Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check/Guidelines

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WikiProject Fact and Reference Check WikiProject Fact and Reference Check Main / Talk Resources Main / talk Guidelines Main / talk Open Tasks Main / talk Participants Main / talk

---

Contents 1 Tagging Articles/Facts/References for Fact and Reference Checks 1.1 Articles with no references 1.2 Articles based on a single resource 1.3 Articles with partial or incomplete 1.4 Articles with questionable resources 1.5 Articles with statements that lack references 2 How to Create References 2.1 Referencing 2.2 Style 2.3 Searching and referencing books via Google Book Search

[edit] Tagging Articles/Facts/References for Fact and Reference Checks

[edit] Articles with no references

For a Wikipedia article that has no citations add the template {{unreferenced}} to the beginning of the article to flag it for review and addition of citations. This will automatically add the article to Category:Articles lacking sources.

[edit] Articles based on a single resource

If the article has only one reference or external link (that is related to the article content) use {{One source}} to put the article in Category:Articles lacking sources

[edit] Articles with partial or incomplete

For a Wikipedia article that has partial sources, add the templates {{Refimprove}} or {{Primary sources}}. This will automatically add the article to Category:Articles needing additional references or Category:Articles lacking reliable references.

[edit] Articles with questionable resources

For a Wikipedia article that has questionable resources, add the templates {{Verify source}} or {{Verify credibility}} to put the article in to Category:Wikipedia articles needing factual verification.

[edit] Articles with statements that lack references

For a Wikipedia article with small numbers of statements lacking references, add the template {{Citation needed}} or {{Citations missing}}. This will automatically add the article to Category:Articles with unsourced statements.

• Other maintenance templates are available at Category:Citation and verifiability maintenance templates.

[edit] How to Create References

[edit] Referencing

1. Type <ref>(My footnote text)</ref> where you would like the footnote number to appear.
2. Add a "Notes", "References", or "Notes and references" section at the bottom of the article, if one does not already exist. In that section, simply adding "<references/>" or "{{reflist}}" will automatically generate the list of footnotes.

For a more detailed explanation, see Help:Footnotes. Please note that footnotes should generally be placed after the punctuation.

[edit] Style

Within a given article, please use a consistent style of referencing that is appropriate for the topic and the sources used. If an article already has numerous citations when you begin working on it, try to agree with the format already in place. There are templates to assist with formatting: see Wikipedia:Citation templates.

[edit] Searching and referencing books via Google Book Search

Google Book Search gives us the veracity of published books, and the convenience of online sources. It is available to search at http://books.google.com . For example, to search for mentions of Michael Ledeen in printed books, use the following Google search: "Michael Ledeen" on google books. You should find scanned pages from the book.

When you find books on Google Books, don't link directly to that page. Instead, include a standard reference (author, title, ISBN) in the usual book format.

Also, you could use the {{findsources}} template, for example, {{findsources|Michael Ledeen}} produces Find sources: "Michael Ledeen" – news · books · scholar · images.