Citing Electronic Sources

Basic Elements of Electronic Citation

Electronic citations should follow the same basic format as their print counterparts, with the same goal in mind -- that is, to provide readers with a way to locate the information themselves. Often, extra information may be necessary (e.g., access date, electronic address) and some standard information may be unavailable (e.g., page numbers). Different types of sources as well as different media may have different requirements. Examples for some of the most frequent types of electronic citations are listed below. Pay particular attention to the handling of the following two elements:

Dates: Whereas in the case of print citations, only the publication date is usually listed, many electronic resources are updated regularly. Thus, when citing electronic sources you should include both the date of original publication (if available) and the date on which the material was accessed.

Electronic Address: The MLA Style Manual recommends including the online address of electronic materials, where available. You should include the access-mode identifier (e.g., http, ftp, gopher, telnet, news) as well as the path and file names. The address should be given inside angle brackets: <http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook>.

About Page Numbers

Many electronic sources don't provide standard page numbers. The MLA Style Manual recommends that writers include the number range or total number of pages or paragraphs if they are numbered. In cases where page numbers are unavailable, the MLA Handbook requires that "n. pag." (no pagination) be included in the "Works Cited" entry (see Handbook, pp. 136-37, 165).

Parenthetical Reference within Your Paper to an Electronic Source

When documenting a work within your paper, use a parenthetical reference. The reference should:

  1. point to the source in your Works Cited section by a superscript number (see in-text quotations)

Example:

From a very young age, children can provide surprisingly accurate descriptions of how they were injured1

 

 

Examples of Works Cited Electronic References

Online Projects and Databases

Victorian Web. Ed. G. Landow. 1994. Brown University. 6 Sept. 1998 <http://www.stg.brown.edu/ projects/hypertext/landow/victorian/victov.html>. Victorian Women Writers Project. Ed. P. Willett. Apr. 1997. Indiana U. 26 Apr. 1997 <http:// www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/>.

Professional Website

Simons, M. Thomas Hardy Resource Library. 6 Sept. 1998 <http://pages.ripco.com:8080/ ~mws/hardy.html>. University of Newcastle Drama Department. Michael R. Booth Theatre Collection. 6 Sept. 1998 <http://www.newcastle.edu.au/department/dm/booth/ booth.htm>.

Personal Website

Duncan, D. Home page. 6 Sept. 1998 <http:// www.geocities.com/SoHo/Coffeehouse/1652/>. Klein-Smith, Sarah. Home page. 6 Sept. 1998 <http://members.aol.com/~sklein2/>.

Online Book

Dickens, C. Great Expectations. London, 1861. Project Guttenberg. 6 Sept. 1998 <ftp:// uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/etext/gutenberg/etext98/ grexp10.txt>. Eliot, G.. Middlemarch. London, 1871-72. 6 Sept. 1998 <http://etext.virginia.edu/subjects/women.html>.

Online Articles

Online Article in Scholarly Journal

Moran, C. "From a High-Tech to a Low-Tech Writing Classroom: 'You Can't Go Home Again'." Computers and Writing 15.1 (April 1998). 6 Sept. 1998 <http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/ ~ccjrnl/Archives/v15/15_1_html/15_1_Feature.html> Baird, E. "Ain't Gotta Do Nothing but Be Brown and Die." Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine 5.7 (July 1998). 6 Sept. 1998 <http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1998/jul/baird.html>

Online Article in a Newspaper

Harmon, A. "Have Laptop, Will Track Each Blip in the Market." New York Times on the Web 6 Sept. 1998. 6 Sept. 1998 <http://www.nytimes.com/ library/tech/98/09/biztech/articles/06tick.html>. "Government Orders Peanut-Free Zones on Airlines." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 4 Sept. 1998. 7 Sept. 1998 <http://www.jsonline.com/alive/ nutrition/0904peanut.stm>.

Online Article in a Magazine

Jaquet, J. "Taking Back the People's Air." The Nation Digital Edition.8 June 1998. 7 Sept. 1998 <http://www.TheNation.com/i980608.htm>. Taggart, Stewart. "DNA Testing for the Dogs." Wired. 4 Sept. 1998. 6 Sept. 1998 <http:// www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/14842.html>.

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This information comes from:

The Writing Center. Ed. University of Wisconsin-Madison.1998 http://www.wisc.edu/writing/TofC.html.