User:Vanished user 392817/Adoption/References

Wikipedia, to me, is one of the best tools for learning/practicing citation format. There are two main styles of references on Wikipedia: "quick and dirty" or the supurb MLA.

Quick
I do not recommend this for permanent use. This is for when you are starting an article or putting in a reference, but do not have enough time to use MLA format. Please please please come back to it later because, as we should all know, it looks much nicer in MLA (whether you like it or not (and I know I don't)). To use this quick and relatively efficient way do the following:


 * 1) Copy and paste the address of the website you wish to cite after the place you have cited it.
 * 2) Make this an [external link]
 * 3) Put around the link.
 * 4) If for some reason there is not a references section, create a references section (at the bottom of the page before see also or external links (if there is a section called that) and after the last section of the article itself).
 * 5) Place the template  in that section (nothing else).
 * 6) Run to wherever you need to go.

MLA
Although MLA should sound like a lot of work, there is a shortcut! Your "My Preferences" (at the top of the screen) offers "Gadgets" and, one of them is "refTools". Check it. Then when you are in edit mode, a button with "CITE" in it will appear at the right of your toolbar. Hooray! Now you don't have to pull out your MLA Handbook! Upon clicking the CITE gadget, a lovely row of buttons asking to be clicked appears. Click whichever one applies, and a set of absolutely fantastical 'fill in the boxes' appear! After filling out these boxes, all one must do is put the flashing | at the end of the information cited and thereafter click "Add Citation".

In summary, the procedure, while in edit mode, to improve a hasty citation to the most superb, MLA style is to Now do this procedure (if it applies!!!), and viola!, you have a well referenced article!
 * 1) Click the CITE button.
 * 2) Choose the resulting offerings on your screen.
 * 3) Drag the flashing "|" symbol to the article's reference location.
 * 4) Click "Add Citation".

I wish citing essays (MLA required) were as easy as citing Wikipedia articles...

When, Who, and What to Source
Cite a source right after new info is revealed. It could pertain to an entire paragraph, a sentence, or a fragment. You may want site a particularly valuable sources many times. The shortcut for this is to simply replace with then use to make a subsequent cite. Validity of information is key to research. Wikipedia is a research tool, as you have probably been confronted with before.

What to Reference

 * Published Book
 * A website which carries it's own validity (ex. NASA, CIA...)
 * A website written by a person with a degree in that particular subject
 * A newspaper
 * A magazine
 * A television show†
 * A documentary
 * A recorded and published lecture by a professor with a degree in that subject

What Not to Reference

 * Yourself
 * Your Friend
 * A blog†
 * A spoof website
 * Wikipedia†
 * A website run by the company the article is about†

†
Special Terms
 * 1) A Television Show
 * 2) If the television show is a commentary on a subject, do not reference it in an article unless it is the article about the show in which case you are explaining the "feel" of the television show.
 * 3) A Blog
 * 4) This is not Wikipedia rules this is how I handle blogs. If a blog is written by a Person with a major degree in the subject, is not a commentary, and you can prove that this person has that degree, then it is a perfectly reasonable reference. Be warned: Use this in situations where there are few sources, as I did in Neutralizing antibody, and be prepared to explain and show evidence as to the validity of the source!!!!!
 * 5) Wikipedia
 * 6) Simple: an encyclopedia which sites itself is not an encyclopedia. You may use the same sources as other articles, but not the articles themselves.

The Task
Find three articles with quick references and change them to MLA format (using the tool above) If there are multiple ones in a single article please show those too (you will receive a gift depending on amount). Give me an external link to the page so I can make sure you did it. Please use the same format as before and sign for each answer.

Wedgiey1
Just saw you wanted 3 articles. I'll do the other 2 later.

The page I fixed was Conway, Arkansas. You can see the changes here. There were several 'quick' references that I went through and did as best as I could with the 'cite' tool. I was unclear what was being asked for some of the fields, like 'works'. Also, what do you want external links to? The references?

Let me know if this is what you were looking for.

Wedgiey1 (talk) 16:37, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

''I apologize for the unfortunately brief explanation of the answers. I wanted a link the the article, not the site being referenced. However since all of your edits were to one article you're cool. Just remember that in case I forget later =D.'' Marx01  Tell me about it 02:38, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Cool! Can I do a few more for the "gift" you referred to?  BTW, I love these 'at-a-boys' you give out. :)
 * As you know, being a college graduate, the weight of an essay is greater than the weight of a homework assignment (in most cases). However, since you show great enthusiasm in the area I will allow you to make it up for 15-20 more. I apologize for the large quantity, but I drill referencing because it improves the validity of Wikipedia as an encyclopedia. This gift is also large in quantity, so your work would be well worth it. Marx01  Tell me about it 02:12, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
 * P.S. for the essay it does not have to be long and it is your opinion on the topics which means that if your skim every important section in the article you'd be fine. Just letting you know. Marx01  Tell me about it

Matthew Desjardins
Sorry for not being able to do this before now. Just haven't been able to do much last week.

(I had to add a lot of false spaces in the cite web links just to make sure they would wrap onto the next line. But in the actual citation I didn't put any, that was just here for formatting reasons...) -- Matthew  Desjardins  23:40, 11 September 2009 (UTC)