Using APA Style to Cite Websites

From K-State Libraries Wiki

Jump to: navigation, search

Back to Family Studies and Human Services

This brief guide provides examples of how to cite websites using APA style. 

[edit]

Citation in the Text of the Paper*

To cite online sources that do not provide page numbers, use the paragraph number preceded by the paragraph symbol or the abbreviation "para" (see Example 1). If neither the paragraph nor page numbers are visible, cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph following it to direct the reader to the location of the material (see Example 2).

Example 1:

(Myers, 2000, ¶ 5)

Example 2:

(Beutler, 2000, Conclusion section, para. 1)

When citing an entire web site in general terms (see Example 3), but not specific information from that website, it is sufficient to give the address of the site in just the text: no reference list entry is needed. However, if any information is taken from a website, then a reference must be provided (see Example 4)

Example 3:

The Kansas Action for Children website (http://www.kac.org) is a great resource for finding data about children in Kansas.

Example 4:

According to their website, the mission of Kansas Action for Children is to advocate for policies and programs for Kansas children and youth (Kansas Action for Children, 2007, ¶ 4). 

*Any source (journal article, book, website, etc.) cited in the text of the paper MUST be included in the List of References at the end of the paper (see List of References, below). 

[edit]

List of References

Nonjournal Web Document, Web Page, or Report

Author*. (Year). Title. Date retrieved and URL.

* If the website does not include a person’s name as author, then the name of the organization is the author (e.g. Kansas Action for Children). Sometimes you will have to hunt around for the name!
 
Example:
 
Kansas Action for Children. (2007). 2007 Kansas kids count data. Retrieved November 1, 2007, from http://www.kac.org/docs/kc.Kansas.pdf.

Chapter or Section of a Web document

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. In Title of Website, Book or Larger Document (chapter or section number). Date Retrieved and URL.

Example:

Crosser, S. (2005). Approaches to managing children’s behavior. In Earlychildhood News. Retrieved November 5, 2007, from  http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=508

NOTE: The list of references should have a hanging indent (in other words, the second line of each reference should be indented).  Unfortunately, I couldn't get this wiki to perform a hanging indent.

Citing Information from NationMaster

NationMaster compiles statistics from sources such as the CIA World Factbook, United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank, World Resources Institute, UNESCO, UNICEF. Therefore, when citing information from NationMaster, the author will likely be an organization such as United Nations or World Bank, and not NationMaster.  To identify who the author is, click the "source" link near the top of the page or check the bottom of the page for a source.
 
Example:
 
Author (source). (Date). Title of page. In NationMaster. Date Retrieved and URL.
 
OECD. (2000). Dislike of school (most recent) by country. In NationMaster. Retrieved November 5, 2007 from http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_stu_att_wil_not_go_to_sch-education-student-attitude-dislike-school. 
 
Beware
Much of the statistical information presented on the NationMaster site does not include dates, which is problematic. “Most recent” is not specific enough to replace giving the actual publication date of the information. 
Example of an incomplete citation from NationMaster because date is missing:
 
UNICEF. (n.d.) Children underweight rate (most recent) by country. In NationMaster. Retrieved November 5, 2007 from http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_chi_und_rat-health-children-underweight-rate
 
Having statistical information without a date is incomplete and not useful. To find the missing publication date of statstics presented on the NationMaster website, go to the original source. In the example above, the original source is UNICEF. Therefore, I went to the UNICEF webpage (http://www.unicef.org/) and did a search on their site for “children underweight” and found the original statistics from a 2006 UNICEF publication. Statistics from the UNICEF website are more reliable than the data from NationMaster because UNICEF is the original source of the data.  Here is the complete citation from the UNICEF publication:

UNICEF. (2006). Progress for chidren: How many are underweight? Retrieved November 5, 2007 from http://www.unicef.org/progressforchildren/2006n4/index_howmany.html.

For more information about APA style, see http://www.apastyle.org/electext.html

 

Need Help?  Contact Tara Baillargeon

Retrieved from "http://staff.lib.k-state.edu/docs/index.php/Using_APA_Style_to_Cite_Websites"
Personal tools