When writing research articles, you usually need to do an internet search for information. If there is a website that you want to use as the source of the article, the site entry must be displayed in the list of references (also known as bibliographic entries, sources, or works cited in English) at the end of the article. You should also include an in-text citation at the end of the sentence with the information you paraphrased or quoted from the site. While in general the information that needs to be displayed is the same for all methods, the format used will depend on the chosen citation style (eg Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA), or Chicago).
Step
Method 1 of 3: MLA Quote Style
Step 1. Begin the reference entry with the author's name (if available)
If the author's name appears on the web page you want to cite, type his last name first, add a comma, then enter his first name. Place a period at the end of the name.
- For example: Claymore, Crystal.
- If no author's name is shown, but the website is owned or managed by a specific government agency, organization, or business, use the agency name as the author's name. For example, if you are using a web page from the official website of the National Library of Indonesia, use "Library National Indonesia" as the author's name.
Tip:
For the entire reference list entry, if one of the required sections or elements is missing or unavailable, skip that section of the citation and move on to another section.
Step 2. Enter the page title and enclose it in quotation marks
If the web page you are using has a title, type the title after the author's name. Capitalize the first letter of every word and all nouns, pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, and verbs. Enclose the title in quotation marks and insert a period at the end of the title, before the closing quotation mark.
For example: Claymore, Crystal. "Best-Kept Secrets for Amazing Cupcake Frosting."
Step 3. Write the website name in italics, followed by the date of publication
Type in the name of the site (in its entirety) and capitalize the first letter of each word, followed by a comma. Also use the appropriate capitalization and spacing scheme for the site in question (eg "wikiHow" or "WebMD"). If there is publication date information on the page, include the information in date-month-year format. Abbreviate all month names that have more than 4 letters. Place a comma after the issue date.
For example: Claymore, Crystal. "Best-Kept Secrets for Amazing Cupcake Frosting." Crystal's Cupcakes, Sept. 24. 2018,
Step 4. Include the URL of the web page
Copy the page URL and paste it in the entry. Remove the "http:" section of the copied URL. Place a period at the end of the URL. Make sure the URL used is a permanent link (permanent link or permalink) for the quoted information. If the URL is too long, ask your teacher or supervisor about using short URLs.
For example: Claymore, Crystal. "Best-Kept Secrets for Amazing Cupcake Frosting." Crystal's Cupcakes, Sept. 24. 2018, www.crystalscupcakes.com/amazing-frosting
Step 5. End the entry with the access date if the issue date is not available
Usually, web pages do not have a specific publishing date. If publication date information is not available on the page you are citing, add the word “Accessed at” (or “Accessed for English) after the URL and enter the page access date in date-month-year format. Abbreviate all month names that have more than 4 letters. Place a period at the end of the date.
For example: Claymore, Crystal. "Best-Kept Secrets for Amazing Cupcake Frosting." Crystal's Cupcakes, www.crystalscupcakes.com/amazing-frosting. Accessed Feb. 14. 2019
MLA reference entry format:
Author's last name, Author's first name. "Title of a Web Page with a Capital Letter on the First Letter of Each Word." Site Name, Date Month Year of publication, URL. Accessed on (or “Accessed” for English) Date Month Year.
Step 6. Insert the in-text citation after you have entered the information from the website in the post
Citation in MLA text (placed in parentheses) usually includes the author's last name and the page number containing the quoted or paraphrased information. Since websites do not have page numbers, simply include the author's last name in parentheses, or the title of the web page if there is no author information. Place the quotation in the text before the closing quotation mark at the end of the sentence.
- For example, you might write an in-text quote like this: "The best cupcake frosting techniques are usually not very intuitive (Claymore)."
- If you include the author's name in the text, in-text citations are not required. For example, you might write something like this: "Crystal Claymore, the award-winning cake maker doesn't hesitate to share all her secrets and share her favorite frosting techniques on her website."
Method 2 of 3: WHAT Citation Style
Step 1. Begin the reference list entry with the author's name
If there is author name information, type the last name first, insert a comma, and enter the initials of the first and middle name (if a middle name is available). Usually, the author of the article / writing on the website is a government agency, organization, or business that owns / manages the site in question. In this situation, enter the name of the agency, followed by a period.
For example: Canadian Cancer Society
Step 2. Add the year the website or page was published
If a publication date is available for the cited content, enter the year of publication in parentheses, after the author's name. Place a period after the closing parenthesis. If date information is not available in the quoted content, use the abbreviation "n.d." (" no date " or "no date") in brackets. Do not use the copyright date of the site in question.
- For example: Canadian Cancer Society. (2017).
- If you are citing multiple pages published in the same year from a single website, add a lowercase letter at the end of the year so you can distinguish each entry in the in-text citation. For example, you could write year information as "2017a" and "2017b."
Step 3. Type in the title of the web page, capitalizing the first letter of the first word
Enter a space after the date, then type the title of the page which is usually displayed as the head of the page. Capitalize only the first letter of the first word and first name. After that, add a period at the end of the title.
- For example: Canadian Cancer Society. (2017). Cancer research.
- If the quoted content is a separate document, the title should be italicized. Usually, you need to italicize the title of the text when citing a PDF document that is available on the website you are visiting. If unsure, consider wisely whether the title should be italicized or not.
Step 4. End the entry with the direct URL of the page
Copy the full URL or fixed link of the content you quoted. Type in the word “Taken from” (or “Retrieved from “for English), then paste the URL into the entry. Don't add a period to the end of the URL. If the URL is too long, ask your teacher or supervisor if you can use a shortened version of an existing URL.
For example: Canadian Cancer Society. (2017). Cancer research. Taken from (or “Retrieved from” for English)
APA reference entry format:
Author's last name, first name initials. Middle initials. (Year of publication). Web page title (capitalize the first letter of the first word and name). Taken from (or “Retrieved from”) URL
Step 5. Use the author's name and year of publication for in-text citations
The APA style uses the author's name-year of publication format as an in-text citation at the end of a sentence that contains information on the quoted or paraphrased results from the website. Quotations in this text (in brackets) are added before the closing punctuation mark in the sentence.
- For example, you might write something like this: "A clinical trial is being conducted to test a new cancer treatment (Canadian Cancer Society, 2017)."
- If you mention the author's name in the article, place the year (in parentheses) after the name. For example, you might write something like this: "The Canadian Cancer Society (2017) notes that globally, Canada is a leading country in clinical trials for cancer treatment."
Method 3 of 3: Chicago Quote Style
Step 1. Begin the bibliographic entry with the author's name
If the web page displays the author's name, type his last name, add a comma, and enter his first name. If no author's name is shown, use the name of the organization, company, or government agency that published the content as the author's name. Place a period at the end of the name.
For example: UN Women
Step 2. Enclose the title of the web page and enclose it in quotes
After the name, include a specific title for the page. Capitalize the first letter of every word and all names of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. Place a period at the end of the title, before the closing quotes.
For example: UN Women. "Commission on the Status of Women."
Step 3. Enter the name of the website or publishing organization, and type it in italics
If the website has a special name, include that name after the title of the web page. Otherwise, simply use the name of the business, organization, or government agency that manages and owns the site. Place a period at the end of the name.
For example: UN Women. "Commission on the Status of Women." UN Women
Step 4. Enter the date of issue or date of access
If the cited content has a specific publication date, enter the date in month-date-year format. If no publishing date is shown, type the word “Accessed on” (or “Accessed” in English), followed by the date the content was accessed in month-date-year format. Type in the full month name.
For example: UN Women. "Commission on the Status of Women." UN Women. Retrieved (or “Accessed”) February 14, 2019
Step 5. End the entry with the direct URL to the quoted web page
Copy the full URL or fixed link of the web page and paste it into the bibliography entry. Add a period at the end of the URL. If the URL is too long, ask your teacher, editor, or supervisor if you can use shortened links.
For example: UN Women. "Commission on the Status of Women." UN Women. Accessed February 14, 2019
Chicago bibliography entry format:
Author's last name, First name. "Webpage Title with Capital Letters on the First Letter of Each Word." Name of Website or Publishing Organization. Accessed on (or “Accessed” for English) Month Date, Year. URLs.
Step 6. Use commas instead of periods between footnote sections/elements
Footnotes for the Chicago style generally include all of the information contained in the bibliographic entry. However, these notes are “considered” as sentences and any information present is separated by commas. If the author's name appears on the page, include the first name first, followed by the last name, as you would when you mention the author's name in an article.
