Buzz
Citing a webpage in a research paper or thesis can be tricky, but you can use a few techniques to find its publication date. To determine when a post or webpage was published, start by examining the website and its URL. You can also conduct a simple Google search using the special URL operator to help pinpoint the publication date. If you need to know when the site was published, you can search the page's source code. While it's possible to find the publication date on most websites, it's not always available. If that's the case, cite the webpage as one with 'no date'.
Steps
Check the Website and URL
Look below the title of an article or blog post. Most news websites and blogs list the publication date beneath the article title, along with the author's name. Check for the date right below the title or at the start of the post.
- There may be a subheading consisting of a sentence or an image between the title and the date. Scroll up or down to see if the publication date is listed beneath the title or subheading.
- Some posts may have been updated after their original publication date. In this case, you will see a modification notice at the beginning or end of the post, indicating when and why it was edited.
Alternative method: If you can't find the date on the article itself, try going back to the homepage or the website's search tool to locate the publish date. You might find the date listed next to the article's link or thumbnail image.
Check the bottom of the website for a copyright date. Scroll to the bottom of the page and see if there is any information listed there. You may find copyright details or a publication notice. Read this information to see if it provides the original publication date. However, be aware that this might reflect the last updated date of the website rather than the original publication date.
- A website's update date refers to the last time any content was added or changed on the site. This means the information you're reading might have been published earlier. However, the copyright or recent updates indicate that the website is still active and being maintained, making the information more reliable.
- Look for a short author biography section. Sometimes, the date might appear in the corner at the top right or below it.
Tip: Copyright dates are usually listed by year only, without a specific month or day.
Check if the date is part of the URL. Look at the address bar and hover over the URL. Some blogs and websites automatically include the publication date within the web address. You might find the full date or just the month and year.
- Make sure you're on the specific post page and not the archive or index page. Click the post's title to confirm you're on an individual page.
- Many blogs shorten URLs for easier searching, so you may not find the publication date there.
Look at the timeline in the comments section to estimate the post's publication date. While this isn't the most accurate method, it can help you guess when the post was first published. Pay attention to the timestamps next to users' names in the comments. Hover over the comments until you find the earliest one. If a user interacted when the post was first published, that would be the closest date to its publication.
- You can't use this date to cite a webpage. However, it can help you estimate when the site was published, giving you an idea of how long the content has been available. If it seems recent, you might decide to proceed and use the website, but cite it as “no date”.
Use the Google algorithm
Copy and paste the website's URL into the Google search bar. Highlight the URL with your cursor, right-click and select copy. Then, go to the Google homepage and paste the URL into the search box. Don't hit search just yet, as you're still adding the URL path.
- Make sure you copy and paste the full URL.
Type “inurl:” before the website's URL and press search. This operator will help you gather more information about the URL link. First, place your cursor in front of the website's URL. Then, type “inurl:” before the website address, without any spaces. Once you've added the operator, hit search.
- Do not include quotation marks.
- This might sound complicated, but you don’t need to do anything special. Just type it in the search bar, and Google will take care of the rest.
Add “&as_qdr=y15” at the end of the URL, then press search again. Place your cursor in the address bar after the URL you've just searched. Then, type “&as_qdr=y15”, without quotation marks. Hit search one more time to bring up the final set of results.
- This is the second part of the “inurl:” operator.
- You can copy and paste the code if it makes it easier for you.
Alternative method: You can use the shortcut keys Ctrl + L in Firefox and Chrome or Alt + D in Internet Explorer to position the cursor directly in the search bar.
Check the results to find the date listed in the website description. Hover over the search results. You will see the link to the page you're trying to cite at the top. Look to the left of the page description to find the date. In most cases, you will find the publish date there.
- If you don’t see a date, it might not be available. In that case, you can try to find the publication date by checking the page's source code to decide if you should cite it as a “no date” webpage.
Click Tools. This button is located below the Google search bar on the right side of the top of the page. The search bar will still contain the “inurl:” tag and the URL following it.
Click Any time⏷. This is the first option that appears on the left below the search bar when you click the “Tools” button. This action will open a dropdown menu that allows you to search by date.
Click Custom range. This option allows you to select a date range to search for the article and check whether the website was published within that time period.
- Alternatively, you can click Past year to quickly check if the website was published in the past year. This is a great way to see if the site has been updated.
Enter the start date next to "From:" and the end date next to "To:". You can use the calendar on the right to select the date or manually enter the date in the field. You can input the full date (dd/mm/yyyy), just the month and year (mm/yyyy), or only the year.
Click Go. This action will search for URLs within the selected date range. If a page was published during this period, it will be listed along with the date displayed below the URL. If you receive an error saying no matches were found, it means the webpage was published outside the selected date range. You can click Clear below the search bar and try again with a broader date range.
Search the source code
Right-click on the page and choose 'View Page Info' (View page details). When you select this option, it will open a new window or tab containing the page's source code. There will be a lot of code, but you don't need to understand it to identify the date.
- Depending on your browser, you may also see 'View Page Source' in the menu.
Alternative method: The shortcut to directly open the source code is Control + U on Windows and Command + U on Mac.
Activate the 'Find' function on your browser using the keyboard shortcut Control + F or Command + F. The 'Find' function will help you easily search for a date within the source code. If you're using Windows, press Control + F to open this feature. For Mac, use Command + F to search for the date within the code.
Another option: You can also access the 'Find' function by clicking on the 'Edit' menu at the top and selecting 'Find...' from the dropdown menu.
Search for the terms 'datePublished', 'publishdate', or 'published_time'. Type one of these search terms and press enter. The 'Find' function will search through the entire page code to locate your search term, and it will guide you directly to the relevant section.
- If no search terms are found, try entering 'publish' into the 'Find' function. This may help locate the publication details of the page.
- If you want to know when a webpage was last modified or updated, search for the code 'modified'.
The date found will be listed in year-month-day order. Read through the portion of the 'Find' function where the date appears. It will immediately follow your search term. The year will be listed first, followed by the month and the day.
- This date can be used to cite the webpage or determine how long the content has been on the site.
Webpage citation
Provide the author, title, website, date, and URL in MLA format (Modern Language Association). Write the author's last name first, followed by their first name, separated by a comma. Add a period, then the title with the first letter capitalized and in quotation marks, followed by a period. Italicize the website name, followed by a comma and the date in day-month-year format. Add a comma and then the URL, ending with a period.
- Example: Aranda, Arianna. 'Exploring Expressive Poems.' Poetry Scholar, 7 Nov. 2016, www.poetryscholar.com/understanding-expressive-poems.
Another approach: Don’t worry if you can't find the date. Instead, you can use the date you accessed the website and place it after the URL. For instance: Aranda, Arianna. “Exploring Expressive Poems.” Poetry Scholar, www.poetryscholar.com/understanding-expressive-poems. Accessed April 9, 2019.
List the author’s name, year, title, and URL for citation in APA style (American Psychological Association). Write the author’s last name, followed by a comma and their first name, ending with a period. Then, place the publication year of the website in parentheses, followed by a period. Add the title, capitalizing the first letter of each word, followed by a period. Finally, write “Retrieved from” and include the URL of the webpage you accessed. Do not place a period after the URL.
- Example: American Robotics Club. (2018). Building Complex Robots. Retrieved from www.americanroboticsclub.com/building-complex-robots
Another option: If no date is available, you can use “n.d.” in place of the year. For example, you could write: American Robotics Club. (n.d.). Building Complex Robots. Retrieved from www.americanroboticsclub.com/building-complex-robots
Use the author’s name, title of the page, website name, date, and URL following the Chicago style. List the author’s last name, followed by a comma, then their first name. Place a period, then capitalize the first letter of the page title and enclose it in quotation marks, followed by another period. Add the website name in italics. Place a period, then write “Last modified” and provide the date the page was last updated in the format month, day, year, followed by a period. Finally, include the URL, ending with a period.
- Example: Li, Quan. “Studying Art.” Deep Insights into Culture. Last modified February 12, 2015. www.insightsintoculture.com/examining-art.
Another option: If no date is available, you can use the date you accessed the website. Use the same format, but write “Accessed” instead of “Last modified” before the date. For instance: Li, Quan. “Studying Art.” Deep Insights into Culture. Accessed April 9, 2019. www.insightsintoculture.com/examining-art.
Advice
- Some websites feature multiple relevant dates. For example, there may be the date the website was originally created and the date a specific page was published. Use the most meaningful date for the information you're citing, typically the date of a specific page.
- Checking the date on a webpage can help you determine if the information is up-to-date or possibly outdated.
- Some websites hide their publication date to make their page appear current, even if it may not be.
Warning
- Do not guess the publication date when citing a website. If you believe the information is valid but cannot find a date, simply use the “no date” citation method for your source.
