Citing Online Sources

When you write a paper, you use a great deal of information obtained from various sources. You may include quotes, definitions of concepts, statistics, graphics, and significant ideas to underscore the points you make about your topic. As part of the research process, you must acknowledge the sources of information that you quote or paraphrase in your paper.

Your "reference list" is more than just an exercise in academic honesty, showing you are giving credit to and not plagiarizing the work of others. Your list can also serve as a helpful core bibliography on the topic. Researchers often examine the bibliographies in journal articles and books looking for leads to important materials not always easily found in traditional library catalogs and indexes.

To get the most use from such a list, however, it needs to be organized in a clear and consistent manner. "Style manuals" have been developed for just that purpose. Style manuals, also called "citation guides", provide guidelines for organizing the paper and listing all the various types of materials that you used.

This tutorial is made up of three sections:

1. Which style manual should I use?
2. How should I list Internet sources in my bibliography?
3. Should I just copy the information the way it appears in the database where I found it?

At the bottom of each page, you will see links that will take you back to the Table of Contents of this tutorial or to the Next Page. You may also choose to leave the tutorial and return to the Passports Research Guides page.

Ready? Let's go to the next section.