Fossil Wiki:Sourcing

This page is a style guide, describing how to create citations in articles. Fossil Wiki uses a slightly modified version of the The MLA Style Manual. For questions relating to the MLA Style, please refer to this manual.

Attribution, which is a policy on Fossil Wiki, mandates the provision of sources. Attribution is required for direct quotes, along with practically all other material. As Duty & Valour does not accept original ideas or fan theories, all writing should be based on reliable sources, and therefore be referenced. Any material that is challenged and for which no source is provided may be removed by any editor. For information about the importance of using good sources in biographies of living persons, see Fossil Wiki:Biographies of living persons.

If you do not know how to format the citation, provide as much information as you can, and others may fix it for you.

Why sources should be cited

 * To credit a source for providing useful information and to avoid claims of plagiarism.
 * To show that your edit is not original research.
 * To ensure that the content of articles is credible and can be checked by any reader or editor.
 * To help users find additional reliable information on the topic.
 * To improve the overall credibility and authoritative character of Fossil Wiki.
 * To reduce the likelihood of editorial disputes, or to resolve any that arise.

Note: Fossil Wiki and other wiki-based articles and categories cannot be used as sources.

How to reference articles

 * PLEASE copy and paste the relevant code(s) below and insert your source's corresponding information as required!
 * For the sourcing style below, it is acceptable, though not required, to list the page numbers where you got your information from. If listing the page number, please do so after the published date of your source (example: 1966. 456-458.)

Single insertion of a reference
For the single insertion of a reference, the "name" parameter is not needed. On the Edit page, this is placed at the insertion point of citation.




 * To see this reference code reproduced like it would be in an article, click these →  By clicking [1], you will see how the reference code reproduces in an article for essays, etc. as well as the work that that essay appears in. By clicking [2], you will see how the reference code reproduces in an article for books, etc. By clicking [3], you will see how the reference code reproduces in an article with the page numbers at the end.
 * For citations of essays or articles, remember to use quotation marks to enclose the title. For titles of books, periodicals, etc. please use the wiki-code '' to enclose the article, thus italicizing it.
 * If citing the page number(s) for information, please scroll up one paragraph and re-read that part.

Multiple insertion of the same reference
On the Edit page, this is placed at the first insertion point of citation:



This is placed at the second and all subsequent insertion points of citation:
 * If citing the page number(s) for information, please scroll up one paragraph and re-read that part.

Producing the reference list
Most importantly, add the following code at the end of the article, but before the "See also" and "External links" sections. This code will automatically display the reference list, showing nearly everything tagged with ref tags.

Long reference lists
For reference lists with fifteen or more different references, include the  tag in a scroll box.

Rules
This list only includes the basics for the rules. For more details, please follow the footnotes provided.
 * 1) Do not reference the introductory paragraph(s).
 * 2) References go immediately after punctuation and outside of quotation marks, with no space between the end of a sentence and a reference tag.
 * 3) When naming references with, use the full source name, or a distinct abbreviation of the source's name in some consistent fashion.
 * 4) Italicize references where appropriate, as with book titles, etc.
 * 5) References are absolutely, beyond a doubt, bet your life on it, required in all infoboxes for 99% of information.
 * 6) Use the Ref template when sourcing infobox information.

More information

 * The pipe trick does not work when enclosing between "ref" tags.  renders in the references list (generated by the tag) as:
 * ↑ Saladin (novel)\


 * Reference tags do not work inside of transcluded templates. See Cite.php for more information.


 * References cannot be nested.


 * In addition, you can read Wikipedia's policy at Wikipedia:Citing sources. While not all the rules are the same, most of the basics are explained in more detail on Wikipedia. Wikipedia:Footnotes explains more of the "how to" and technical aspects of sourcing.