Online writing has no marker and no style manual, but readers still ask the question a marker would: where did that come from? To cite sources in a blog post, a newsletter or a video, name who said it in your own sentence, link to the original, and credit every image, quotation and clip where it appears.
This guide is published by EdCitation, whose tools look a reference up in the publisher's record and never write one. We read newsroom codes, platform help pages, Creative Commons' guidance and the US and UK copyright pages on 27 September 2026. We ran EdCitation's free Cite a source on a real study and a real web page, and Verify references on a short list, and quote what came back.
How do you cite sources in a blog post?
Cite a source in a blog post by naming the author or organisation in the sentence and linking the words that make the claim to the page where the claim was first published. A reader should know who is speaking before clicking, and the click should land on the evidence itself.
The newsrooms that publish online most say the same. The Guardian's code tells its journalists never to reproduce other people's material without attribution, and to acknowledge material obtained from another organisation, including quotations taken from other newspapers and from social media (Guardian News & Media, 2023). The BBC's guidance on links names "key source material" as one reason to link out, and asks that a producer check a site's contents before linking to it (BBC, n.d.).
Our example of a good in-text link
This example is ours. A weak version reads: "Studies show fake news spreads faster [link to a news report]." A strong version reads:
Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Roy and Sinan Aral traced rumours on Twitter from 2006 to 2017 and found that false news reached more people than true news did (Vosoughi et al., 2018, in Science).
The authors are named, the claim is exactly as wide as the study, the link text says where it goes, and the link is the paper's DOI (Vosoughi et al., 2018). "Click here" and a bare "source" tell the reader nothing before they click.
Name the person, not only the link
A link can break, and many readers never click. The Guardian asks its journalists to say how far they could verify a claim, as in "unable to independently verify", and not to state as fact what a source they cannot authenticate told them (Guardian News & Media, 2023). On a blog, that means "a user who says they were there", not "a witness", when all you have is a post.
Why link to the original study and not a news story about it?
Link to the study because a news story is a report of the study, and every retelling can lose a limit the authors set. The Science Media Centre's (2012) guidelines for science reporting open by asking reporters to state the source of a story, ideally with enough detail for readers to look it up or a web link, then to give the size and kind of study and to say whether a link between two things is cause or only association.
Link the study by its DOI, written in full as a web address. Crossref (2017) asks that a DOI be shown as a link in the form https://doi.org/ followed by the DOI, not with "doi:" in front, because the DOI is both an identifier and a link that keeps working when a journal moves its website. For what a DOI is and why it lasts, see what is a DOI.
How to find the study behind a headline
- Read the news story for the journal's name, the lead author and the month.
- Search for the title or the claim in EdCitation's free Find sources, which searches about 300 million published works by topic or by the claim a sentence needs to support.
- Open the paper and check that it says what the headline says. The press release is often where a claim grew; our guide to writing a research press release has the evidence.
- Copy the DOI and paste it into Cite a source for the reference.
- If the paper is behind a paywall, still link the DOI: readers reach the publisher's page, and you are pointing at the record, not at a copy.
How do you credit images and quotations online?
Credit an image or a quotation right beside it: a caption under the picture, the speaker's name in the sentence around the words. The BBC puts it as a rule for third-party content on its pages: attribution goes as close as possible to the content, and an embedded video should make clear it comes from another site (BBC, n.d.).
TASL: the Creative Commons formula
For an image under a Creative Commons licence, Creative Commons (2024) asks for four things, which it calls TASL: the title, the author, the source (where the work can be found, usually a link) and the licence, named and linked. Its model credit for a photograph, with each part linked, reads:
"Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco" by Timothy Vollmer is licensed under CC BY 4.0
It adds three rules worth remembering. "Photo: Creative Commons" is wrong, because the organisation is not the photographer. If you crop or change the image, say so, as in "cropped from original". If the author asks to be credited in a particular way, or under a pseudonym, do what they ask. There is no single correct layout: the guidance asks for a credit that is reasonable for the medium.
Stock libraries set their own terms. Unsplash's licence needs no permission and no credit, though it says attribution is appreciated (Unsplash, n.d.). Medium's help page shows how to insert an Unsplash image and how to type a caption beneath any image, which is where a credit belongs (Medium, n.d.; read through an archived copy of 22 September 2026, because the live page answered with a bot check).
A credit is not permission
A credit tells readers where something came from; it does not give you the right to reuse it. Instagram (n.d.) lists what does not stop a post from infringing copyright, including giving credit to the owner, adding a disclaimer, finding the content on the internet and seeing others post it. YouTube says the same of a video: credit alone does not make a copy fair use, and the words "no infringement intended" protect nothing (Google, n.d.-a). Substack (2020) advises getting permission, in writing if possible, before republishing an article from another site, while noting that linking to lawful, publicly posted material is generally fine.
When is quoting or reusing fair use or fair dealing?
This section is general information, not legal advice. In the United States, fair use is decided case by case on four factors: the purpose of the use (commercial or not, and whether it transforms the work into something new), the nature of the work, how much of it is used and how central that part is, and the effect on the market for the original. The U.S. Copyright Office (n.d.) says no percentage or number of words is safe, and lists criticism, comment and news reporting among the uses that may qualify.
The UK has no general fair use, only specific exceptions. The Intellectual Property Office (2021) allows fair dealing for criticism, review or quotation of any kind of work, and for reporting current events with any work except a photograph, in each case with a sufficient acknowledgement, which may be left out only where it is impossible in practice.
So a UK blog quoting two sentences from a report in order to criticise them is on firmer ground than one reposting a news agency's photograph to illustrate the same story. For what book publishers set as working limits on quotations, see citing sources in a non-fiction book.
How do you credit sources on YouTube and in a podcast?
Credit sources on YouTube in two places: in the video, on screen or aloud, and in the description, with links. YouTube's page on licences asks anyone reusing Creative Commons material for the title, author, source address and licence in both, by text overlay or voiceover (Google, n.d.-b). Creative Commons (2024) asks the same for background music in a podcast or video, and notes that music set under your voice counts as an adaptation, which a NoDerivatives licence forbids.
Aloud, who, what and where is enough: "a 2018 study in Science by Vosoughi, Roy and Aral". To cite someone else's video or podcast in your own work, see how to cite a podcast or video transcript.
Our example of a video description credit
This example is ours, for a video that discusses the study above and shows the Creative Commons photograph at 2:14:
Sources
0:45 Study: Vosoughi, Roy and Aral (2018), "The spread of true and false news online", Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9559
2:14 Photo: "Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco" by Timothy Vollmer, cropped, CC BY 4.0. https://www.flickr.com/photos/sixteenmilesofstring/8256206923
A description takes no italics, so the journal is plain, and the time stamps show where each source is used.
How do you cite in a newsletter?
Cite in a newsletter with links in the text, and add footnotes or a short sources list at the end when a claim needs a full reference. Substack's editor offers footnotes, which appear at the foot of the post, and block quotes, which mark an excerpt clearly as someone else's words (Substack, 2018).
Check before you press send. A Substack post can be emailed only once, and later edits reach the web copy, not the inboxes (Substack, 2018): a wrong link or a retracted study stays in every email already delivered.
Our example of a newsletter footnote
This example is ours. In the text:
Between 2006 and 2017, false news on Twitter reached more people than true news.¹
At the foot of the newsletter:
¹ Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 359(6380), 1146–1151. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9559
The footnote is the APA 7 reference exactly as EdCitation's Cite a source built it from the DOI.
How do you cite sources in a social media post?
Cite sources in a social media post by naming the source in the post and giving its link, or the full title if links are cut. The Guardian treats quotations taken from social media like any other material it credits (Guardian News & Media, 2023). Before reposting anyone's picture or clip, remember Instagram's list: a tag or a credit does not make the repost lawful, and written permission is the safe route (Instagram, n.d.).
How does each platform ask you to credit a source?
Each puts the credit in its own place, always where the reader meets the material.
| Platform or medium | How to credit a source | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Blog post or article | Name the author in the sentence; link the claim's words to the original | BBC (n.d.); Guardian News & Media (2023) |
| A study in any post | Link the paper's DOI as https://doi.org/…, not a news story | Crossref (2017); Science Media Centre (2012) |
| Image under Creative Commons | Title, author, source and licence, beside the image; note any changes | Creative Commons (2024) |
| Medium | A caption typed beneath the image | Medium (n.d.) |
| Unsplash photograph | Credit not required, but appreciated | Unsplash (n.d.) |
| YouTube video | Title, author, address and licence in the video and the description | Google (n.d.-b) |
| Podcast or video music | Credit said in the recording and written in the description | Creative Commons (2024) |
| Substack newsletter | Footnotes and block quotes; check before sending | Substack (2018) |
| Instagram or Threads | A credit is not permission; ask the owner first | Instagram (n.d.) |
| A full reference for any of these | Built from a DOI, ISBN or web address | Cite a source, our run below |
When does an academic-style reference list help online?
A full reference list helps when readers may want to check your evidence: a health or science explainer, a long read built on research, or anything written for teachers or students. When a link breaks, a reference with the author, year, title, journal and DOI still leads to the work.
Pick one style and keep it; our guide to choosing a citation style compares them. A casual post about a single article needs only the link.
What does EdCitation do for a blog, newsletter or video?
EdCitation is the best free tool for the references behind online writing, because it looks each one up in the publisher's record and never writes one: the details come from the record, not from a guess. Every sentence of your post, script or newsletter stays yours; EdCitation's part is the reference.
What Cite a source returned
Cite a source builds a reference from a DOI, a title, a PubMed ID, an ISBN or a web address, in APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver, and screens the source for retraction. It is free, with no account. From the DOI 10.1126/science.aap9559, it read the Crossref record and returned, in APA 7:
Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 359(6380), 1146–1151. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9559
From the web address of the UK Intellectual Property Office's page on exceptions to copyright, it read the page itself and returned:
Intellectual Property Office. (2021, January 4). Exceptions to copyright. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptions-to-copyright
The date is the page's "last updated" date, and the organisation is the author, as APA asks. A web page has no publisher's record, so its details can be corrected in the form before the entry is built.
What Verify references returned
Verify references checks that each source exists and has not been retracted. We pasted three references: the Science paper, the IPO page, and Andrew Wakefield and colleagues' 1998 paper in The Lancet. The first two came back verified. The Lancet paper was found and marked retracted, with a retraction notice of 2010 in its record and the reason "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches. This paper has since been retracted." Verify references is free; with Pro, at $8 a month, References from a file checks every reference in an uploaded document. For a paper already in your list, see retracted papers in your reference list.
Quick questions
How do I cite a study in a blog post?
Name the authors in your sentence and link the paper's DOI, written as https://doi.org/ and the DOI, rather than a news story about it. EdCitation's Cite a source builds a full reference from the DOI if you want a sources list.
How do I credit an image I found online?
Give its title, author, source and licence beside it, as Creative Commons' TASL asks. If the image carries no licence, a credit alone does not make using it lawful: ask the owner.
Do I need to credit sources in a YouTube video?
Yes. Credit them in the video, on screen or aloud, and with links in the description, which is what YouTube's own licence page suggests for reused Creative Commons material.
Does giving credit mean I can repost someone's content?
No. Instagram and YouTube both say that crediting the owner does not by itself make a repost lawful or fair use; get permission, in writing if you can.
Should a newsletter have a reference list?
One built on research is easier to trust with footnotes or a short sources list. Check every link before sending: an email cannot be corrected once it has gone.
References
- BBC. (n.d.). Guidance: Links and feeds. BBC Editorial Guidelines. https://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidance/links-and-feeds
- Creative Commons. (2024, December 4). Recommended practices for attribution. Creative Commons Wiki. https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Recommended_practices_for_attribution
- Crossref. (2017). Crossref display guidelines. https://www.crossref.org/display-guidelines/
- Google. (n.d.-a). Fair use on YouTube. YouTube Help. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9783148
- Google. (n.d.-b). License types on YouTube. YouTube Help. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2797468
- Guardian News & Media. (2023). Editorial code of practice and guidance. https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2023/07/27/GNM_editorial_code_of_practice_and_guidance_2023.pdf
- Instagram. (n.d.). How to make sure content you post to Instagram or Threads doesn't violate copyright law. Instagram Help Center. https://help.instagram.com/354736791367645/
- Intellectual Property Office. (2021, January 4). Exceptions to copyright. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptions-to-copyright
- Medium. (n.d.). Using images. Medium Help Center. https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/215679797-Using-images
- Science Media Centre. (2012). 10 best practice guidelines for reporting science & health stories. https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/10-best-practice-guidelines-for-science-and-health-reporting.pdf
- Substack. (2018, April 26). How to use the Substack editor. On Substack. https://on.substack.com/p/how-to-use-the-substack-editor
- Substack. (2020, February 20). Your legal questions, answered. On Substack. https://on.substack.com/p/your-legal-questions-answered
- Unsplash. (n.d.). License. https://unsplash.com/license
- U.S. Copyright Office. (n.d.). U.S. Copyright Office fair use index. https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/
- Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 359(6380), 1146–1151. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9559