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Citation Style - APA

About Citing Web Sites

For each type of source in this guide, both the general format and an example will be provided.

Information on citing and several of the examples were drawn from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.).

Numbers in brackets refer to specific pages in the manual.

Entry in an Online Reference Work (p. 205)

Helpful Tips
  • Cite Wikipedia articles as entries in an online reference work
  • When citing sources that you find on the Internet you only need to include a retrieval date if the information you viewed is likely to change over time (p. 192).  If you cite an article from a wiki, for example, you would want to include a retrieval date because information in a wiki can be subject to a lot of change.
  • If you're not sure about whether or not to include a retrieval date, go ahead and include it.

General Format 
 Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year; if not known, put n.d.).
Title of entry. In Title of reference work (edition, Vol. #). Retrieved
from URL of entry            
  
Example 1 -- entry/article with author
  Graham, G. (2005). Behaviorism. In The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy
 (Fall 2007 ed.). Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries
/behaviorism/
Example 2 -- entry/article with no author
 Boss brass. (2009). In Encyclopedia of music in Canada. Retrieved from
 http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&
Params=U1ARTU0000367

Example 3 -- entry/article from Wikipedia
Neurology. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved August 8, 2010, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurology

 

Example 4--Euromonitor document

Passport Reference Format: 

Euromonitor International. (date, or n.d. for no date). Title. https:// permanent link URL

e.g.    Euromonitor International. (2022, January). Coffee in the United Arab Emirates: Country report. https://www.portal.euromonitor.com/portal/analysis/tab.

 

Basic Web Page (pp. 187-192, 211-212)

Helpful Tips

      Do I include a retrievel date? It depends:
  • When citing sources that you find on the Internet you only need to include a retrieval date if the information you viewed is likely to change over time (p. 192).  If you cite an article from a wiki, for example, you would want to include a retrieval date because information in a wiki can be subject to a lot of change.
  • If you're not sure , go ahead and include the retrieval date.

      What about Wikipedia?
      Cite Wikipedia articles as entries in an online reference work.

General Format 
 
Personal or Corporate Author. (Last update or copyright date; if not known,
put n.d.). Title of specific web page or article. Retrieved from URL of
specific web page
  
Example 1 -- no retrieval date
 
Browning, T. (1993). A brief historical survey of women writers of science fiction.
Retrieved from http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~tonya/Tonya/sf/history.html

Example 2 -- retrival date
 
Fedorkiw, J. (2010). Buying tea in China. Retrieved October 20, 2010, from
http://www.suite101.com/content/buying-tea-in-china-a298768

Web page from an Educational or Government Site (p. 206)

Helpful Tip
  • If a web site, page, or document is contained within a larger, complex web site (like a university or a government web site), list the organization and program/department before the URL (as seen in examples below).
  • When citing sources that you find on the Internet you only need to include a retrieval date if the information you viewed is likely to change over time (p. 192).  If you cite an article from a wiki, for example, you would want to include a retrieval date because information in a wiki can be subject to a lot of change.
  • If you're not sure about whether or not to include a retrieval date, go ahead and include it.
General Format 
 
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Last update or copyright date; if
not known, put n.d.). Title of specific web page or article. Retrieved from
Name of Organization website: URL of specific web page or article
  
Example 1 -- individual authors
 
Johnson, K. A., & Becker, J. A. (n.d.). The whole brain atlas. Retrieved from Harvard
University Medical School website: http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB

Example 2 -- corporate author
 
University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center. (2009). Resources for proposal  
writers. Retrieved from UW-Madison, Writer's Handbook website:
http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/

Web Page with No Author

Helpful Tip
  • When citing sources that you find on the Internet you only need to include a retrieval date if the information you viewed is likely to change over time (p. 192).  If you cite an article from a wiki, for example, you would want to include a retrieval date because information in a wiki can be subject to a lot of change.
General Format 
 
Title of specific web page or article. (Last update or copyright date; if not
known, put n.d.). Retrieved from URL of specific web page
  
Example
 
How to make vegetarian chili. (n.d.). Retrieved August 8, 2010, from
http://www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html

Blog Post (p. 215)

Please note that there is no use of italics when citing blogs.
Original blog post = Use [Web log post]
Reply or comment on a blog post = Use [Web log comment]
 
General Format 
 
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. OR Author screen name {as it appears
on the blog}. (Year, Month Day {of post}). Title of specific post [Web log post].
Retrieved from URL of specific post 
 
  Example 1 -- blog post
 
MiddleKid. (2007, January 22). Re: The unfortunate prerequisites and
consequences of partitioning your mind [Web log comment]. Retrieved from
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/01/the_unfortunate_prerequisites.php
 
Example 2 -- blog comment
 
Jacobson, J. (2009, November 8). Historic health reform bill passes but at a price:
Women's groups have mixed reaction [Web log post]. Retrieved from
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/11/08/historic-health-reform-bill-
passes-but-at-a-price-womens-groups-have-mixed-reaction
 
NOTE: If no date of publication is provided, use the letters n.d. (which stand for “no date”). The copyright date on the website itself should not be used as the publication date for particular content on that site.