Skip to Main Content

Citing Sources: Citing websites, social media posts, emails, interviews and AI tools

A guide to citing sources in MLA, APA, and Chicago format.

Tip

Citing websites:

  • Always check to see if there is an author of website content. 
  • If there is no author, begin with the Title of the article or the web page and follow with the date.
  • If there is no date -  after the author write (n.d.).
  • For website dates: you can use the last published or last updated date if there is no firm date.
  • If the website is being regularly updated, you can use (n.d.) and a Retrieved date. Example:

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. (n.d.). COVID-19

       United States cases by county. Johns Hopkins University &

       Medicine. Retrieved April 15, 2020, from

       https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map

 

Examples

Social Media Posts

Author name. (Date). Title of post [Format]. Platform. url

  • Format may include [Tweet], [Online Forum Post], [Photograph], [Infographic], [Video] 

 

Interviews, Email, Classroom Lectures

Personal communication such as interviews, emails and in-person classroom lectures should be cited in-text only and not in the References list.  See example in the in-text citations section.

Note: Links can be either active or inactive (ask your instructor if they have a preference)

 

Webpage, group author, no date

Oral Health Foundation. (n.d.). Fluoride. https://www.dentalhealth.org/fluoride

For website dates: use last published or last updated if there is no firm date.

 

Webpage which is regularly being updated (use Retrieved date)

John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. (n.d.). United States cases by county. Johns Hopkins

       University & Medicine. Retrieved April 15, 2020, from https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map

 

Webpage, article by an individual author

Arcaro, J. (2019, September 29). Does fluoride varnish waste dental hygienists time? Today's

       RDH. https://www.todaysrdh.com/does-fluoride-varnish-waste-dental-hygienists-time/

With website content, you should always check for an individual author.

 

Tweet

Hopeful activist [@hopefulactivist]. (2020, June 21). Protest has turned violent towards the

       police. @washingtonpost #chgzhere [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/hopefulactivist/status/2651151366

 

Facebook post

Pima Arts. (2020, June 23). Facemask project is still going strong! [Video]. Facebook. https://tinyurl.com/y8gkc8sg

For long Facebook urls you can create a shortened url.

 

Instagram post

Pima Community College Library. (2020, June 17). Enjoy your books [Infographic]. Instagram.

       https://www.instagram.com/p/CAJZrwJBkVR/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Use [Photograph] or [Infographic] or [Video] when appropriate.

 

Online forum post

Smithsonian. (20, May 22). Smithsonian educators identified online learning resources for teachers across the

       country [Online forum post]. Reddit.

       https://www.reddit.com/r/smithsonian/comments/gm016k/smithsonian_educators_identified_online_learning

 

AI tools

OpenAI. (2023, January 17). [ChatGPT response to a prompt about three prominent themes in Emily Dickinson’s poetry]. https://chat.openai.com/...

Items in green indicate variations in the citation based on the format.