User talk:Sean.fletcher
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Guide to referencing
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Using references (citations) |
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I thought you might find it useful to have some information about references (refs) on wikipedia. These are important to validate your writing and inform the reader. Any editor can remove unreferenced material; and unsubstantiated articles may end up getting deleted, so when you add something to an article, it's highly advisable to also include a reference to say where it came from. Referencing may look daunting, but it's easy enough to do. Here's a guide to getting started. If you need any assistance, let me know. -- Ty 22:22, 7 September 2008 (UTC)
A reference must be accurate, i.e. it must prove the statement in the text. To validate "Mike Brown climbed Everest", it's no good linking to a page about Everest, if Mike Brown isn't mentioned, nor to one on Mike Brown, if it doesn't say that he climbed Everest. You have to link to a source that proves his achievement is true. You must use reliable sources, such as published books, mainstream press, and authorised web sites. Blogs, Myspace, Youtube, fan sites and extreme minority texts are not usually acceptable, nor is original research (e.g. your own unpublished, or self-published, essay or research), or another wikipedia article.
The first thing you have to do is to create a "Notes and references" section (unless it already exists). This goes towards the bottom of the page, below the "See also" section and above the "External links" section. Enter this code:
The next step is to put a reference in the text. Here is the code to do that. It goes at the end of the relevant term, phrase, sentence, or paragraph to which the note refers, and after punctuation such as a full stop, without a space (to prevent separation through line wrap):
Whatever text you put in between these two tags will become visible in the "Notes and references" section as your reference.
Open the edit box for this page, copy the following text (inserting your own text where indicated), paste it at the bottom of the page and save the page:
(End of text to copy and paste.) It should appear like this:
You need to include the information to enable the reader to find your source. For an online newspaper source, it might look like this:
When uploaded, it appears as:
Note the single square brackets around the URL and the article title. The format is:
Make sure there is a space between the URL and the Title. This code results in the URL being hidden and the title showing as a link. Use double apostrophes for the article title (it is quoted text), and two single quote marks either side of the name of the paper (to generate italics). Double square brackets round the name of the paper create an internal link (a wikilink) to the relevant wikipedia article. Apostrophes must go outside the brackets. The date after The Guardian is the date of the newspaper, and the date after "Retrieved on" is the date you accessed the site – useful for searching the web archive in case the link goes dead. Dates are wikilinked so that they work with user preference settings to display the date in the format the user wishes.
You can use sources which are not online, but which you have found in a library or elsewhere—in which case leave out the information which is not relevant. The newspaper example above would be formatted like this:
When uploaded, it appears as:
Here is an example for a book:
When uploaded, it appears as:
Make sure you put two single quote marks round the title (to generate italics), rather than one double quote mark.
These formats are all acceptable for dates:
You may prefer to use a citation template to compile details of the source. The template goes between the ref tags and you fill out the fields you wish to. Basic templates can be found here: Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles/Citation quick reference
The first time a reference appears in the article, you can give it a simple name in the <ref> code:
The second time you use the same reference in the article, you need only to create a short cut instead of typing it all out again:
You can then use the short cut as many times as you want. Don't forget the /, or it will blank the rest of the article! Some symbols don't work in the ref name, but you'll find out if you use them. You can see multiple use of the same refs in action in the article William Bowyer (artist). There are 3 sources and they are each referenced 3 times. Each statement in the article has a footnote to show what its source is.
The above method is simple and combines references and notes into one section. A refinement is to put the full details of the references in their own section headed "References", while the notes which apply to them appear in a separate section headed "Notes". The notes can be inserted in the main article text in an abbreviated form as seen in Harriet Arbuthnot or in a full form as in Brown Dog affair.
More information can be found at: |
May 2008
[edit]NPOV dispute [- Background]
Sean,
There are no reference pages for my teachers and it makes you look a lot more important that me. I am assuming that this wasn’t your intention, thus I’D LIKE YOU TO REMOVE THE LINKS TO OUR PROFESSORS. Also, I AM DISPUTING THE FACT THAT YOU STUDIED WITH GEOFFREY HENDRICKS. If you did, you certainly never told me.
--IsabelReichert (talk) 18:39, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
NPOV dispute [- Bait/Death and Taxes, Inc]
I have to wholeheartedly disagree on point you raised while describing Bait, in particular the part where you talk about the “historic period of irrational exuberance”. Similarly, in Death and Taxes, you comment about us and “continuing to justify our unprofitable artwork to the IRS”.
--IsabelReichert (talk) 18:39, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
If you have a close connection to some of the people, places or things you have written about on Wikipedia, you may have a conflict of interest. In keeping with Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy, edits where there is a conflict of interest, or where such a conflict might reasonably be inferred from the tone of the edit and the proximity of the editor to the subject, are strongly discouraged. If you have a conflict of interest, you should avoid or exercise great caution when:
- editing articles related to you, your organization, or its competitors, as well as projects and products they are involved with;
- participating in deletion discussions about articles related to your organization or its competitors;
- linking to the Wikipedia article or website of your organization in other articles (see Wikipedia:Spam);
- and you must always:
- avoid breaching relevant policies and guidelines, especially neutral point of view, verifiability, and autobiography.
For information on how to contribute to Wikipedia when you have conflict of interest, please see Wikipedia:Business' FAQ. For more details about what constitutes a conflict of interest, please see Wikipedia:Conflict of Interest. Thank you. freshacconcispeaktome 10:43, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
Line breaks
[edit]There is no need to use <br>. Just leave a line blank. Ty 02:17, 31 August 2008 (UTC)
The only way you will be able to contribute to wikipedia is by playing it straight down the line, following all the policies. If there is any personal project attendant on this, then it will have to happen by default, because any overt appearance of it will be stopped as an abuse of editing privileges. The fact that you appear to be editing separately from each other is a point in your favour, as it is an indication that you are attempting to evaluate the proper interpretation of sources, rather than a collusion merely for self-promotion. However, there is an appearance of contrived argument, rather than a genuine need for it.
Wikipedia articles are derived from published secondary sources per WP:V which must be reliable ones (WP:RS). Then they should be referenced (see guide above) and used in a neutral way (WP:NPOV) without personal knowledge, views or interpretation: this is WP:OR - original research - and forbidden.
I suggest you study the policies carefully and use references accurately. You might like to edit some other articles to get the hang of things. You should make sure that you do so as two separate individuals (which seems to be your aim anyway), but not making a point of this and using wiki as a stage.
You might like to release some images under the GFDL licence. See User_talk:VAwebteam#GFDL. In this case, it would be advisable to register as the official representative by contacting the Foundation. See here. You will then get an OTRS number to validate your status. This is not mandatory, but it does prevent anyone challenging your right to upload the images. These must of course be ones that you own the copyright to.
You will find that arts editors are helpful, provided that you show you want to work within wiki protocols. Misuse will mean restrictions on editing.
Ty 22:22, 7 September 2008 (UTC)
- Work on the article. References need to be formatted properly. Some external links should be used as a source of material and then employed as references, not in the EL section. Check out some featured articles for models (NB you will notice there is some variation on systems employed for referencing). Suggestion for your project: become model wikipedia editors! Ty 22:36, 7 September 2008 (UTC)
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WikiProject Visual arts
You are welcome to join WikiProject Visual arts, a collaboration between like-minded Wikipedians in order to improve visual arts coverage.
Talk pages
[edit]New posts go under the post they're replying to. See WP:TPG for more on talk pages. Ty 00:17, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
We're recruiting art lovers!
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Hi! I'm the Wikipedian In Residence at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art and I'm recruiting Wikipedians who are passionate about art to participate in furthering art coverage on Wikipedia. I am planning contests and projects that will allow you access, no matter where you live, to the world's largest collection of archives related to American art. Please sign up to participate here, and I look forward to working with you! SarahStierch (talk) 00:14, 13 June 2011 (UTC) |