Introduction
This is a suggested format for citing the most common types of online material, derived from advice given in various sources (listed at the end). The sources also serve as examples of the formats suggested. Details such as the order of citation elements and the format of dates are matters for the house style of the publisher.
World Wide Web
The standard format for a Web citation is:
<author's name> <title of document> <<URL>> <date of document>
(Accessed <date accessed>)
1. Use the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to identify the source of the material, as specified in RFC1738. This begins with a code for the type of access involved ("http://", "ftp://", "gopher://", etc.). The appendix to RFC1738 suggests that URLs in citations should be prefixed with "URL:" and surrounded by angle brackets; for example:
<URL:http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/bardhtml>
However, including the "URL:" prefix seems ugly and unnecessary, as the angle brackets and access code suffice to identify the code as a URL.
2. If the accessed document is dated internally, use that date for the citation. If there is no date given, use the date at which it was first accessed (prefixed by "Accessed" in parentheses, as shown above). Optionally, give both (for example, if you have any reason to think the document may have been amended since its first creation).
3. Give filenames as you first encountered them, including suffixes indicating compressed format, such as "gz" or "zip".
4. Take care to preserve case in network server directories and filenames, as it is usually significant.
5. You may break URLs across lines, but if possible arrange for breaks to occur only at punctuation separators (but not on hyphens, and don't ever *add* hyphens).
FTP/Gopher/Telnet
Cite these using the URL format described under "World Wide Web" above.
Sources
1. Barrett, Alan <barrett@lucy.ee.und.ac.za> "MLA citation style for internet documents?" Article <3phppu$t6k@lucy.ee.und.ac.za> in Usenet newsgroup alt.usage.english, 19 May 1995.
2. Berners-Lee, T., Masinter, L. & McCahill, M. [ed.] "Uniform Resource Locators (URL)" Request for Comments 1738, Network Working Group <ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/doc/rfc/rfc1738.txt> Dec. 1994. (Accessed 3 Feb. 1995)
3. Chicago Manual of Style: For Authors, Editors and Copywriters (14th edition), University of Chicago Press, 1993, ISBN-0-226-10389-7, pp. 633-4 [not as comprehensive as the other style manuals cited here, because it is just that bit older].
4. Gibaldi, Joseph MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (Revised Fourth Edition), Modern Language Association of America, 1995, ISBN 0-87352-565-5, pp. 160-67, 176-78 [the most recent and the most comprehensive advice available; guidance is also given on citing etexts, CD-ROMs, databases and other electronic sources].
5. Horton, M. & Adams, R. "Standard for interchange of USENET messages" Request for Comments 1036, Network Working Group <ftp://ftp.demon.co. uk/pub/doc/rfc/rfc1036.txt> Dec. 1987 (Accessed 19 June 1995).
6. Johnson, Floyd H. "Suggested MLA Style Guide" <ftp://ftp.netins.net/ showcase/nwc-iowa/pub/int-refs.txt> 1995 (Accessed 17 Apr. 1995).
7. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (Fourth Edition), American Psychological Association, 1994, ISBN 1-55798-241-4, pp. 218-222.
8. Wainwright, Mark <markw@harlqn.co.uk> "MLA citation style for internet documents?" Article <D8Gv79.IMB@harlequin.co.uk> in Usenet newsgroup alt.usage.english, 12 May 1995.