Help:Citing sources

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Any edit made to the encyclopedia should cite the source where you found the information. This article will help explain the best way to do so.

Cut and paste templates, at the top for easy access - if you haven't read the rest of the help already, skip this part.

Book:
{{cite-book | title= | last=| first=| publisher= | city= | year= }}
Newspaper: 
{{cite-newspaper | title= | newspaper= | year= | month= | day= | pages= | last= | first= }}
Web: 
{{cite-web| url= | year= | month= | day= }}
SSDI: 
{{cite-ssdi | ssn=  }}
Scorecard: 
{{cite-scorecard | team= | month= | day= | year= }}
Baseball Card: 
{{cite-baseball-card | year= | team= | league= | maker= }}

Contents

References and Sources

If your edit affects one specific part of an article, it is best to list the resource you used as a reference. This will automatically footnote it, and will allow future encyclopedia readers to determine exactly where you got the information, and verify it if needed. This is usually the best way to do it[1]. A properly done reference looks like the one at the end of the last sentence.

If much of your article draws from one resource, you can list it as a source, at the bottom of the article, which will not link to a specific section. This is preferred for edits to biographic information (birthdates and places, death dates, etc). It is best to use specific references for facts elsewhere in the article.

When in doubt, go with references.

References

You add a reference by inserting some text next to the edit you made. The software takes care of creating a footnote and listing your reference at the bottom. Let's say you've made an edit to Joe Shlabotnik's article, to add a fact. This is how you would cite the source:

Shlabotnik was fired after one game as manager of the Waffletown Syrups<ref>Insert reference here</ref>.

Of course, you would fill in the reference properly, and the second half of this article (Formats for Different Sources) will show you how to do that. As an example, here is what it would look like if you cited a newspaper article:

Shlabotnik was fired after one game as manager of the Waffletown Syrups<ref>
{{cite-newspaper | title=Shlabotnik Fired After First Game | newspaper=Waffletown Brunch-Herald | month=04 | day=01 | year=1964}}
</ref>.

Using the same reference for multiple facts

If you use several facts from the same source, you can have the Encyclopedia show that reference once, with links to each fact. This is done like this, the first time you use a reference:

<ref name="reference_name">((Citation information))</ref>

The name can be anything you pick, but will ideally be related to the source. It doesn't matter as long as it's the same. Future references can be noted like this:

<ref name="reference_name" />

Take note of the forward slash (/) at the end of the second example. Here is an example of this technique in practice:

* Student Career:  All-conference in baseball in 
high school<ref name="69twins">{{cite-book | 
title=1969 Minnesota Twins Organizational Record Book}}</ref>.

* Amateur Career:  American Legion 1957-1964; semi-pro, 1963-1965<ref name="69twins" />.

* Signed into the Minnesota Twins Organization by Angelo Guiliani<ref name="69twins" />.

You can see the output that this creates on Marv Danielson's page (it's impractical to include it inside this page, because it creates a "References" section at the bottom of the page).

Sources

To add a source, just find the section at the end of the article labled "Sources" and add your source, like this:

* Source information

For example, to use the same reference as above:

* {{cite-newspaper | title=Shlabotnik Fired After First Game | newspaper=Waffletown Brunch-Herald | month=04 | day=01 | year=1964}}

However, you should usually do a bit more: if you are citing a resource in the "Sources" section, it is a very good idea to indicate what you found there. Since there is no direct footnote, this is the only way to know which facts came from where. In some cases (obituaries), this will be obvious, Otherwise, please make note of it. For example:

* Batting and throwing hands mentioned in {{cite-newspaper | title=Local boys drub Nowheresville | newspaper=Herestown Intelligencer | month=04 | day=01 | year=1915}}

Which would yield the following reference:

  • Batting and throwing hands mentioned in "Local boys drub Nowheresville". Herestown Intelligencer, 1915-04-01.

Formats for Different Sources

Below are the ways to reference the most common resources. For each format you need to supply a few pieces of information about your source, and it will get automatically be turned into the standard form. All of the templates follow the same basic form.

Date formatting

Dates are displayed in the International standard format. This means all four digits of the year, and two digits for the month and the day. The software will take care of making the month and the day two digits, but be sure to use the full year.

Newspaper Articles

This is the same citation as above, but this time in more detail:

{{cite-newspaper | title=Shlabotnik Fired After First Game | newspaper=Waffletown Brunch-Herald | year=1964 | month=4 | day=1 }}

This would create a reference that looks just like what you'll see if you click on the footnote at the end of this sentence[2]. So for a newspaper, you need to set:

  • title: The title of the article. (For obituaries with no title, use title=Obituary.)
  • newspaper: The name of the newspaper the article appeared in.
  • month: The month the article appeared (an integer from 1 to 12).
  • day: The day the article appeared (an integer from 1 to 31).
  • year: The year the article appeared (four digits).

And you can optionally set:

  • pages: The page number(s) of the article.
  • last: The last name of the author, if the article is bylined.
  • first: The first name of the author, if the article is bylined.

The order doesn't matter.

Books

The book template is still a work in progress, but it does have all of the fields you need to enter information:

{{cite-book | title=On managing | last=Shlabotnik | first=Joe | publisher=Red Baron Press | city=New York | year=1962 }}

This creates this citation:

  • Shlabotnik, Joe. On managing. New York: Red Baron Press, 1962.

The fields are:

  • title: The title of the book.
  • first: The first name of the primary author of the book.
  • last: The last name of the primary author of the book.
  • authors: If there are multiple authors, the additional authors of the book, listed in natural order, separated by commas:
authors=John Smith, Jane Wilson, Rogers Hornsby
  • publisher: The publisher of the book.
  • city: The city in which the publisher of the book is located (follow standard MLA guidelines).
  • year: The year of initial publication.

If you leave out some pieces of information and include others, it may look a bit off right now (random punctuation in the wrong place). The template will be updated eventually to deal with this situation, but for now please do enter whatever information you have, and don't worry about the appearance.

Web sites

This template is for citing resources on the World Wide Web. It currently accepts the following parameters:

  • url: The URL of the article or other resource. Note that "http://" should always be included; it is part of the URL.
  • month: The month in which the URL was accessed (an integer from 1 to 12).
  • day: The day of month on which the URL was accessed (an integer from 1 to 31).
  • year: The year in which the URL was accessed (four digits).
  • title: The link text to use. Optional - if linktext is omitted, URL will display.

This will create a reference that looks like the first footnote in this article, which had this code:

{{cite-web| url=http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/ | year=2009 | month=5 | day=7}}

Social Security Death Index

This template is for citing an entry in the Social Security Death Index. It currently recognizes the following parameters:

  • ssn: The Social Security Number of the entry. It is encouraged to note an SSN when possible, so it is possible to re-locate the entry in the event there is some uncertainty whether the entry belongs to the person who is the subject of the article.

Scorecards

This template is for citing scorecards, scorecard inserts, and the like. In use, it looks like this:

{{cite-scorecard | team= | month= | day= | year=}}

It accepts the following parameters:

  • team: The team issuing the scorecard. If it wasn't an official team card, note the actual source/publisher in parentheses.
  • month: The month in which the game was played (an integer from 1 to 12, or ?).
  • day: The day of month on which the game was played (an integer from 1 to 31, or ?).
  • year: The year in which the game was played (four digits).

Baseball cards

This template is for citing information from a baseball card. In use, it looks like this:

{{cite-baseball-card | year= | team= | league= | maker=}}

It currently accepts these parameters:

  • year: The year the card was issued.
  • team: The team the person played for. This is an optional field.
  • league: The league the person played in. If it's a team card, please don't include League; if it's a league card, please do include that information.
  • maker: The manufacturer and/or sponsor of the card. This is an optional field.

Footnotes

  1. http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/, retrieved on 2009-05-07.
  2. "Shlabotnik Fired After First Game". Waffletown Brunch-Herald, 1964-04-01.
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