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The easiest way to start citing on Wikipedia is to see a basic example. The example here will show you how to cite a newspaper article using the {} template (see Citation quick reference for other types of citations). Copy and paste the following immediately after what you want to reference:
Wikipedia:Improving referencing efforts – essay on why references are important; Wikipedia:Citation templates – a full listing of various styles for citing all sorts of materials; Wikipedia:Citing sources/Example edits for different methods – showing comparative edit mode representations for different citation methods and techniques
The word "source" in Wikipedia has three meanings: the work itself (for example, a document, article, paper, or book), the creator of the work (for example, the writer), and the publisher of the work (for example, Cambridge University Press). All three can affect reliability.
For a citation to appear in a footnote, it needs to be enclosed in "ref" tags. You can add these by typing <ref> at the front of the citation and </ref> at the end. . Alternatively you may notice above the edit box there is a row of "markup" formatting buttons which include a <ref></ref> button to the right—if you highlight your whole citation and then click this markup button, it will ...
Wiki markup quick reference – a one-page quick reference (included in the Welcome to Wikipedia brochure) to help you remember the most frequently used wiki markup codes. References – explains why references are important, what the expectations for sourcing on Wikipedia are, where to place references, and the basics of adding "ref" tags.
Footnotes with list-defined references Shortened footnotes Citations can also be placed as external links , but these are not preferred because they are prone to link rot and usually lack the full information necessary to find the original source in cases of link rot.
When editing, you'll see your reference next to the text; but after saving, readers will only see a reference number there; your reference should appear below. Good luck! If you get a warning about a missing "References" section at the end of the page, just add it:
Named references. The above example makes use of "named references." This is when the reference is given an identifying name, a marker of sorts, so that the identifying name can be used in place of typing out the reference. This tells the wiki when the same reference is used, so that it will appear only once in the references section.