Wikipedia:Training/For educators/Citing sources
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Citing your sources
This is how to create citations manually on Wikipedia in order to cite appropriate sources.
Any editor can challenge unreferenced material by adding a {{fact}} tag which adds the famous [citation needed] tag. Editors are encouraged to remove unreferenced contentious material on sight. Wikipedia no longer accepts new articles on living people unless they are referenced, and other unsubstantiated articles often end up getting deleted. So when you add information to an article, be sure to include your references, preferably in the form of inline citations. Citations allow other editors and readers to verify the information.
To add an inline citation to an article, follow these steps:
- Check that the bottom of the page has a "References" section. If not, type:
==References== - Check that the References section either has the text
{{reflist}}or<references />. If not, type:{{reflist}}. This determines where your references will appear on the page. - Now click after the text you would like to create a reference for.
- Now type in
<ref>tag before your reference and type</ref>after your reference. Wiki software will automatically add your inline reference number.
You can also use the Cite gadget, described on the next page, to insert the <ref> tags and citation details.
As you do with other research projects, you will want to discuss with your students where to find an acceptable, trustworthy and authoritative source.
