Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The text of this page can be put on user or article talk pages by putting: {{subst:refstart}}
References (refs) on Wikipedia are important to validate writing and inform the reader. Any editor can remove unreferenced material; and unsubstantiated articles may end up getting deleted, so when something is added to an article, it's highly advisable to also include a reference to say from where it came. Referencing may look daunting, but it's easy enough to do. Here's a guide to getting started.
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Good references
A reference must be accurate, i.e. it must prove the statement in the text. To validate "Mike Brown climbed Everest", it's no good linking to a page about Everest, if Mike Brown isn't mentioned, nor to one on Mike Brown, if it doesn't say that he climbed Everest. You have to link to a source that proves his achievement is true. You must use reliable sources, such as published books, mainstream press, and authorised web sites. Blogs, MySpace, YouTube, fan sites and extreme minority texts are not usually acceptable, nor is original research (e.g. your own unpublished, or self-published, essay or research), or another wikipedia article.Inserting a reference
Wikipedia allows editors to use any citation system that allows the reader to understand from where the information came. Common choices include footnotes, parenthetical references, and inline URLs. This page will show you how to use the footnotes approach:
The first thing you do is to create a section where the footnotes will appear. It may already exist: look for a section that contains either {{reflist}}. This section goes towards the bottom of the page, below the "See also" section and above the "External links" section, and is usually titled "References". Enter this code:
==References==- {{Reflist}}
- ^ "LAist Interview: Matt Reeves Cloverfield Director"
- ^ Wolfson, Julie. "LAist Interview Matt Reeves Director of Cloverfield, LAist.com, January 09 2008. Retrived July 28 2010.
- ^ Julie Wolfson. LAist Interview: "Matt Reeves Director of Cloverfield", January 9 2008.
Test it out
Open the edit box for your user talk page (Ctrl+Click), copy the following text (inserting your own text where indicated), paste it at the bottom of the page, and save the page:==Reference test==- This is the text which you are going to verify with a reference.Reference details go here
- ==References==
- {{Reflist}}
When you save the page, you should see this on your screen:
- Reference test
- This is the text which you are going to verify with a reference.[1]
- References
- 1. ^Reference details go here
You can also use the Wikipedia:Sandbox for test edits like this.
Information to include
You need to include the information to enable the reader to find your source. For an online newspaper source, it might look like this: When uploaded, it appears as:Plunkett, John. "Sorrell accuses Murdoch of panic buying", The Guardian, London, 27 October 2005. Retrieved on 2005-10-27.
Note the single square brackets around the URL and the article title. The format is:
[http://URL "Title of article"]
Double square brackets around the name of the newspaper create an internal link (a wikilink) to the Wikipedia article (if any) about the newspaper - not really necessary for a well-known paper. Apostrophes (used to make bold or italic text) must go outside the brackets.
The date after The Guardian is the date the newspaper article was originally published -- this is required information -- and the date after "Retrieved on" is the date you accessed the website, which is not essential but can be useful for searching the web archive in case the link goes dead.
It is best to include the place of publication if it is not already part of the newspaper's name. This avoids possible confusion with other newspapers of the same name. In the example, there are other newspapers called The Guardian published in other cities of the world.
References not online
You can use sources which are not online, but which you have found in a library or elsewhere—in which case, leave out the information that is not relevant. The newspaper example above would be formatted like this: After you add this information and save your edit, it appears as:Plunkett, John. "Sorrell accuses Murdoch of panic buying", The Guardian, London, 27 October 2005.
Charmley, John (2006). The Princess and the Politicians, p. 60. Penguin Books, London. ISBN 0140289712.
Date format
These formats are acceptable for dates:- 27 January 2007
- January 27, 2007
Citation templates
Optionally, you may prefer to use a citation template to compile the details of the source. The template is placed between the ref tags, and you fill out the fields that you want to include.Basic citation templates can be found here: Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles/Citation quick reference.
Same reference used more than once
The first time a reference appears in the article, you can give it a simple name in the code: Subsequent times that you use the same reference in the article, you can use a shortcut instead of re-typing it: You can then use the shortcut as many times as you want. Don't forget the /, or it will blank the rest of the article. Some symbols don't work in the ref name, but you'll find out if you use them.You can see multiple use of the same references in action in the article William Bowyer (artist). There are three sources, and they are each referenced three times. Each statement in the article has a footnote to show its source.
