Putting date before URL in misc citation? And spacing between arguments of citation

Question

@misc{Bamboo:Density,
title = {Engineering Toolbox},
author = {``Wood Densities''},
month = {November 12,},
year = {2012},
howpublished = {\url{http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wood-density-d_40.html}}
}

@misc{Bamboo:Properties,
title = {Luit Nirman},
author = {``Bamboo Structural Material''},
month = {November 2,},
year = {2012},
howpublished = {\url{http://www.assambambooworld.com/bamboo-structural-    material.htm}}
}

then

\documentclass[12pt]{report}

\usepackage{url}

\bibliographystyle{plain}

\begin{document}

\Chapter{Bamboo}
Bamboo \cite{Bamboo:Density}\cite{Bamboo:Properties}

\end{document}

The output is generally the way I want it except the date appears after the URL instead of before it. I'm trying to stick to APA standards here but the apacite package is a no go. I'm only having trouble with these two sites since they're not really scholarly sources.

and is there any way to stop it from trying to make each reference justified across the whole page? I'd rather the spaces not be inserted and it just cuts off the url to the next line when it no longer fits

Answer 1

You can use the plainurl bibliography style and use the url field, as follows:

\documentclass[12pt]{report}

\usepackage{url}

\bibliographystyle{plainurl}

\begin{document}

\chapter{Bamboo}
Bamboo \cite{Bamboo:Density}\cite{Bamboo:Properties}

\bibliography{t}
\end{document}

with bibliography file t.bib:

@misc{Bamboo:Density,
title = {Engineering Toolbox},
author = {``Wood Densities''},
month = {November 12,},
year = {2012},
url = {http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wood-density-d_40.html},
}

@Misc{Bamboo:Properties,
  title =    {Luit Nirman},
  author =   {``Bamboo Structural Material''},
  month =    {November 2,},
  year =     2012,
  url =  {http://www.assambambooworld.com/bamboo-structural-material.htm},
}

More general changes to the bibliography formatting can be obtained using the custom-bib package. In that way you could avoid abusing the standard fields of bibtex.

If you still get bad spacing in your bibliography, then you can typeset it ragged right. This is best done as follows:

\documentclass[12pt]{report}

\usepackage{url,ragged2e}

\bibliographystyle{plainurl}

\begin{document}

\chapter{Bamboo}
Bamboo \cite{Bamboo:Density}\cite{Bamboo:Properties}

{\RaggedRight
\bibliography{t}}

\end{document}

i.e. loading the ragged2e and using the \RaggedRight command appropriately bracket so that it only applies to the bibliography. \RaggedRight produces less ragged text than LaTeX's standard \raggedright command.