User:Milton Beychok/Sandbox

Valid references

A reference must be accurate, that is it must prove the statement in the text. To validate "Mike Brown climbed Everest", it's no good referencing to a publication about Mount Everest, if Mike Brown isn't mentioned, nor to one about 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, credible source], such as published books, mainstream press, and authorized web sites. Blogs, MySpace, YouTube, fan sites and extreme minority texts are not usually acceptable, nor are your own unpublished, essay or research, Wikipedia articles, or another Citizendium article.

Inserting references or footnotes

Inline (embedded) references (footnotes).

Single citation of a reference or footnote

At the point of citation in the article, enter the footnote or reference like this:

<ref>Excel For Dummies, First Edition, Hungry Minds, Inc., 1980.</ref>

You can include formatting and links in the footnote or reference in the usual way. The reference will become visible in the <references/> list at the bottom, if there is one.

Creating the list of References or Footnotes

At the point where you want the text of the footnotes or references to appear (usually at the end of the article in a Notes or References section), insert the tag:

<references/>

The template {{Reflist}} is an alternative, mostly used if there are many footnotes.

Multiple citations of the same reference or footnote

Template:Shortcut To cite the same reference or footnote several times, identify it using the name parameter of the <ref> tag.

At one of the citation points (it makes sense to choose the first), enter the reference like this:

<ref name="Perry">Perry's Handbook, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill Co., 1984.</ref>

Then at all the other citation points, just enter:

<ref name="Perry"/>

You are free to pick any footnote name, subject to a few rules. The footnote name is internal and will not be displayed anywhere when the page is viewed. Footnote names are case sensitive and may not be a numeric integer. The quotes are optional unless the name or group includes a space, punctuation or other mark. Names and groups should be kept simple and restricted to the standard English alphabet and numerals.

Using templates to insert reference text

A number of templates, such as a generic {{citation}}, or more specific {{cite book}}, {{cite web}}, etc., are available to format the text between <ref> and </ref> tags in a more structured way. These are described at Wikipedia:Citation templates. Their use is optional: they do aid with consistent formatting, but on the other hand they can make editing more cumbersome.