Knowledge

Help:Referencing for beginners

Source 📝

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Inline citations are usually small, numbered footnotes like this. They are generally added either directly following the fact that they support, or at the end of the sentence that they support, following any punctuation. When clicked, they take the reader to a citation in a reference section near the
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A template window then pops up, where you fill in as much information as possible about the source, and give a unique name for it in the "Ref name" field. Click the "Insert" button, which will add the required wikitext in the edit window. If you wish, you can also "Preview" how your reference will
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acceptable as sources. These can include newsletters, personal websites, press releases, patents, open wikis, personal or group blogs, and tweets. However, if an author is an established expert with a previous record of third-party publications on a topic, their self-published work
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The word "source" in Knowledge has three meanings: the work itself (for example, a document, article, paper, or book), the creator of the work (for example, the writer), and the publisher of the work (for example, Cambridge University Press). All three can affect reliability.
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at the top of the edit window, having already positioned your cursor after the sentence or fact you wish to reference. Then select one of the 'Templates' from the dropdown menu that best suits the type of source. These are:
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must be able to support the material. All quotations, any material whose verifiability has been challenged or is likely to be challenged, and contentious material (whether negative, positive, or neutral) about
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Whether a source is usable also depends on context. Sources that are reliable for some material are not reliable for other material. For instance, otherwise unreliable self-published sources
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are usually the most reliable sources. Other reliable sources include university textbooks, books published by respected publishing houses, magazines, journals, and news coverage (
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Reliable sources are those with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy. They tend to have an editorial process with multiple people scrutinizing work before it is published.
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icon next to them. After filling in this field, you can click it to handily autofill the remaining fields. It doesn't always work properly, though, so be sure to double check it.
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to add sourcing information along with it. Material provided without a source is significantly more likely to be removed from an article. Sometimes it will be tagged first with a
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These are general guidelines, but the topic of reliable sources is a complicated one, and is impossible to fully cover here. You can find more information at
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to support uncontroversial information about the source's author. You should always try to use the best possible source, particularly when writing about
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If you are creating a new page, or adding references to a page that didn't previously have any, remember to add a References section like the one below
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in your preferences. You will then be able to edit the source of pages while inserting citations using the automated tool of the visual editor.
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This tutorial will show you how to add inline citations to articles, and also briefly explain what Knowledge considers to be a reliable source.
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As an alternative to the RefToolbar, it is possible to insert citations in the source editor using a similar automated tool as the one
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template to give editors a chance to find and add sources, but some editors will simply remove it because they question its veracity.
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Often, you will want to use the same source more than once in an article to support multiple facts. In this case, you can click
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While editing a page that uses the most common footnote style, you will see inline citations displayed between
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to a source that directly supports the material. This also means that Knowledge is not the place for
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Manually adding references can be a slow and tricky process. Fortunately, there is a tool called "
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Note: This is by far the most popular system for inline citations, but sometimes you will find
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It explains concepts or processes used by the Knowledge community. It is not one of
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that directly support the information presented in the article. Now you know
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One of the key policies of Knowledge is that all article content has to be
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This page assumes you are using the source editor. Alternatively, learn
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Some fields (such as a web address, also known as a URL) will have a
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in the toolbar, and select a previously added source to re-use.
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Knowledge:VisualEditor/User guide § Adding a new reference
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Help:Referencing for beginners with citation templates
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Help:Referencing for beginners without using templates
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Knowledge:VisualEditor/User guide § Editing references
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For this, you need to enable the 488:to add sources to an article, but 371:for references to general websites 122:shows underlying wiki markup like 51:Knowledge's policies or guidelines 25: 614:Help:References and page numbers 423: 410: 381:for newspapers and news websites 350: 134: 102: 32: 917:Reference display customization 258:being used in an article. This 609:Help:Citations quick reference 435:Using the 2017 wikitext editor 158:. Wikipedians famously demand 1: 1790:Knowledge quick introductions 694:Biographies of living persons 561:list of commonly used sources 1643:Citation Style 1 noticeboard 1629:Citation Style documentation 950:Citation Style documentation 629:Knowledge:Citation templates 130:works like a word processor. 922:References and page numbers 902:Citation merging (bundling) 856:Introduction to referencing 482:reliable, published sources 480:Knowledge articles require 280:What is an inline citation? 250:==References== {{reflist}} 112:referencing in VisualEditor 1811: 1605:Citation Style 1 templates 871:Referencing dos and don'ts 557:Knowledge:Reliable sources 454: 295: 212: 148:"Wikipedian protester" by 62: 1744: 1664: 1640: 851:Citations quick reference 818:Punctuation and footnotes 441:used in the visual editor 775:Citation Style Vancouver 492:sources should you use? 1674:Policies and Guidelines 677:Policies and guidelines 553:Knowledge:Verifiability 391:for references to books 232:bottom of the article. 1102:Free newspaper sources 584: 540:are usually acceptable 503: 477: 336: 318: 282:. Wikipublisher. p. 6. 163: 1669:Starting introduction 670:Knowledge referencing 583: 516:mainstream newspapers 502: 476: 334: 317: 278:Wales, Jimmy (2024). 147: 1318:public mailing lists 711:Scientific citations 689:No original research 523:Self-published media 445:2017 wikitext editor 346:To use it, click on 160:citations for claims 41:This help page is a 1553:Cite AV media notes 1532:Audiovisual-related 1388:unpublished reports 1067:How to find sources 1023:Multiple references 937::Footnote templates 823:Shortened footnotes 196:your responsibility 1466:Preprint templates 1367:Cite press release 1262:edited collections 838:Help for beginners 790:Citation templates 747:Referencing styles 585: 559:. There is also a 504: 478: 337: 319: 172:. This means that 164: 1795:Knowledge sources 1772: 1771: 1649: 1648: 1430:technical reports 1360:online newsgroups 1311:Cite mailing list 1290:academic journals 1255:Cite encyclopedia 1234:conference papers 1160: 1159: 1082:Resource Exchange 1077:Knowledge Library 828:Nesting footnotes 737:Combining sources 332: 200:"citation needed" 142: 141: 97: 96: 16:(Redirected from 1802: 1785:Knowledge how-to 1653: 1633: 1627: 1590: 1584: 1579: 1573: 1568: 1562: 1557: 1551: 1546: 1540: 1524: 1518: 1513: 1507: 1502: 1496: 1491: 1485: 1480: 1474: 1455: 1449: 1441: 1435: 1427: 1423:Cite tech report 1421: 1413: 1407: 1399: 1393: 1385: 1379: 1371: 1365: 1357: 1351: 1343: 1337: 1329: 1323: 1315: 1309: 1301: 1295: 1287: 1281: 1273: 1267: 1259: 1253: 1245: 1239: 1231: 1225: 1217: 1211: 1194:Citation Style 1 1187: 1180: 1173: 1164: 1115:(External links} 1059:Find references 1046: 1040: 1035: 1029: 1019: 1013: 1008: 1002: 997: 991: 986: 980: 975: 969: 964: 958: 892:Cite link labels 876:Citing Knowledge 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Index

Help:Ref
how-to guide
Knowledge's policies or guidelines
consensus
Shortcuts
WP:REFB
WP:REFBEGIN
WP:REFSTART
referencing in VisualEditor
source editor
VisualEditor

A cartoon of a political rally, with someone in the crowd holding up a banner reading ""
Randall Munroe
xkcd
citations for claims
verifiable
reliable sources
living persons
original work
your responsibility
"citation needed"
Shortcut
WP:INTREF2
near the end
other styles
is acceptable
Shortcut
WP:INTREF3
RefToolbar

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