A core principle of Wikipedia is WP:Verifiability: "All content must be verifiable.
" This requires citation. You need to identify each reliable source you use and the page number (etc) where the relevant content is found. A common mistake is to write desired text and then look for something to back it up. Instead, find the page number in a quality reliable source, and then decide what to write, including the citation. Learning citation formatting is sometimes challenging and we understand mistakes will be made. The important thing is to make an honest effort, boldly, and be willing to learn if you err. Thanks for trying to improve the article based on what you found in reliable sources!
On the other hand, verification is very difficult after editors are careless or add haphazard formatting. Therefore, editors at this page have agreed to follow the standards below. Per WP:CITEVAR we ask new editors at this page to follow suit. If you have questions or need assistance, please ask on the Talk page.
- The following citation standards have been established for this artcle:
- Full citations
- a: Every source to have exactly one full citation with full bibliographic details.
- b: "Full bibliographic details" requires attribution of authorship, date, and title.
- c: Full citations are put in the "Sources" section (not in the text, not in <ref> tags).
- d: For consistent formatting, templates are used for full citations.
- e: Full citations to be formated as Wikipedia "CS1" style. Use {{cite xxx}} templates, or
{{citation}}with|mode=cs1.- f: Full citations for sources contained in a work (such as separately written chapters in a report) need not include the details of the work if they include a link to a full citation for the work.
- g: Citation of IPCC reports should be done as recommended at WP:IPCC citation.
- h: Full citations of newspapers and similar periodicals (but not journals) should be listed chronologically under the publisher.
- i: Dates in DMY format
- j: Multiple authors: only the first four are listed. If more than four set "
|display-authors=" to 4, or list only four and use "|display-authors=" to etal- k: For human authors and editors, use
|last=and|first=or equivalent separate name parameters, not|author=or|editor=. Use|author=for group or institutional authors.- l: Initialization, or not, of authors' personal names per source.
- Short-cites
- m: In-line citation of content to be done with short-cites (such as done with {{harvnb}} templates or similar).
- n: In-line citations should show location (e.g., page or section number) of cited material within the source.
- o: Short-cites for IPCC reports should be as recommended at WP:IPCC citation.
- p: Short-cites for periodical articles (including non-peer-reviewed news articles in journals) may use an identifier that combines the publication's name and date. (See examples.)
- Notes
- q: In-line citations and explanations are usually placed in notes (created using the
<ref>...</ref>tags).- r: We don't use the {{rp}} template, which inserts a number directly into the main text.
- s: All notes, including {{Reflist}}, should appear in the "Notes" section.
- t: All of the in-line citations and explanations applicable to a given point in the text should be bundled into a single note.
New editors are strongly encouraged to learn the citation guidelines above, and all editors are asked to convert any nonconforming citations to these standards.