How to Create a Works Cited or References List : A Research Guide by Mike Palmquist

Avoiding Problems: Online Sources

Imagine one of the sources you are citing in your project document is an article found on a Web site. The article, originally published in Time Magazine Volume 151, Number 15 from April 20, 1998, is titled "Lies, Damn Lies, and Racial Statistics: Figures from all the University of California Campuses Paint Another Picture," and was written by Charles Krauthammer. You retrieved it from the Time Magazine Web site on October 20, 2000, from http://www.time.com/ time/magazine/1998/dom/ 980420/nation.lies_damn_ lies_an2.html.

Consult the appropriate styles on the right to see how this source, an article in an online periodical, would be cited in a works cited or references list.

For MLA style, provide information as you would for a print periodical, adding the date you accessed the article and the URL. The URL should be listed inside angle brackets (< >). Because the article was published online, it is unlikely to have page numbers.

For APA style, provide publication information followed by the retrieval date and the URL. Include [Electronic version] after the title.

For Chicago style, there are limited instructions for citing electronic sources. In the examples on the right, we'll show how to document this type of source using Columbia Online Style for an article originally published in print and obtained online. Shown are entries for both a humanities type document and a scientific document. Choose the appropriate type for the discipline in which you are working.

For CSE style, cite electronic journals as you do print journals, giving the medium and adding the URL and access date to the end.