LibGuides: Chicago 17 Resource Center: Web Content / Course Materials

Web Content, Social Media, and Course Materials

Before starting the citation process, please make sure you are using the correct CMS style as required by your instructor!

Special Notes:

The title of website rarely includes ".com"—for example, BBC online is "BBC," not "BBC.com."
Italicize newspaper names when they have a formal print and online publication schedule. Do not italicize names of news organizations—for example, italicize New York Times, but not Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN, etc. These news organizations only have an online presence, whereas the New York Times has both an online and print counterpart.
When citing a direct quotation from a website without page numbers, include as much information as needed for the reader to locate the material. A direct quotation might provide chapter number, section heading, and paragraph number within the section only if available.
If you’re citing formal documentation (e.g. Word, PDF documents) found on a website, you should cite it like a book or journal article (including all relevant publisher information and a URL).

Web Content

General Format

Full Note:

1. Author First Name MiddleInitial Surname, "Title of Page," Title of Site as a Whole,

Publishing Owner or Sponsor of Site, publication/access date, URL.

2. Organization Name, "Title of Page," Title of Site as a Whole, Publishing Owner

or Sponsor of the Site (if different than title of the site), publication or access date, URL.

Examples:

1. Daniel H. Bays, "The Foreign Missionary Movement in the 19th and Early

20th Centuries," TeacherServe, National Humanities Center, last revised September

2005, http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/fmmovementd.htm.

2. Paws for the People, "Benefits of Pet Therapy," accessed on November 10, 2022,

https://www.pawsforpeople.org/who-we-are/benefits-of-pet-therapy/.

Subsequent Note:

2. Author Surname, "Title of Page."

Example:

2. Bays, "The Foreign Missionary Movement."

Bibliography:

Author Surname, First Name MiddleInitial. "Title of Page." Title of Site as a Whole.

Owner or Sponsor of Site. Publication/access date, URL.

Examples:

Bays, Daniel H. "The Foreign Missionary Movement in the 19th and Early 20th

Centuries." TeacherServe. National Humanities Center. Last modified September 2005. http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/fmmovementd.htm.

Paws for the People. "Benefits of Pet Therapy." accessed on November 10, 2022.

https://www.pawsforpeople.org/who-we-are/benefits-of-pet-therapy/.

Special Notes:

If the organization listed as the author is the same as the title of the site as a whole, do not repeat it as the title.
If the organization listed as the author is the same as the publishing owner or sponsor, do not repeat it as the publisher.

Course Materials

If you want to cite an article, book chapter, website, or video that your professor provides links to in your D2L course, just use the usual format on how to cite that type of resource using the source’s original publication information. However, if you want to cite your professor's PowerPoint or video lecture that they uploaded, or something that someone from your study group posted, you'll need to cite these items a little bit differently.

The Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) does not provide explicit instructions on how to cite resources on a course site such as D2L. If you are citing your professor's uploaded video lecture or lecture slides/notes, use this format as a guide.

General Format

Full Note:

1. FirstName LastName, “Title of Lecture/Slides/Subject Line of Post” (Type of resource for Course Number Course Name, Institution, City, Province). Date posted/revised/accessed, URL.

Example:

1. Jenna Woodrow, “Objections to Utilitarianism: Caves, Trolleys, and Those Who Walk Away from Omelas” (Course lecture for PHIL 2010 Introduction to Ethics, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC), Accessed January 20, 2021, https://moodle.tru.ca/mod/kalvidres/view.php?id=1291268.

Subsequent Note:

2. Author LastName, "Short Title of Lecture/Slides/Subject Line of Post.”

Example:

2. Woodrow, "Objections to Utilitarianism."

Bibliography:

LastName, FirstName. “Title of Lecture/Slides/Subject Line of Post.” Type of resource for Course Number Course Name, Institution, City, Province. Date posted/revised/accessed. URL.

Example:

Woodrow, Jenna. “Objections to Utilitarianism: Caves, Trolleys, and Those Who Walk Away from Omelas.” Course lecture for PHIL 2010 Introduction to Ethics, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC. Accessed January 22, 2021. https://moodle.tru.ca/mod/kalvidres/view.php?id=1291268

Social Media

TIPS

• Social media could include a personal communication such as an email, text or SnapChat message; a Facebook page or entry; a blog; an Instagram or Twitter account; blog, Twitter or Instagram posts; a YouTube, Vimeo or Ted Talk video; an app or a game.

• Comments are not included in the reference list; they should be cited narratively in reference to the related post - see Chicago Manual of Style (2017) sections 15.51 & 15.52.

• References for social media entries begin with the same information that would be provided for an electronic document.

• Additional information must be provided (depending on the type of social media) to correctly identify the media you have accessed and the date and time of entries and comments.

• Please note that the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style (2017) provides some examples for referencing social media materials in sections 15.51 & 15.52, pp. 916-917.

Note on Emails and Text Messages:

When citing emails or texts, use a narrative in-text citation rather than a footnote. This follows 14.214 to cite personal communications narratively and not in the Bibliography

Examples:

Professor Visser gave his reasons for closing the laboratory in an e-mail message to the author on January 16, 2004. The reasons given were...

In a text message to the author on February 12, 2017, Dr A.C. Miller stated that ...

Social Media Bibliography Examples

Blog post

Tudor, Ken. 2015. "Protecting Pets in Abusive Human Relationships." The Daily Vet (blog), June 9, 2015. http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/ken-tudor/2015/june/pets-abusive-human-relationships-32819.

Facebook page

National Library of Australia. 2017. "National Library of Australia's Facebook Page." Facebook, August 28, 2017. https://www.facebook.com/National.Library.of.Australia/.

Facebook post

Murdoch University Library. 2017. "Poet Speak." Facebook, October 26, 2017. https://www.facebook.com/murdochlibrary/.

Twitter tweet

Kruszelnicki, Karl (@DoctorKarl). 2017. "Dr Karl Twitter post." Twitter, February 19, 2017, 9:34 a.m. https://twitter.com/DoctorKarl.