When you use a scholarly online article in writing your essay, you have to cite it so that your reader can find out who the author is and where they got the information. You can cite an article in a variety of ways, such as as an in-text citation or as part of a reference list. In-text citations are more common, but you may also cite an article as part of the bibliography at the end of your essay.
In-text citations are essential for any quote or paraphrase you include in your essay. In-text citations help you avoid plagiarism and give credit to the original source of information. The format of in-text citations differs from style to style, but they all have to include the following basic information: the author’s name, the date the work was published, and the page number. In-text citations are especially important when you’re quoting from a source that’s not an academic journal.
APA Online Web Pages
APA cites web pages the same way that you would any other source, using the author’s name and date if known. If the author is an organization, such as a ministry or a research institute, use the name of the institution in place of an individual. Alternatively, you can cite the web page with no author at all and use “n.d.” for the year: (Smith, n.d.).
Internet Sources
It’s a good idea to save every piece of information you find on the Internet in a separate file so that you can easily access it later. This will make it easier to cite your sources and ensure that your citations are accurate based on your last access. You can even create a printout of the site that can go into your appendix.
In-text Citations in APA
When a direct quotation is inserted into your essay, it is important to cite the source of the quotation in a consistent way throughout your essay. This helps prevent plagiarism and makes it easy for your readers to locate the cited material.
You should cite the author and date of publication in a parenthetical citation, if the author’s name is mentioned within the text. If the name is not mentioned, a reference to the text should appear immediately after the sentence that references the text.
If there are multiple authors, the term “et al.” should be used after the first author’s name. A colon should separate this citation from any other citations of the same source in your essay.
The citation should contain the full information needed to locate the cited work in your bibliography. In-text citations can also be referred to by the corresponding entry in the bibliography, such as the author’s name and the year of publication.
When citing online sources, be sure to cite the full URL for the website you are referring to in your citation. This is a great way to make sure that your citations are correct, as websites change their addresses and often don’t keep them up-to-date.
