Academic Referencing Guide
How to Reference a Website
Citing websites and online sources across APA, Harvard, AGLC4 and Vancouver — covering author names, publication dates, page titles and URL conventions.
1Why Web Source Referencing Is Tricky
Websites present unique challenges: authors may be corporate bodies rather than named individuals, publication dates are often missing, and URLs change frequently. Getting website references right requires understanding both the referencing style and the source's metadata structure.
2Core Rules Across Styles
| Element | APA 7th | Harvard CTR 11th |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Named author or group author; "n.d." if missing | Named author or organisation; "(no date)" if missing |
| Date | (Year) or (n.d.) | (Year) or (no date) |
| Page title | Sentence case, no quotes, italicised for standalone works | Single quotation marks, sentence case |
| Website name | Italicised (if different from author) | Not typically italicised |
| Access date | Not required | Mandatory: (Accessed: Day Month Year) |
| URL | Full URL, no period | Available at: URL (Accessed: date) |
3Examples: Named Author Webpage
APA 7th:
World Health Organization. (2023). Mental health and COVID-19: Early evidence of the pandemic's impact. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-Sci_Brief-Mental_health-2022.1
Harvard CTR 11th:
World Health Organization (2023) Mental health and COVID-19: early evidence of the pandemic's impact. Available at: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-Sci_Brief-Mental_health-2022.1 (Accessed: 15 March 2024).
4Examples: Corporate / No Author
APA 7th (no author):
Mental health services in Australia. (2023). Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/mental-health-services/mental-health-services-in-australia
Harvard CTR 11th (corporate author):
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2023) Mental health services in Australia. Available at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/mental-health-services/mental-health-services-in-australia (Accessed: 20 June 2024).
5Cleaning URLs
Always strip tracking parameters from URLs before including them in your reference list:
- Remove:
?utm_source=...,?ref=...,&fbclid=... - Keep: The clean base URL up to the last meaningful path segment.
- Shortened URLs: Never use bit.ly or t.co links — always use the full, clean URL.