How to cite your Source Information

Collected by: Ms Rocio Acevedo, Aug. 2002.

 

Source information, sometimes called bibliographic information, is important for thorough research. Whenever you use information from Internet for a report or other assignment, you must identify (cite) the original publication that contained the information.  This is how the Modern Language Association MLA and the American Psychological Association APA recommends to cite:

 

Written Sources

Place your material in alphabetical order by the author's last name. If the material has no author use the title. (Remember that the articles 'a', 'an' and 'the' are ignored and the second word of the title is used. e.g. The Satanic Verses is placed under 'S'.)

Entry begins at the margin. Last name first for alphabetizing. Subtitle must be included. Comma before date. Colon after place.

Examples.

A book with a single author:
Lobdell, Jared. England and Always: Tolkien's World of the Rings. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981.

A book with two authors:
Welsch, Roger L., and Linda K. Welsch. Cather's Kitchens: Foodways in Literature and Life. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1987.

A book with no author:
Encyclopedia of Photography. New York: Crown, 1984.

 

Web Sources

To cite files available on the WWW, give the author's name, last name first (if known); the full title of the work, in quotation marks; the title of the complete work (if applicable), in italics; any version or file numbers; and the date of the document or last revision (if available). Next, list the protocol (e.g., "http") and the full URL, followed by the date of access in parentheses.

Example:

Burka, Lauren P. "A Hypertext History of Multi-User Dimensions." MUD History. 1993. http://www.utopia.com/talent/lpb/muddex/essay (2 Aug. 1996).

 

Stand-alone document, no author identified, no date

Document Title (n.d.). Retrieved [month day, year] from [source]

Example:

GVU's 8th WWW user survey. (n.d.). Retrieved August 8,2000, from http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/usersurveys/survey1997-10/

 

Articles from Online Databases

Author. "Article Title." Original Source of Article Date of original source: page numbers. Name of the Database Used. Name of the Service. Library where database was accessed, Location of library. Date of Access <URL of service's homepage>.

Example:

Maddren, Gerry. "Against All Odds." Cricket Feb. 1998: 21-23. SIRS Discoverer. SIRS Discoverer on the Web. Silver Lakes Middle School Library, North Lauderdale, FL. 10 Nov. 2001 <http://www.sirs.com>.

 

Online Articles

Author, Initial. (date of original source). Article title. Original source of article, page numbers. Retrieved [month day, year] from [source].

Example:

Maddren, G. (1998, February). Against all odds. Cricket, pp. 21-23. Retrieved Nov 10, 2001 from SIRS Discoverer.

 

Graphics & Media downloaded from Internet.

"Title of graphic." Graphic Type. Copyright Holder. Name of site providing graphic. Date of Access DMY.<url of service's homepage>

Example:

"Afghanistan." Map. Magellan Geographix. SIRS Discoverer. 10 Nov. 2001 <http://www.sirs.com>

 

 

Please note that the guidelines for citing electronic sources are not yet completely standardized.
Detailed guidelines on documenting online sources are explained in the fifth edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (1999) and the fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2001).

 

SIRS Discoverer® Deluxe on the Web. "How to Cite Source Information". SIRS Discoverer. SIRS Discoverer on the Web. The American School of Tampico Library, Tampico, Tam. 5 Oct. 2002 <http://www.sirs.com>.

 

 

The American School of Tampico www.ats.edu.mx.

For problems or questions regarding this web contact racevedo@ats.edu.mx.

Last updated: 08/08/04.