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.

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>.

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

The asterisk at the beginning puts in list format, and you can format the source information using the formats below.

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.

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=04 | day=01 }}

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 not finished yet.

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=05 | day=07}}

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.

Easy cut and paste templates

Newspaper

{{cite-newspaper | title= | newspaper= | year= | month= | day= | pages= | last= | first= }}

===

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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