Websites can be tricky to reference because there is so much variety in their format it can be tough to identify individual pieces of the reference (e.g. author, date, name of website). The key thing to recognise is that, while there are some wrong ways to reference a website, there is often no single right way, which gives you more freedom than you think.
The other important point is that websites are easy to edit, so your reader may not be looking at the version that you were. To allow for this, you put the date that you viewed the website in the reference too (don't worry too much about exactly what date you put here unless it is a site that changes rapidly - in which case it probably isn't a suitable academic source anyway. Just choose a date on which you viewed the site). APA has some complex rules about when you should or shouldn't do this, but for Oakham APA we have decided just to say that you should always do this, unless you are citing a Journal Article which does need a retrieval date). This also aligns with IBO advice (the IBO insist on "Retrieved on" dates for online sources), so is suitable for IB students.
Contents:
For Social Media websites, such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, look on the Social Media tab.
For non-text sources such as videos, images and podcasts, look in the Audiovisual tab.
The following is quoted directly from the APA Style Blog:
Determining Website Dates
[M]any websites or webpages do not include publication dates. If no date of publication is provided, use the letters n.d. (which stand for “no date”). The copyright date on the website itself should not be used as the publication date for particular content on that site. [Emphasis added]
If multiple dates are provided, use the most recent date on which the content was changed. For example, if the site says the content was first published in 2010 and last updated on August 6, 2016, then use the date 2016 in the in-text citation and reference list. However, if the site says it was first published in 2010 and last reviewed in July 2016, then use the date 2010 because a review does not imply that any information was changed.
Multiple Website Citations
If you use information from multiple pages on a website, create a separate reference list entry for each page, with in-text citations that correspond to the appropriate reference list entry. It is common for writers to have multiple entries with the same author and year, so to differentiate these entries, use a letter after the year (e.g., 2016a) or after n.d. (e.g., n.d.-a; more examples here), assigning the letter by putting the references in alphabetical order by title in the reference list. Put references with no date before references with dates, and put in-press references last.
If you cite several websites from the same author with no publication date, rather than leave the Publication Date field empty type e.g. n.d.-a in the Year field.
Author, A. A. (Year webpage was last updated/published, Month Day if given). Title of page: Subtitle (if any). Website name. URL
Bergstrom, C. T., & West, J. (2019). Tools and tricks for spotting and calling bull. Retrieved May 17, 2020, from Calling Bull: https://callingbull.org/tools.html
Corporate author (Publication Year). Title of webpage. Retrieved from Website: URL
Purdue University. (n.d.). APA style introduction. Retrieved from Purdue Online Writing Lab: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa6_style/apa_style_introduction.html
Examples: Britannica, Oxford Reference (see Subscription Databases page for links and login details)
In many of our Subscription Databases there will be a link giving citation details (see right), which is often very useful for determining the publication date. There are three possible options:
1. Online version of print source (e.g. Oxford Reference)
Title of entry. (Publication Year). In A. Author, B. Author, & C. Author, Title of dictionary (edition). City of Publication: Publisher. Retrieved from: URL
In-Text citation: (Title of entry, Year)
Information literacy. (2020). In D. Chandler, & R. Munday, A Dictionary of Media and Communication (3 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from: https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198841838.001.0001/acref-9780198841838-e-1333.
In-text citation: (Information Literacy, 2020)
2. Online only article: unknown author (e.g. Most Britannica articles, Wikipedia*)
Treat as a webpage with no clear author (NOT as one with a corporate author). Oakham APA varies very slightly in format here from standard APA for ease of integration with Word tools.
Title of page. (Year article was last updated/published, Month Day if given). Retrieved Date Accessed from Encyclopaedia name: URL
In text citation: (Title, 2020)
Library. (2020). Retrieved 1st June 2020 from Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://school.eb.co.uk/levels/advanced/article/library/440890
In text citation: (Library, 2020)
2. Online only article: known author
Treat as a webpage with a known personal author. Oakham APA varies very slightly in format here from standard APA for ease of integration with Word tools. This example is from Britannica Online. Many Britannica articles do not have personal authors listed and even where they do (they are sometimes given at the end of the article) Britannica's own citation tool does not list them. However, if you want to cite the actual author (which is technically the correct thing to do), follow this example.
Author, A., Author, B. & Author, C. (Year article was last updated/published, Month Day if given). Title of page. Retrieved Date Accessed from Encyclopaedia name: URL
Ayala, F. J. (2020). Evolution. Retrieved May 31, 2020, from Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://school.eb.co.uk/levels/advanced/article/evolution/106075
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