, Jess. Pies for Everyone. The Baking Company, 2005. Web. July 25, 2007.
- If you are citing a page on an online site, put the page title in quotes before the site name: Smith, Jess. "Cherry Pie for Beginners". Pies for Everyone. The Baking Company, 2005. Web. July 25, 2007.
- Do not put the name of the author if it is not indicated on the site. Use the abbreviation "n.p.", if you do not know the publisher and "n.d." in place of the date (for documents in English). For the reports in Italian you can simply omit the author's name, and if you do not know the publication date you can add the copyright one, while it is of fundamental importance to find a time reference, as the online contents are subject to continuous updates and to be able to identifying the exact moment in which information has been extrapolated proves vital.
Step 4. Reorder citations according to alphabetical criteria
Use the first word of each reference to alphabetically list the information in the bibliography.
Method 3 of 4: APA format
Step 1. Learn the format standards
Citations that respect the APA model must be included in the text and then reported on the bibliography page at the end of the report.
Step 2. Cite the website in the text
Immediately after the sentence you have extrapolated from the source, you need to apply the reference.
- Use an open parenthesis after the last word.
- The APA format provides for the indication of the author and the date of publication. If you know this information, first write the surname of the writer, a comma and then the date of publication (the year is enough) in parentheses.
- If you do not know the author, refer to the title of the work in quotation marks, add a comma and then write the year of publication inside the brackets.
- Close the brackets. Do it right after the date.
- Close the quote with a period, right after the closing parenthesis.
- You can also insert the reference at the beginning of the sentence. If you decided to use the author's surname at the beginning, you can write the publication date immediately after, always in parentheses as in this example: "Smith (2005) cherry tarts are delicious".
Step 3. Remember to add the website to the bibliography page
Format the page so that the first line does not fit, but the following lines do. Use the style that is proposed below for all websites.
- Surname and initials of the author's name. (Publication date). Title. Extracted from URL.
- A citation that respects the APA format should look like this: Smith, J. (2005). Cherry Pie for Beginners. Extracted from
Method 4 of 4: Chicago format
Step 1. Use footnotes
According to the Chicago Manual of Style, footnotes should be used when citing a search source in the text. You will need to enter a note on the page itself and then also include it in the final bibliography.
To add a footnote, click on the end of the sentence where you want to insert a reference. The number will automatically appear after the dot. In the Microsoft Word "Header and Footer" group, select the "Footer" option. This function creates a note by placing a number after the sentence that corresponds to the note at the end of the page
Step 2. Enter the website in the note
Cite it as follows:
- 1. Name and surname of the author, "Title of the web page", publisher, organization or name of the site, date of publication or when the information occurred, URL or DOI.
- A footer quote should look like this: 1. Jess Smith, "Cherry Pie for Beginners", Pies for Everyone, 2005, www.piesforeveryone.com.
- The DOI is the identifier for a digital object. This is a number that is uniquely assigned to online articles so that the public can find them; it is quite similar to the ISBN, however the DOI is only assigned to academic articles. You can look up this number on the mEDRA website.
- If you do not know the publication date, add the one in which you "consulted" the site (the year is enough) and add the word "Consulted" before the same year.
- If the author is unknown, write the reference with the first information you have available.
Step 3. Add the website to the bibliography
Complete the list with the bibliographic page. This is the same information that you entered in the footer, you will need to replace commas with periods and change the order of the author's name.
- Surname and name of the author. "Title of the web page". Publisher, organization or site name. Date of publication or access to information. URL or DOI.
- Here is an example of what the bibliographic note should look like: Smith, Jess. "Cherry Pie for Beginners". 'Pies for Everyone'. 2005. www.piesforeveryone.com.
Step 4. Put the bibliography in order
Use the first word of each quote to sort them alphabetically.
