Referencing websites

[Hasnath]

Whats the recommended method of referencing websites for use in reports, i keep getting contradicting opinions. I use the Harvard system but that doesn't cover websites.

I would love to actually find out as it could mean a pass or fail

[herulach]

Dont as a rule, unless its a link to arxiv, or another journals website, anyone who referenced wikipedia or the like in our course got thier report handed back to them.

You might get away with it in the case of journalism or something like that, but if its an academic paper they hold no water in terms of referencing.

[Hasnath]

im trying to stay clear of certain websites like wiki, but in my case im looking at http://www.qca.org.uk/index.html

Theres loads of stuff thet might be of interest but how would i reference parts as not all the pages indicate if there was a specific author

[herulach]

Youll probably get away with something like that, when i had to do it i used the journal format, but with the page substituted for journal name, and the date accessed instead of number. If its by an un-specified author, i think youd just reference it as QCA : Blah. Can you not check with your department? Or does the assignment have to be in tommorow?

[Hasnath]

Or does the assignment have to be in tommorow?

what do you think

thanx for your advice anyway, should help me though

[ACiD303]

Refer to a professional body thats related to your industry/paper.

For computer papers, I use the IEEE reference guide:

http://www.computer.org/portal/site/...wsj!-516041631

Be careful with hypenation if following that guide because some packages, e.g. MS Word, hyphenate words to the next line sometimes.

[Spud1]

I have used web references in my project this year, as long as its a source that appears trustworthy theres no problem - whats to say a website is any less reliable than a journal or magazine article? As long as its not wikipedia (although you can use it to find references..follow the referenced links on wiki pages =) )or similar then you should be fine.

I have referenced mine like this:

(OGCIO of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ,2003, http://www.ogcio.gov.hk/eng/prodev/es3.htm)

thats (<page author>[coroporate or individual],<year>,<direct link> ) which is how office 2007's citation manager inserts them for 'APA' referencing (which is pretty much harvard unless you are doing extended references, where they differ slightly).

[Steve B]

technically, plajorism (sp?) is using someone elses work as your own. wikipedia is a collection of inputs from various sources, therefore doesn't need to be referenced at all

[phunkygal]

we get told to use the mla referencing sytem, which is one of the more complex as the guide seems to way 10 tons.

for websites:
Author’s last name, first name. “Title of article.” Name of home website. Date listed, if any, that the article was published on the site. Date you accessed the article. <URL in angled brackets>.

also one of my tutors did a phd in referencing and its the system he tells us to use.

[yamangman]

http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/libdocs/hsl-dvc2.pdf

Dont as a rule.

I'd disagree. Any plonker should know referencing wikipedia is a bad idea. Referencing whitepapers and standards which are often statically published on the web, and news articles are quite valid.

[herulach]

I'd disagree. Any plonker should know referencing wikipedia is a bad idea. Referencing whitepapers and standards which are often statically published on the web, and news articles are quite valid.

I suppose it depends on the subject, I did a physics degree, and if i referenced anything that hadnt been peer reviewed then itd have been flagged up.