English Composition 2
Citing and Documenting Online Sources
Note: This page explains how to create a "Works Cited" page for sources from the Web but not from subscription databases such as ProQuest or JSTOR. See Documenting Sources from Online Subscription Databases for information about creating a "Works Cited" page with sources from subscription databases.
Citing Online Sources
In general, the guidelines for citing print sources apply to sources from the Internet and World Wide Web. However, there are a few additional guidelines, some of them unique to online sources, that you should be aware of. Those guidelines are explained below:
- Often, the author of an online source will not be named. If you cannot find the name of the author of material you use from an online source, you should cite the title of the source. For example, listed on the sample "Works Cited" page below is an article from the American Civil Liberties Union Freedom Network titled "Pregnant Woman Arrested for Drinking." Because no name is given at the web site to indicate the author of this article, the title of the article should appear in parentheses at the end of a sentence in which the material is used, as follows ("Pregnant Woman Arrested for Drinking"). If the title of the source is very long, you can use a shortened version of the title in parentheses, but try to include enough words so that the shortened version makes sense. Readers need to be able to locate easily on the "Works Cited" page any works cited in a paper, so whatever appears in parentheses for a particular source should be the first words that appear for that source on the "Works Cited" page.
- For print sources, you would include in parentheses the page number(s) for the material you use from the source. However, for online sources, you should cite the page or paragraph number(s) only if page or paragraph numbers actually appear on the web pages themselves, and, usually, web pages do not include these numbers. If you print the web pages, you will notice page numbers near the bottom of the printouts, but do not cite these page numbers. The page numbers that appear at the bottom of printouts of web pages are generated by your web browser and are not page numbers that are part of the web pages.
Documenting Online Sources
The Modern Language Association (MLA) has come up with standards for the documentation of online sources, and these are the standards you should follow when creating the "Works Cited" page for an essay that uses online sources.
The examples below illustrate the basic way that online sources should appear on the "Work Cited" page, but you may need more information to document some of the many different types of online sources that are available. The examples below should help you understand some basic aspects of the proper format for listing sources, though. For example, if possible, you should list two dates for each source: the date the source was posted or last updated, and the date that you accessed the source, and there is a specific way that the dates should be written: 12 March 1998. 24 January 1999.
The publisher Bedford/St. Martin's "Using MLA Style to Cite and Document Sources" is a helpful web page that includes a section on citing and documenting online sources. The page presents some examples of online sources as they should appear on a "Works Cited" page, but perhaps more useful than the specific examples is the list of 14 items you should look for when you are documenting an online source. You should go step-by-step through this list to figure our how to document a source. All of the items are listed in the order in which the information should appear as you list the source on your "Works Cited" page. If an item on the list does not apply to the source you are using, and many will not, you should skip that item and go to the next. For example, the first item listed is the author's name, so, if the author's name is listed on the source you are using, then this should be the first thing you write as you list this source on your "Works Cited" page. If the author's name is not listed on your source, you simply move to the second item on the list, which is the title of the source. If your source has a title, then the title becomes the first thing you list as you write your "Works Cited" entry for this source. You should continue this process until you get to the end of the list.
All of this is time consuming, and the proper citing and documenting of sources can be confusing because of the many different types of sources that are available online. However, you should be able to document most online sources correctly if you follow the basic format below.
Sample Works Cited Page
The sample "Works Cited" page below lists two online sources. Notice the format of the sample page below, including the spacing.
Works Cited
Dembrow, Dana Lee. "Tough on Drunk Drivers." washingtonpost.com 19 March 1999. 24 March 1999 <http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp- src/Wplate/1999-03/19/1771-031999-indx.html>.
"Pregnant Woman Arrested for Drinking." American Civil Liberties Union Freedom Network. 15 August 1996. 24 March 1999 <http://www.aclu.org/news/wo81596c.html>.
Note the format:
author's name (if given). "Title of Web Page." Name of Sponsoring Web Site. Date page was posted or last updated (if given). Date the researcher accessed the page <complete URL in angle brackets>.