How to Cite a Webliography

A webliography is an online bibliography that lists and hyperlinks websites and digital information around a single topic. For example, you might find a webliography on a subject, such as African American Studies, where all listings are compiled and cited properly using a specific format. Researchers can use the webliographies to find links to relevant information and cite those links one-by-one, or use the entire webliography as a resource and cite it as a whole.

Decide if you want to cite the entire webliography as one source for your research. If you do, arrange the acknowledgement as you would if you were citing a website. In Modern Language Association, or MLA, format, arrange your citation like this:

Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.

Complete the citation in American Psychological Association, or APA format if your professor or program requires that. In the case of APA style, the citation format would be:

Author, A. (Date Published). Article name. Name of website. Retrieved Date, from URL of website.

Replace all the example text with information from your actual citation, except for the words "Retrieved" and "from."

Cite sources individually from within the webliography if you use information specific to those sources. In this case the primary source is the link you visited, not the webliography. This takes the webliography out of the equation. Cite this link as you would any Web source.

For example, if a webliography on Native American Studies directed you to a link on Native American writers, you would only need to cite that Native American writers website.

Complete your research bibliography with the new information gained from your proper citation of the webliography. Make sure on your bibliography this citation is placed in the same alphabetical order and structure as your other citations. Even though the webliography is its own treasure of information, if you are citing it as one document it still takes up one citation in your bibliography.

Note

Note that you do not include the web address when citing an entire webliography in MLA format, as in step one.

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