How to reference online material

October 11, 2011 12:51 AM

How do you properly reference an online forum post in a masters thesis using APA 6?

Additionally should you reference using their user name or actual name? Is the title of the forum thread the title of the reference?

posted by meech to Education (1 answer total)

Best answer: From Purdue OWL (bolding mine, and the reference should have a hanging indent):

Include the title of the message, and the URL of the newsgroup or discussion board. Please note that titles for items in online communities (e.g. blogs, newsgroups, forums) are not italicized. If the author's name is not available, provide the screen name. Place identifiers like post or message numbers, if available, in brackets. If available, provide the URL where the message is archived (e.g. "Message posted to..., archived at...").

Frook, B. D. (1999, July 23). New inventions in the cyberworld of toylandia [Msg 25]. Message posted to http://groups.earthlink.com/forum/messages/00025.html

posted by dayintoday at 4:13 AM on October 11, 2011 [1 favorite]