Citing Electronic Resources Using APA Style
You must document full-text electronic resources (including World Wide Web sources) just as
you must document print sources. The reason for documentation is to credit the author and
publisher for their original work and to enable your readers to consult the same sources you did.
This also helps avoid plagiarism. Refer to The Indiana University Code of Student Rights,
Responsibilities and Conduct for more information on the issue of plagiarism.
Your instructor will usually tell you which citation style to use to document your sources. The
American Psychological Association (APA) citation style is used by most psychology and social
sciences classes.
When citing a full-text electronic source, a good rule of thumb is to follow the format used for
print sources, then provide “access points” for your readers. Access points usually include the
name of the full-text service, an indication of the type of service (CD-ROM, Online) and the URL
for World Wide Web resources.
The examples in this handout are based on
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.) (2001).
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Electronic reference formats recommended by the American Psychological
Association. (2000, October 12). Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association. Retrieved August 30, 2001 from http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
Li, X. & Crane, N. B. (1996). Electronic Styles: A Handbook for Citing Electronic
Information, (2nd ed.) Medford, NJ: Information Today.
and on the recommendations and suggestions made by various writers and scholars concerned
with citation style as applied to electronic forms.
The examples in this handout are for the on-line products available through the IU-Bloomington
Libraries that are the most used by students, as well as for World Wide Web full-text sources.
Explanations and citation examples for print resources can be found in “Reference List” on
page 215, Chapter 4 in Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.).
Always consult with your course instructor if you have questions about what information should
be included in a citation for an electronic resource.
World Wide Web Full-Text Sources
Follow standard APA citation style. All references begin with the same information that would
be provided for a printed source (or as much information as possible). Most periodicals on the
Web use issue dates, volume numbers and issue numbers. Include the date of access (the
date you looked at the article on the Web) and the complete URL for the document/article. APA
suggests using “Retrieved” and the date as documents on the Web may change in content,
move, or may be removed altogether. The example below is based on information given at
APA’s web site.
Daily Newspaper Article:
Tirey, J. (2000, March 20). Scholars reflect on death, life of
Wells. Indiana Digital Student. Retrieved April 13, 2000
from http://www.idsnews.com/news/2000.03.20/campus/
2000.03.20.wells.html
Aggregated Databases
There are full-text resources that, although accessed through the World Wide Web, do not lend
themselves to the standard format for citing web documents. Four full-text resources that fall
into this category are: LEXIS-NEXIS Academic, Academic Search Premier EBSCO, Factiva,
and PsycARTICLES. See APA Publication Manual 5th ed. p. 278.
LEXIS-NEXIS Academic
Cite the article according to standard APA style. To the end of the citation, add: Retrieved
[month day, year] from LEXIS-NEXIS Academic database.
Millar, J. (1999, September 24). The rise and fall of everyman:
“American Beauty” proves potent family portrayal. [2 Star ed.]
Houston Chronicle, p.1. Retrieved April 2, 2003 from LEXIS-NEXIS
Academic database.
Academic Search Premier EBSCO
Cite the article according to standard APA style. Then add: Retrieved [month day, year] from
Academic Search Premier EBSCO database (AN:[Accession Number]).
Mardesich, J. (1999, October 25). Online music stocks: Expect
plenty of static ahead. Fortune, p.382. Retrieved April 13, 2000
from Academic Search Premier EBSCO database(AN:2341736).
Factiva
Cite the article according to standard APA style. Then add: Retrieved [month day, year] from
Factiva database.
Wooldridge, A. (2000, April 19). Finding out what makes
businesses tick. Wall Street Journal, p.A28. Retrieved April
29, 2000 from Factiva database.
PsycARTICLES
Cite the article according to standard APA style. Then add: Retrieved [month day, year] from
PsycARTICLES database.
Wallace, W.T. (1994). Memory for music: Effect of melody on recall
of text. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory,
and Cognition, 20, 1471-1485. Retrieved April 3, 2003, from
PsycARTICLES database.
Online Encyclopedia Article
Many online encyclopedias provide guidance on how to cite their sources. Adapt this
information to APA citation style.
Britannica Online provides citation information at the end of their articles:
“Olympic Games.” Encyclopædia Britannica Retrieved April 8, 2003, from Encyclopædia
Britannica Online. <http://search.eb.com/eb/article?eu=115022>.
APA adaptation:
Olympic games. In Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved
April 8,2003 from http://search.eb.com/eb/article?eu=115022.
World Wide Web Home Pages & Sites
The following format for citing WWW homepages & sites is a combination of recommendations
from Li and Crane’s Electronic Styles (2nd ed.) and the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (5th ed.)
Author/editor, if known. (Last update or copyright date).
Homepage title [Homepage of...]. Retrieved from access date and
the URL.
Examples:
Monroe County Humane Association. (2003, March 18). MCHA: Monroe
County Humane Association, [Homepage of Monroe County Humane
Association]. Retrieved April 4, 2003 from
http://www.monroehumane.org
The White House.(2003, April 3). [Official Web Site of the White
House and President George W. Bush]. Retrieved April 4,2003 from
http://www.whitehouse.gov/
Harlem 1900-1940: An African-American Community.(1997).
Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture. Retrieved
September 18, 2001 from http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Harlem/
Willett, P. ed. (2001, January 19). The Victorian Women Writers
Project. Retrieved August 30, 2001 from
http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/
Email, Discussion Lists, and Newsgroups
Include the author's name and initials (if known) or the author's alias; the date of the message in
parentheses, if different from the date accessed; and the subject line, only first word and proper
nouns capitalized. For discussion lists and newsgroups, include the name of the list (if
applicable), capitalized as just described and italicized; the list address; and the date accessed,
in parentheses.
Stone, S. Re: Sport Science News. National Association for Sport and Physical Education
listserv. naspe-l@listserv.vt.edu (12 Apr. 2003).