How to Cite a Site That You Have in Sight
by Owen Fourie
We’ll get to the matter of citing websites, but, first, we have to clear up the confusion that exists for some users of these homophones.
This is the reason for this article, but if you are already familiar with the correct usage of these words, you’ll find some useful links at the end of this post to information about citing web pages.
Here is a tabulation to help you to use cite, site, and sight correctly.
If you follow this carefully, you will not fall into errors such as these:
- I copied the data and will site the source.
- I will site the appropriate sources.
In these examples from the Internet, site is incorrect. Look at the table and learn what word should have been used.
| Cite, Site, Sight: Correct Usage | |||
| Meaning | Examples | Memory Trick | |
| Cite
(verb) |
From Latin citare, meaning to summon, to call | Associate it with recite and recitation.
You call on your memory to repeat facts or a poem. |
|
| To quote or list your authoritative source | For each quotation in your paper, it is important to cite the source. | ||
| To list a person’s virtues (and, sometimes, vices) | The general cited the many brave acts of the soldiers. | ||
| To summon to appear in a court of law | He was cited for reckless driving. | ||
| Site
(noun) |
From Latin situs meaning site, situation | Associate it with situate.
You wonder where a certain building is situated. |
|
| The place where something is located | Egyptologists are familiar with the archaeological sites associated with Hatshepsut.
This is the construction site for the new stadium. |
||
| A website | Although established businesses have their physical sites, they should also build websites to have a presence on the Internet. | ||
| Site
(verb) |
To locate something in a specific place | They will site the new school near the river. | |
| Sight
(noun) |
The ability to see something with your eyes | She has good eyesight; she can see the smallest of objects on the dark floor without any light to help her. | Look at the middle letter in
sight – the g. In this font, if you cock your head to the left, you will see a pair of spectacles to help your eyesight. Consider the two silent letters in this word – the g and the h. You can’t hear them, but you can see them. |
| Something in view, physically or mentally | After so many days at sea, the sight of land was a relief to them.
We were so desperate for a solution to the problem that we lost sight of our initial objections to the plan. |
||
| Sight
(verb) |
To see an object | After drifting helplessly for so many days at sea, the captain wrote in his log, “Soon, we must sight land again.”
The marksman sighted his target. |
|
How to cite a website
Near the end of the item at the following link, you will find further useful links to three different styles for listing the works you have cited in your paper: MLA, APA, and Chicago Manual of Style:
https://www.englishessaywritingtips.com/2010/11/how-do-i-write-an-essay-part-two/
Look there for the information that you need to cite Web sources correctly.
Here are more links to help you with citing websites:
MLA
http://www.virtualsalt.com/mla.htm
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/
http://www.roanestate.edu/owl/MLA-Format4Websites.htm
APA
http://www.studygs.net/citation.htm
CMS
http://www.bibme.org/citation-guide/Chicago/website
—–
Your comments, observations, and questions are welcome. Are you struggling with homophones or any other aspect of grammar and correct usage? Ask here for clarification.
Here are more articles to help you with English words, grammar, and essay writing.
Copyright © 2011 by English Essay Writing Tips www.englishessaywritingtips.com
