How to Cite a Netflix Documentary? Everything You Should Know
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Academic research may lead you to various sources of evidence, which are not typically limited by books and academic journals. Many topics require the analysis of non-text materials, like visuals or videos.
From time to time, you may come across the need to cite a Netflix episode, as the company has created many high-quality documentary materials on a variety of topics. Thus, the issue of proper citation may emerge at any point during the completion of your home task. Here, we cover all the fundamentals of how to cite a documentary from Netflix so that it looks consistent with your referencing style.
How to Cite a Netflix Show? Data to Include
The general format of citing any video material, including a Netflix episode, is to mention:
- The material’s authors – in the case of a video, these are producers and directors.
- The name of the Netflix show.
- The source where the material is stored (Netflix repository, YouTube, etc.).
- The year of release.
- The name of the producing studio (in our case, it’s Netflix).
- The URL of the video.
So, how do you cite a Netflix documentary in APA, MLA, Harvard, and other popular referencing styles? Here is a detailed guide to organizing your citations correctly.
How to Cite a Netflix Documentary in MLA?
Thinking of how to cite Netflix documentary materials properly when writing in the MLA citation format? Here is the general standard for citing movies:
- The director’s full name.
- Title of the Netflix episode (italicized).
- The publishing studio.
- Year of release.
- URL
This way, your citation of a Netflix show would look as follows on paper:
Dinklage, Peter, producer. How to Become a Tyrant, 2021. Netflix, https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80989772
How to Cite a Netflix Documentary in APA?
Those looking for guidance on how to cite a Netflix show in APA should use the following algorithm for shaping their references:
- First comes the producer’s last name with initials.
- Then, you should indicate the year of production.
- Then comes the title of your cited Netflix documentary (italicized).
- After that, you should indicate the production studio and give the URL of the cited material.
When you follow this structure of citing the source, your APA reference of a Netflix documentary should look as follows:
Dinklage, P. (Producer) (2021). How to become a tyrant. [Video file] Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80989772.
How to Cite a Netflix Documentary in Chicago?
Chicago is also a popular citation style you may be required to use when referencing your Netflix documentary materials. Mastering it may be a bit hard because it allows both parenthetical in-text citations and the usage of footnotes, each with its own rules. So, let’s start with a footnote citation approach. When you cite a Netflix documentary, you should first indicate its full title as follows:
- The name of the film (italicized).
- The name of the director.
- Year of release.
- Production company.
- Time stamp.
- URL
Our citation would look as follows:
How to Become a Tyrant, directed by Peter Dinklage (Los Gatos: Netflix, 2021), https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80989772.
Next time you cite the film in the footnotes, you will only need to use its name and timestamp, e.g.:
How to Become a Tyrant, 1:25.
The director’s name and the film’s name exchange places in the bibliography, and the citation will look as follows:
Dinklage, Peter. How to Become a Tyrant. Los Gatos: Netflix, 2021. https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80989772.
The same format will be used to reference the film in the bibliography if you’re using a regular citation style of parenthetical in-text citations.
How to Cite a Netflix Documentary in Harvard?
If you’re composing your academic work following the Harvard citation style, it’s natural to be thinking of how to cite a Netflix movie in this format. First, we should note that there are tons of Harvard referencing variants, like Anglia Ruskin Harvard or Lincoln Harvard, each with tiny formatting variations. Here, we use the example of Anglia Ruskin to illustrate the citation of a Netflix documentary.
The structure of your Netflix documentary quote should be as follows:
- The full name of the movie (italicized).
- The year of its publication.
- The director of your cited Netflix documentary.
- The country in which the movie was produced.
- The name of the film studio.
Once you organize it using the provided algorithm, the full quote of your Netflix documentary used in research will look as follows:
How to become a tyrant. 2021. [film] Directed by Peter Dinklage. USA: Netflix.
Final Word
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