How to Footnote a YouTube Video

The Internet provides a quick way to research various topics you might be studying. With a diverse range of media available on the Web, it might be difficult to work out how to cite your sources in your work, especially if, like YouTube videos, they do not obviously fit into traditional citation styles. According to the University of British Columbia, the three most common citation styles are Chicago, MLA and Turabian. All three styles have guidelines for how to footnote YouTube videos.

Turabian

Step 1

Write the user name of the person who posted the video, followed by a comma.

Step 2

Enter the title of the video in quotation marks.

Step 3

Enter "YouTube" in italics, followed by a full stop.

Step 4

Write "Online video clip" followed by a comma.

Step 5

Enter the full URL of the video clip followed by the date you accessed the clip in brackets, finishing with a full stop. The final footnote should look like this: Peakdavid, "Chicago-Turabian Footnote and EndNote Citation formats, Part 1." YouTube. Online video clip, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_ePYMR5nJU (accessed 28 May 2009).

Chicago

Step 1

Write the author's name followed by the date the video was created in brackets. Only include the author's name if you know he is the creator of the video; if he posted it but you don't know whether he is the original creator, don't include the account holder's user name. The name should be in the following format: Surname, first initial.

Step 2

Write the title of the video in italics, followed by [Video] and a full stop.

Step 3

Enter the date you watched the video in the following format: Retrieved [full date you accessed the video] followed by the video's full URL. Finish the footnote with a full stop. An example of the full footnote would be: Takayma-Ogawa, J., & Willette, J. (2007). What is information literacy [Video] Retrieved December 12, 2007, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeopJX5jJV8.

MLA

Step 1

Write the account holder's user name, followed by dir; this is an abbreviation of director. End with a full stop.

Step 2

Enter the name of the video in quotation marks.

Step 3

Write YouTube in italics, followed by a full stop.

Step 4

Insert the date the video was published, followed by a full stop.

Step 5

Write Web. followed by the date you accessed the video. Finish with a full stop. The whole footnote might look like this: PivotMasterDX, dir. “Bounce!” YouTube. 14 June 2008. Web. 21 June 2008.