You can use authoritative online resources as evidence in the same way that you would use books or journals. But beware - online resources are so easy to find and access that it might be tempting to do all your research on the web. This is not a good idea - there may be a lot of information online, but that doesn't mean it's the most suitable material for your assignment. For instance, a standard search will often produce a lot of newspaper articles that report on and summarise research. Such articles might be good evidence for an essay on media portrayals of topics, but not appropriate for a scientific literature review. However, the articles might help you find the original research to use directly.
Tip: If you use a variety of sources, you can compare and cross-check what you read on websites with what you read in book chapters and journal articles.
Remember that information published on a website is someone else's work or ideas, so you will need to add an accurate citation.
Online resources provide evidence and examples to back up your own points and ideas, so they should be treated like any other source. Reference websites fully and accurately, including the date you accessed the site. Don't forget that visual information (e.g. pictures, photos, diagrams, graphs) from websites also needs to be referenced.
To cite a website in the body of your assignment (in the Harvard style), use the author's surnameor the organisation that has responsibility for the website. If neither of these are obvious, use the title. Addthe date the webpage was published. Example of an in-text citation:
The policy sets out an ambitious framework enable everyone to contribute to research and innovation(UKRI, 2023).
In the reference list giveas many details as are available from this list in this order: Author, year of publication, title of webpage, web link, date accessed. Example of a full reference for a webpage:
UKRI (2023)UKRI’s equality, diversity and inclusion strategy. Available at:https://www.ukri.org/publications/ukris-equality-diversity-and-inclusion-strategy (Accessed: 3 April 2023)
If you can't find a date of publication, use 'no date'in place of the year in the citation.
Tip:If you are having difficulty finding the necessary details to reference a webpage, you might need to think about whether it is the kind of material that is academically valid - is it suitable to be used as evidence in your assignment?
See the following resources for additional guidance:
