Citing Airport Sites: A Quick Guide To Proper Referencing

Citing a website or webpage is a common practice that is used to give credit to the original author or source of information. The three most common citation styles are APA, MLA, and Chicago. An APA citation for a webpage includes the author's last name and initials, the publication date, the page title in italics, the website name in plain text, and the URL. In MLA format, a webpage citation includes the author's last name, first name, the page title in quotation marks, the website name in italics, the publication date, and the URL. For Chicago-style citations, the author's last and first name, page title in quotation marks, website name, publication date, and URL are included.

Citing a website in MLA Style

Author: Start with the last name, followed by a comma, and then the first name. If there is no author listed, omit this information and start with the title instead.

Example: Smith, Helena.

Title of the page: The title of the individual page should be placed in quotation marks.

Example: "The Women Who Brought Down Greece’s Golden Dawn."

Title of the website: The name of the website should be in italics, followed by a comma.

Example: *The Guardian*,

Publisher: If the name of the publisher differs from the author or the title, include it after the title. If it is the same, you can omit it to avoid repetition.

Example: N/A as the publisher is the same as the title of the website.

Date: Include the date the page or website was published, if available.

Example: 22 Oct. 2020.

URL: End the citation with the URL or DOI. Only include "www." and omit "http://" or "https://".

Example: www.theguardian.com/­world/­2020/­oct/­22/­the-­women-­who-­brought-­down-­greeces-­golden-­dawn.

Putting all these elements together, the final citation will look like this:

Smith, Helena. "The Women Who Brought Down Greece’s Golden Dawn." *The Guardian*, 22 Oct. 2020, www.theguardian.com/­world/­2020/­oct/­22/­the-­women-­who-­brought-­down-­greeces-­golden-­dawn.

In-text Citation: For in-text citations, use the author's last name in parentheses, followed by a period. If you have already named the author in your sentence, you don't need to include the parenthetical citation.

Example: (Smith)

Websites with No Author: If there is no author listed, start your citation with the title of the page. Use a shortened version of the title in your in-text citation, which should match the first words of your Works Cited entry.

Example:

MLA Works Cited entry: "US Election 2020: A Guide to the Final Presidential Debate." BBC News, 21 Oct. 2020, www.bbc.com/­news/­election-­us-­2020-­54620868.

MLA in-text citation: ("US Election 2020")

Websites with No Date: If there is no publication date, omit this element and include the date you accessed the page at the end.

Example:

MLA Works Cited entry: "Citing Sources and Referencing." Scribbr, www.scribbr.com/­category/­citing-­sources. Accessed 16 July 2019.

MLA in-text citation: ("Citing Sources")

Citing an Entire Website: If you are citing a whole website, there is usually no named author, so begin with the name of the website in italics. Include the publication or copyright date if available, or add the date you accessed the website at the end.

Example:

MLA whole website citation: *Scribbr*. www.scribbr.com. Accessed 11 July 2019.

In-text Citation for an Entire Website: When citing an entire website, refer to the specific page or article where you found the information. If you are giving a general overview, referring only to the homepage, or quoting text that appears across multiple pages, you may need to cite the entire website.

Example: (Scribbr)

Websites with Multiple Authors: For two authors, include both authors' names in the in-text citation and Works Cited entry. For three or more authors, use only the first author's name, followed by "et al."

Example:

In-text citation with two authors: (Wadhwa and Salkever)

In-text citation with three or more authors: (Marsh et al.)

Social Media Citations: When citing social media posts, include the account holder's name and their username in square brackets, followed by the full text of the post, including any hashtags. Then, list the publisher, date, and URL.

Example:

Twitter: Miranda, Lin-Manuel [@Lin_Manuel]. "Gmorning from a sky still blue above the smoke from a world still full of love and hope beyond the headlines from your own best self, whispering, ‘I’m still here, and it’s never too late to put me to work.’" Twitter, 22 June 2018, twitter.com/Lin_Manuel/status/1010165965378719745.

Instagram: National Geographic [@natgeo]. “Path of the Panther,” Instagram, photographed by Carlton Ward, 16 June 2018, www.instagram.com/p/BkFfT9xD6h6/?taken-by=natgeo.

Facebook: GoatsofAnarchy. "Loner goats become stallmates and fall in love." Facebook, 25 June 2018, www.facebook.com/thegoatsofanarchy/posts/2103455423030332:0.

In-text Citation for Social Media: Use the author's last name in parentheses, followed by a period.

Example: (Miranda)

By following these guidelines, you can properly cite websites and online sources in MLA style, ensuring that you give credit to the original authors and maintain academic integrity.

Citing a website in APA Style

APA (American Psychological Association) style is a citation style that is most commonly used to cite sources in social sciences fields. Here is a detailed guide on how to cite a website in APA style:

Basic Structure

The basic structure of an APA citation for a website is as follows:

Author Last Name, First Initial. (Year, Month Date Published). Title of web page. Name of Website. URL

For example:

Austerlitz, S. (2015, March 3). How long can a spinoff like ‘Better Call Saul’ last? FiveThirtyEight. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-long-can-a-spinoff-like-better-call-saul-last/

Author Information

If the website has an individual author, list their last name followed by a comma and initials, with a full stop after. If there is no author, start the citation with the title of the article. If the website is written by a group or organisation, use the name of the group or organisation as the author. If the author and site name are the same, omit the site name from the citation.

Date

Provide the most exact date possible in round brackets. If there is no date, use 'n.d.' for 'no date'.

The title of the webpage should be provided in sentence case, with only the first word and any proper nouns capitalised. If the title already contains punctuation, such as quotation marks, retain these in your reference.

Website Name

Provide the name of the website in regular font. If the author and the website name are the same, omit the website name.

URL

Include the full URL of the webpage.

Retrieval Date

If the webpage is likely to change over time and is not archived, include a retrieval date in the reference. This is done by writing 'Retrieved' followed by the date you accessed the source, then 'from' and the URL.

Special Cases

If you are citing an online version of a print publication (e.g. a newspaper, magazine, or dictionary), use the same format as you would for the print version, with the URL added at the end. If you are citing a specific page or article from a website, you will need a formal in-text citation and reference list entry.

Social Media

When citing a social media post, use the first 20 words of the post, in italics, as the title. Also include any relevant information about the type of post and any multimedia aspects (e.g. videos, images, sound, links) in square brackets.

Citing a website in Chicago Style

The Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) outlines two types of referencing styles:

• Notes and Bibliography
• Author-Date

Notes and Bibliography Style

In this style, superscript numbers are placed in the text after a piece of information that requires a citation. These numbers correspond to footnotes or endnotes that contain the full citation information. Footnotes are placed at the bottom of the page, while endnotes are added at the end of the chapter or project.

For example:

> One would wonder, "Would young Einstein be characterized as belonging somewhere on the autism spectrum? Would Erdos have been given a diagnosis of A.D.H.D.?"¹

> ¹Silver, Nate. "Beautiful Minds." *The New York Times.* July 13, 2013. Accessed August 04, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/books/review/the-boy-who-loved-math-and-on-a-beam-of-light.html?ref=books&_r=0.

The bibliography is a list of all the sources used, placed at the end of the paper. It is single-spaced, with the last names of authors arranged alphabetically, and the second line of each source indented.

For example:

> Staggs, Sam. *Born to Be Hurt: The Untold Story of Imitation of Life.* New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2009.

Author-Date Style

In this style, sources are briefly cited in the text, usually in parentheses, by the author's last name and the year of publication. This is known as an in-line or author-date citation. Each in-text citation corresponds to an entry in a reference list, where full bibliographic information is provided.

For example:

> (Staggs 2009)

General Rules for Citing Websites in Chicago Style

When citing a website in Chicago Style, the following information should be included:

• Author's last name, first name
• "Page title" in quotation marks
• Website name in roman (without quotation marks)
• Publication date (month, day, year)
• URL

For example:

> Patel, Sujan. “15 Must-Have Marketing Tools for 2015.” *Entrepreneur.* January 12, 2015. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/241570.

If there is no author listed, start the citation with the page title. If there is no publication date, use the revision date or the date accessed, preceded by "Last modified" or "Accessed" respectively.

For example:

> “Climate Change Is Affecting the Way Europe Floods, Experts Warn.” University of Glasgow, October 25, 2019. https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_681850_en.html.

Citing Online Articles and Blogs

For online articles and blogs, the format is the same as above, but the website name is italicized.

For example:

> Drake, Nadia. “What is the multiverse—and is there any evidence it really exists?” *National Geographic,* May 4, 2022. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/what-is-the-multiverse.

If citing a blog, add the word "blog" in parentheses after the website name.

For example:

> Kramer, Lindsay. “Punctuation: Everything you need to know.” *Grammarly* (blog), April 9, 2021. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/punctuation/.

Citing Videos

When citing a video, mention that it is a video and note its run time. This information comes after the date of posting and before the URL.

For example:

> Hernandez, Daniela. “T-Rex Could Actually Be Three Separate Dinosaur Species, Study Argues.” *Wall Street Journal.* April 16, 2022. Video, 5:31. https://www.wsj.com/video/series/daniela-hernandez/t-rex-could-actually-be-three-separate-dinosaur-species-study-argues/B3762BBB-A4CC-4674-B6F6-037A04EE7159.

Citing Social Media

To cite a social media post, follow the standard format and add the author's handle in parentheses after their name. Social media posts do not have titles, so use the text of the post itself (up to 160 characters). If the post is longer than 160 characters, cut it off and add an ellipsis.

For example:

> Grammarly (@Grammarly). “The more concise your message, the more likely it is to get a response.” Twitter, May 2, 2022. https://twitter.com/Grammarly/status/1521157691200229378.

Citing Websites with Multiple Authors

For sources with two authors, list both authors' last names and first names, separated by "and". For in-line citations, use both authors' last names in parentheses.

For example:

> Parker, Drake, and Josh Nichols

> (Parker and Nichols 2004)

For sources with three authors, list all authors' last names and first names, separated by commas, and the final author's name followed by "and". For in-line citations, use all three last names in parentheses.

For example:

> Jackson, Percy, Annabeth Chase, and Grover Underwood

> (Jackson, Chase, and Underwood 2005)

For sources with more than three authors, use a truncated format. List each author in the bibliography, following the same format as three authors. For in-line citations, use the first author's last name, followed by "et al."

For example:

> Writer, Alpha, Beta Writer, Gamma Writer, Delta Writer, Epsilon Writer, Zeta Writer, and Eta Writer et al.

> (Last name of first author et al.)

Citing Websites with No Author

If no author is given, simply skip the author part of the citation and start with the page title.

For example:

> “Exclamation Point (or Exclamation Mark).” *Grammarly* (blog), January 14, 2021. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/exclamation-mark/.

Webpages with no author or date

Citing a webpage with no clear author or date can be challenging, but here are some guidelines to follow in such cases. The formatting of your citation will depend on the style guide you are using – APA, MLA, or Chicago, for example. This response will focus on the general rules and provide examples in all three styles.

APA Style

In APA style, if there is no author listed, start the citation with the title of the webpage or article. This type of citation is usually reserved for specific sources like The Bible, dictionaries, and encyclopedias like Wikipedia. The title of the webpage should be in sentence case and in plain text, while the title of the article or individual webpage should be in italics.

If there is no date listed, use the letters " (n.d.)" in round brackets where the date would normally go. If only a year is given, provide just the year. If there is no clear publication date, use the date accessed or viewed.

> *Title of webpage: Subtitle (if any).* (n.d.). *Name of Website*. URL

For example:

> Timeline: Environmental movement (n.d.). *The Canadian Encyclopedia.* https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/timeline/environment

If you wish to emphasize that the webpage could be updated, include a retrieval date:

> Timeline: Environmental movement (n.d.). *The Canadian Encyclopedia.* Retrieved January 20, 2020, from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/timeline/environment

MLA Style

In MLA style, the general format for a webpage with no author or date is as follows:

> "Title of the Webpage/Entry." *Title of the Website*, URL. Accessed Day Month Year.

For example:

> "Chegg." www.cheggindia.com. Accessed 21 Aug. 2021.

Chicago Style

In Chicago style, the format for a webpage with no author is similar to APA and MLA. Here is the template:

> "Article Title," *Website Title*, Month Day, Year, URL.

For example:

> "Taiwan Cool to China Panda-plomacy." *CNN.com*, January 6, 2006, http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/01/06/china.taiwan.ap/index.html.

For the bibliography, the format is:

> “Article Title.” *Website Title*. Month Day, Year. URL.

For example:

> “Taiwan Cool to China Panda-plomacy.” *CNN.com*. January 6, 2006. http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/01/06/china.taiwan.ap/index.html.

How do I cite a source with no page numbers?

When citing a source with no page numbers, it is important to use an alternate locator in your in-text citation. This could be a heading, chapter number, or paragraph number. For example, if you were citing a source with chapter numbers, your citation might look like this: (Smith, 2016, ch. 1). If the source has paragraph numbers, you can also use these, but only if they are explicitly marked in the text. For example: (Smith, 2016, par. 5). If the source is a video, you can use a timestamp to indicate a specific point in the video. For example: ("Moving Day" 00:26:17-52).

Different citation styles have varying guidelines on when to use paragraph numbers. In APA Style, you can count the paragraph numbers in a text to identify a location by paragraph number. In MLA and Chicago styles, it is recommended that you only use paragraph numbers if they are explicitly marked in the text.

Frequently asked questions