How do I manage my online references?

Question

I am writing a non-fiction book. I am doing lot of research online for the same. Most of the material I have included is from youtube videos, blogs, some other websites but none of it is from scientifically published research papers.

I am wondering if I have to reference these sources in the references section as most of the material is in free domain like religious teachings, philosophy, and science.

For e.g. I have a section called religious studies, under which I have written teachings from Buddhism, Taoism, etc. Now I have learned these things on youtube but is it apt to reference a youtube video if the available knowledge on Buddhism is in the free domain.

Same with available information on science. If I am learning the things on Wikipedia and then writing or summarising or forming my own opinions should I reference Wikipedia even if the final result is not a copy-paste job?

Also, let me know how can I keep track of all the online references while I am doing the research?

Answer 1

You have to reference everything you refer to or paraphrase. Pick a referencing style, such as Chicago, look up how to do it. Usually you need the website url and the date accessed (pages change). Keep track of these in a table in a word processing document or a spreadsheet. Copy and paste the url and add the date.