Help:Introduction to referencing with Wiki Markup/4: Difference between revisions

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'''Self-published media''', where the author and publisher are the same, such as books, patents, newsletters, personal websites, open wikis, personal or group blogs and tweets, are largely '''not''' acceptable as sources. However, if an author is an established expert with a previous record of third-party publications on a topic, their self-published work ''may'' be considered reliable for that topic, though third-party publications are still preferable.

Whether a source is usable also depends on context. RememberBear in mind that 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 '''living people''', only the most reliable sources should be used. On the other hand, self-published sources can ''sometimes'' be used as sources of information about themselves.

These are general guidelines, but the topic of reliable sources is a complicated one which it is impossible to fully cover here. You can find more information at [[Wikipedia:Verifiability]] and at [[Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources]].