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Referencing internet and other electronic sources^*

• What are electronic sources?
• About these guidelines
• The Internet - some challenges
• Principles for referencing internet sources
• The author-date (Harvard) system
• Bibliographic details
• Web resources (authored)
• Web resources (no author)
• Homepages
• Entire websites
• Articles from online newspapers
• Articles from online journals
• Electronic databases
• Useful resources
  

What are electronic sources?

This term refers to information existing in an electronic form designed to be accessed by computer technology. It applies to a range of resources and includes the vast amount of online information published by organisations and individuals on the Internet. The term also includes the varied information sources available in electronic databases.

About these guidelines

This resource provides examples of how to reference the types of electronic materials students commonly use in writing their assignments. These guidelines are in a form consistent with the author-date (Harvard) system, which is a widely used style at Deakin University. It is broadly based on the formats for print and electronic sources suggested in the Style manual.¹ The referencing principles used in the Style manual have also been adapted for referencing the electronic sources that are not dealt with in that publication.

As there can be acceptable variations within a particular style of referencing, and because of the still-evolving conventions for referencing electronic materials, you may notice certain differences between the style described here and other listings based on the author-date (Harvard) system.

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The Internet - some challenges

The ever-increasing growth of the Internet and of computer technology and the dynamic, complex and rapidly expanding nature of knowledge is exciting yet challenging. With the click of a button people can access vast amounts of information. However, a potentially bewildering array of information is presented on the Internet, and in a range of different formats. As with printed material, online sources must be evaluated for reliability, accuracy and appropriateness. In addition, students are expected to correctly use and cite these online sources in their assignments. The internet environment presents various challenges:

The processes for publishing material on the Web are less rigorous than for print sources.

Almost anyone can put material on the Web. Some online material is inaccurate, biased, transient and trivial. Also, you may find that some online material may lack one or other of the following:

• author or sponsoring organisation
• title
• date of publication or last update.

If a web document has no indication of author or organisation, no title or date it may lack academic credibility and you should consider this carefully before using it for your assignment.

Knowing the conventions of how web addresses are set out can help you to do a preliminary evaluation of a source, e.g.

• .com - commercial
• .org - organisation
• .gov - government
• .edu - education
• .au - Australia (Country codes are used to identify the origin of sources. Material from the USA, where the Internet was first developed, generally does not indicate country of origin.)

Standards are still evolving about writing for the Web and how information is presented in web materials.

As you read and research on the Internet you will notice that there are many different ways that information is presented. Organisations that are broadly similar may have very different styles. Even departments within one organisation may display their information differently. There may be inconsistencies among documents within one website. Also, you may find it difficult to determine all the necessary details to adequately reference a source. Author, title and publication date may not be available or apparent. There are yet no established standards regarding which bibliographic elements must be provided for materials published on the Web and how these elements are to be set out in web materials.

Overall standards are still being formulated on how information from the Internet is to be referenced.

The guidelines published by various organisations are modifications and adaptations of print referencing styles. These suggested formats are generally described by those who have formulated them as ‘guidelines’ (not ‘standards’), which are expected to evolve with the ever-changing and dynamic nature of the electronic environment.

The concepts and conventions that relate to referencing print sources do not always apply to internet sources.

For example, the notion of page numbers does not carry over to the screen, and many online documents do not have page numbers. Thus, the page numbers of a printout of such a document should not normally be cited because the number of printed pages varies according to the printer used. The only exceptions to this are pdf (portable document format) files, which can be read with Acrobat Reader and can be recognised by the extension ‘pdf’. The page numbers of pdf files are fixed and remain the same on all systems.

Some online documents use section numbers, paragraph numbers or line numbers instead of page numbers, and you can use these if you need to indicate exactly where your reference is from.

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Principles for referencing internet sources

The following general principles are commonly advanced in regard to referencing online sources:

• Just as with printed sources, online sources must be cited in such a way that readers can identify and retrieve them.
  
• It is important to maintain as much consistency as possible between the referencing of paper-based and electronic materials in an assignment. The APA (American Psychological Association) style, the documentary-note (Oxford) style and the author-date (Harvard) system, among others, can be used to cite online sources.
  
• The system you use will depend on the discipline you are studying, and the requirements of your faculty, school or lecturer. It is necessary to find this out for each unit (subject) you are studying.
  
• References should direct readers to the specific information you have used, e.g. direct readers to a particular webpage, not to an entire website.
  
• If a source does not have the information you need, use the details that are available to describe it. If you’re not sure, it’s better to provide more information about a source than less.
  
• Some materials are published in both print and electronic formats. You should reference the document type that you used.

Examples of how to reference some types of internet resources that students commonly use are provided in the sections that follow. Electronic databases are also important resources for students and these are discussed in the final section of this resource.

The author-date (Harvard) system for electronic sources

The author-date (Harvard) system for print resources uses in-text citations giving the family name of the author or authors plus publication year and an alphabetically ordered reference list with full bibliographic details of each source cited in text. The same principle applies to electronic sources.

Bibliographic details

A vast range of information is available on the Internet and in various formats. The basic principle for referencing internet information is to describe the source and add the date you retrieved the material plus the web address.

In-text citation: usually consists of the name of an author or sponsoring organisation (OR a title) plus the date the information was produced or last revised.

Reference list: the basic elements are:

• an author or sponsoring organisation, and/or
• a title or description of the text
• a date of publication or update
• the date you retrieved the material
• a URL (uniform resource locator), i.e. a web address

Points to note

Author: The person or organisation responsible for creating the material. As for a print document, if a web resource does not have an author/authoring body, refer to it in text by the title (or the first few words of the title) and enter it under title in the reference list. (Disregard a, an or the at the beginning of a title and file alphabetically under the first major word of the title when compiling the reference list.)
Title: Use the title from within the document. If a document does not have a title you may be able to use the wording in the title bar at the very top of your screen-if it is descriptive of the contents. If neither of these is available or appropriate, use the URL as the title of the document.
Publication date: Use the date the material was created or last updated. If this is not stated, use the copyright date. Sometimes the copyright date is a span of years, e.g. © 2000-2004. In this case, use the later date. If no date is provided, use the abbreviation n.d. (no date).
Retrieval date: It is important to note the date you retrieved the material because the internet environment is dynamic and material is constantly changed, added and deleted.
URL: This is a crucial element that directs the reader to the source.
Here are some tips on setting out web addresses:

• Turn off the automatic hyperlink facility on your computer when compiling your reference list unless you want the reader to be able to go directly to those specific websites.
  
• Copy and paste URLs into your document to prevent errors in transcribing as discrepancies in punctuation and capitalisation make web addresses incorrect.
  
• You can leave out http:// at the beginning of a URL if it would then begin with www.
  
• If you have to break a web address across a line, do so after a slash or before a full stop, and do not add a hyphen at the line break. (Depending on your screen size, the web addresses that are provided in this online resource may appear to violate this guideline. However, with word processed documents it is possible for the user to format web addresses so they conform to the guideline regarding line breaks.)

In the reference list, include the details of as many of the elements listed below as you can determine, adding the date you retrieved the material and the web address.

Reference list

Family name of author or authors, Initials OR Institution name Year, Title, edition if relevant and available, Name of organisation or person responsible for the website, date retrieved, <web address>.

(Note: To conform with agreed Deakin style principles, the word ‘retrieved’ is used in preference to the word ‘viewed’, which is favoured by the Style manual.)

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Web resources (authored)

Examples

Australian Council of National Trusts 2002, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander heritage policy, Australian Council of National Trusts, retrieved 21 July 2004, <www.nationaltrust.org.au/pdfs/acnt1.pdf>.

The Cancer Council Australia 2004, National cancer prevention policy 2004-06, The Cancer Council Australia, retrieved 28 July 2004, <www/cancer.org.au/ documents/NatCancerPreventPol_04-06.pdf>.

Dave, K 2002, Future of publishing, Project Gutenberg, retrieved 18 July 2004, <www.promo.net/pg/kushal.html>.

Web resources (no author)

In the case of no author being identified, the title moves to the author position and the publication date comes after the title details.

Examples

Geelong wine region-Melbourne 2004, Great Wine Capitals Global Network, retrieved 20 July 2004, <www.greatwinecapitals.com/melbourne/ mel_reg_geel.html>.

Ginkgo biloba (Ginkgoaceae) 2004, The Vitamins and Nutrition Centre, retrieved 20 July 2004, <www.vitamins-nutrition.org/vitamins-guide/ginkgo-biloba-ginkgoaceae.html>.

Homepages

The homepage is usually the opening screen of a website. It typically consists of information about the organisation and links to other parts of the website and sometimes to external websites. Some homepages may contain information or data that you want to include in your paper.

In text: author (owner of the website) and date the website was created or last updated.

Example
In the 2004-05 Federal Budget, $481m has been allocated for university research (Department of Education, Science and Training 2004).

Reference list

Name of website owner Year, Title of homepage, date retrieved, <web address>.

Examples

Department of Education, Science and Training 2004, DEST homepage, retrieved 28 July 2004, <www.dest.gov.au>.

(Obtain the title of the homepage from the title bar at the very top of the screen. If the title does not indicate it is the homepage of the website, include this information in parentheses after the title, as shown in the example that follows.)

United Nations 2004, www.un.org (homepage of the United Nations), retrieved 18 July 2004, <www.un.org/english/>.

Entire web sites

When referencing online sources you should aim to direct your reader to the exact source of your information. Thus it would not usually be appropriate to give a reference to a whole website.

However, if you are making a comment about an entire website (not about a particular webpage or a specific document) it is acceptable to give the address in the body of your text, within angle brackets. No reference list entry is needed.

Example

The Australian Tourist Commission website <www.australia.com/ home_AU.aust?L=en&C=AU> uses colour and moving images to depict the varied landscapes and activities visitors to Australia can experience.

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Articles from online newspapers (authored)

In-text: Family name of author or authors and year.

Reference list

Family name of author or authors, Initials Year, ‘Title of article’, Title of Newspaper, day month, date retrieved, <web address>

Examples

Karvelas, P 2004, ‘Centrelink web lost in the past’, Australian, 23 July, retrieved 23 July 2004, <http://news.com.au/common/story_page/ 0,4057,10216870%255E15306,00.html>.

Shtargot, S & Hopkins, P 2004, ‘Confidence climbs in air travel’, Age, 21 July, retrieved 21 July 2004, <www.theage.com.au/articles/ 2004/07/21/x1090089217888.html#top>.

Articles from online journals

Journal articles are important sources of information and students are expected to use them in their assignments. Some journals are published only online; others are available both in print and online. Some online journals are available by subscription; others are free. You can view the online titles that the Deakin University Library subscribes to as well as some free online titles (mainly scholarly and some general) that are available. Go to www.deakin.edu.au/library/search/e_journals/. It is possible to browse these journals on the Internet and do searches for specific information.

You will notice that some journal articles on the Web are in HTML (hypertext markup language) and may not have page numbers. On the other hand, page numbers are generally indicated for articles in pdf format, as they are copies of printed texts. You should provide page numbers in reference list entries for items that have page numbers.

In-text: use the name of author OR title and year.

Reference list: provide the details you have, together with the date retrieved and the web address.

Family name of author or authors, Initials Year, ‘Title of article’, Title of Journal, volume, issue, page or paragraph numbers if available, date retrieved, <web address>.

Examples

Holland, R 2003, ‘Cornering the blueberry export market’, Australian Trade Community, vol. 2, no. 2, p. 13, retrieved 21 July 2004, <www.atcmagazine.com/e/issues/ATC2_2print.pdf>.

Richardson, JS 2004, ‘Content area literacy lessons go high tech’, Reading Online, vol. 8, no. 1, retrieved 1 August 2004, <www.readingonline.org/articles/ art_index.asp?HREF=/articles/Richardson>.

Electronic databases

An electronic database is a collection of information organised in categories to enable it to be retrieved. Database information does not have the ad hoc nature of some information on the Internet.

The Deakin University Library subscribes to many databases. These are made available by suppliers known as ‘hosts’. Most databases can be accessed online (remotely) by Deakin students via the library catalogue. The library have a well set out list of the databases to which the Library subscribes and information on each of them.

Databases contain abstracts and/or full text of scholarly journal articles and research papers, conference proceedings, reports, newspaper articles and the like. Most of these texts are copies of print materials that have been put into specific databases. Others, like the online journals discussed previously, are available at web addresses, to which the searcher is directed.

Sources in databases are indexed so that they can be retrieved by author, title, subject, keyword, form, year of publication and other categories. Databases contain detailed and up-to-date information in various fields and it is essential for Deakin students to know how to access these materials and correctly cite them.

In-text: author, date and page (if appropriate).

Reference list: Follow the same format as for a print source, followed by the date you retrieved the material and the name of the database.

Here are the details required for a journal article - full text, accessed from a database. If a database directs you to a website for the full text of an article, reference the article as an online journal (see earlier section).

Family name of author or authors, Initials Year, ‘Title of article’, Title of Journal, volume, issue, page numbers, date retrieved, Name of database.

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Examples

Ch’ang, S & Home, A 2003, ‘You can’t patent the people: how knowledge management contributes to intellectual property’, Canberra Bulletin of Public Administration, no. 106, pp. 60-62, retrieved 18 July 2004, APAIS (Australian Public Affairs Information Service) database.

Roberts, GE 2004, ‘Municipal government benefits, practices and personnel outcomes: results from a national survey’, Public Personnel Management, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 1-22, retrieved 18 July 2004, Business Source Premier database.

When it is not clear from the database title that the source is a database, include the word database, as in the two examples provided.

Points to note

Database title: If you use an article from a full text database, you need to indicate the name of the database in your reference list description of the item. You do not need to indicate the name of the supplier. One supplier often provides access for searching many databases. For example, the EBSCOHost search facility provides access to over 20 databases.

Be careful not to confuse the supplier (host) with the database name. On their ‘search’ screens some suppliers clearly indicate the name of the databases being searched at any one time; with others it is less apparent. However, when records are retrieved the name or abbreviation of the database containing each record is indicated. If you’re not sure, you can also check the library list of databases, at the web address provided earlier in this section. Alternatively, from the library homepage, select ‘Databases A-Z’.

Database access: A few databases are available only from selected library workstations on CD-ROM and not by remote online access through the library catalogue. For the entry in the reference list you need to provide only the name of the database. You do not need to indicate how you retrieved the text of the article - that is, whether from a CD-ROM database or from an online database.

Useful resources

You can consult the publications noted below for examples not discussed here. You will need to adapt their guidelines so they are consistent with the style described here or with the specific referencing style that you are required to use.

For referencing electronic sources using the APA system, consult the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th edn, 2001, pp. 268-81.

Our resources Referencing using the APA (American Psychological Association) system, and Referencing using the documentary-note (Oxford) system also provides several examples for referencing online materials according to these systems.

* In preparing these guidelines a variety of sources were consulted, among them Deakin University guidelines, as well as Deakin faculty and school style guides, where available. The Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, The Columbia guide to online style, The Chicago manual of style, the MLA style manual, and the recommendations of the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) were also considered. As well, the online guidelines on electronic referencing suggested by several universities in Australia and overseas were consulted.
¹ Style manual for authors, editors and printers, 6th edn, rev. by Snooks & Co., John Wiley & Sons Australia, Milton, Qld, 2002.

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