Eckerd College Library

Electronic document citation differs considerably from print documents in form, content, and appearance. Proper citation of electronic documents is a crucial component of your research, especially when your sources are examined by an instructor or referenced by anyone wishing to obtain your sources for their own use. This guide explains what an electronic document is and three popular styles of citation.

What is an electronic document?

a web site
an email correspondence
an article from a CD-ROM encyclopedia or database
an article from an online magazine, journal, or newspaper
an article from a full text, subscription database

Any document which is available IN ITS ENTIRETY electronically qualifies as an electronic document. If you find a citation to an article or book from a database and the actual document you obtain is in print form, cite that document as a standard print document.

MLA FORMAT
A comprehensive citation guide is available at: Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
Web Sites	A web site citation must contain the author/creator of the site, title of the site (if available), the date of the site's latest revision, the name of the sponsoring institution, the access date, and the URL. Example: Kearl, Professor Michael C. A Sociological Tour Through Cyberspace. 2 Jan. 2002.Trinity University. 21 Feb. 2002 <http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/index.html>.
Scholarly Projects	A scholarly project must contain the title/name of the project, the editor of the project (if available), the date of the last update, the name of the sponsoring institution, the access date, and the URL. Example: Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet. 3 Jan. 2001. Library of Congress, Washington. 26 Feb. 2001 <http://thomas.loc.gov>.
An Article on a Web Site	An article from a web site must contain the author, title of the article, the date of the last update, the name of the sponsoring institution, the access date, and the URL. Example: de Preneuf, Flore. "Sleeping With the Enemy". Salon. 21 Feb 2002. Salon.com. 22 Feb 2002 <http://www.salon.com/>
A Full Text Article from a Subscription Database	A full text article from a subscription database (i.e., InfoTrac, Lexis-Nexis, Wilson, JSTOR, etc.) includes: the author of the article, the title of the article, the name of the magazine or journal, the volume and issue number, the date of publication, the page number or number of paragraphs, the name of the database, the name of the institution subscribing to the database (such as Eckerd College Library, St. Petersburg, FL), the date you accessed it, and the URL (not the URL of the library! Each database has its own URL and it should be truncated up to .com/). Example: Baker, Beth. "New Federal Task Force Tackles Amphibian Troubles." BioScience49.5 May 1999: 366. InfoTrac SeachBank Expanded Academic. Eckerd College Library., St. Petersburg, FL. 18 Sep. 2001 <http://web1.infotrac.galegroup.com>.

APA FORMAT
A comprehensive citation guide is available at: Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
Web Sites	A web site citation must contain the author/creator of the site, the date of the site's latest revision, title of the site (if available), the name of the sponsoring institution, the access date, and the URL. Example: Kearl, Professor Michael C. (Jan. 2, 2002). A Sociological Tour Through Cyberspace. Trinity University. Retrieved Feb.21, 2002, http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/index.html.
An Article on a Web Site	An article from a web site must contain the author, the date of the last update, title of the article, the name of the sponsoring institution, the access date, and the URL. Example: de Preneuf, Flore. (Feb. 21 2002). Sleeping With the Enemy. Salon. Salon.com. Retrieved Feb. 22, 2002, http://www.salon.com/.
A Full Text Article from a Subscription Database	A full text article from a subscription database (i.e., InfoTrac, Lexis-Nexis, Wilson, JSTOR, etc.) includes: the author of the article, the date of publication, the title of the article, the name of the magazine or journal, the volume and issue number, the page number or number of paragraphs, and the name of the database. There is no need to include the URL of an article retrieved from a database. Example: Baker, Beth. (May 1999). New Federal Task Force Tackles Amphibian Troubles. BioScience 49:5, 366. Retrieved Sep.18, 2001 from InfoTrac SeachBank Expanded Academic.