What is the correct way to format an author's name in an APA citation when only a username is known? [closed]
I am trying to cite the image at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shoe-parts-en.svg. However, how would I cite the autors/contributors, since I don't know their actual name. Do I just cite their username?
Possible complications:
- Some online services allow users to change their username.
- Some services change the capitalization of usernames depending on the context.
- Some services allow special characters to be included in usernames, which may include formatting marks (of the sort used to delimit the author's name from the rest of the citation).
- Usernames are not necessarily consistent across different online services.
NOTE: I actually just found the page on wikipedia dealing with this, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_Wikipedia — it says to not cite any authors. (So it doesn't actually answer the question I stated above, it just solves my situation)
Solution 1:
In the 6th edition of APA the use of usernames is allowed for when referencing an online forum or discussion board (see Referencing online material in APA). The format given is: author or username, date of publication, title / subject line, [Online forum comment / Web log message], URL address.
Tangerine. (2007, January 16). This is a classic case of Ask Culture meets Guess Culture [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from http://ask.metafilter.com/55153/Whats-the-middle-ground-between-FU-and-Welcome#830421
(note: I don't know how to do hanging indent, but that's meant to be used as well)
While this doesn't specifically address your image citation question, I would think the same guidelines would apply.