Finding Information on the Web

Citing What You Find

Give credit where credit is due. Correct citation of your sources is imperative, both to point your readers to sources of further information and to acknowledge the sources you used. See the Wesleyan Blue Book section on plagiarism for more on the importance of citing sources and on how, when, and why to cite a source.

There are various styles for citing online sources, and, as the Internet is still relatively new and constantly evolving, citation standards are also still evolving; see below for links to some common citation styles. Check with your instructor if you are unsure which one to use. In general, though, citations should include (if available) at least the author and title of the Web page, date the page was last revised, date you accessed the page, and the full address of the page. Often, some of these elements are missing or cannot be determined; in that case, include what you can.  

Here is a typical humanities citation style for a Web page. Include all that are applicable and that you can determine:  

• Author's last name, first name.  
• "Title of Web page, in quotes" (if it is a brief work, or part of a larger work such as an article in an online journal).  
• Title of a larger work, or the title of the larger work of which the individual page is a part, in italics (or underlined) (for an online journal, include volume, issue, etc).  
• Name of editor, compiler, translator.  
• Publisher, scholarly project, database, other responsible party granting its imprimatur.  
• Date of online publication, or latest update.  
• Date you accessed the page. 
• <Complete URL for page> (in '< >' brackets). 

And a typical science citation style for a Web page. Include all that are applicable and that you can determine:  

• Author's last name, initials. 
• Year of online publication, or last update. 
• Title of Web page, capitalizing only the first word and any proper nouns (if it is a brief work, or part of a larger work such as an article in an online journal).  
• Title of a larger work, or the title of the larger work of which the individual page is a part, in italics (or underlined) (for an online journal, include volume, issue, etc).  
• Retrieved Month day, year, from Complete URL 

Citation Style Guides Available Online                         

EndNote is a program that works with MS Word and other word processing programs to automatically format bibliographies in a variety of styles. 

The following web sites offer style guides to the most commonly used formats. Check with your instructor if you are unsure which one to use:

Citing Electronic Resources - Index of web sites on citing Internet sites and other computer-based information sources

Citation Style and Grammatical Guides - Index of web sites on citation styles and guides to grammar.

Citation Style Guides - Index of web sites on a variety of citation styles.

Citation Styles and Grammar Guides - Index of sites on several citation styles, with links to guides for grammar and how to avoid plagiarism. 

Sources: Their Use and Acknowledgement - A citation handbook, with a guide to creating citations and many examples of citations in MLA, APA, and the journal Science citation styles, plus links to online sites for other styles.

American Psychological Association (APA)- Bibliography style handbook for paper, online, and other sources

American Sociological Association (ASA) - Bibliography style handbook for paper, online, and other sources

Chicago Manual of Style - Bibliography style handbook for paper, online, and other sources

Modern Language Association (MLA) - Bibliography style handbook for paper, online, and other sources

Turabian - Citation styles for social sciences based on Turabian's Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations

If you have any questions concering copyright and fair use laws, take a Crash Course in Copyright from a copyright lawyer at University of Texas, or consult the Copyright and Fair Use guide written by librarians at Stanford.

Contents - Internet - Searching - Search Engines - Subject Directories
Invisible Web - Listservs and Newsgroups - Evaluating - Citing