How should I reference new technology, such as wikis, blogs, chats, and podcasts? Is it appropriate to use these new forms of publication?
The APA manual cautions against citing electronic sources that (a) are not peer reviewed, (b) do not have scholarly content, and (c) are not archived (see p. 277). However, if your dissertation involves technology that is so new that such sources are the only ones available, you could include them as personal communications (see p. 214), which are cited in text but not included in the reference list. If your electronic source (blog, podcast, or vodcast) has been developed by a reputable scholar, contains scholarly content, and is archived so that it will be available for others to reference, you may include it as a reference; however, be prepared to defend its use to your committee. Note that Wikis are not currently accepted because of the lack of control over the content. New provisions for denoting reviewed and authenticated wiki content may lead to the lifting of this ban for content that has been authenticated.
