User:GroveGuy/Citations

my learning about citations. WP:CITE Also, WP:WCC, backlog WP:GBD

The second pillar of Wikipedia is that articles should give a balanced view and that "facts" must be supported by verifiable citations. This sounds sensible to me. It is just like writing a term paper in high school.

The first problem I came across is that some articles have a real mishmash of citation styles. [put an example here]. The article on Pan American World Airways uses a weird style. What style is best? WP:CITE describes two types: inline citations (WP:INCITE) and then shortened footnotes (WP:CITESHORT). The first seems to clog up the text, so I prefer the second style. I came across the article "Economy of the Han Dynasty". It is a featured article - meaning everybody agrees it is a good article. It uses WP:CITESHORT modified by Harvard. References can be written either with templates or freehand. So, I think I'll use "Shortened notes with references using templates". See: WP:CITEX for examples.

WP:CITECONSENSUS says that subsequent editors shouldn't change the style used by the originating editor. Problems.
 * Wikipedia:Link rot. Don't like to link to Miami Herald articles. They tend to disappear. But see WP:Link rot.
 * Some links take you to a place where you find registration or a payment is necessary; examples are Time Magazine or the New York Times. Wikipedia says that sites that require registration or payment should be avoided: WP:ELREG