Citing Electronic Resources

Using the Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA) or Turabian format styles this page will show you on how to cite in your bibliography, articles from electronic databases that the COS Library subscribes to over the Internet such as Academic Abstracts, Los Angeles Times Newspaper and SIRS, .

Citation Methods

Whatever style you choose, accuracy, clarity, and consistency are the most important factors when citing information sources. Guidelines for citing electronic sources are not yet standardized. Information sources, such as the Internet, are constantly changing, and therefore citation formats are adapting to these changes.

MLA Style Guide: Paper and Electronic - from Kingwood College Library Online

ACADEMIC ABSTRACTS Database

MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION (MLA)

MLA is an association that has developed standardized methods of citing sources for research. They have also formulated guidelines for citing electronic sources. The bibliography is called "works cited."

Basic Citation Format:
Author’s Last Name, First Name. "Title of work." Article's original source and publication  date: page numbers. Product name. Date researcher visited site. <Electronic Address, or URL, of the source>.

Example:
Lenihan, Daniel J.; Bradford, James E. "Ancient Indians sought shadows and ice caves." Natural History August 1993:56-59. Academic Abstracts.  EBSCO Publishing. 12 Oct. 1999 <http://www.epnet.com/ehost/login.html

Footnote Format:
Instead of footnotes or endnotes, the author’s last name and a shortened version of the title are placed in parenthesis within the body of the text.

Example: (Lenihan, Ancient Indians)

For further details visit the MLA Website 


AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (APA):

This association has developed standardized methods for citing sources used in research. They have also formulated guidelines for citing electronic sources. The bibliography is called "references." The APA method does not use endnotes or footnotes, but instead uses parenthetical citations.

Basic Citation Format:

Author (date of original source). Article title. Original source of article, page numbers.  (From [product name]: publisher [Producer and Distributor]). Date article retrieved from the World Wide Web: Electronic Address, or URL, of the source.

Example :
Leninhan. (1993, August). Ancient Indians sought shadows and ice caves. Natural History , pp.56-59. (From
[Academic Abstracts]: EBSCO Publishing). Retrieved October 12, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.epnet.com/ehost/login.html

Footnote Format:
Instead of footnote or endnote, the author’s last name and the publication year (original source/date of visit to site) are placed in parenthesis within the body of the text.

Example: (Natural History/1999, October 12)

For further details visit the APA Website

TURABIAN

A system of writing term papers, theses, and dissertations developed by Kate L. Turabian. The sources listed at the end of the text is called a bibliography. Footnotes are placed at the end of the page.

Basic Citation Format:
Author. "Article title." Original source of article, date of original source, page numbers.  Product the article is available on; URL of specific article (Location of site publisher, publisher, date of visit to site).

Example :
Lenihan, Daniel J.; Bradford, James E.  "Ancient Indians sought shadows and ice caves." Natural History,  August 1993, 56-59.  in Academic Abstracts [database on-line]; available from http://www.epnet.com/ehost/login.html (Boston, MA.: EBSCO Publishing, accessed 12 October 1999).

Footnote format:
Number of footnote Author(s), "Article title," Original source of article, date of original source,  page numbers, product the article is available on: URL of specific article (Location of site publisher: publisher, date of visit to site).

Example:
Daniel J. Lenihan; James E. Bradford, "Ancient Indians sought shadows and ice caves," Natural History, August 1993, 56-59, in Academic Abstracts   [database on-line]; http://www.epnet.com/ehost/login.html (Boston, MA.: EBSCO Publishing, accessed 12 October 1999).

LOS ANGELES TIMES Newspaper Database

Modern Language Association (MLA)

Basic Citation Format:
Author name (if available). "Article Title." Newspaper Title Date, edition, section (if available): page (or number of paragraphs if unavailable). Database Name. School or Library name, City, State. Date Accessed. <http://infoweb.newsbank.com>.

Example:
Arax, Mark. "Water Deal Splits San Joaquin Valley." Los Angeles Times   29 July 1997, Home ed.,
Main News sec.:A-3. NewsBank Infoweb.  12 Oct. 1999. <http://infoweb.newsbank.com/>

No Author Listed - Example:
"Great Public Places."  Los Angels Times 13 Aug, 1995, Home ed., Travel sec.:L-3. NewsBank Infoweb. College of the Sequoias Library, Visalia, CA  12 Oct. 1999

Book Review Citation - Basic Format:
Reviewer's name. " title of the review" (if there is one); then write Rev. of   the title of the work reviewed, by author of book. Title of Newspaper date. section, page,date article retrieved from World Wide Web, <Electronic address or URL of the source>

Example:
Curwen, Thomas. "The Sixth Sense " Rev. of Daughter of Fortune, by Isabel Allende Translated from the Spanish by Margeret Sayers Peden. Los Angeles Times 10 Oct. 1999, Book Review sec, Home ed.: 1. NewsBank InfoWeb. College of the Sequoias Library, Visalia, CA. 12 Oct. 1999 <http://infoweb.newsbank.com/>


Film Review Citation - Example:
Turan, Kenneth. "October Sky Unabashedly Reaches for the Stars." Rev. of October Sky, dir. Joe Johnston. Los Angeles Time 19 Feb. 1999, Home ed.: F-10 NewsBank InfoWeb. College of the Sequoias Library, 12 October 1999. http://infoweb.newsbank.com

For further details visit the MLA Website

AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (APA):

Basic Citation Format:
Author name. (Year, Month day). Article Title. Newspaper Title
(edition, if available), Starting page. Retrieved Month Day, Year from
NewsBank on-line database (Database Name, Record No.) on the World Wide Web:
http://infoweb.newsbank.com

Basic Citation Example:
Arax, Mark. (1997, July 29). Water Deal Splits San Joaquin Valley. Los Angeles Times (Home ed.), A-3. Retrieved October 12, 1999 from NewsBank on-line database ( NewsBank Infoweb. Record Number: 000067166)  on the World Wide Web:    <http://infoweb.newsbank.com/>

No Author Listed - Citation Format:
Article Title (Year, Month Day). Newspaper Title (edition, if available),
Starting page. Retrieved Month Day, Year from NewsBank on-line database
(Database Name, Record No.) on the World Wide Web: http://infoweb.newsbank.com

No Author Listed - Example:
Great Public Places. (1995, October  13). Los Angeles Times (Home ed.),
L-3. Retrieved October 12,1999 from NewsBank on-line database ( NewsBank, Record No. 000075466 ) on the World Wide Web: http://infoweb.newsbank.com

Book Review Citation - Example:
Curwen, Thomas. (1999, October ). The sixth sense [Review of the book Daughter of Fortune]. The Los Angeles Times (home ed.),1. Retrieved October  12, 1999 from NewsBank on-line database ( Record No.000091198 ) on the World Wide Web: http://infoweb.newsbank.com

Film Review Citation - Example:
Turan, Kenneth. (1999, February 19). October Sky Unabashedly Reaches for the Stars. [Review of the
movie October Sky]. The Los Angeles Times (home ed.), 10F. Retrieved October 12, 1999 from NewsBank on-line database (NewsBank, Record No. 000015450) on the World Wide Web: http://infoweb.newsbank.com

For further details visit the APA Website

SIRS Database (Social Issues Resource Series)

MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION (MLA)

(Under MLA guidelines, the bibliography is called "Works Cited.")

Basic Citation Format:

Author. "Article title." Original source of article date of original
source: page numbers. Product name. Available protocol:
URL of specific article (date of visit to site).

Example:

Frick, Robert. "Investing in Medical Miracles." Kiplinger's Personal
Finance Feb. 1999: 80-87. SIRS Knowledge Source: Researcher.
Available HTTP: http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-frame?
id-23011-1963+094062+medical+RES (22 Feb. 1999).

For further details visit the MLA Website

AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (APA):

American Psychological Association
(Under APA guidelines, the bibliography is called "References.")

Basic Citation Format:
Author, Initial. (date of original source). Article title.
Original source of article, page numbers. (Product name, location
of publisher: publisher. [Producer and Distributor].) Available
protocol: URL of specific article [date of visit to site]

Example:
Frick, R. (1999, February). Investing in medical miracles.
Kiplinger's Personal Finance, pp. 80-87. (From SIRS Knowledge
Source: Researcher, Boca Raton, FL: SIRS Mandarin Inc. [Producer
and Distributor].) Available HTTP: http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/
hst-article-frame?id-23011-1963+094062+medical+RES [1999, February 22]

For further details visit the APA Website

TURABIAN

Basic Citation Format:

Author. "Article title." Original source of article, date of original
source, page numbers. Product the article is available on: URL of
specific article (Location of site publisher: publisher, date of
visit to site).

Example:

Frick, Robert. "Investing in Medical Miracles." Kiplinger's Personal
Finance, Feb. 1999, 80-87. Available on SIRS Knowledge Source:
Researcher: http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-frame?id-23011-
1963+094062+medical+RES (Boca Raton, Fla.: SIRS Mandarin, 22 Feb.
1999).

This page was last updated: November 13, 2006
For questions and comments, please mail to: connief@cos.edu