Just when you thought that you had the basic styles of scholarly writing internalized, along comes the Internet and a plethora of "online" sources to throw everything into disarray. How do you write a citation for a text that has no page numbers or other traditional demarcations? How do you do it in the styles of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Council of Biology Editors (CBE), the Modern Language Association (MLA) or The Chicago Manual of Style? If you've been losing sleep over these types of questions, rest easy. There is now a quick, readily accessible reference guide to using Internet sources.

"So that's how you do it" was our immediate reaction while reading Online! A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sources. The authors have provided a very reader-friendly resource guide for the new conventions associated with online sources. The authors also have set up a Web page for additional information.

The purpose and goal of the text "is to be a useful writer's companion to the Internet, one that offers the help students and teachers have been asking for...." This readable and well-written resource contains ten chapters organized around five key goals: (1) help for evaluating and accessing Internet sources; (2) models for citing and documenting Internet sources in APA, CBE, MLA, and Chicago styles; (3) tips for communicating and publishing on the Internet; (4) advice on designing a homepage; and (5) a directory of Internet sources in the major academic disciplines.

The first three chapters provide basic information about "Finding Internet Sources" (Chapter 1), "Connecting to the Internet by Direct Access" (Chapter 2), and "Connecting to the Internet by Indirect Access" (Chapter 3). Within these chapters the authors provide clear definitions of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW), URLs, and existing search tools. They also introduce issues associated with listservs, e-mail, newsgroups, and chat rooms (i.e., synchronous communication). Chapter 4, "Choosing and Evaluating Internet Sources, " addresses specific issues associated with WWW searches including identifying possible sources, gathering the information, and evaluating the reliability of an Internet source.

Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 address issues specific to certain styles of documentation, namely, APA, CBE, MLA, and Chicago styles. These chapters provide excellent examples and a range of citations from WWW sites to newsgroups and synchronous communication. The chapters are done in a parallel format making for ready comparisons and differentiations among the various styles.

Chapter 9, "Using Images and Graphics, " addresses issues associated with the graphic dimensions of the WWW. This chapter provides instructions for downloading and printing graphics, as well as information associated with requesting permission to use images and graphics.

Chapter 10, "Publishing Texts on the Internet, " provides a brief introduction to composing and designing Web pages, including an introduction to HTML programming (provides links to other sites that address HTML and other programming languages) and hypertext. One nice short section at the end of Chapter 10 addresses "netiquette." Drawing from Arlene Rinaldi's "The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette" on the Internet, the authors present a list of 13 do's and don'ts that everyone should be aware of (from e-mail to the use of humor) prior to engaging in electronic activities.

The Appendix contains a directory of Internet sources organized by subject area. This directory is far from complete, but it does give readers a place to start with basic searches and questions. The text also contains a glossary of acronyms and key terms that are peppered across the Internet. Again, this glossary is far from comprehensive, but it does hit the big items and the ones that are confusing to new Internet users.

In short, Online! A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sourcesis a very useful source for anyone using the Internet for research and publication. This book should sit beside your style manual on the reference shelf.

Owen McGrath is the director of the Humanities Group in the Instructional Technology Program at the University of California, Berkeley, and is a graduate student in the School of Education at Berkeley.