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In text citation

  • It is important to consider whether a social media post is an appropriate reference for academic submission. Examples of appropriate uses include Examples of opinions, history of opinions etc. Social media posts inherently lack peer-review, and such should not be cited as evidence of factual understanding
  • Before using a reference from social media make sure it is appropriate for academic work
  • If no proper name is given, use the username

Paraphrase

Template

                                    (Author’s last name Year published)

Example

The Office of The Prime Minister (2010) updated their Julia Gillard Facebook page on 13 Jan

Direct quote

Template

(Author’s last name Year published)

Example

The BP Parody account created on Twitter, notes "[c]atastrophe is a strong word, let’s all agree to call it a whoopsie daisy" (BP Public Relations 2010)

Reference list

      • As tweets and status updates do not have titles, use the first few words of the message as a title

Template

Author’s last name, Author’s initials Year, Title, platform, viewed Day Month, <URL>.

Example

Gillard, J 2021, Helen Clark was the 37th Prime Minister, Facebook, viewed 18 November, <https://www.facebook.com/juliagillard>.

Macron, E 2021, Un enfant ne peut, twitter, viewed 17 November, <https://twitter.com/emmanuelmacron>.