from the Internet
| 4 suggestions |
| Outside links to this page |
How should one quote Internet sources? Giving credit where credit is
due will help you avoid misrepresenting others' work as if it were done by
you. In other words, if your writing borrows someone else's words or
summarizes their ideas, you must clearly refer to each source that
you have used.
Avoid the appearances of plagiarism,
even if college and university norms fail to distinguish between
dishonesty and carelessness.
More broadly, citing sources from the Internet or anywhwere else serve
three broad purposes. 1) Doing so increases the reader's confidence in
what you have written. 2) Communicating the location and status of your
sources enables your reader to evaluate your evidence in a broader
context. And 3) it enables the reader to access sources that she may use
to develop her own research.
Therefore, if you use Web and e-mail resources, cite them as accurately
and thoroughly as you would cite other important sources.
Helpful advice on this matter also is offered by Wayne C. Booth,
Gregory G. Colomb and Joseph M. Williams, The
Craft of Research, 2nd ed., Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and
Publishing (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003), p. 97,
Section 6.3.1. (Pagination may vary in the 3rd edition [2008].)
Five specific suggestions follow below:
• The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or Web address is a necessary
part of your citation. But it is not enough. By itself, a URL is like a
library call number: It points to a location on the Internet but fails to
communicate the precise content and possible value of the website. Merely
citing the URL for a website is as insufficient as simply citing a book's
call number. For example, if you cite the call number JZ 1720 .P65
2004, how will the reader of your paper know what book this is?
• Worse, suppose that the hyperlink to a source that you use later
changes or becomes broken or that the website is taken down. In those
cases, a URL alone leaves the reader unable to learn who is the author,
what is the title and when it was published. Most Internet users do not
know that they can access the Internet
WayBack Machine to locate an archival version of the cited website.
• If available, supply the following facts of publication: the
author, title or subject line, URL, and/or sender's e-mail address, and
the date when the page was created or when the e-mail was sent.
• Also include a reference to the original version if your Web
source is a republication of an article first appearing elsewhere, even
though this will make your citation longer.
• Note the date when you accessed the website and, if stated, the
date when it was last revised. Citing that information is important, for
example, if the website were modified shut down after you visited it.
• Observing the above criteria, one might cite a hypothetical
essay published in the online edition of a printed newspaper as follows:
• Do you need to produce MLA- or APA-style citations for Web
sources used in writing your paper? While consulting manuals of style, you
might also try David Warlick's
Citation Machine (The Landmark Project).
• If you are citing a publicly posted e-mail, can you name the
e-mail "list" (not "listserv[er]")?
• Respect the difference between private e-mail and the open
Internet! If you wish to cite a private e-mail, has the sender given you
permission to use it?
Use complete citations
4 suggestions
Example of a citation
In the citation above, notice the order of its elements: Author, title of
article, name of newspaper, date, page number in the hard copy edition,
URL of the online edition, and the date when the writer accessed the
online edition of this article.
George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul D. Wolfowitz,
"Why bother announcing last month's civilian casualties in Iraq and
Afghanistan?" The Washington Times, 31 October 2004, page 1; online
edition, http://www.washingtontimes.com/archives.htm/#funkyCites —
accessed 3 November 2004.
Citing e-mail communications
Outside links to this page
• La historia de España y Asia-Pacífico, Recursos para el estudio de la Historia Contemporánea, section 5 ("Recursos en Internet").
© 1999-2008, Vincent K. Pollard.
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