Citing a Source from the Internet

Using information from the Internet is no different than using information from a book or magazine. If you get information that is not your own, you must cite the source you received the information from so that they can receive proper credit. This type of reference that follows is APA Style.

Keeping in mind that not all web sites will have all of these components, the following should be included in a proper reference if possible. Author of the Page, Title of the page, Date page was last updated, The URL (address) of the page you are referencing, and the Date you retrieved or accessed the page. Here is an example, if you need to cite this page.

• In this example, the author is Paul Sadler. Sometimes you must look around for the author, but many times the author isn't given. If this is the case, just eliminate the author from this part.
• The title is from the title bar -- almost every page has a title. The title at the top of the page could be used also.
• The date last updated is usually given somewhere in a page, and this is important so you know how current the information is. Some sites may have only a month (June 2001) or year (2001) listed, and that is fine to list it that way. Once again, if you cannot find this information, eliminate it.
• The Retrieved date is simply the date you received the information from the page.
• The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is found in the address bar. If you are using a word processing application, you can easily copy and paste this information from the address bar to save time.

What would the reference look like if the page referenced didn't state an author or the date it was last updated?

The reference would appear like:

Van Wert High School Academics - Citing Sources. Retrieved  , from http://hs.vanwertcougars.net/academics/citing.asp. 

This is still a correct reference. All the information needed to adequately find where your information came from is given as best as it can be reasonably expected.

Remember, Internet sources can provide valuable information that you can use for many purposes. But, using information from an Internet site and not giving a proper reference is plagiarism. Also, just because information is on the Internet does not mean it is true. Check the accuracy of the source on all references.