YouTube in a Research Paper?

If you’re writing a paper about viral marketing (what’s that?), you’re probably going to talk about YouTube and its fantastic ability to share video with people all over the world. The problem is citing any videos that you would like to include in your paper. It doesn’t fit the nice, predefined examples put forth by MLA or APA.

Fortunately, you no longer have to make up your own style for this citation if you’re using APA style. According to the association, citations for YouTube videos (and other internet videos) combine the website and video format. So for instance, if you really like the library workout video and would like to incorporate it into a paper on workplace athletics, you would cite it as the following:

Betty Glover Library Workout Tape Ad [Video]. (1987). Retrieved November 12, 2007, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k8BKX2eQ0Q.

And just in case you missed it the first two times, third time’s a charm:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k8BKX2eQ0Q[/youtube]

Thanks Ronna for sharing this information!

About kyle

I'm the library guy. No, seriously, I'm the only male reference & instruction librarian. I also have the pleasure of serving several campus committees, the Academic Staff Assembly and the Chancellor's Task Force on LGBT Issues, among others.
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