This section includes all types of sources found on the internet that are not covered in other sections. If you are looking for books or journals found online please see the Books and Periodicals sections.
Websites are much trickier than the other sources listed. When using a website, you must always judge the reliability of the source. Is it by a respectable group or organization or is it owned by a random person? Is the address one you can trust, like .edu or .gov, or an unknown free website like angelfire.com? Scholarly research isn’t simply about finding some information from whatever websites that are out there, but finding reliable and verifiable information from trustworthy websites. Some key things to look for when judging a website’s authority are
Ultimately, use common sense and ask yourself, “Why should I trust this information?”
You want to try and find as much information as possible when using a page off a general website (as opposed to using a document or report posted online). You want to try and get author, date posted or updated, title of the page, and URL. An organization can be the author. If you are missing the author, move the title in front of the year. If you do not have a date, put (n.d.).
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the page. Retrieved from http://completeURL.com
It is important to remember to have accurate, stable URLs when citing so the reader can find the same information if necessary. If the author uses a screen name instead of a real name, list the screen name. Also, since information can be easily changed, be sure to use the full date it was posted or updated.
Environmental Protection Agency. (2013, May 3). Laws & regulations. Retrieved from http://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of post [Description of form]. Retrieved from http://www.completeURL.com
Simons, D. J. (2000, July 14). New resources for visual cognition [Discussion group message]. Retrieved from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/visualcognition/message/31
Hammond, T. (2000, November 20). YAHC: Handle Parameters, DOI Genres, etc. [Electronic mailing list message] Retrieved from Ref-Links electronic mailing list, http://www.doi.org/mail-archive/ref-link/msg00088.html
de Vries, J. (2012, October 13). A procrastinating post about grading fragrances [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://tmoaem.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-procrastinatory-post-about-grading.html
Scott, S. (2012, October 13). Re: A procrastinating post about grading fragrances [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://tmoaem.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-procrastinatory-post-about-grading.html
Moore, T. (2012, December 5). Understanding Wordpress Plugins. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07rqFm0MRO0
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