WP:Cite:Ref edit
I found learning about the cite:ref system (and citation mark-up in general) difficult. The initial description on wikipedia (Cite.php) is more about the software implementation of the feature, rather than a "beginners guide". Likewise the description now available at Wikipedia:Footnotes starts off more as an explanation of the various optional styles. There still seems a need for a clear guide for beginners on using both the cite:ref system and embedding citation templates, given that they previously may have never used any wiki-markup other than the '= =' used for section headers.
I suggest that Wikipedia:Footnotes becomes the overall "scene-setter" describing the range of styles, and a separate page does the explaining bit.
So here is my go at a simpler help page (?eventually move to WP:Cite Ref, WP:Help Cite or a similar alternative name). (See Footnotes#Explanation too difficult ? for comments about my alternative description).
Cite:ref - the preferred wikipedia Reference-Footnote system edit
At the appropriate point within the main article place details of a citation within <ref> tags. Then at the end of the article, under a section heading like '==Notes==' or '==Footnotes==', display the references in a list (complete with links to and from the citations) using the <references/> tag.
- Hence for each citation within the main article text, use <ref> details </ref> (see later for description of how to format the citation's details).
- One may optionally give the citation a name, i.e. <ref name="xxx"> details </ref> . This has the advantage of allowing duplicate citing of the same source later in the article by using: <ref name="xxx"/></font">
- Citations should be placed after punctuation marks. If several citations are given in sequence, do not separate with spaces or commas
- It makes it easier to edit the article if each reference is 'tricked' into being on a new line using the html's no-display <!-- ... --> tag which may be split over a newline and indented by a couple of spaces.
- Remember you must explicitly indicate at the end of the article, under a suitable '==Notes==' or '==Footnotes==' section heading, where to display the list citations by adding the <references/> tag.
- Any additional sources used, which are not specifically linked to points within the article, may be then listed as a bulleted-list (i.e. start each line with * rather than # for numbered-lists), usually within a separate '==References==' section.
Hence, as a example, the following markup:
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This theory was finally proven by Professor Smith in 1926.<!-- == Notes == == References == |
Will appear as:
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This theory was finally proven by Professor Smith in 1926.[1] Others have later questioned this and the absence of issue Z,[2] however this missed the point that Professor Smith had already discounted this idea in his original paper.[1] Notes editReferences edit
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Note that within the text each citation appears as a superscripted number (e.g. [1]) that forward-links to its entry in the list of references. Likewise the reference section consists of a numbered list with the '↑' character back-linking to the mention within the article (duplicate use of a citation back-links to each mention using superscripted letters a, b, c etc)
Try to use meaningful names for each reference, but consider that another user may later wish to add a further citation from a different source yet written by the same author in the same year. A suggestion is to use citation names made up of abbreviations of (a) the source publication or journal (b) year of publication and (c) the author's surname. Hence <ref name="Scientifica1926-Smith"> would have been a better name in the above example, rather than just <ref name="Smith">.
Details of citation - use of assisting templates edit
Separate from the Cite:Ref system, there are a variety of methods for arranging the description of a citation's details. The above example required the editor to manually apply wiki-markup (see Wikipedia:Footnotes for variety of styles), however there are various {{ cite ... }} templates (see Category:Citation templates for a full list). These help automate the process using a number of optional fields and they help ensure a consistancy of style across wikipedia. Follow the links for full descriptions, but the basics of the commonest used citation templates are:
{{cite journal}}
- {{cite journal | author = | year = | month = | title= | journal = | volume = | issue = | pages = | id = | url = | format = }}
- where the title is required, id is the identifier (such as {{ISSN|1111-2220}}, PMID 15128012) and url is link to any online copy of the article (remember to use the full URL name, e.g. http://www.Site.com).
- There is an automated tool for creating cite journal markup for articles listed by US National Library for Medicine's PubMed (see Diberri's PubMed tool and the method for adding a javascript bookmarklet to your web browser described at Wikipedia:WikiProject Clinical medicine#References).
- Hence, for the example given above:
<ref name="Scientifica1926-Smith">{{cite journal | author=Smith,A | year=1926 | title=Proof of Theory X | journal=Journal Scientifica | volume=12 | pages=101-121 | id=PMID 1234567 | url=http://www.example.org/SmithX.doc | format=DOC}}</ref>
Would give the following citation:
↑ Smith,A (1926). "Proof of Theory X".(DOC) Journal Scientifica 12: 101-121. PMID 1234567.
{{cite book}}
- {{cite book | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | title = | publisher = | location = | id = }}
- where the authorlink is the title of an existing wikipedia article about the author.
{{cite web}}
- {{cite web | author = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | url = | title = | format = | work = | publisher = | accessdate or accessyear = }}
- where url, title and either accessdate or accessyear are required.