 | This series on the use of citations has three other posts:
With the information becoming digitised, in this post, I will focus on citing websites. This post is based on the The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition. |
Every citation has two parts:
- A brief in-text citation at the point that the referenced content is used
- A full citation as a part of the References list at the end of the document
Format for In-Text Citations
A brief in-text citation appears within the main text where the referenced content is used. You may choose to directly quote the referenced content, use a part of it, or then paraphrase it.
The in-text citation can take one of two forms:
- Narrative citation is the one that uses the author’s name in the text. In this case, include Author’s last name and the year of publication in parentheses.
For example:
Panangipally (2015) says “One of the most important characteristics of effective technical writing is consistency; be it in form, function, or style of writing.” - Parenthetical citation is one where you are quoting, paraphrasing, summarising or in any way referencing content from the source without mentioning the author name. In this case, the author name and year of publication are included in parentheses at the end of the content.
For example:
One of the most important characteristics of effective technical writing is consistency; be it in form, function, or style of writing (Panangipally, 2018).
Format for Citations in the References List
While the in-text citation indicates that we have referenced another work, the full citation in the References list will help the reader locate the original source content.
For every in-text citation, there must be a corresponding entry in the References list; similarly, every source in the References list must have been cited in the main text.
Often, we may have referred to other sources during our research. However, we have not quoted or paraphrased these sources in our content. If we want to provide the reader with such additional references, we must include these sources as a separate list under the title Bibliography. Do not include any sources that have not been cited in the References list.
The general format for the full citation as mentioned in the References list is:
Author’s Last name, First Name Initial. Middle Name Initial. (Year, Month Date of Publication). Title of page. Site title. URL
Or
Organization Name. (Year, Month Date of Publication). Title of page. Site title. URL
For example:
Panangipally, A. (2018, June 15). Understanding Structured Authoring. ibruk Consulting. https://ibruk.in/understanding-structured-authoring/
Or
BBC. (2020, June 9). Coronavirus: Airlines set for ‘worst’ year on record. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52983756
Citation Style When Some Information is Missing
When the Author Name or Organisation is Not Known
When the author name or the organisation name is not known, then use the format:
Title of page. (Year, Month Date). Site title. URL
For example:
Technical writing and instructional design case studies. (2017, August 24). ibruk Consulting. https://ibruk.in/technical-writing-instructional-design-case-studies/
When the Date of Publication is Not Known
When the date of publication is not known, mention n.d. instead of the date.
For example:
Technical writing and instructional design case studies. (n.d.). ibruk Consulting. https://ibruk.in/technical-writing-instructional-design-case-studies/
When the Content is Likely to Change with Time
When you reference a website or a page whose content may change with time, write the URL as Retrieved on Month Date, Year, from URL
For example:
Technical writing and instructional design case studies. (2017, August 24). ibruk Consulting. Retrieved June 26, 2020, from https://ibruk.in/technical-writing-instructional-design-case-studies/
In the next post, we will look at citing YouTube videos using the APA style.