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How to cite and reference your sources (Monash University) : Websites and social media

Thank you to Monash University for generously allowing us to copy their resources

Websites and social media

Information from websites and social media (including blogs, newsgroups, online forums, Twitter and Facebook)

Notes:

  • Use n.d. (no date) where no publication date is available.
  • Where no author is available, transfer the organisation behind the website, or the title, to the author space
  • for message board posts include exact date of posting

Web page or document on the world wide web

 

Format Author, A. A. & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of work. Retrieved from URL
Example

Singh, L. (2011). The critcal decade: climate change and health. Retrieved from http://climatecommission.gov.au/report/the-critical-decade-climate-change-and-health/

Web page with no author

 

Format

Name of organization in full. (Year of publication). Title of work. Retrieved from URL

or

Title of page or document. (Year of publication). Retrieved from URL
Examples

Australian Psychological Society. (2010). Bushfire resources: Psychological preparedness and recovery. Retrieved from http://www.psychology.org.au/bushfires/

A pedagogy of listening. (2011) Retrieved from http://reggioaustralia.org.au/component/content/article/59

Image from the Web

Format Artist last name, initial. (year). Title of work [Photograph]. Retrieved from URL
Example

Sievers, W. (1966). Monash University [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/15565401?q=monash&c=picture&versionId=18284000

Online forum, discussion group, or blog post

Format Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of post [description of form]. Retrieved from http://www.xxx
Example

Chee, C. (2010, January 10). The most important psychology article of the 21st century: The U.S. isn't discovering how mental illness works, it's spreading it worldwide [Web blog post]. Retrieved from http//www.psychologytoday.com/blog/addiction-in-society/201001/the-most-important-sychology-article-the-21st-century

Social media:

Online posts from social media such as Facebook and Twitter are generally not considered to be of a scholarly nature. As such they are not covered specifically in the APA style manual.  You need to provide enough information for your reader to be able to access the information.  Generally this will include the author or user name, date (if available), title of post, the type of post in square brackets (e.g [Facebook update] or [Twitter feed]), the retrieval date and the URL.  Note: due to the nature of social media being a live update format and not about archiving, some of these pages may become inaccessible in the future.

Twitter

Format Username or Group Name. (Yr, Mth, Day). Post title [Page type]. Retrieved Month, Day, Year, from http://www.twitter.com/specificpageURL
Example

BarackObama. (2009a, July 15). Launched American Graduation Initiative to help additional 5 mill. Americans graduate college by 2020: http://bit.ly/gcTX7 [Twitter post]. Retrieved July 15, 2009, from http://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/2651151366

Facebook

Format Username or Group Name. (Yr, mth, day.). Update title [Page type]. Retrieved Month, Day, Year, from http://www.facebook.com/specificpageURL
Example

Barack Obama. (2009b, October 9). Humbled. http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/obamaforamerica/gGM45m [Facebook update]. Retrieved October 11, 2009, from http://www.facebook.com/posted.php? id=6815841748&share_id=154954250775&comments=1#s154954250775<./p>