Columbia Online Style Documentation

The COS style is an expanded version of Janice Walker’s Walker/ACW style sheet (1994), and is endorsed by the Alliance for Computers and Writing. COS addresses some of the trickier issues in online documentation by establishing clear guidelines for online citation style.

Citing Your Sources:

Parenthetical (In-Text) Citations

Parenthetical references to print publications usually include the author's last name and the page number of the reference (MLA) or the author's last name, the date of publication, and the page number of the reference (APA, CBE). However, for many electronic sources, some or all of these elements may be missing. Parenthetical references to electronic sources therefore include only an author's last name or, if no author's name is available, the file name. For scientific styles, use the date of publication or the date of access if no publication date is available.

For files without a determinable author, editor, or organization, include the file name in parentheses (i.e., writing.html). For scientific styles with no designation of publication date, include the date of access instead, in day-month-year format (i.e., 31 July 2000).

If they are included in the electronic text, list navigational aids such as page, section, or paragraph numbers at the conclusion of the citation, separated by commas. For most electronic sources, however, navigational aids will not be included.

Preparing a Works Cited General Format

As a general rule, the second and subsequent lines of a COS or MLA citation are indented five spaces under the first line.

Author's Last name, Author's First name. "Title of Document."

Title of Complete Work (if applicable). Version

or File Number, if applicable. Document date or date

of last revision (if different from access date).

Protocol and address, access path or directories

(date of access).

For a basic introduction to COS, visit the Columbia Online Style Homepage.