- 1). Bookmark the source. Keeping the webpage that you wish to cite in your Favorites or Bookmarks folder makes it easier to find the page later in case you need to change or add anything in your citation.
- 2). Research the source. Before knowing what source to cite, it is important to know that your source is the original material. Many sites simply mirror content from other places. You want to cite the original source. Take a key chunk of text, long enough to only match the article that you are planning to cite and see what comes up. Look around results near the top. The top result is usually the original, but look for things such as copyright notices to be sure.
- 3). Determine the type of electronic source. Like different kinds of books, different kinds of electronic sources have different ways of being cited. Scholarly articles, Internet encyclopedias, translated works, and articles from online databases are all cited in different ways. Figure out precisely what kind of source you are using before you begin to write your citation.
- 4). Note the necessary information. While citation formats vary, there is a list of things that will be in almost every kind of citation. At the very minimum you should have the author, all relevant titles (article, journal, etc.), webpage name, date the article was published or last modified, group behind the webpage, the date that you visited the page for your information, and the full URL.
- 5). Fill in the blanks. Some of the information that you need may not be immediately available on the site. Try to find a link to contact the person or people in charge of the page to get any additional information you may need for your citation. If you cannot find it, leave it blank (as you would a print citation with an unknown author) but only after you have done due diligence.
- 6). Write the citation in the appropriate format. Cite your source appropriately, not only by the type of electronic source but also by what style guide you are using. Refer to your style guide for the specific format for your citation information.
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