Reference Tutorial

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Here's a statement.<ref>Reference text</ref>

References on our accessibility page

References are used to cite sources. Readers can click them to see sources of information. In the text, a reference is identified by number, and people can scroll down to view details near the bottom of the page. References are different from pop-ups and tooltips.

References are useful for several reasons:

• They show readers that an article is well-researched.
• They help readers find other sites where they can learn more about a topic.
• They let writers paraphrase or quote other sources without plagiarizing.

While some wikis rarely or never use references, others use them a lot.

How to add references

So maybe you're working on an article and you're also doing research to make sure your claims are true. (That's awesome.) You're making a sensible claim and you want to cite a source that backs you up. Here's how to do it in the visual editor and in source mode.

Visual editor

To add a reference:

1. Edit the page in the visual editor.
2. Place your cursor at the end of a sentence or phrase where you want the citation to go.
3. Along the top bar, find the "Cite" option. From the dropdown, pick "New reference."
   • That "Re-use reference" option can be useful if you want to cite the same thing more than once. Keep that in mind for the future!
4. Type or paste the thing you're citing into the dialog box. For example, perhaps it's a link to a website you read. Format it as you'd like.
5. When you're done, hit "Insert."
6. Your citation will appear. It will be surrounded by square brackets and have a number in it. Here's an example.

To edit your reference, just click on it and hit "Edit" from the pop-up.

You may need to give the page a "References" section if one doesn't exist already. If you need to add one, here's how.

1. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
2. Add a new heading. Type "References."
3. Hit "Enter" to create a new line below the heading.
4. In the top bar, go to the "Insert" dropdown. Hit the "More" option to make more options appear. The first new option is "References list." Add it.
5. A list of your references will auto-populate below the heading. You did it!

Source mode

1. Edit the page in source editor.
2. Place your cursor at the end of a sentence or phrase where you want the citation to go.
3. Type opening and closing ref tags: <ref></ref>
4. Between the ref tags, type or past the thing you're citing (e.g. a link).
5. Preview it to make sure it looks good.

You may need to add a "References" section if one doesn't exist already. If you need to add one, here's how.

1. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
2. Add a "References" heading: ==References==
3. On the line below it, type <references/>
4. Preview it to make sure it looks good.

Here's an example of how your code might look when you're done:

Writing code is cool.<ref>Because I said so.</ref>

==References==
<references/>

Giving your reference a name

You can re-use the same reference more than once. This involves naming it.

In the visual editor, it's simple. You can go to "Cite > Re-use reference" or just copy-paste the reference itself. (It will auto-assign a name for you.)

In source mode, you can give your reference a name yourself. Then, you can re-use it by invoking its name. Here's how that would look:

I'll cite it once<ref name="a">Reference A</ref> and I'll cite it again!<ref name="a"/>

And the result is:

I'll cite it once and I'll cite it again!

Notice how:

• The name="a" part goes inside the opening <ref> tag.
• When the reference is re-used, the tag is self-closing, with a / inside. The / symbol is very important. If you forget it, it'll try to turn the rest of your article into a reference, and you'll get a big mess!

Best practices

Good references are clear and easy to understand. They also follow the norms and rules of whatever wiki you're working on.

Being clear

Sometimes, a URL isn't enough to tell you what a citation is about. For example, this reference doesn't tell us much:

<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56HJQm5nb0U</ref>

That's a plain YouTube link. It gives you no idea what to expect when you click it. Mystery links can make readers uneasy, so let's add some info.

<ref>mt_xing from Cornell University. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56HJQm5nb0U Can AI Pass Freshman CS?], YouTube (1 hr 6 min)</ref>

Now we know the creator's YouTube handle and university, the video title, the website name, and even the video length. People are way more likely to check out the video now!

Following a wiki's norms

How often you use references depends on the wiki and the article. For example, the Coding Help Wiki usually cites 0-5 sources per article (though we have exceptions, like our accessibility article). Meanwhile, research-heavier wikis like the Autism Living Wiki may rely heavily on citations, sometimes with dozens or even over 100 per article! Notice what's normal on the wiki you're editing and do that.

Some wikis ask you to use a specific format. For example, "Last name, First name. Title of article with link, Website Name." Other wikis have no guidelines on format. Follow a wiki's style guide if there is one.

See also

• Headers
• Tables
• Templates

External links

• Help:Cite at Community Central