Cite a born-digital text that later appeared in print the same way you would cite any other republished work. Remember that you should always cite the version of the text you consulted. If you cite the later, print version of a born-digital text, you may choose to give original publication details in your works-cited-list entry. As with other republished works, you have more than one option for listing original publication details.

The first option is to include the original publication date in the middle supplemental element. The following example shows a works-cited-list entry for an article originally published on the satirical news website The Onion that later appeared in a print publication. In the below example, the original publication date is indicated in the middle supplemental element.

“Four or Five Guys Pretty Much Carry Whole Renaissance.” 2009. The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric, by Renée H. Shea et al., 2nd ed., Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2013, pp. 875–76.

You can also provide original publication information in the final supplemental element, as in the following example:

“Four or Five Guys Pretty Much Carry Whole Renaissance.” The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric, by Renée H. Shea et al., 2nd ed., Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2013, pp. 875–76. Originally published in The Onion, 2009.

A third option is to note the original publication details in the text of your essay. In this case, providing supplemental information in the works-cited-list entry is optional.

An article originally published in The Onion describes the Renaissance, in the site’s typical tongue-in-cheek fashion, as “an unprecedented resurgence in learning and the arts, which four or five guys pretty much just strapped onto their backs and carried the whole way” (“Four or Five Guys” 875). 

Work Cited

“Four or Five Guys Pretty Much Carry Whole Renaissance.” The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric, by Renée H. Shea et al., 2nd ed., Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2013, pp. 875–76.