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Back To Article 		Columbia Guide to Online Style

"When in doubt, it is better to give too much information than too little."

Editor's Note: The style descriptions and examples are written using the appropriate capitalization, punctuation, type style (italics, etc.), underlines, and date style called for in that style.

E-mail
Humanities Style
Sender's Last and First Names or sender's e-mail or logon name. "Subject Line." Day, Month Abbreviation, Year of Message. (Day, Month Abbreviation, Year Accessed).

Example:
Starr, Linda. "Education World Redesign." 20 Jun. 1999. (22 Jun. 1999).

Scientific Style
Sender's Last Name and First Initial or sender's e-mail or logon name. (Day, Month, Year of Message). Subject line. (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Starr, L. (20 June 1999). Education world redesign. (22 June 1999).

Gopher
Humanities Style
Author's Last and First Names. "Title of Work Cited." Title of Complete Work, if Applicable. Date of Publication or Last Revision. Previous Publication Information, if Applicable. Gopher: address, search path or directories followed, if applicable (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Ward, Lynn. "Exploring the Power of the Internet Gopher." 1993. UIUCnet, University of Illinois. Gopher: gopher.mit.edu:3714/OD penninfo-srv.upenn.edu 9000 9070 DCCS (20 June 1999).

Scientific Style
Author's Last Name and First Initial. (Date of Publication or Last Revision). Title of work cited. Title of complete work, if applicable. Previous publication information, if applicable. Gopher: address, search path, or directories followed, if applicable (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Ward, L. (1993). Exploring the power of the internet gopher. UIUCnet, university of illinois. Gopher: gopher.mit.edu:3714/OD penninfo-srv.upenn.edu 9000 9070 DCCS (20 June 1999).

FTP
Humanities Style
Author's Last and First Names. "Title of Document if Short." Title of Document if Long. Day, Month Abbreviation, Year of Document, if Available. ftp: address, including full directory path (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Rovers, Perry. Anonymous FTP: Frequently Asked Questions. 13 Nov. 1997. ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq (20 June 1999).

Scientific Style
Author's Last Name and First Initial. (Day, Month Abbreviation, Year of Document). Title of document. Title of complete work, if applicable. Previous publication information, if applicable. ftp: address, including full directory path (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Rovers, P. (13 Nov. 1997). Anonymous ftp: frequently asked questions. ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq (20 June 1999).

Telnet
Humanities Style
Author's Last and First Names or Author's Alias. "Title of Work Cited, if Applicable." Title of Complete Work or Telnet Site, if Applicable. Day, Month, Year of Publication or Creation, if Known. telnet: address and access directions (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Peoples, Lisa. "Environmental Services Data Directory." NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service. 3 May 1999. telnet://[email protected]:23 (20 June 1999).

Scientific Style
Author's Last Name and First Initial or Author's Alias. (Day, Month Abbreviation, Year of Publication or Creation, if Known). Title of work cited. Title of complete work or telnet site, if applicable. telnet: address, including port number, if applicable, complete access directions (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Peoples, L. (3 May 1999). Environmental services data directory. NOAA national environmental satellite, data, and information service. telnet://[email protected]:23 (20 June 1999).

Listservs
Humanities Style
Author's Last and First Names or author's e-mail or logon name. "Subject Line." Day, Month Abbreviation, Year of Message. Name of Discussion List. Address of List (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Jameson, Mary. "MLA Outline Form for Citing Resources." 28 Jan. 1999. FYI. [email protected] (20 June 1999).

Scientific Style
Author's Last Name and First Initial or author's e-mail or logon name. (Day, Month Abbreviation, Year of Message). Subject line. Name of discussion list. Address of list (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Jameson, M. (28 Jan. 1999). MLA outline form for citing resources. fyi. [email protected] (20 June 1999).

Newsgroups
Humanities Style
Author's Last and First Names or author's e-mail or logon name. "Subject Line." Day, Month, Year of Message. Name of newsgroup. Address of newsgroup (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Gunn, Michael P. "Education Quote of the Day." 6 June 1999. K12.chat.teacher (20 June 1999).

Scientific Style
Author's Last Name and First Initial or author's e-mail or logon name. (Day, Month, Year of Message). Subject line. Name of newsgroup. Address of newsgroup (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Gunn, M. (6 June 1999). Education quote of the day. K12.chat.teacher (20 June 1999).

WWW Sites
Humanities Style
Author's Last and First Names. "Title of Work Cited." Title of Complete Work, if Applicable. Version or file number, if any. Day, Month, Year of Document or Last Revision, if Available. Complete URL (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Halse, John, and Walkowiak, Karen. "The Great Debate Project." SchoolWorld Projects. 26 Sept. 1998. http://www.schoolworld.asn.au/debate (20 June 1999).

Scientific Style
Author's Last Name and First Initial. (Day, Month, Year of Publication). Title of work cited. Title of complete work or site, if applicable. (Version or file number, if any). Complete URL (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Halse, J., and Walkowiak, K. (26 Sept. 1998). The great debate project. Schoolworld projects. http://www.schoolworld.asn.au/debate (20 June 1999).

Electronic Databases
Humanities Style
Author's Last and First Names, if Known. "Title of Work." Title of Publication, if Applicable. Identifying information, such as version or edition numbers, or series name, if available. Publication Date. Database Name, if Applicable. Name of online service and access information or protocol, address, path, and directories followed (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Balas, Andrea K. "Science Fairs in Elementary School." ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education Digest. January 1998. ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education. http://www.ericse.org/digests/dse98-1.html (20 June 1999).

Scientific Style
Author's Last Name and First Initial, if Known. (Publication Date) Title of work. Title of publication, if applicable. (Identifying information, such as version or edition numbers, or series name, if available). Database name, if applicable. Name of online service and access information or protocol, address, path, and directories followed (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
Balas, A. (Jan. 1998) Science fairs in elementary school. ERIC clearinghouse for science, mathematics, and environmental education digest. ERIC clearinghouse for science, mathematics, and environmental education. http://www.ericse.org/digests/dse98-1.html (20 June 1999).

Electronic Reference Sources
Humanities Style
Author's Last and First Names, if Available. "Title of Work." Title of Complete Work. Print Publication Information, Including Date, if Applicable. In online edition information. Name of source, protocol, address, path, and directories followed (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
"The Gettysburg Address." Encarta 97 Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. Microsoft Corporation, 1993-96. In Encarta 97 Encyclopedia (20 June 1999).

Scientific Style
Author's Last Name and First Initial, if Available. (Publication Date) Title of work. Title of complete work. Print publication information, if applicable. In Online Edition Information. Name of online service or protocol, address, path, and directories followed (Day, Month, Year Accessed).

Example:
(1993) The Gettysburg address. Encarta 97 encyclopedia. CD-ROM. Microsoft Corporation, 1993-96. In Encarta 97 Encyclopedia. (20 June 1999).

Online Chats
Humanities Style
Author's or Speaker's Last and First Names or Alias. Type of Communication or "Session Title, if Applicable." Site Title, if Applicable. protocol and address, including access paths, directories, or command sequence, if applicable (Day, Month, Year of Conversation or Interview).

Example:
Uittenbroek, Robert. Online Chat. "Welcome to Kidlink." Kidlink. [email protected], #kidlink: Welcome to Kidlink (3 April 1999).

Scientific Style
Author's or Speaker's Last and First Names or Alias. Type of communication or session title, if applicable. Site title, if applicable. protocol and address, including access paths, directories, or command sequence, if applicable (Day, Month, Year of Conversation or Interview).

Example:
Uittenbroek, Robert. Online Chat. Welcome to kidlink. Kidlink. [email protected], #kidlink: welcome to kidlink (3 April 1999).

Software and Video Games
Humanities Style
Author's Last and First Names, if Available. Corporate Name. Title of Software Program. Version Number, if Applicable and Not Included in Title. Publication Information, if Applicable. Publication or Release Date.

Example:
UBI SOFT Entertainment. Pod. Version 1.0. 1996.

Scientific Style
Author's Last Name and First Initial, if Available. Corporate Name. (Publication or Release Date). Title of software program. (Version number, if applicable and not included in title.) Publication information, if applicable.

Example:
UBI SOFT Entertainment. (1996). Pod. (Version 1.0).

References Within Text
"Parenthetical references to electronic sources will usually include only an author's last name or, if no author's name is available, the file name and, for Scientific Styles, the date of publication or the date of access if no publication date is available. For files with no designation of author or other responsible person or organization, include the file name in parentheses (e.g., cgos.html). For Scientific Styles with no designation of publication date or date of last revision or modification, include the date of access in day-month-year format (e.g., 16 Aug. 1996)."

Example:
(Jacobson, 1999) or (edweek.com, 20 June 1999)

From:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/basic.html The Columbia Guide to Online Style from Columbia University Press

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