User:AmandaRR123/citation

Citation option one
Type your sentence and add the reference where needed, in between ref tags:. You can just type in the reference by hand, or use advanced and more precise wikicode via the "Cite" button at the top of the edit window. Pick the template closest to your source.

When you are citing a source multiple times, give it a name. Look in the tag -- I've given it a name, "fakeTimes".

Whenever I want to cite this source again, I just use  rather than typing the whole thing out. Plus, the reference is then give only one line in the References list at the end, rather than duplicate entries for each use. Example here:

Then, at the end of the article, add the special code  to make a bibliography at the end. Like below.

Citation option two
This is the most precise method, allowing you to give references to specific page numbers. Even though it requires a little more wiki-formatting up front to place all the information in a Template:Citation, it can be easier to use in the long term because it'll format the citation for you and you make updates and edits to the full citations at the end of the article, rather than having to find them in-text. Most Featured Articles use some version of this style. For example: read this book on this particular page.

Working with archival sources
With info from this excellent guide by Purdue University Libraries.

The basic rule is: make your citation as precise as possible. Don't cite the entire collection, but rather the piece within the collection. The general format is:

If you are using the finding aid, cite the author, date, and title of finding aid, not the entire special collection. If the finding aid is online, provide a link.

Another example.

If you are using a publication within the collection, site the author, date, and title, not the entire special collection.

Even if you don't have an author or date, you probably have a title for that piece. Cite the title, not the entire special collection.