American Psychological Association (APA) Style
Proposed standards for referencing online documents.
APA Style Citations of Electronic Sources
Another style guide with examples on how to cite FTP, WWW sites, telnet sites and more.
All references begin with the same information that would be provided for a printed source (or as much of that information as possible). The web information is then placed at the end of the reference. It is important to use "Retrieved from" and the date because documents on the web may change in content, move or be removed from a site altogether. For example, the last two examples above are no longer available on APA's web site. To cite a web site in text (but not a specific document), it's sufficient to give the address (e.g., http://www.apa.org) there. No reference entry is needed.
Citing Internet or World Wide Web Resources | back to top
How to Cite Information from the Internet and the World Wide Web
The APA's own web site provides information about citing the world wide web. Here are some examples from their site:
Examples of entire web pages:
American Psychological Association. (1995, September 15). APA public policy action alert: Legislation would affect grant recipients [Announcement posted on the World Wide Web]. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved January 25, 1996 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/ppo/istook.html
King, M.L., Jr. (1963, August) I have a dream [Online]. Retrieved June 14, 1996 from gopher://VAX.QUEENS.LIB.NY.US:70/00%5Bgopher._files%5Ddream
Example of part of a work or web page:
Norway. (2000). In U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. World Factbook [online]. Retrieved January 25, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/nsolo/wfb-all.htm
Example of an article from the online version of the journal American Psychologist:
Jacobson, J. W., Mulick, J. A., & Schwartz, A. A. (1995). A history of facilitated communication: Science, pseudoscience, and antiscience: Science working group on facilitated communication. American Psychologist, 50,750–765. Retrieved January 25, 1996 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/journals/jacobson.html
Example of a newspaper article from an online source:
Sleek, S. (1996, January). Psychologists build a culture of peace. APA Monitor, pp. 1, 33. Retrieved January 25, 1996 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/monitor/peacea.html
Example of an abstract from an online source:
Rosenthal, R. (1995). State of New Jersey v. Margaret Kelly Michaels: An overview [Abstract]. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 1, 247–271. Retrieved January 25, 1996 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/journals/ab1.html
Basic Citation Elements for Electronic Databases | back to top
Citing Online Electronic Sources via the WWW:
Retrieved [month day, year] from [source] database ([name of database], [item no.-- if applicable]), on the World Wide Web: [URL].
Citing CD-ROM Databases - PsychLit:
Retrieved from [source] database ([name of database], CD-ROM, [release date], [item no. --if applicable]).
These resources provide slightly varying formats, try to stick with one and be consistent.
Citing Full-text Articles from EBSCOhost Using APA Style | back to top
Citation in bibliography, format:
Author. (Year). Title of Article. Journal Title, volume number (issue number, if given), pages (number of pages pp.). Retrieved [Month day, Year accessed] from EBSCO database ([database name]) on the World Wide Web: http://www.epnet.com/ehost/badger/badger.htm
Citation in bibliography, example:
Reuben, R. C. (1996). Whose language is it? ABA Journal, 82(3), 1 pp. Retrieved March 17, 1998 from EBSCO database (Academic Search Elite) on the World Wide Web: http://www.epnet.com/ehost/badger/badger.htm
For Business Source Elite, Health Source Plus or other, simply substitute the appropriate EBSCOhost database for Academic Search Elite.
Citation in text, format:
(Author, year, paragraph #)
Citation in text, example:
(Reuben, 1996, paragraph 10)
Citing Full-text Articles from Dow Jones and Proquest | back to top
Newspaper articles:
Citation in bibliography, format:
Author. (Year, Month). Title of Article. Newspaper title, page or pages (or starting page and length in paragraphs or words). Retrieved [Month day, Year accessed] from [Database] database, ([item no. --if applicable]) on the World Wide Web: [URL]
Citation in bibliography, example:
Borch, Phil. (1999, September 24). Fox River's Neighbors Tidying Up Carpentersville, Elgin Make Strides. Chicago Tribune [Online], 1pp. (705 words). : Retrieved March 17, 1998 from Dow Jones News Retrieval database on the World Wide Web: http://nrstg1p.djnr.com/
Journal articles:
Citation in bibliography, format:
Author. (Year). Title of Article. Journal Title, volume number(issue), page or pages (or starting page and length in paragraphs or words). Retrieved [Month day, Year accessed] from [Database] database on the World Wide Web: [URL]
Citation in bibliography, example:
Smith, John. (2000). Cancer Treatment and Alternative Therapies. FDA Consumer, 122(3), (2545 words). Retrieved March 18, 2000 from Dow Jones News Retrieval database on the World Wide Web. Retrieved April 5, 2000 from Dow Jones News Retrieval database on the World Wide Web: http://nrstg1p.djnr.com/
If you cannot find some of the required information, cite what's available.
For Proquest Direct newspaper articles, simply substitute their name and URL in the citation.
Citation in text, format:
(Author, year, paragraph #)
Citation in text, example:
(Smith, 2000, paragraph 1)
Other style guides:
Need help? Ask at the reference desk of the library.
