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How to Cite Works From a Website

Anyone making her way through middle school, high school or college has faced the task of citing her sources for some kind of research paper. With all the different types of citations required for the different media, it can be difficult to remember which requires what -- especially since different style guides have different rules. Sourcing websites is just part of that colossal beast that is proper sourcing. There are very particular and precise bits of information that go into both in-text citations and a works-cited page.

Instructions

  1. Modern Language Association In-Text

    • 1

      Start your parenthetic element at the end of the sentence but before the period. Put a space between the last word of the sentence and the opening parenthesis.

    • 2

      Write the name of the author or just the name of the website if the author's name is not available.

    • 3

      Include the page number if that is available on the website.

    • 4

      Close the parenthetic element and put the punctuation mark immediately after.

    American Psychological Association In-Text

    • 5

      Start your parenthetic element with the name of the website you are citing. As with MLA style, begin the citation at the end of the sentence but before the period.

    • 6

      Include the year of the initial publication. Separate that from the website name with a comma.

    • 7

      Place the page number, chapter number and paragraph number if they are all available.

    • 8

      Close your parenthetic element after the paragraph number and follow it immediately with your punctuation mark.

    MLA Listing

    • 9

      Place the name of the author first. Put the last name first, then the first name, followed by a period.

    • 10

      Write the name of the article next, in quotation marks or in italics if you have access to a computer. Again, you need to follow this information with a period.

    • 11

      Identify the name of the website the information is on. Follow this with a comma.

    • 12

      Find and identify the date that the website was last edited by site administrators. (Ex.: 16 Sept. 2011). Follow this with a period.

    • 13

      Identify and document the date that you visited the site and obtained the information.

    • 14

      Place the website's URL address on a line below the rest of the information so that the reader can consult the information himself.

    APA Listing

    • 15

      Write the name of the website the information was found on first, followed by the year it was initially published. [Ex.: Bob's Web Site. (2011).]

    • 16

      Follow the period after the publication year with the name of the article itself. Place a period after the title.

    • 17

      Add the date you obtained the information. The information must be structured in a very specific way: Retrieved May 1, 2011.

    • 18

      Copy the site's precise URL address after the "retrieved" date. Make sure it's the URL of the page from which you got the information and not a home page, if applicable.

Nonfiction

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