Could really use some Citing help!?

Question

I have been doing research using public onliune forums. How would I go about citing them within my paper and in my reference list? I will be using quotes from individual posts within the paper. I will not be using names however, just Case 1, Case 2, Case 3 etc. Is that how I should list them in my Works Cited? Or a whole other way? Thanks much.

Answer 1

The main idea behind a "works Cited" page is to give credit where credit is due.  You cannot use someone else's words and mislead others into believing them to be your own.  That said, there are three parts to every citation -- the author, the work, and publishing information.  On a works Cited page, the three things are separated by periods; on a Footnotes page, the same information is separated by commas.  If you try to include those three elements, you'll probably be ok.

EX:

Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan. The Yearling. Random House, 1960.  (This is off a Works Cited page; the name is reversed and the title should be underlined or italicized)

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, The Yearling, p. 100  (same book on a Footnotes page refering to a quote taken off of one of its pages.  Name is correct and commas are used)

It's the "Publishing Information" that can get a little tricky with web sites.  If I were your teacher, I'd ask you to refrain from using on-line forums anyway, because what sort of expert are you citing?  You don't know.  Anybody can log-in and post a comment, but it'd be nice to start your quote with something like "Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, AUTHOR OF THE YEARLING, says ..." to try to give her some sort of credence.  What does "JoDP14" know about your topic and why should you include his comment in your paper?

Answer 2

Use this website:

http://www.noodletools.com/login.php