Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners

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WP:REFB

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 where it came from. Referencing may look daunting, but it's easy enough to do. Here's a guide to getting started.

Contents

[edit] 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YouTube, fan sites and extreme minority texts are not usually acceptable, nor is original research (e.g. your own unpublished, or self-published, essay or research), or another wikipedia article.

[edit] Inserting a reference

The first thing you have to do is to create a "Notes and references" section (unless it already exists). This goes towards the bottom of the page, below the "See also" section and above the "External links" section. Enter this code:

==Notes and references==
{{reflist}}

The next step is to put a reference in the text. Here is the code to do that. It goes at the end of the relevant term, phrase, sentence, or paragraph to which the note refers, and after punctuation such as a full stop (period), without a space (to prevent separation through line wrap):

<ref>             </ref>

Whatever text you put in between these two tags will become visible in the "Notes and references" section as your reference.

[edit] Test it out

Open the edit box for your user talk (discussion) page, 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.<ref>Reference details go here</ref>
==Notes and references==
{{reflist}}

(End of text to copy and paste.)

It should appear like this:

Reference test
This is the text which you are going to verify with a reference.[1]
Notes and references
  1. ^ Reference details go here

[edit] 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:

<ref>Plunkett, John. [http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1601858,00.html "Sorrell accuses Murdoch of panic buying"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[2005-10-27]]. Retrieved on [[2005-10-27]].</ref>

When uploaded, it appears as:

Plunkett, John. "Sorrell accuses Murdoch of panic buying", The Guardian, 2005-10-27. 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"]

Make sure there is a space between the URL and the Title. This code results in the URL being hidden and the title showing as a link. Use double apostrophes for the article title (it is quoted text), and two single quote marks either side of the name of the paper (to generate italics). Double square brackets round the name of the paper create an internal link (a wikilink) to the relevant wikipedia article. Apostrophes must go outside the brackets.

The date after The Guardian is the date of the newspaper, and the date after "Retrieved on" is the date you accessed the site – useful for searching the web archive in case the link goes dead. Dates are wikilinked so that they work with user preference settings to display the date in the format the user wishes.

[edit] 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 which is not relevant. The newspaper example above would be formatted like this:

<ref>Plunkett, John. "Sorrell accuses Murdoch of panic buying", ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[2005-10-27]].</ref>

When uploaded, it appears as:

Plunkett, John. "Sorrell accuses Murdoch of panic buying", The Guardian, 2005-10-27.

Here is an example for a book:

<ref>Charmley, John (2006). ''The Princess and the Politicians'', p.60. Penguin Books Ltd., London. ISBN 0140289712.</ref>

When uploaded, it appears as:

Charmley, John (2006). The Princess and the Politicians. Penguin Books Ltd., London. ISBN 0140289712.

Make sure you put two single quote marks round the title (to generate italics), rather than one double quote mark.

[edit] Date format

These formats are all acceptable for dates:

[[2007-01-27]]
[[27 January]] [[2007]]
[[January 27]], [[2007]]

[edit] Citation templates

You may prefer to use a citation template to compile details of the source. The template goes between the ref tags and you fill out the fields you wish to. Basic templates can be found here: Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles/Citation quick reference

[edit] Same ref used twice or more

The first time a reference appears in the article, you can give it a simple name in the <ref> code:

<ref name=smith>DETAILS OF REF</ref>

The second time you use the same reference in the article, you need only to create a short cut instead of typing it all out again:

<ref name=smith/>

You can then use the short cut as many times as you want. Don't forget the /, or it will blank the rest of the article! A short cut will only pick up from higher up the page, so make sure the first ref is the full one. 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 refs 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 what its source is.

[edit] Alternative system

The above method is simple and combines references and notes into one section. A refinement is to put the full details of the references in their own section headed "References", while the notes which apply to them appear in a separate section headed "Notes". The notes can be inserted in the main article text in an abbreviated form as seen in Harriet Arbuthnot or in a full form as in Brown Dog affair.

[edit] Further information

More information can be found at: