43 Citing Websites and Social Media

Most legal research is conducted online. There are several rules within NZLSG for citing material that you find online.

Unlike some other citation styles, NZLSG generally does not require you to identify whether you have viewed a source in print or online, although there are exceptions to this. Your citation tells the reader where you found the information for your argument, not how you accessed it.

When citing online material, you need to determine whether the material is:

• a case, legislation, a book, journal article, legal encyclopedia or online commentary – specific rules in NZLSG for each of these have been covered previously;
• a paper or report – rule 5.4;
• a website;
• social media, such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) or LinkedIn.

Citing Websites

If your online source is not covered by another specific rule (have a look at the contents and index pages to see all the NZLSG rules), cite it as a website using rule 7.1.

To cite a website, include the following information:

• name of the author or authors;
• title of the web page or document;
  • enclose the title in quotation marks and follow the formatting of the title on the source. If the title is in all capital letters, only capitalise the first letter of significant words.
• the date the document or web page was created within round brackets;
• the name of the website;
• the website address within angle brackets;
  • use the top level web address of the website rather than the exact page, eg www.doc.govt.nz rather than www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/canterbury/places/weka-pass-historic-reserve.

Include all the information that you have about the web page or document. If you are unable to find the author or date, leave it out of the citation. If the name of the website is identical to the author’s name, omit the website name from the citation.

Citing Social Media

The use of social-media sources such as X (formerly Twitter) is generally discouraged; however, rule 7.1.10 offers some assistance for citing social media if required.

To cite a social media, include the following information:

• name of the author or authors;
• social media handle in round brackets (  );
• the first sentence of the social media post in double quotation marks “ ”;
• the full URL.

Do not give a time stamp as this will differ across time zones.