Jeanbarousse
Welcome!
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{{helpme}} Hello, I really need help, I am completely inexperienced. I took out text "work" , but I am unable to complete references and to put everything in order.Best regards Jeanberousse
- No problem - can you come and talk to us live, with this?
- If not, then have a look at user:chzz/help/ref, which might make it easier.
- I will work to fix up the article. Hope to speak soon. Chzz ► 14:26, 22 October 2009 (UTC)
Guide to referencing
editClick on "show" on the right of the orange bar to open contents.
Using references (citations) |
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I thought you might find it useful to have some information about references (refs) on wikipedia. These are important to validate your writing and inform the reader. Any editor can remove unreferenced material; and unsubstantiated articles may end up getting deleted, so when you add something to an article, it's highly advisable to also include a reference to say where it came from. Referencing may look daunting, but it's easy enough to do. Here's a guide to getting started. If you need any assistance, let me know. -- Ty 12:34, 22 October 2009 (UTC)
A reference must be accurate, i.e. it must prove the statement in the text. To validate "Mike Brown climbed Everest", it's no good linking to a page about Everest, if Mike Brown isn't mentioned, nor to one on Mike Brown, if it doesn't say that he climbed Everest. You have to link to a source that proves his achievement is true. You must use reliable sources, such as published books, mainstream press, and authorised web sites. Blogs, Myspace, Youtube, fan sites and extreme minority texts are not usually acceptable, nor is original research (e.g. your own unpublished, or self-published, essay or research), or another wikipedia article.
The first thing you have to do is to create a "Notes and references" section (unless it already exists). This goes towards the bottom of the page, below the "See also" section and above the "External links" section. Enter this code:
The next step is to put a reference in the text. Here is the code to do that. It goes at the end of the relevant term, phrase, sentence, or paragraph to which the note refers, and after punctuation such as a full stop, without a space (to prevent separation through line wrap):
Whatever text you put in between these two tags will become visible in the "Notes and references" section as your reference.
Open the edit box for this page, copy the following text (inserting your own text where indicated), paste it at the bottom of the page and save the page:
(End of text to copy and paste.) It should appear like this:
You need to include the information to enable the reader to find your source. For an online newspaper source, it might look like this:
When uploaded, it appears as:
Note the single square brackets around the URL and the article title. The format is:
Make sure there is a space between the URL and the Title. This code results in the URL being hidden and the title showing as a link. Use double apostrophes for the article title (it is quoted text), and two single quote marks either side of the name of the paper (to generate italics). Double square brackets round the name of the paper create an internal link (a wikilink) to the relevant wikipedia article. Apostrophes must go outside the brackets. The date after The Guardian is the date of the newspaper, and the date after "Retrieved on" is the date you accessed the site – useful for searching the web archive in case the link goes dead.
You can use sources which are not online, but which you have found in a library or elsewhere—in which case leave out the information which is not relevant. The newspaper example above would be formatted like this:
When uploaded, it appears as:
Here is an example for a book:
When uploaded, it appears as:
Make sure you put two single quote marks round the title (to generate italics), rather than one double quote mark.
These formats are all acceptable for dates:
You may prefer to use a citation template to compile details of the source. The template goes between the ref tags and you fill out the fields you wish to. Basic templates can be found here: Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles/Citation quick reference
The first time a reference appears in the article, you can give it a simple name in the <ref> code:
The second time you use the same reference in the article, you need only to create a short cut instead of typing it all out again:
You can then use the short cut as many times as you want. Don't forget the /, or it will blank the rest of the article! Some symbols don't work in the ref name, but you'll find out if you use them. The quotes around the name are optional unless there is a space in the name. You can see multiple use of the same refs in action in the article William Bowyer (artist). There are three sources and they are each referenced three times. Each statement in the article has a footnote to show what its source is.
The above method is simple and combines references and notes into one section. A refinement is to put the full details of the references in their own section headed "References", while the notes which apply to them appear in a separate section headed "Notes". The notes can be inserted in the main article text in an abbreviated form as seen in Harriet Arbuthnot or in a full form as in Brown Dog affair.
More information can be found at: |
Edits to User:Chzz/help/ref
editI have reverted the edit you made to User:Chzz/help/ref. A userpage, like this one, should only be edited by the user who created it. Comments should be on a talk page. Chzz's talk page is at User talk:Chzz. That is the best place to thank him, and Chzz is more likely to see it there too. Thanks! --Mysdaao talk 14:56, 22 October 2009 (UTC)
Ksenia Milicevic
editI have now extensively tidied up the article Ksenia Milicevic. I've reformatted it, and removed the 'essay-like' parts. It still lacks footnotes; it has references, but currently it is not possible to see where the various information comes from.
If possible, please work on that. I will paste my help-file below, so that you will have links to try things out.
Best of luck, Chzz ► 15:12, 22 October 2009 (UTC)
- P.S. Re. Thank you Chizz, this is terrific for beginners! Best regards, Jeanbarousse (here), you're welcome - but, as said above, in future please put comments on my talk page instead! Cheers, Chzz ► 15:13, 22 October 2009 (UTC)
How references work
editSimple references
editThese require two parts;
- a)
Chzz is 98 years old.<ref> "The book of Chzz", Aardvark Books, 2009. </ref> He likes tea. <ref> [http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com Tea website] </ref>
- b) A section called "References" with the special code "{{reflist}}";
== References == {{reflist}}
(an existing article is likely to already have one of these sections)
To see the result of that, please look at user:chzz/demo/simpleref. Edit it, and check the code; perhaps make a test page of your own, such as user:Jeanbarousse/reftest and try it out.
Named references
editChzz was born in 1837, <ref name="MyBook"> "The book of Chzz", Aardvark Books, 2009. </ref> in Footown.<ref name="MyBook"/>
Note that the second usage has a / (and no closing ref tag). This needs a reference section as above; please see user:chzz/demo/namedref to see the result.
Citation templates
editYou can put anything you like between <ref> and </ref>, but using citation templates makes for a neat, consistent look;
Chzz has 37 Olympic medals. <ref> {{Citation | last = Smith | first = John | title = Olympic medal winners of the 20th century | publication-date = 2001 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | page = 125 | isbn = 0-521-37169-4 }} </ref>
Please see user:chzz/demo/citeref to see the result.
For more help and tips on that subject, see user:chzz/help/refs.
Reply
editChzz ► 01:52, 28 October 2009 (UTC)
- I have replied again, so please see user talk:chzz#Inline citations. Cheers, Chzz ► 11:13, 1 November 2009 (UTC)