How to Cite Online References in an Essay

In Text

• 1

  Finish writing the sentence until you reach a full stop before writing in the source.

• 2

  Open brackets before the full stop.

• 3

  Write the author's surname followed by a comma. The author's name may not always be available for online sources; if this is the case, leave out this information.

• 4

  Follow the comma with the name of the website, not the page title, and then another comma.

• 5

  Complete the in text citation with the date you accessed the page in a mm/dd/yy format. The citation should look like this: (Smith, abc.com, 10/24/11).

Bibliography

• 6

  Under a website's subheading, write the author's last name, followed by a comma and then, first name or initials followed by a comma.

• 7

  Write out in quotation marks the title of the web page used, followed by a comma.

• 8

  Add the publication date, if available, or the time the page was last updated.

• 9

  Copy and paste the full web link to the page you used, followed by a comma.

• 10

  Complete the reference by adding the date the webpage was accessed. The full bibliography reference should look like this: Smith, John, "Name of Webpage," 4/12/10 www.abcxyz.com/specific _page, 10/24/11.