Report error: 1382088143 | APA Website Referencing

toriaelizabeth · June 8, 2022

Report ID: 1382088143

When I reference a website using American Psychological Association 7th edition (APA) which has a date it doesn't include when the website was retrieved. However, APA 7th edition guidelines states that websites which are likely to change should include this.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Find website which has date e.g., https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/endometriosis/
2. Go to Zotero library, add date (found at bottom of nhs website - 18 Jan 2019).
3. Right click on entry and create bibliography from item.

National Health Service. (2019, January 18). Endometriosis. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/endometriosis/

However, the correct APA referencing would be:

National Health Service. (2019, January 18). Endometriosis. Retrieved June 8, 2022, from https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/endometriosis/

dstillman · June 8, 2022

https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/89333/how-to-make-web-bibliogarphy-include-the-retrieved-date

bwiernik · June 8, 2022

Note that the APA manual would _NOT_ require a retrieval date for this webpage, as it is not expected to change frequently

toriaelizabeth · June 8, 2022

Thanks @dstillman and @bwiernik What is the definitely of frequently?

My university marked me down for not including the retrieval date for NHS websites. I wonder if it's related to the 'next review date' and the fact they're often in the past?

e.g., https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/chilblains/ - page last reviewed 7th Nov 2018, next review 7th Nov 2021.

bwiernik · June 8, 2022

A good heuristic is, if there is a publication date, as here, that page is probably not going to change (or if it does, the publication date will be updated), so omit the retrieval date.

NHS pages like this certainly fall into the category of not frequently updated.

This is the heuristic that the Zotero/CSL APA style follows