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TUS Athlone Campus Harvard Guide

Harvard referencing guide

Citing Material from the Internet / Websites/ Social Media

When citing websites or webpages which are subject to change it is vital to make a note of the date when you accessed the page or retrieved information.  Also note the URL/web address of the page. You will need this information for your references.

Websites can sometimes be difficult to cite as you might have to draw information from different areas of the webpage or website to put into your citation. Some information, like authorship or publication date can be difficult to find or identify. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see two brief video tutorials that give you some useful tips on where to look for information to make your citation as complete as possible.

Video Tutorials on Citing Websites

Citing Material from the Internet/Websites/ Social Media: Examples

Material Type

In-Text Example

Reference List Example

Website Harard Referencing

Template

NOTE: 

PDFs on webpages

NOTE 2

(Name, Year)

PDF Author, PDF Date

SOCIAL MEDIA

CITATION ORDER FOR WEB SITES

  • Author / Owner / Creator of web site 
  • Year of publication (in round brackets)
  • Title (in Italics)
  • Available at: URL
  • [Accessed: date].

PDFs on a website are usually referenced just like a book or a report using the information available in the PDF; the reference then usually finishes with; Available at: The web url and Date accessed

 The date (Day and Month) is required for blogs and social media posts.. See last 3 examples

Website

(University of Limerick, 2005)

University of Limerick Library (2005) Cite it right, a guide to referencing in UL using the Harvard referencing style. Available at: http://www.ul.ie/~library/pdf/citeitright.pdf [Accessed: 10 November 2007].

Website example 2

(BBC, 2012)

 

British Broadcasting Corporation (2012) Learning, online learning support and advise: your guide to science learning resources and online coursesAvailable at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/subjects/science.shtml [Accessed: 24 January 2012].

Webpage: No Author

Use first few words of the page title

(Improve indigenous housing, 2007)

Improve indigenous housing now, government told(2007) Available at: http://www.architecture.com.au/i-cms?page=10220 [Accessed 8 February 2009].

Webpage: No Date

(Jones n.d.)

Jones, M.D. (n.d.) Commentary on indigenous housing initiatives. Available at: http://www.architecture.com.au [Accessed 6 June 2009].

Web Document

(Department of Health and Children, 2012)

Department of Health and Children (2012) The national carer’s strategy: recognised, supported, empowered. Dubln: Department of Health. Available at: https://www.lenus.ie/handle/10147/307015 /  [Accessed: 28 February 2009].

Blog

(Athlone Institute of Technology, 2011)

Athlone Institute of Technology (2011) How to argue with a scientist: a guide. AIT library science blog. 19th December, Available at: http://aitscience.blogspot.ie/2011/12/httpscienceblogs.html  [Accessed: 20 August 2012].

Notice that the Blog name is in Italics but the title of the blog is not in italics!

Facebook (Athlone Institute of Technology, 2014)

 Authors) (Year) Title of page. (Italics)  [Type of social media], Day/month of posted message.  Available at: web address. [Date accessed]

 Athlone Institute of Technology (2014) Graduation 2014: atmosphere of the day.   [Facebook] 31 October. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?  set=a.10152809297252692.1073741904.86357212691&type=1 [Accessed: 1 Nov 2014]

Twitter (Athlone Institute of Technology, 2014)

 Athlone Institute of Technology (2014) Brazilian graduates at @AthloneIT today smile through the rain!  [Twitter] 31 October. Available at: https://twitter.com/hashtag/cienciasemfronteiras?src=hash [Accessed: 1 Nov 2014].

 Wikipedia

 (Article title, date) 

 Title of article (year) Available at: url (Accessed: date).

 W.B. Yeats (2022) Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._B._Yeats [Accessed: 11 November 2022].