Access Date
The date you actually read an online source, recorded because online sources change.
An access date (or retrieval date) records when you consulted a source that could change or disappear. It is written into the citation as 'accessed 14 March 2026' in Chicago, 'Accessed 14 Mar. 2026' in MLA, or as 'Retrieved March 14, 2026, from...' in APA.
Style guides no longer require it everywhere. Chicago and MLA ask for an access date mainly when the source carries no publication or revision date; APA restricts retrieval dates to genuinely unstable pages, such as a wiki article or a live statistics dashboard, and omits them for stable archived documents with a DOI.
The underlying judgement is about volatility. If the page you quoted could say something different next month, your reader needs to know which version you saw. Best practice for quotations from unstable pages is to pair the access date with an archived snapshot, so the version you read remains inspectable.
Common mistake: adding an access date to every entry mechanically, including books and DOI-bearing journal articles. It clutters the reference list and signals that the citation was generated rather than considered.
“"Quotation," Oxford English Dictionary Online, accessed 14 March 2026.”
Keep reading the glossary
A permanent digital identifier that points to a work no matter where it moves online.
A formal reference that lets a reader locate the source of a quote.
The list of works cited or consulted, printed at the end of a book, chapter, or article.
A citation for information obtained privately — letter, email, interview — that a reader cannot retrieve.