Subject guides: CDU APA Referencing: Web Sources & Online Documents

Citation Elements

Web source

Personal Author or Organisation as Author. (Date). Title. Publisher of web source. URL/DOI

Important

Provide as specific a date as is available on webpage. This could be just the year, the year and month or the year, month, date
Use the publication date, update date but NOT review date
When the content of a page is updated over time and not archived, include a retrieval date
Use this format for news websites, e.g. CNN, ABC News. Use the newspaper format for newspapers
To help identify works other than articles, reports, web pages, etc. provide a description of the format in square brackets after the title and before the full stop (e.g. [Lecture notes], [Tweet], …)

Reference Examples

Web page

Organisation as author - (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2016)

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2024). Diabetes: Australian facts? Australian Government. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/diabetes/diabetes/contents/summary

Personal author - Lee (2019) discusses how…

Lee, N. (2019, December 16). Cap your alcohol at 10 drinks a week: New draft guidelines. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/cap-your-alcohol-at-10-drinks-a-week-new-draft-guidelines-128856

No date - (St John, n.d.)

St John. (n.d.). Burns. https://www.stjohn.org.nz/First-Aid/First-Aid-Library/Burns/

Endnote Reference Type = Web page

Document / Report from a website

(Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2016)

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. (2016). Registered nurse standards for practice. AHPRA. http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Professional-standards.aspx

Endnote Reference Type = Web page

Government document / Report

(Department of the Environment and Energy, 2017)

Department of the Environment and Energy. (2017). Australia’s emissions projections 2017. Australian Government. http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-hange/publications/emissions-projections-2017

Note: When numerous layers of government agencies are listed as the author of a work, use the most specific agency as the author in the reference.

Endnote Reference Type = Web page

Report from a database

…as demonstrated in the report (Larter, 2025).

Larter, N. (2025, January). Private General Hospitals in Australia (Q8401B). IBISWorld. https://my.ibisworld.com/au/en/industry/q8401b/

When the report has a report or series number, include it in brackets after the title.

Euromonitor International (2024) shows a rising trend…

Euromonitor International. (2024, September). Paediatric Consumer Health in Australia (Country Report). Passport. https://www.portal.euromonitor.com/analysis/tab

Endnote Reference Type = Web page

Document from Learnline

(Moss, 2019)

Moss, M. (2019). HSC210 – Module one: Sociology for health professionals [Lecture notes]. Learnline. https://online.cdu.edu.au/

… stated by Hilder-Achurch (2019).

Hilder-Achurch, M. (2019). PSY140: Introduction to psychology A [PowerPoint Slides]. Learnline. https://online.cdu.edu.au/

Endnote Reference Type = Online Multimedia

Standards

(Standards Australia, 2018)

Standards Australia. (2018). Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete – Part 3: Construction (AS 5146.3:2018).

Endnote Reference Type = Web page

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2022)

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2022, October 25). Births, Australia. Australian Government. https://bit.ly/3Ulypda

Endnote Reference Type = Web page

Australian Curriculum Online

Australian Curriculum (n.d.)

Australian Curriculum. (n.d.). Literacy. https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/literacy

Endnote Reference Type = Web page

Social Media Post

Australian Nursing & Midwifery Journal (2024)

Australian Nursing & Midwifery Journal. [@anmjaustralia]. (2024, December 3). A study investigating the links between sleep and pain could fundamentally change the way clinicians treat people with chronic pain [Tweet]. X. https://x.com/anmjaustralia/status/1863877388498506047

Square brackets indicate the type of item/format you viewed.

Endnote Reference Type = Social Media

Reference Examples: Sources that require retrieval dates

Some online resources need a retrieval date because the content is designed to change over time and versions of the page are not archived. See below:

Reference from eMIMS, eTG or AMH

(“APO-Naltrexone”, 2017)

AAPO-Naltrexone. (2017). In MIMS. Retrieved December 16, 2019

Endnote Reference Type = Dictionary

Online Dictionary or Encyclopedia

… art of teaching (“Education”, 2016)

Education. (2016). In Dictionary.com. Retrieved January 5, 2017, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/education?s=t

Endnote Reference Type = Dictionary

ABS population clock

(Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2019)

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2019, December 18). Population clock. Australian Government. Retrieved December 18, 2019, from https://tinyurl.com/mrx8rdfs

Endnote Reference Type = Web page

Open Education Resource (OER)

(Fagan, 2019)

Fagan, J. (2019, March 25). Nursing clinical brain. OER Commons. Retrieved September 17, 2019, from https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/53029-nursing-clinicalbrain/view. License CC or Public domain.

Cite and reference according to the resource type i.e. book, image…

Endnote Reference Type = Web page