Help:Referencing for beginners: Difference between revisions

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{{See also|Help:Introduction to referencing}}

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One of the [[Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines|key policies of Wikipedia]] is that all article content has to be '''[[WP:Verifiable|verifiable]]'''. This means that '''[[WP:Reliable source|reliable sources]]''' must be able to support the material. All quotations, any material whose verifiability has been challenged or is likely to be challenged, and contentious material (whether negative, positive, or neutral) about [[WP:BLP|living persons]] must include an ''inline citation'' to a source that directly supports the material. This also means that Wikipedia is not the place for [[WP:OR|original work]], archival findings that have not been published, or evidence from any source that has not been published.

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If you are adding new content, it is [[WP:BURDEN|your responsibility to add sourcing information]] along with it. Material provided without a source is more likely to be removed from an article. Sometimes such material will be tagged first with a [[Wikipedia:Citation needed|"citation needed"]] type template to give editors time to find and add sources before it is removed, but sometimes editors will simply remove it because they question its veracity.

==Inline citations==

===How to add sources?===

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[[File:Citing sources tutorial, part 1.ogv|thumb|upright=1.3|A screencast that walks through the essentials needed in citing your sources]]

==RefToolbar==

If you've read many Wikipedia articles, then you've seen plenty of inline citations. These are usually small, numbered footnotes like this.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wales|first=J|title=What is an inline citation?|year={{CURRENTYEAR}}|publisher=Wikipublisher|pages=6}}</ref> They are generally added either directly following the fact that they support, or at the end of the sentence that they support, following any punctuation. When clicked, they take the reader to a full source in a reference section near the bottom of the article.

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===How to addReliable sources?===

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==See also==

When editing a page using the popular (most common) footnote style, inline citations are usually placed <code><nowiki><ref></nowiki>...<nowiki></ref></nowiki></code> tags. Note the closing slash ("/") in the second tag.

{{Quotation|<nowiki><ref>Rawls, John (2009). ''A Theory of Justice''. Harvard University Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-674-00078-0.</ref></nowiki><ref>Rawls, John (2009). ''A Theory of Justice''. Harvard University Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-674-00078-0.</ref>}}

The information within references is displayed together in one place on a page, wherever <code><nowiki><references/></nowiki></code> or, most commonly, the template {{tlx|Reflist}} is present. This will usually be in a section titled "References". If you are creating a new page, or adding references to a page that didn't previously have any, remember to add a References section like the one below. The Manual of Style describes [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout#Order of article elements|where to place such a section]].

[[File:Reference Toolbar Screenshot.png|left|link=]]

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[[File:RefTools rework.ogv|thumb|right|upright=1.3|This screencast walks through how to use RefTools (5 mins.)]]

Manually adding references can be a slow and tricky process. Fortunately, there is a tool called "[[Wikipedia:RefToolbar|RefToolbar]]" built into the Wikipedia edit window, which makes it much easier.

To activate it, simply click on {{menu icon|Cite|left}} at the top of the edit window. Position the edit window cursor after the fact or sentence you wish to reference, and then select one of the templates from the dropdown menu. There are different templates suitable for different types of sources:

* {{tlx|cite web}} for references to general websites

* {{tlx|cite news}} for newspapers and news websites

* {{tlx|cite journal}} for magazines, academic journals, and papers

* {{tlx|cite book}} for references to books

This will pop up a window, where you fill in as much information as possible about the source, and give a unique name for it in the "Name" field. Click the "Insert" button, which will add the required wikitext in the edit window.

Some fields (such as a web address, also known as a URL) will have a [[File:System-search.svg|20px|link=]] icon next to them. After filling in this field, you can click it to handily autofill the remaining fields. It doesn't always work properly, though, so be sure to be sure to double check it.

{{Quotation|<nowiki><ref>{{Cite book|title=A Theory of Justice|first=John|last=Rawls|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|page=76|isbn=978-0-674-00078-0}}</ref></nowiki><ref>{{Cite book|title=A Theory of Justice|first=John|last=Rawls|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|page=76|isbn=978-0-674-00078-0}}</ref>}}

Often, you will want to use the same source more than once in an article to support multiple facts. In this case, you can click {{menu icon|Named references{{nbsp|2}}[[File:Nuvola clipboard lined.svg|20px|link=]]|non}} in the toolbar, and select a previously added source to re-use.

===What is reliable?===

As a general rule, more [[Wikipedia:Reliable sources|reliable sources]] have more people engaged in checking facts, analyzing legal issues, and scrutinizing the writing in a publication. [[WP:SCHOLARSHIP|Academic and peer-reviewed publications]] are usually the most reliable sources. Other reliable sources include university textbooks, books published by respected publishing houses, magazines, journals, and [[WP:NEWSORG|mainstream newspapers]]. (<small>Be aware that some news organisations and magazines, such as CNN's [[iReport]], host "blogs" and user-written articles on their websites. These may be reliable if they are written by the publisher's professional writers, but posts by readers are not usually considered reliable sources.</small>)

[[Wikipedia:Self-published sources|Self-published media]], where the author and publisher are the same, including newsletters, personal websites, books, patents, open wikis, personal or group blogs, and tweets, are usually '''not''' acceptable as sources. The general exception is where the author is an established expert with a previous record of third-party publications on a topic; in this case, their self-published work ''may'' be considered reliable for that topic (but not other topics). Even then, third-party publications are still preferable.

===What has to be sourced===

Whether a source is usable also depends on context. Sources that are reliable for some material are not reliable for other material. You should always try to find the best possible source for the information you have. For information about '''[[Wikipedia:BLP|living people]]''', only the most reliable sources should be used. On the other hand, self-published sources written by articles' subjects can ''sometimes'' be used as sources of information about themselves.

* All article content must be '''[[WP:V|verifiable]]''', that is, possible to support with a reliable, published source.

* All quotations, any material whose verifiability has been challenged or is likely to be challenged, and contentious material, whether negative, positive, or neutral, about [[WP:BLP|living persons]], must include an '''[[WP:IC|inline citation]]'''.

===More detailed information===

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* [[Help:Referencing for beginners without using templates]]

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* [[Wikipedia:Parenthetical referencing]]

* [[Wikipedia:Citation templates]]

===Footnote example===

{{reflist}}

{{Wikipedia referencing}}

{{Citation Style 1}}

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