An important part of citing material online is to give as direct a link as possible. That is, the URL you link to should be to the main server of the institution in question (e.g., washingtonpost.com, sciencedirect.com, etc.) It should NOT have google.com or yahoo.com or similar search engine addresses as part of the URL. You will certainly need these search engines to find the sites, but when you find them link directly to the original version, not to the search result. Additionally, we highly recommend that once you have your links up that you check them from someone else's computer to make sure that you have them properly formatted.
As a general rule: always cite the PRINTED version of a document when such exists! This is true even if you found it online. Print has priority.
Below is a description of the bibliographic format we ask you to follow.
Citation Rules for Technical Research Articles
[NOTE: Even though you are probably going to find the online versions of these papers rather than the physical hardcopy printed version, the convention is to use the printed version as the proper citation format. The important exception to this is that you should include the doi where it is available. The doi is the Digitial Object Identifier. These are a string of characters that specify this particular article for various websearch methods. Papers published since 2000 typically have a doi; you should be citing these along with the rest of the bibliographic information. You can use this code in a specialized search engine like http://www.doi.org, or by tacking "http://dx.doi.org/" in front of the code, and use this as a URL in a standard web browser.]
When linking to the online version of an article in a technical journal, please use the following style:
First author's last name, Initial of first (and additional) name., Initial of second author's first (and additional) name, second author's last name, and initial of final author's first (and additional) name, final author's last name. Year. Title of article [with a direct hotlink to the online version; note that there are no quotes around the technical article name!]. Journal name Volume number: first page-last page. DOI number (standard for all online papers).
Here is an example:
Long, J.A., K. Trinajstic, and Z. Johanson. 2009. Devonian arthrodire embryos and the origin of internal fertilization in vertebrates. Nature 457: 1124-1127. doi:10.1038/nature07732
(Please note: find the actual name of the journal; "Science Direct" and "NIH" are not journal names, for instance.)
Early View/In Press/Online in Advance of Print Paper Many publications with an online presence will publish a few of their papers on line weeks or months before the printed verison is available. These are sometimes called "Early View" or "Online in Advance of Print" or similar titles. You should feel free to cite these in your wikis. Please use the following format for these (basically just a variation on the final printed versions above):
Example: Opalinska, B., and S.A. Cowling. in press. Using carbon economics of tree height to estimate evolutionary timing of cold tolerance in conifers. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology in press. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.09.028
Online-Only Publication There are a few journals which are online-only. The most successful are the various subdivisions of the Public Library of Science (PLoS), especially PLoS ONE and PLoS Biology. Different online-only journals are developing their own version of "volume" and "pages", given the fact they aren't published as actual print items. Below are cases from PLoS ONE and Palaeontologica Electronica.
Example: Butler, R.J., P.M. Barett, and D.J. Gower. 2012. Reassessment of the evidence of the postcranial skeletal pneumaticity in Triassic Archosaurs, and the early evolution of the avian respiratory system. PLoS ONE 7(3): e34094. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0034094
Memoir or other Monograph Format: Authors [as per papers]. Date. Title of monograph. Name of Series. Volume Number: X-XX.
Examples: Donovan, S.K., R.E. Widdison, D.N. Lewis, and F.E. Fearnhead. 2010. The British Silurian Crinoidea: Part 2, Addendum to Part 1 and Cladida. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society 635: 47-133.
Rinehart, L.F., S.G. Lucas, A.B. Heckert, J.A. Spielmann, and M.D. Celesky. 2009. The paleobiology of Coelophysis bauri (Cope) from the Upper Triassic (Apachean) Whitikaer quarry, New Mexico, with detailed analysis of a single quarry block. New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science 45: 1-260.
Chapter in Edited Volume Note: these rarely have doi numbers.
Format: First author family name, Initial of first (and middle) names of first authors, Intial of first (and middle) names of second author Second author family name, [and continued until], and Initial of first (and middle) names of last author Last author family name. Date. Title of chapter. Pp. first page-last page, in Initial of first (and middle) names of first editor Last name of first editor, Initial of first (and middle) names of second editor Second editor family name, [and continued until], and Initial of first (and middle) names of last editor Last editor family name (eds.), Journal Title [additionally, if part of a series: Name of Series Volume Number] Publisher; City of Publication.
Examples: Holtz, T.R., Jr. 2008. A critical reappraisal of the obligate scavenging hypothesis for Tyrannosaurus rex and other tyrant dinosaurs. Pp. 370-396, in P. Larson and K. Carpenter (eds.), Tyrannosaurus rex: The Tyrant King. Indiana University Press; Bloomington, IN.
Ostrom, J.H. 1980. The evidence for endothermy in dinosaurs. Pp. 15-54, in R.D.K. Thomas and E.C. Olson (eds.), A Cold Look at the Warm-Blooded Dinosaurs. AAAS Selected Symposium 28. Westview Press; Boulder, CO.
Book Format: Authors [as per papers]. Date. Title of Book. [additionally, if part of a series: Name of Series Volume Number] Publisher; City of Publication. Total number of pages pp.
Examples: Carroll, R.L. 1997. Patterns and Processes of Vertebrate Evolution. Cambridge Paleobiology Series 2. Cambridge University Press; Cambridge, UK. 448 pp.
Vogel. S. 1988. Life's Devices: The Physical World of Animals and Plants. Princeton University Press; Princeton, N.J. 367 pp.
Citation Rules for News Media
When linking to the online version of a newspaper article, use the following style:
Author's last name, Initial of first name. [If no name listed, use "Anonymous"]. day month year. "Title of article [with a direct hotlink to the online version]". Name of Newspaper, Page number (if available). Accessed day month year.
When linking to the online version of a magazine article, use the following style:
Author's last name, Initial of first name. [If no name listed, use "Anonymous"]. day month year [or just month and year if it is a monthly magazine]. "Title of article [with a direct hotlink to the online version]". Name of Magazine, Page number (if available). Accessed day month year.
When linking to an online news organization, use the following style:
Author's last name, Initial of first name. [If no name listed, use "Anonymous"]. day month, year. "Title of article [with a direct hotlink to the online version]". Name of Newssite. Accessed day month year.
Blog essay: Author's last name, Initial of first name. day month, year. "Title of essay[with a direct hotlink to the online version]". Name of Blog. Accessed day month year.