Psy 301-CSULB

How to Cite Information From the World Wide Web (from APA)

Since the material was downloaded from the APA web site, the format may have changed. Thus items in the samples which should be underlined are not underlined here as that would indicate a link. So the examples are intended to help you cite materials but for details of format, please consult the APA publication manual.

Here are some examples of how to cite material posted on APA's own Web page. A similar format can be used to cite gopher or ftp sources, as long as the medium and the path are sufficiently identified.

An action alert posted by our Public Policy Office:

American Psychological Association. (1995, September 15). APA public policy action alert: Legislation would affect grant recipients [Announcement posted on the World Wide Web]. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved January 25, 1996 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/ppo/istook.html

An article from the American Psychologist:

Jacobson, J. W., Mulick, J. A., & Schwartz, A. A. (1995). A history of facilitated communication: Science, pseudoscience, and antiscience: Science working group on facilitated communication. American Psychologist, 50, 750–765. Retrieved January 25, 1996 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/journals/jacobson.html

A newpaper article:

Sleek, S. (1996, January). Psychologists build a culture of peace. APA Monitor, pp. 1, 33 [Newspaper, selected stories on line]. Retrieved January 25, 1996 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/monitor/peacea.html

An abstract:

Rosenthal, R. (1995). State of New Jersey v. Margaret Kelly Michaels: An overview [Abstract]. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 1, 247–271. Retrieved January 25, 1996 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/journals/ab1.html

All references begin with the same information that would be provided for a printed source (or as much of that information as possible). The Web information is then placed at the end of the reference. It is important to use "Retrieved from" and the date because documents on the Web may change in content, move, or be removed from a site altogether. For example, the last two examples above are no longer available on APA's Web site. To cite a Web site in text (but not a specific document), it's sufficient to give the address (e.g., http://www.apa.org) there. No reference entry is needed.