Wikipedia:Inline citation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This page in a nutshell: This page describes various inline citation techniques used in Wikipedia. Some short illustrative examples can be seen at Wikipedia:Inline citation/examples. |
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It has been suggested that this page or section be merged into Citing sources and Wikipedia_talk:Inline_citation#merge_and_redirect_to_WP:CITE. (Discuss) |
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This essay contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. Essays may represent widespread norms or minority viewpoints. Consider these views with discretion. |
An inline citation is placed in text, often at the end of a sentence or paragraph, to substantiate and catalogue the information's origin source. Inline citations may be to electronic and print references such as books, magazines, encyclopedias, dictionaries and Internet pages. Regardless of what type of source is used, it should be reliable; that is, credible published materials with a reliable publication process whose authors are generally regarded as trustworthy or authoritative in relation to the subject at hand. Verifiable source citations render the information in an article credible to researchers.
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[edit] Inline citations and Wikipedia
Many Wikipedia articles contain inline citations: they are required for Featured Articles, Good Articles, and A-Class Articles. Currently, there are four ways to add inline citations to an article. Each is acceptable under Wikipedia's citation style guideline, but a single article should use only one type.
[edit] Harvard reference
Harvard reference (also known as Parenthetical referencing), is the simplest way to cite sources not online. Such citations usually appear following punctuation. Various formats are seen, e.g. (author, date), author (date):page, etc. Such citations are often superscripted.
[edit] Hyperlinking/embedded links
Information obtained from the internet is cited by creating a hyperlink at the end of the relevant clause, sentence, or paragraph. Enclose the link in square brackets:
[ at the beginning,
] at the end.
For example, if the citation is the Main page of the English Wikipedia, type:
- [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page].
This will create a blue, numbered, superscript box at the end of the sentence or paragraph, like the one seen at the end of this sentence. [1]
Citations may be labeled with a more informative tag than a simple auto-assigned number by placing the label within the square brackets,separated from the link itself, like:
- [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page The Wikipedia Main Page]
which produces:
Then insert the full citation to the References section at the end of the article (See WP:CITE for more information). Note that few Feature Articles use this style; the common objection during the FAC process is 'remove external links from main body (referring to this inline citation style), transform into proper inline citation style'.
The examples above are only illustrative, and it is important to note that Wikipedia verifibility policy specifies that "Articles and posts on Wikipedia, or other websites that mirror Wikipedia content, may not be used as sources."
[edit] "Reference" and "Note" templates
Use this method when citing Internet sources or print materials (books, magazines, instruction manuals, etc.). This template creates superscript numbers in a text which, when clicked on, direct the reader to the citation at the bottom of the page.
Both the reference template and the note template consist of two parts: {{ref|word reference}} and {{note|word reference}}. If you wish to use these templates then begin by placing the {{ref|}} template in the article where you wish to cite the presented information. After the "|" include a small word reference for the citation; this will tell the computer which link it should jump to when a reader clicks on the article citation.
Here's a working example: to cite the book ''The Navy'', insert a reference tab—'''{{ref|}}'''—at the end of this sentence and place the words "Navy1" after the vertical line so that it looks like this:{{ref|Navy1}}[2]. Notice how a small number now appears at the end of the previous sentence; this contains the information that will be cited in the reference section. Click on the small number at the end of the previous sentence to continue with the example.
[edit] Cite.php
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This article may need to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information, and remove this template when finished. Please see the talk page for more information. |
This is a relatively new method for citing sources, and can be used to cite any type of information. This method automatically arranges the references presented in an article through the use of two tags – <ref> and </ref>. Information that will be cited for the inline citation is placed between the two tags. If you are citing an electronic source configure the information between the tags by hyperlinking; include a brief description of the information. There are several templates that can help with the citation format. Also, make sure the reference section is correctly configured. Click on the link at the end of the sentence for more information on configuring the reference section with this method.[1]
If multiple citations for the same source are included in the article, and you are using the <ref> and </ref> tabs, you can reconfigure the first <ref> tab to create small letters that link to the same spot. This can be accomplished by adding name="X" to the first <ref> tag so that it looks like this:<ref name="X">.[2] As before, this will generate a number at the end of the sentence. Replace the "X" with a word to denote which source the computer should jump to when multi-linking like this.[2] Notice that this method of citing creates the same number for each entry cited with a <ref name="X"> citation, in this particular case, that number is 2. Click on one of the two previous links to see what this produces in the reference/notes section.
The ref tags should be placed according to WP:FN.
For a complete guide on this method see http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Cite/Cite.php.
[edit] References/Notes section
This is a reference section (or, alternatively, a note section). This section is where sources for the inline citations and other information presented in an article are placed. A reference section should not be confused with an external link section; for purposes of Wikipedia these two types of sections are considered separate entities. This particular reference section has been configured to help better illustrate the types of references presented when using the above links, and therefore should not be considered a solid example of a reference section on Wikipedia. For more information and the relevant style guide on reference sections see WP:CITE.
[edit] Reference section and "Reference" and "Note" templates
^ Notice the underlined arrow to the far left, this is the result of the "{{note|" reference. At the moment, the note reference looks like this: {{note|Navy1}}. Recall that the above link you clicked on to get here was titled {{ref|Navy1}}, so this is the correct corresponding link. To create the underlined arrows like the one that took you here place a {{note|}} template followed by the correct word description for the given information. Place the reference material you are referring to after the completed {{note|}} template, and ensure that the {{ref|}} and {{note|}} templates are correctly linking to each other by checking the spelling. There are several templates that can help with the citation format. For example, the full reference for the Navy citation should read as follows:
- {{note|Navy1}} Naval Historical Foundation. The Navy. Barnes & Noble Inc, China ISBN 0767076218X
Inline citations that make use of the reference and note templates do not generate numbers for the corresponding links; this can be corrected by placing a "#" before inserting the template text, as shown below:
- #{{note|Navy1}} Naval Historical Foundation. The Navy. Barnes & Noble Inc, China ISBN 0767076218X
This will generate a full-sized number which should correspond with the number clicked on for an information's source, as in the example below:
- ^ Naval Historical Foundation. The Navy. Barnes & Noble Inc, China ISBN 0767076218X
In the case of the above example the number 1 now appears before the book The Navy is cited. Recall that the number you clicked on to get here was a 2, so the link and its number do not correspond; in this case, it is because of the hyperlink discussed in the previous section. Since this article exists merely to explain the function of the reference and note templates this is not of concern; however, if this problem occurs in an actual article it means that something has caused the numbers and sources to miss-match.
[edit] Reference Section and Cite.php
If you are using the cite.php method (the <ref> and </ref> tabs) all you have to do when creating a reference section is insert the {{refs}} template, which automatically generates a list of a references for the inline citations provided in the article.
[edit] Inline citations & article classes
There is no specified amount of inline citation that an article must have before being eligible for nomination as a Featured Article, Good Article, or (when applicable) A-Class article, and no particular style is favored over any other. The best advice is on the FAC page: an article should be tightly written and comprehensive. If one inline citation is all it takes to make it tightly written that's ok; if you need 100 inline citations that's ok too. However, aim to prioritize the 15–20 most important or potentially contentious facts in the article and cite them to reliable sources.
[edit] Inline dictionary links
Readers are expected to look up any word they are unsure of, and inline links to Wiktionary (like this) are not needed, nor desirable, even if a word is used in a particularly obscure manner.
[edit] See also
- Wikipedia:Citing sources – When to use citations and how to format them.
- Wikipedia:Footnotes – A widely-used automated footnoting mechanism.
- Wikipedia:Layout – A working guide to the basics of laying out an article.
