Template:Via/doc

Provides information, after an externally linked citation, about a database, archive, or content delivery service (not the original publisher, and not a new agency / news wire, or newspaper republisher thereof) that needs to be credited for providing the online copy of the work being cited. This template is only for use when the source title's link brings the reader to a full-text version of the source. It is not intended for use with snippet-view books, or abstracts of papers.

Usage

Basic usage

• {{via|[[NewsBank]]}}

Gives:

• (Full text via NewsBank.)

When to use this template

This template indicates that the externally linked title of a source, either in a References or Bibliography section (usually in a standard standardized citation template like {{Cite journal}}) will take the reader to a legal, full-text version of the source, as provided by an external research archive service or other content deliverer. This is not to be confused with the original publisher. This template informs readers of the name of the service (wikilinked if notable), and can optionally indicate other information, such as whether it requires registration or paid subscription.

It may be used when the content deliverer presents the source in a format other than the original (e.g. NewsBank), when the URL provided does not make clear the identity of the deliverer, or where no DOI or other stable identifier is available (e.g. EBSCO material), if the deliverer requests attribution or it would be hard to find and very the source without this information.

{{Via}} is an alternative to the |via=|registration=|subcription= parameters of citation templates like {{Cite journal}}, which have to be manually filled in. There are pre-configured shorthand options for {{via}}, for Google Books, HathiTrust, and the Internet Archive (more forthcoming). Not all of these are necessarily accessible freely to viewers in all countries. The WP:Wikipedia Library project may also add more pre-set values that fill in data for the various access-restricted services that have donated accounts for Wikipedia research and sourcing, generally in exchange for being credited (sometimes in very specific ways); use of this template will make providing that credit easier.

Some editors include full book citations in a References section, while others prefer to use the References section for short citations (i.e. Last Name (year), p. XX) and place the full book citation under a Bibliography section. The intention is for this template to be applicable to either situation, and be used after the full citation to the source (not repeated after each short citation in the latter of these citation formats).

Another possible use is to include this template at the end of a Further reading or very general Works cited section. Mention of this is made for articles that have few to no specific, inline citations, but a legitimate list of sources to use to verify the content of the article. Please note it would most likely be poor form to include the same source (much less this template) both in a References or Bibliography section and then also in a "Further reading" or "External links" section.

Parameters

{{via|pre=Intro|text=Main wording|1=Provider|post=Outro}}

Only |1= is required (and it need not be explicitly numbered).

• First (unnamed) parameter (or |1=) – the name of the archive or other content delivery service (not the publisher, nor a news agency or syndicator thereof), wikilinked if it has an article here. Do not use an external link; one is already provided in the citation. An exception is the rare case that a direct URL cannot be provided to the source and it must be manually looked up, e.g. at EBSCO; in such a case it should not be wikilinked, but externally linked (in this template, not the citation template) to its search form (pre-filled with the search terms if possible) or an index page including the cited source.

Pre-configured values

These are used as {{via|GB}}, etc.:

• GB (or GoogleBooks or books.google.com)

     (Full text via Google Books.)

• HT (or HathiTrust or hathitrust.org)

     (Full text via HathiTrust Digital Library.)

• IA (or InternetArchive or archive.org)

     (Full text via the Internet Archive.)

Custom output

• |pre= – Additional wording to insert before "Full text via provider." Should begin with a capital letter, and not end with punctuation (the template provides the .).

     E.g., {{pre|Subscription required}}

• |text= – To change the wording "Full text" before "via provider." Should begin with a capital letter, and not end with punctuation (the text continues with "via").

     E.g., {{text|Full-text access provided to Wikipedia editors}}

• |post= – Additional wording that follows "via provider." Should begin with a capital letter, and not end with punctuation (the template provides the .).

     E.g., {{post|Full-text access provided to Wikipedia editors}}

Example:

• {{Via|pre=Subscription required |text=Full-text access provided to Wikipedia editors |BotswanaLaw Legal Archives |post=Free [http://www.example.com/snorkel/weasel.pdf abstract] available}}

Gives:

• (Subscription required. Full-text access provided to Wikipedia editors via BotswanaLaw Legal Archives. Free abstract available.)

Adding new pre-configured values (especially for the Wikipedia Library's crediting)

The code of the template provides easy-to-fill #switch parameters to pre-customize the output of |pre=, |1=, and |post=, such that something like {{via|HB}} could produce a credit for HighBeam Research formatted the way they have requested.

To illustrate, the dummy data embedded in the template looks for a fake provider named "OptionX", and {{via|OptionX}} outputs the following placeholder custom values as pre-defined default values for that provider (with the name linked; we normally wouldn't use a redlink here):

• (Intro for OptionX. OptionX's "Full text" wording via OptionX. Outro for OptionX.)

The defaults can be manually overridden; input of {{via|pre=Pre|text=Text|1=OptionX|post=Post}} will generate:

• (Pre. Text via OptionX. Post.)