How do I reference a blog post… in the NLM style?

Whilst blog posts do not fall into the scholarly material category, they can be useful for providing personal insights into a particular area. For example, there may be a high-profile member of an industry who contributes to a blog discussing future trends. Remember to always check with your tutor before using content from a blog post in an assignment, as it may not be considered academic enough.  

If the blog content has been approved for use in your assignment, you will need to include the following in your reference:  

What information do you need in the reference? 

• Author – surname initials e.g. Franey R. 

• Title of blog, including medium in square brackets e.g. [blog on the Internet]. 

• Place of publication or Author’s city, and publisher name. 

• Date of publication of first post. 

• Title or content of post (up to the first 20 words). 

• Date posted and date cited in square brackets. 

• Available from (either a URL or DOI, if accessed online and available) 

Below are some examples for you to follow, which demonstrate how to form the reference from the above elements: 

Individual blog post 

For an individual blog post where the owner of the blog and the author are the same, create a reference for the whole blog and provide the individual post details after the date. 

Mewburn I. The Thesis Whisperer [blog on the Internet]. Canberra: Inger Mewburn. 2010 Jun – . How to write a more compelling sentence; 2021 Feb 3 [cited 2021 Jun 6]. Available from: https:// thesiswhisperer.com/2021/02/03/how-to-write-a-more-compelling-sentence/ 

Contribution to a blog

Use this reference format where there is an overall owner of a blog, but the individual posts are written by different authors or guest contributors.  

Start the reference with the author of the post followed by the title of the post. Follow with In: and the full details of the blog. 

Kara H. Epistemic Freedom, Creative Research Methods and Ethics. 2023 Nov 24 [cited 2024 Mar 14]. In: Kooh T, O’Donnell J. The Research Whisperer [blog on the Internet]. Uttoxeter: Kooh T, O’Donnell J. 2011 Jun – . Available from: https://researchwhisperer.org/2023/11/24/epistemic-freedom-creative-research-methods-and-ethics/ 

For all your referencing questions – please contact Cranfield Libraries. 

Please note: Cranfield supports two different referencing styles – APA7 (Author-date) and Numbered (NLM). Please make sure you use the style preferred by your supervisor or lecturer. 

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