Ever found yourself deep down a rabbit hole of fascinating blog posts, only to realize you need to cite one for a paper or project? It’s a common scenario, and thankfully, APA style has a clear way to handle it. Think of a blog post as a digital diary or journal, but one that’s often shared with the world. The term itself, 'blog,' comes from 'weblog,' a log of your journey on the web. The person writing it is a 'blogger,' and the whole online space where these posts live is the 'blogosphere.'
What makes a blog post distinct? Well, they're usually updated quite frequently – sometimes multiple times a day, but often daily or a few times a week. The magic happens on the homepage, where you'll find articles, or 'blog posts' as they're commonly called, arranged in reverse chronological order. That means the newest one is right at the top, with older ones following as you scroll down. Each post is dated, often with the exact time it was published, which is super helpful for understanding how current the information is. And to help you find older gems, most blogs have archive links.
So, how do you actually cite one in APA style? It’s not as daunting as it might seem. The key is to provide enough information for someone else to find that exact post. You'll need the author's name (or their screen name if a real name isn't available), the date of publication, the title of the specific blog post, and the URL of that post. A crucial detail to remember, as highlighted by the APA Style Blog itself, is that the title of the blog post itself should not be italicized. This applies to content created by online communities, like blogs, newsgroups, and forums. The title of the blog itself isn't italicized either, unlike a book or journal title.
Let's break down the structure with an example. If you were citing a post about citing online maps, it would look something like this:
McAdoo, T. (2015, August 4). How to cite online maps in APA style [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2015/08/how-to-cite-online-maps.html
Notice the [Blog post] in brackets. This is important because it tells the reader the format of the source. And the 'Retrieved from' part is where you put the direct link to that specific post. It’s all about clarity and making sure your readers can follow your research trail. It’s a straightforward process once you know the components, turning that fascinating online discovery into a properly credited source.
