LEO Documenting Internet Sources

LEO: Literacy Education Online

Documenting Internet Sources:
MLA and APA Bibliographic Citations

The Internet provides a tremendous amount of information electronically, yet citation formats for these sources have only recently become standardized in print style manuals.

General Formulas for Bibliographic Citations

If you are using MLA style for bibliographic citations, use the following general formula for online sources:

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Work."Title of Complete Work/Journal.

The date of publication. The date of access. The URL in angle brackets.

This general formula can be translated into the specific citation formats for electronic sources shown in the table below.

If you are using APA style for your reference list, consider this basic formula for online sources:

Author/Editor's Last Name, First Initial. (Year, Month Day). Title of article without

quotation marks. Title of Complete Work/Journal. Retrieved month, day, year, from the World Wide Web:

URL

This general formula can be translated into the specific documentation guidelines for online sources illustrated in the following table for MLA and APA documentation.

Specific Citation Formats for MLA and APA

MLA

APA

Professional Website

IABC. Homepage. 2000. International Association of

Business Communicators. 13 Jan. 2001.

<http://www.iabc.com/homepage.htm>.

Professional Website

International Association of Business Communicators. (2000).

IABC. [Online]. Retrieved January 13, 2001, from

http://www.iabc.com/homepage.htm

Work from a Library Subscription Service

Lee, O., Gong, S.J. Overcoming the Confucian

Psychological Barrier in Government Cyberspace.

CyberPsychology & Behavior. 1 Feb. 2004.

Expanded Academic ASAP. Infotrac Web. St.

Cloud State U. Lib., St. Cloud, MN. 6 Mar. 2004.

<http://80-web2.infotrac.galegroup.com.libproxy.

stcloudstate.edu/itw/infomark/>.

Work from a Library Subscription Service

Lee, O. & Gong, S.J. (2004, February 1).

Overcoming the confucian psychological barrier

in government cyberspace. CyberPsychology &

Behavior. Retrieved March 6, 2004, from the

Expanded Academic ASAP database at St.

Cloud State University: http://80-web2.infotrac.

galegroup.com.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/itw/infomark/

Online Book

Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Trans. N. H. Thomson.

New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909. Bartleby.com:

Great Books Online. 2001. 5 Aug. 2001

<http://www.bartleby.com/36/1/>.

Online Book

Machiavelli, N. (1909). The Prince. (N. H. Thomson, Trans.)

New York: P.F. Collier & Son. [Online]. Bartleby.com:

Great Books Online. Retrieved August 5, 2001, from

http://www.bartleby.com/36/1/

Online Report

Hauswirth, M. A Reference Architecture

for Push Systems. Technical Report TUV-1841-

98-05. Technical University of Vienna, Information

Systems Institute, Distributed Systems Group.12 Nov.

2000. 18 Jan.2001 <http://www.infosys.tuwien.ac.at/

Staff/pooh/papers/ PushArch/>

Online Report

Hauswirth, M. (2000, November 12). A reference architecture

for push systems. [Online]. Technical Report TUV-

1841-98-05. Technical University of Vienna, Information

Systems Institute, Distributed Systems Group. Retrieved

January 18, 2001, from http://www.infosys.tuwien.ac.at/

Staff/pooh/papers/ PushArch/

Article in an Online Journal

Wigand, Rolf T., and Robert I. Benjamin. "Electronic Commerce:

Effects on Electronic Markets." Journal of Computer-

Mediated Communication 1.3 (1995). 20 Nov. 2000

<http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol1/issue3/wigand.html>.

Article in an Online Journal

Wigand, R.T., & R. I. Benjamin. (1995). Electronic commerce:

Effects on electronic markets. Journal of Computer-

Mediated Communication [Online]. Retrieved

November 20, 2000, from http://www.ascusc.org/

jcmc/vol1/ issue3/wigand.html

Article in an Online Magazine

Schneider, Craig. "The Goodwill Games: How to

Tackle FASB's New Merger Rules." CFO.com

21 July 2001. 17 Oct. 2001 <http://www.cfo.com/

FASBguide>.

Article in an Online Magazine

Schneider, C. (2001, July 21). The Goodwill Games: How to

tackle FASB's new merger rules." CFO.com [Online].

Retrieved October 17, 2001, from

http://www.cfo.com/FASBguide

Article in an Online Newsletter

Deus, Lucy, and Mark Maybury. "MITRE Evaluates

Collaborative Tools for Defense Information Infrastructure."

The Edge: The MITRE Advanced Technology Newsletter

2.1 (1998). 3 Aug. 1999 <http://www.mitre.org/

pubs/edge/june_98/>.

Article in an Online Newsletter

Deus, L., & M. Maybury. (1998, June). MITRE evaluates

collaborative tools for defense information infrastructure.

The Edge: The MITRE Advanced Technology

Newsletter 2(1) Retrieved August 3, 1999,

from http://www.mitre.org/pubs/edge/june_98/

Article in an Online Newspaper

Banerjee, Neela, and Andrew C. Revkin. "OPEC

Leaders Indicate They Are Set to Cut Output Again."

New York Times on the Web 21 July 2001. 1 Aug.

2001. <http://www.nytimes.com/archives>.

Article in an Online Newspaper

Banerjee, N., & A. C. Revkin. (2001, July 21). OPEC

leaders indicate they are set to cut output again.

New York Times on the Web [Online]. Retrieved

August 14, 2001, from http://www.nytimes.com/archives

Online Review

Kerr, Sarah. "'Looking for History': A Subtle Observer

of Latin America." Rev. of Looking for History by

Alma Guillermoprieto. The New York Times on the

Web. 22 July 2001: 12 pars. 2 Sept. 2001.

<http://www.nytimes.com/ archives>.

Online Review

Kerr, S. (2001, July 22). "Looking for history": A subtle

observer of Latin America. [Review of the book

Looking for history by A. Guillermoprieto.] The

New York Times on the Web [Online]. Retrieved

September 2, 2001, from http://www.nytimes.com/

archives

Online Editorial

Labaton, Steven. "Head of S.E.C. Aims to Simplify

Agency's Regulations." Editorial. The New York

Times on the Web 19 July 2001. 20 July 2001.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/19/business/

19CND-SECURE.html>.

Online Editorial

Labaton, S. (2001, July). Head of S.E.C. aims to simplify

agency's regulations [Editorial]. The New York Times

on the Web [Online]. Retrieved July 20, 2001, from

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/19/business/

19CND-SECURE.html

Online Letter to the Editor

Hatchl, Sidney: Letter. latimes.com 17 July

2001. 19 July 2001 <http://latimes.com/news/

opinion/la00005853jul17.story?coll=la%D

news%2Dcomment%2Dopinions>

Online Letter to the Editor

Hatchl, S. (2001, July 17). Campaign Reform [Letter to editor].

latimes.com [Online]. Retrieved July 19, 200,1 from

http://latimes.com/news/opinion/ la-0005853jul17.story?

coll=la%Dnews%2Dcomment%2Dopinions

Online Interview

Lockwood, Anne Turnbaugh. "Community

Collaboration and Social Capital: An

Interview with Gary G. Wehlage." Leaders

for Tomorrow's Schools. 2 May 2001.19

July 2001 <http://www.ncrel.org/cscd/pubs/

lead21/2-1m.htm>.

Online Interview

Lockwood, A. T. (2001, May 2). Community collaboration

and social capital: An interview with Gary G. Wehlage.

[Interview with Gary G. Wehlage]. Leaders for

Tomorrow's Schools. [Online]. Retrieved July 19, 2001,

from http://www.ncrel.org/cscd/pubs/lead21/2-1m.htm

Online Posting to Listserv or Newsgroup

Fanderclai, Tari. "MOO Ports and Napster

Lockdown." Online posting. 13 Sept. 2000.

TechRhet Discussion List. 23 Oct. 2000

<http://www.egroups.com/ group/TechRhet>.

Online Posting to Listserv or Newsgroup

Fanderclai, T. (2000, September 13). MOO ports and

Napster lockdown. Message posted to TechRhet

discussion list, archived at http://www.egroups.com/

group/TechRhet

Email

Lourey, Jessica. "The Articulation Agreement." Email

to the author. 06 June 2000.

Email

Personal communications, including email, are considered

nonrecoverable; data that is not recoverable is cited in the

text only, not in the reference list. (See APA In-text Citations.)

Online Synchronous Communication (MOO, MUD, Chat, IM)

Nicky. "Web-based Writing Management." Computers

and Writing 2000 Online Session. 28 Mar. 2000.

Connections MOO. 28 Mar. 2000

<telnet:connections.moo.mud.org_3333>.

Online Synchronous Communication (MOO, MUD, Chat, IM)

APA recommends that electronic communication that is

not persistent and therefore nonrecoverable be treated as

personal communication and cited in-text only.

(See APA In-text Citations.)

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Updated: 7 March 2004