How to Cite Online Documents An excellent source of information is "Section 3: Electronic documents" 1 of the Bibliographic Style Manual 2. Written by Danielle Thibault, the supplement is based on the International Standard ISO 690-2 Information and documentation - Bibliographic references - Part 2: Electronic documents or parts thereof. • Specific entry outline for a bibliographic reference for an online electronic document Author. -- Title [descriptive identifier] : subtitle. -- Secondary authors. -- Edition, version number. -- Publication data, i.e., site name, publication date if available, date of update of revision [Reference date]. -- Notes. -- Access: <>. -- Standard number Example Montgomery, Lucy Maud. -- Anne of Avonlea [online]. Project Gutenberg/IBC [Cites April 14, 1998]. -- Originally published in Boston by L.C. Page & Co., c1909. -- Access : <ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/etext/gutenberg/etext92/avon10.txt> • Specific entry outline for a bibliographic record for a part of an online electronic document - periodical articles Author. -- "Article title". -- Serial title [descriptive identifier]. -- (Issue designation). -- Date of update or revision [Reference date]. -- Access: <>. -- Standard number Example Tozer, Paula. -- "Celebrating women's achievements: women in Canadian legislature". -- National Library News [online]. -- Vol. 30, no. 1 (Jan. 1998). -- Revised Jan. 6, 1998 [Cited April 4, 1998]. -- Also available in French. -- Access : <http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/pubs/nl-news/1998/jan98e/3001-05e.htm>. ISSN 1200-4472 • Specific entry outline for a bibliographic reference for discussion list messages Author of the message. -- "Subject of the message". -- Name or host message system [descriptive identifier]. -- Publication data, i.e., name or location of the host message system, the host organization name, date the message was sent, i.e., month, day, year, hour [Reference date]. -- Notes. -- Access : <> Example Corneau, Roger E. -- "Object of Contemporary RM Program". -- RECMGMT [online]. -- New York: University of Syracuse, Nov. 7, 1997, 9:38 [Cited on August 15, 1998]. -- Access : <LISTSERV@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> • Specific entry outline for a bibliographic reference for personal electronic communications (E-mail) Author of the message. -- Subject of the message [descriptive identifier]. -- Name of recipient preceded by the words Message to (optional). -- Date the message was sent [Reference date]. -- Personal communication Example Cumming, Brenda. -- Electronic citations [online]. -- Message to James Ford. -- July 12, 1998 [Cited Aug. 15, 1998]. -- Personal communication ------- 1Bibliographic style manual. Section 3, Electronic documents / by Danielle Thibault. Ottawa : National Library of Canada, 1998. 7 p. 2Bibliographic style manual / by Danielle Thibault. Ottawa : National Library of Canada, 1990. vii, 194 p. Copyright. The National Library of Canada. (Revised: 2002-03-05).