Referencing online news in print?

April 20, 2006 10:05 AM

How do you reference an online news source in a print publication?

I know how to reference a print news source (name of newspaper, date, etc.) and how to reference a website (retrieved from url on [date]) but how do you reference a news source that was retrieved from a website?

Specifically, right now I'm trying to reference something from USAtoday.com (I mention how something specific ended up in mainstream media, and need that reference to show it). It was published on there on a specific date, and the author is listed, so I could reference it using date of publication and author, but I'm thinking I should also somehow mention "retrieved from USAtoday.com/restofurl on [date])

I want this to be in the proper style for a print edition journal, which people might read later when the (unclickable) url is no longer valid.

What's the general consensus for this kind of reference?

posted by easternblot to writing & language (7 comments total)

Here's what the MLA has w/r/t your question.
posted by jivadravya at 10:08 AM on April 20, 2006

According to Chicago style, you would cite it as you would any other newspaper article, but replace the page number with the URL.
posted by dame at 10:39 AM on April 20, 2006

MLA assumes that you're using a short pointer in text and then have a list of works cited. Dropping an MLA-formatted listing in the middle of a paragraph would seem weird.
posted by Firas at 10:40 AM on April 20, 2006

In the sense that it would have more characteristics listed than you probably require.
posted by Firas at 10:41 AM on April 20, 2006

Yay! I didn't know where to look but the MLA link helped me out. Thanks!

The references are going to be in a footnote, so length is no problem.
posted by easternblot at 10:48 AM on April 20, 2006

Just in case anyone needs it, here's the APA style answer:
APA Electronic References
posted by mshellenberger at 1:18 PM on April 20, 2006

I wish editors would realize how ugly URLs are and start allowing them to be cited via redirects. I cannot believe that a newspaper/journal/magazine/whatever wouldn't/shouldn't be able to setup simple to read redirects on their site. http://www.atlantaonline.com/pharmacology_042006/ is so much easier on the eyes than http://www.acnet-medicalinformation.net/jrun/newslinks/submit/stories_new.jpam/030303803092/index.php

It's so easy!

p.s. these aren't real links, just examples.
posted by pwb503 at 2:19 PM on April 20, 2006