You'll likely do a lot of research online if you're writing a research paper.If you have websites that you want to use as sources for your paper, an entry for the website must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.You'll include a citation at the end of any sentence in which you've quoted or paraphrased information from that website.While the information you need to provide is the same across all methods, the way you format that information may be different depending on whether you're using the Modern Language Association, American Psychological Association or Chicago style of citation.
Step 1: If the author's name is given, start your Works Cited entry with that.
If you want to cite an author on a web page, you should use their first name and last name.There is a period at the end of the name.Claymore and Crystal are examples.If the website is produced by a government agency, organization, or business, use the name of the author.You would list the author of the CDC web page as "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention" if you were using it as a source.
Step 2: Double quotation marks should be provided for the title of the page.
If the page has a title, type it after the author.The first word should be capitalized in the title case.Place a period at the end of the title inside the closing quotation marks.Claymore and Crystal are examples.There are secrets for amazing cupcake frosting.
Step 3: The date of publication is followed by the name of the website.
In the title case, type the name of the website as a whole.If there is a publication date for the web page, list it in day-month-year format, abbreviating all months with names longer than 4 letters.The date of publication should be placed in the parentheses.Claymore and Crystal are examples.There are secrets for amazing cupcake frosting.Crystal's cupcakes are on sale.
Step 4: The URL should be included for the web page.
Leave off the " http://" part of the URL and copy it into your entry.There is a period at the end of the URL.The URL you use should be related to the information you're citing.Talk to your instructor or supervisor if the URL is too long.Claymore and Crystal are examples.There are secrets for amazing cupcake frosting.Crystal's Cupcakes has an amazing-frosting cupcake.
Step 5: If there was no date of publication, close with your access date.
A web page won't have a specific publication date.Adding the word "Accessed" after the URL will tell you when you last accessed the page.All months have names with more than 4 letters.At the end of the date, place a period.Claymore and Crystal are examples.There are secrets for amazing cupcake frosting.Crystal's Cupcakes is located at www.crystalscupcakes.com.The website was updated 14 Feb. 2019.
Step 6: You can cite the website in your text.
A parenthetical citation should include the author's last name and the page number where the quoted or paraphrased information can be found.If there is no author on the website, you can include the author's last name in the parenthetical or title of the web page.You should place your parenthetical inside the last part of the sentence.The best cupcake frosting techniques are often the least intuitive.There is no need for a parenthetical citation if you include the author's name in your text."Award-winning baker Crystal Claymore wasn't afraid to give away all her secrets, sharing her favorite frosting techniques on her website."
Step 7: Your reference list entry should begin with the author's name.
If an author's last name is listed first, then their first and middle initials, if a middle initial is given.The author of a website is usually a government agency, organization or business.List the name of the entity followed by a period.The Canadian Cancer Society is an example.
Step 8: The year was added to the website or page.
If a publication date is provided next to the content you are citing, include the year in parentheses after the name of the author.After the closing parentheses, place a period.Inside the parentheses, use the abbreviation "n.d." if no date is provided for the specific content you're citing.The website's copyright date should not be used.The Canadian Cancer Society is an example.The year 2017:Adding a lower-case letter to the end of the year will help you differentiate between pages from the same website.For example, you might have two names.
Step 9: In the sentence case, type the title of the web page.
The title of the web page should be typed after the period that follows the date.The first word and any proper nouns should be capitalized.At the end of the title, place a period.The Canadian Cancer Society is an example.The year 2017:Cancer research.The title should be italicized if the content is a stand-alone document.This is usually the case if you cite a PDF document on a website.If you don't know, use your best judgement to decide whether to italicize it or not.
Step 10: Go to the direct URL of the page.
You can copy the full URL of the content you want to cite.Go past the URL into your entry by typing the words "Retrieved from."There is a period at the end of the URL.If the URL is long, ask your instructor or supervisor if you can shorten it.The Canadian Cancer Society is an example.The year 2017:Cancer research.There is a link to the website at http://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information.
Step 11: For parenthetical citations, use the author's name and year.
APA uses author-year parenthetical at the end of any sentence in which you quote or paraphrase information from the website.The closing punctuation has a parenthetical citation in it.You could write: "Clinical trials are used to test new cancer treatments."Place the year in parentheses after the author's name if you include it in your text.The Canadian Cancer Society noted that Canada is a global leader in clinical trials of cancer treatments.
Step 12: The name of the author is what you should start with.
If the web page has an individual author listed, type that author's last name first and then their first name.If there is no author, use the name of the organization, company, or government agency that published the content as the author.There is a period at the end of the author's name.The example is UN Women.
Step 13: There are double quotation marks on the title of the web page.
The title of the specific web page should be given after the article's name.The first word should be capitalized in the title case.Inside the closing quotation marks, place a period at the end of the title.The example is UN Women.There is a commission on the status of women.
Step 14: The website or publishing organization's name should be added in italics.
After the title of the webpage, include this if the website has a distinct name.Use the name of the business, organization, or government agency that produced the website.There is a period at the end of the name.The example is UN Women.There is a commission on the status of women.The UN has women.
Step 15: The publication date or access date should be given.
If the content you're citing has a specific publication date associated with it, give it in a month-day-year format.If there is no publication date listed, type the word "Accessed" followed by the date you accessed the content.The names of all months should be spelled out.The example is UN Women.There is a commission on the status of women.The UN has women.February 14, 2019.
Step 16: Close your entry with a direct URL.
You can copy the full URL from the web page and paste it into your entry.There is a period at the end of the URL.Talk to your instructor, editor, or supervisor if the URL is too long.The example is UN Women.There is a commission on the status of women.The UN has women.February 14, 2019.
Step 17: There are periods between elements in footnotes.
All of the same information is included in a Chicago-style footnote.The elements are separated by commas in the footnote.If there was an individual author listed, their name should be listed first with their first name followed by their last name, just as you would do if you wrote it in text.UN Women, "Commission on the Status of Women," accessed February 14, 2019, is an example.