Internet Research and Citation Guide
Citing Your Sources

Parenthetic (In-Text) Citations

Preparing the List of References

Although the fourth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association does include some electronic sources, the formats presented are incomplete, and can be confusing. An alternative format for APA-style, developed by Janice R. Walker of the University of South Florida, has been adapted by any textbooks and publishers instead. This style, known as the ACW style, is presented below and is to be used to cite electronic and Internet sources in an APA-style paper. However, we have also presented the formats included in APA's Publication Manual as well. You should check with your instructor for guidance as to which format to follow. (Please note: Even though the APA Publication Manual presents examples with the first-line indented, it instructs writers to use hanging indents for manuscripts that are not intended to be submitted to publishers. We have, therefore, presented the following examples using the hanging indent feature that students will usually use for classroom papers.)

General Format

As a rule, the second and subsequent lines of an ACW or MLA citation are indented five spaces under the first line. (Keep in mind that other factors, such as your browser, might affect indents and other formatting issues. For example, depending on where you're reading this, if you count the "spaces" on the screen or try to print the screen out, the indents for the following sample citations might not be exactly five "spaces."

ACW: Author's Last Name, Initial(s). (Date of Work, if known). Title of work.
Title of complete work. [protocol and address] [path] (date of
message or visit).
APA: Author's Last Name, Initial(s). (Date of Work, if known). Title of work.
Title of complete work. [Publication medium], page(s). Available:
Specify path

Note: APA style uses no end punctuation after Internet addresses, even though they appear at the end of the reference.

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WWW Sites (World Wide Web)

ACW: To cite files available for viewing or downloading via the World Wide Web, give the author's name (if known), the year of publication (if known and if different from the date accessed), the full title of the article, and the title of the complete work (if applicable) in italics. Include any additional information (such as versions, editions, or revisions) in parentheses immediately following the title. Include the full URL (the http address) and the date of visit.

Burka, L. P. (1993). A hypertext history of multi-user dungeons.
MUDdex. http://www.utopia.com/talent/lpb/muddex/essay/ (13
Jan. 1997).

Tilton, J. (1995). Composing good HTML (Vers. 2.0.6).
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tilt/cgh/ (1 Dec. 1996).

APA: List the author's last name and initials (if known), the year of publication enclosed in parentheses, the title of the article, and the title of the complete work, underlined. Include any print publication information, if applicable. List the publication medium in square brackets (i.e., "On-line"), and the word "Available" followed by the complete path including the protocol, the domain, any directories and sub-directories, and the file name, if applicable.

Burka, L. P. (1993). A hypertext history of multi-user dungeons.
MUDdex. [On-line]. Available HTTP: www.utopia.com
Directory: talent/lpb/muddex/essay/ Tilton, J. (1995). Composing
good HTML (Vers. 2.0.6). [On-line]. Available HTTP:
www.cs.cmu.edu Directory: ~tilt/cgh

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E-mail, Listservs, and Newsgroups

ACW: Give the author's name (if known), the date of the correspondence in parentheses (if known and if different from the date accessed), the subject line from the posting, and the name of the list (if known) in italics. Next, list the address of the listserv or newsgroup. Include any archival information after the address, listing the word "Available" and a colon and the protocol and address of the archive. Last, give the date accessed enclosed in parentheses. Do not include personal e-mail in the list of References. See the APA Publication Manual for information on in-text citations.

Bruckman, A. S. MOOSE crossing proposal.
mediamoo@media.mit.edu (20 Dec. 1994).

Heilke, J. (1996, May 3). Re: Webfolios. acw-l@ttacs.ttu.edu.
Available: http://www.ttu.edu/lists/acw-l/9605 (31 Dec. 1996).

Laws, R. UMI thesis publication. alt.education.distance (3 Jan.
1996).

APA: APA does not list e-mail in the list of References; e-mail correspondence, like personal letters, should be cited in the text only. For example,

J. R. Walker (personal communication, August 4, 1997), in an e-mail message to the author says. . . .

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GOPHER Sites

ACW: List the author's name (if applicable), the year of publication (if known and if different from the date accessed), the title of the file or paper, and the title of the complete work (if applicable). Include any print publication information (if available) followed by the protocol (i.e., gopher://) and the path necessary to access the file. List the date that the file was accessed in parentheses immediately following the path.

Boyer, C. (1996). About the virtual reference desk.
gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000/00/gopher.welcome/peg/VIRTUAL%
20REFERENCE%20DESK/about (31 Dec. 1996).

Cicero. (1896). "Pro Archia." In J. B. Greenbough (Ed.), Select
orations of Cicero. Boston: Ginn. Project Libellus (Vers. 0.01).
(1994). gopher://gopher.etext.org, Libellus/texts/cicero/archia.tex (11
Aug. 1996).

APA: List the author's last name and initials, if known, the year of publication, the title of the article, and the title of the complete work, underlined, if applicable. List any print publication information, if known, the publication medium of the electronic source, enclosed in square brackets, followed by the word "Available," and the entire path, including the protocol, domain name, the directory or directories, and the file name.

Boyer, C. (1996). About the virtual reference desk. [On-line]. Available
GOPHER: peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000 Directory:
00/gopher.welcome/peg/VIRTUAL%20REFERENCE%20DESK
File:about

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FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Sites

ACW: To cite files available for downloading via ftp, give the author's name (if known), the publication date (if available and if different from the date accessed), the full title of the paper (capitalizing only the first word and proper nouns), the address of the ftp site along with the full path necessary to access the file, and the date of access.

Johnson-Eilola, J. (1994). Little machines: Rearticulating hypertext users.
ftp://daedalus.com/Pub/CCCC95/johnson-eilola (10 Feb. 1996).

APA: List the author's last name and initial(s), the year of publication, the title of the article, and the title of the complete work (if applicable). Include the medium of publication in square brackets, followed by the word "Available" and the path,, including the protocol, the domain, the directory or directories, and the file name.

Johnson-Eilola, J. (1994). Little machines: Rearticulating hypertext users.
[On-line]. Available FTP: daedalus.com Directory: Pub/CCCC95
File: johnson-eilola

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Telnet Sites

ACW: List the author's name or alias (if known), the date of publication (if available and if different from the date accessed), the title of the article, the title of the full work (if applicable) or the name of the telnet site in italics, and the complete telnet address, followed by a comma and directions to access the publication (if applicable). Last, give the date of visit in parentheses.

Dava (#472). (1995, 3 November). A deadline. *General (#554).
Internet public library. telnet://ipl.sils.umich.edu:8888, @peek 25 on
#554 (9 Aug. 1996). Help. Internet public library.
telnet://ipl.org:8888/, help (1 Dec. 1996).

APA: List the author's name, if known, the date of publication, the title of the article, and the title of the database. Give the publication medium, the word available, and the complete path, including protocol, directories, file name, and any other identifying information.

Dava (#472. (1995, 3 November). A deadline. Internet public library.
[On-line]. Available TELNET: ipl.sils.umich.edu:8888 File: *General
Item: #554 Help. Internet public library. [On-line]. Available
TELNET: ipl.org:8888 File: help

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Synchronous Communications (MOOs, MUDs, IRC, etc.)

ACW: Give the name of the speaker(s), the complete date of the conversation being referenced in parentheses (if different from the date accessed), and the title of the session (if applicable). Next, list the title of the site in italics, the protocol and address (if applicable), and any directions necessary to access the work. If there is additional information such as archive addresses or file numbers (if applicable), list the word "Available," a colon, and the archival information. Last, list the date of access, enclosed in parentheses. Personal interviews do not need to be listed in the References, but do need to be included in parenthetic references in the text (see the APA Publication Manual).

Basic IRC commands. irc undernet.org, /help (13 Jan. 1996).

Cross, J. (1996, February 27). Netoric's Tuesday cafe: Why use MUDs
in the writing classroom? MediaMOO. telnet://purple-
crayon.media.mit.edu:8888, @go Tuesday Available:
ftp://daedalus.com/pub/ACW/NETORIC/catalog.96a
(tc 022796.log). (1 Mar. 1996).

APA: List author's last name and initials, if known, the title of the file, the title of the database,underlined, if applicable, the publication medium, and the word "Available" followed by the complete path, including protocol, domain name, any directories, file name, and any other identifying information.

Basic IRC commands. [On-line]. Available IRC: undernet.org File: help

Cross, J. (1996, February 27). Netoric's Tuesday cafe: Why use MUDs
in the writing classroom? MediaMOO. [On-line]. Available FTP:
daedalus.com Directory: pub/ACW/NETORIC/catalog.96a File:
tc022796.log

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Online Reference Sources and Databases

ACW: Give the author's last name and initial(s), if known, the date of publication, and the title of the article or entry. For unsigned works, list the title of the article or entry first, followed by the date of publication. If applicable, include the names of any editors, translators, or other persons responsible for the complete work, the title of the work in italics, and any print publication information. List the electronic publisher, if applicable, the URL or online service, and the complete path to access the source. Include the date of access in parentheses.

Fine arts. (1993). In E. D. Hirsch, Jr., J. F. Kett, and J. Trefil (Eds.),
Dictionary of cultural literacy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. INSO
Corp. America Online. Reference Desk/Dictionaries/Dictionary of
Cultural Literacy (20 May 1996).

Interface. Hypertext Webster interface.
http://c.gp.cs.cmu.edu:5103/prog/Webster (20 May 1996).

APA: List information as for print publications, including the author's name, if known, or title of entry followed by the publication date, any print publication information, including the names of editors, translators, or others responsible for producing the work, the title of the complete work, underlined, the location and name of the print publisher, the name of the producer, distributor, or publisher of the electronic version, and the publication medium. Follow with the word "Available," the name of the online service or protocol and domain name, any directories, file names, or other identifying information.

Fine arts. (1993). In E. D. hirsch, Jr., J. F. Kett, and J. Trefil (Eds.),
Dictionary of cultural literacy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. INSO Corp.
(Producer and Distributor). [On-line]. Available: America Online
Directory: Reference Desk/Dictionaries/Dictionary of Cultural
Literacy

Interface. Hypertext Webster interface. [On-line]. Available
HTTP: c.gp.cs.cum.edu:5103 Directory: prog File: Webster

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Electronic Publications

ACW: List the author's last name and initial(s), if known, the date of publication, the title of the section or article, the title of the complete work (in italics), and any version or edition information, followed by the series name (if applicable), and the city and name of publisher.

Zieger, H. (1992). Aldehyde. The Software Toolworks multimedia
encyclopedia. (Vers. 1.5). Software Toolworks. Boston: Grolier.

APA: List the author's last name and initial(s), the year of publication, the title of the article or section, and the title of the complete work (underlined), including any version or edition numbers, and the series name (if applicable). List the publication medium in brackets and the location and name of publisher.

Zieger, H. (1992). Aldehyde. The Software Toolworks multimedia
encyclopedia. (Vers. 1.5). Software Toolworks. [CD-ROM].
Boston: Grolier.

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Software and Video Games

ACW: List the author's name, if known, or title of software, the year of publication, the city of publication, and the name of the publisher or distributor. Include any other pertinent information, such as version numbers or other identifying information before the publication information.

WordPerfect Vers. 6.1 for Windows. (1996). Ottowa, ON: Corel.

APA: List the author's name, if known, and the date of publication. If no author's name is given, list the title of the software, followed by the date of publication. Next list any version numbers or other identifying information, the publication medium, the place of publication, and the name of the publisher or distributor.

WordPerfect Vers. 6.1 for Windows. (1996). [Computer software].
Ottowa, ON: Corel.

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© 1999 by Addison Wesley Longman
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