Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Writing students at George Mason University teach me how to cite Internet references using APA Style.

I continue to work with students at George Mason University on their writing. And they continue to teach me.

A recent student had questions about citing references from Internet sources according to the APA Style Guidelines (American Psychological Association). I knew nothing about APA style, so I did what most ignorant people do – search. This is a much deeper subject than I anticipated. Many universities require the APA style in science and engineering writing (here is one university source). Many students today go to the Internet for papers instead of the library.

I am happy to report that the APA Style folks have sources on information to satisfy the current circumstances.

First, there is a website about nothing but the APA Style. Here is the link. What I found most valuable is their blog. It has many posts concerning the particulars of everything in post-size bits. The blog is searchable; searching the blog led me to the valuable posts I mention below.

This post discusses citing just about anything you find on the Internet. A valuable source of information from that post is this chart that helps you resolve most questions about citing Internet references. I printed the chart and keep it handy. Excellent.

This post is just about citing pages found on Wikipedia. Excellent.

I hope GMU continues to let me work with students. I would hate to lose this valuable source of learning.