User:Dr.Rivers

Here we go. Interesting to see how the Wiki editorial "ecosystem" has evolved over the years. Very cool. I will be working to encourage scientific accuracy in the wiki pages related to river ecosystems and watershed processes. I also work a bit in policy analysis and the regulatory environment related to these subjects. A little behind on the wiki-editing techno situation, so will be playing catch up for a bit.

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sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes ( ~ ); If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place  before the question. --MONGO 13:59, 28 March 2014 (UTC)
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Yikes, your citation templates at Oso are terrible! Okay, I am here to help. How much do you want to start with? ~ J. Johnson (JJ) (talk) 23:05, 31 March 2014 (UTC)

Yes, not pretty. I use Zotero as a citation manager, and they set up the template so it is "easy to read" so if you have recommendation for changing the template in that program fire away, otherwise I can waade through the user manual. If you have another program, that is fine too, but it would be helpful it it can import Endnote citations (and if it is free!). -- Dr.Rivers (talk) 01:04, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

PS. I am following the recommended format described in the wiki page below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources_with_Zotero -- Dr.Rivers (talk) 05:07, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

The template illustrated at WP::Citing_sources_with_Zotero is just an illustration of a result. Unfortunately, it is an extremely poor example of a template. Please ignore it! I am going to give you a copy of my standard boiler-plate.

I don't know how you are using Zotero, but in your results (though I can't see how much of this is "Forestrystudent") I see two MAJOR kinds of problems. First, some of the templates have data values lacking any parameter to assign them to. In the and  templates, every argument (separated by the vertical bars) should be of the form "parameter = datum". I suspect this lack may be due to how Zotero is set up.

Second MAJOR problem: inappropriate assignment. Typically assignment of "NPR", "KUOW", or "Seattle Times", which are publishers, as the "last" name of an author. (Again, possibly FS, but still needs fixing.) Also, use of "coauthors=" (deprecated), and particularly cramming multiple authors into one parameter. Similarly, cramming "title=" with other data. If these result from Zotero it is likely due to misassignment of the data at the start.

Now it needs to be noted that citation is a very emotional topic at Wikipedia, with many styles, and many passionate advocates; it is wise not to argue about it. I will hazard to recommend the following.

For full citations use templates (vs.  templates). It quickly becomes both tedious and difficult to have more than one full citation of a source. To "re-use" a citation use the family of templates to create short cites. (Such as "Miller,1999".) Formatting per the sample. (Which I may explain later.)

Here's my standard form, which I modify as needed. Note that "journal=" can be replaced by "newspaper=".

[show]Suggested standard citation form

A couple of other comments. Many of these sources do have authors, which should be included. (Their names parsed into "firstx" and "lastx", of course.) Benda et al. 1988 is not acceptable here, as it is unpublished. And when citing a story that originates from the Seattle Times the original url should be used, not that of an aggregator.

Enough for now. ~ J. Johnson (JJ) (talk) 21:52, 2 April 2014 (UTC)