Help:Index/Formatting/References

This article is about formatting embedded inline references (also called notes or footnotes) in an article. Embedded inline references are references that are meant to corroborate a specific word, statement, paragraph or even sub-section of an article by providing the readers of the article with the details of a book, journal, newspaper report or online website page that substantiates and validates the word, statement, paragraph or sub-section. The location of the word, statement, paragraph or subsection being referenced is marked with a superscript, bracketed number (colored blue) like this for a single reference [1] or this [2] [3] for multiple references. All Citizendium article having a status of Developed or Approved should have a list of references in a "References"  or "Footnotes" section at the end of the article.

In Citizendium and many other Wikis, the Wiki markup coding of embedded inline references on the edit page of an article always begins with the tag. For that reason, the Wiki markup coding of embedded inline references is often referred to as the  method.

By contrast, some authors use the word "references" to mean listing the details of sources (such as books or journals) that provided information, corroboration or substantiation  of the article as whole rather than any specific parts of the article. Such lists are placed at the end of the article with no indication as to what specific part of the article each listed source applies. Within the context of Citizendium, in most cases, such non-specific references are best placed in the "Bibliography" subpage rather than at the end of the article. If such reference lists include hyperlinks to online website pages, then they are best included in the "External Links" subpage. In some few cases, an article may benefit by having a short list of about 3 books in a section entitled "Further reading" in addition to the "References" or  "Footnotes" section and the "Bibliography" subpage.

Some authors also use embedded inline hyperlinks like this  or this  as references. Such references should not be used. When used in an article that is also using the  method, confusion will arise between the numbering of the embedded inline hyperlinks and the embedded inline references.

No rules or guidance about references are cast in stone and must absolutely be followed. However, following the methods and guidance in this article will result in consistency from one article to another and, for that reason, it is strongly recommended they be followed.

Valid, reliable references
A reference must be accurate, reliable and it must corroborate the statement in the text. To validate or corroborate the statement that "Mike Brown climbed Mount Everest", referencing a publication about Mount Everest is no good if Mike Brown isn't mentioned. Similarly, referencing an article about Mike Brown is also no good if it doesn't mention that he climbed Mount Everest. The referenced source must corroborate that Mike's achievement is true.

We must use reliable, credible sources such as published books, professional journals, mainstream press report, and reliable web sites. Blogs, MySpace, YouTube, fan sites and extreme minority material are not usually acceptable, nor are your own unpublished essays or research. Wikipedia articles or other Citizendium articles are not reliable sources.

Single insertion of a reference:
For the single insertion of a reference, this is placed on the CZ article's edit page at the insertion point of the reference. For example:



Multiple insertion of a reference:
For the multiple insertion of a reference, the reference tag '''

This is placed at the second insertion point of the reference:



And this is placed at the third insertion point of the reference:


 *   ..... and so forth for further insertion points.

What is produced at the points of insertion:
This is an example of what is produced on the CZ article's main page and note that the reference numbers in blue are automatically generated:

Clicking on any one of the above blue reference numbers causes the screen display to scroll down to that reference number listed in the References section at the end of the CZ article.

Producing the reference or footnote list:
On the edit page of the CZ article, place either of these at the bottom of an article to produce a references or footnotes section:


 *  ==References==          ==Footnotes== 

Either of the above formats produces a references or footnotes section at the bottom of the CZ article's main page containing a list such as just below, and note that the list numbers are automatically generated:

In some cases, when there are a large number of references and many of them are fairly short, space can be conserved by using  ,   instead of      , which splits the reference list into two columns.

How to use the reference or footnotes list

 * Clicking on the blue superscript 1.0 causes the screen display to scroll back up to the point where the first reference to Speight's book was inserted. Clicking on the blue superscript 1.1 causes the screen display to scroll back up to the point where the second reference to Speight's book was inserted. Clicking on the blue superscript 1.2 causes the screen display to scroll back up to the point where the third reference to Speight's was inserted ... and so forth.


 * Clicking on any up arrow ( ↑ ) in the reference list that has no associated superscripts causes the screen display to scroll back up to the point where that single-use references was inserted.


 * Clicking on the superscript bracket reference numbers anywhere in the article's text cause the screen to scroll down far enough to display that reference in the reference list.

How to place the reference insertion points
The correct placement of the reference insertions is illustrated by repeating the above example:

Note the placement of the references in the above example. These are the "rules":


 * A reference for a sentence is inserted immediately after the period at the end of the sentence, with no space between the period and the reference.
 * A reference for a single word (that is not followed by a comma) is inserted immediately after the word, with no space between the word and the reference.
 * A reference for a single word (that is followed by a comma) is inserted immediately after the comma, with no space between the word and the comma.
 * Two or more references at the same point of insertion are placed immediately next to each other with no space between the references.

How to reference books and journals
A number of templates are available to format the text between the tags in a more structured way. Some of those templates are quite complicated and it is probably best for new authors to use simpler ones. Experienced authors may wish to explore the more complicated templates available at cite book or cite journal,

The following examples do not cover every method of referencing books and articles. But they do provide enough information so that beginners can produce satisfactory references.

Referencing books
This is example template of a simple book reference that provides the needed essentials:



and this is how it would appear on a CZ article's edit page:



which automatically produces this in the references list at the bottom of a CZ article's main page:


 * John Smith (2007). The Age of Reason, 2nd Edition. Johnson Press. ISBN 0-5678-4325-1.

if the edition is unknown, then simply leave it blank, thus on a CZ article's edit page:



Referencing journals
A simple reference to a journal article that includes: the author's name, followed by the date in parenthesis and a period. That is followed by the article title in quotation marks also followed by a period. That is followed by the name of the journal in italic font and not followed by a period. Next is the journal's volume number in bold font, followed by the pages of the article in plain font (not bold and not italic). Below is an example of how the reference would appear on a CZ article's edit page:



which produces this in the references list at the bottom of a CZ article's main page:


 * W.B. Kay (1936). "Gases and Vapors At High Temperature and Pressure". Industrial Engineering & Chemistry 28: 334-336

How to reference online website pages
The simplest correct way to reference material from an online website page is to start with square bracket, followed by the url of the website page, followed by a single space, followed by a title for the material and ended with another square bracket. For example, enter this on the CZ article's edit page:



which produces this in the references list at the bottom of a CZ article's main page:


 * 1. ↑ Where Does My Gasoline Come from?

or we could annotate the online website page reference with additional information (but no more than a few sentences), included between the bracketed url (with its title) and the reference's final tag. For example, enter this on the CZ article's edit page:



which produces this in the references list at the bottom of a CZ article's main page:


 * 1. ↑ Where Does My Gasoline Come from? From the website of the Energy Information Administration in the U.S. Department of Energy, April 8, 2008.

It is strongly recommended that, under no circumstances, should a references ever include a un-bracketed "bare" url. In other words, references on a CZ article's edit page should never be formatted like this:



which would produce this undesirable reference format in the references list at the bottom of a CZ article's main page:


 * 1. ↑ http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf/brochures/gasoline/index.html Where Does My Gasoline Come from?

Take the time to correctly format references to online website pages.

Summary
This article is based on "boiling down" the many other CZ "help", "how to" and "style" articles containing guidance on how to format and use references or citations (not all of which are inter-consistent) into one single, coherent article devoted completely to explaining how to format references. It is also based on a great deal of experience in formatting references for CZ and other Wiki articles.