User:Davidruben/Sandbox#WP:Cite:Ref

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WP:Cite:Ref

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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Footnotes#Explanation_too_difficult_.3F Footnotes#Explanation too difficult ?] for comments about my alternative description).

Cite:ref - the preferred wikipedia Reference-Footnote system

At the appropriate point within the main article place details of a citation within 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 tag.

Hence for each citation within the main article text, use details (see later for description of how to format the citation's details).
One may optionally give the citation a name, i.e. details . This has the advantage of allowing duplicate citing of the same source later in the article by using:

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:

width=100% style="border:solid 2px #338"

|width="90%" bgcolor=#ffeeff style="padding:.5em"|

This theory was finally proven by Professor Smith in 1926.<ref name="Smith">Smith A, "Proof of Theory X" Journal Scientifica 1926 12:101-121></ref>

Others have later questioned this and the absence of issue Z,Jones B, "Arguements against Theory X" Journal Skeptica 2002 42:13-16

however this missed the point that Professor Smith had already discounted this idea in his original paper.

== Notes ==

== References ==

* Fred B, "History of Theory X debates"Theory Journal 19:312-317

Will appear as:

{|width=100% style="border:solid 2px #338"

|width="90%" bgcolor=#eeffff style="padding:.5em"|

This theory was finally proven by Professor Smith in 1926.Smith A, "Proof of Theory X" Journal Scientifica 1926 12:101-121

Others have later questioned this and the absence of issue Z,Jones B, "Arguements against Theory X" Journal Skeptica 2002 42:13-16

however this missed the point that Professor Smith had already discounted this idea in his original paper.

Notes

References

Fred B, "History of Theory X debates" Theory Journal 19:312-317

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 would have been a better name in the above example, rather than just .

Details of citation - use of assisting templates

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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Citation_templates 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 | 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 [http://diberri.dyndns.org/pubmed.html 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). "[http://www.example.org/SmithX.doc Proof of Theory X]".(DOC) Journal Scientifica 12: 101-121. {{PMID|1234567}}.

:{{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 | author = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | url = | title = | format = | work = | publisher = | accessdate or accessyear = }}

:where url, title and either accessdate or accessyear are required.