User:Vassyana/insanity/Reliable sources x01


 * diff

Articles rely on published, reliable, third-party sources with a reputation for accuracy. Sources should be appropriate to the claims made. The appropriateness of any source depends on the context, which is a matter of editorial judgment and common sense.

This guideline is an extension of Wikipedia:Verifiability, and should be updated to reflect consensus of that policy.

Scholarship
Many articles rely upon source material created by scientists, scholars, and researchers. This is usually considered reliable, although some material may be outdated by more recent research, or controversial because of alternative theories. Wikipedia articles strive to cover all major and significant-minority interpretations on topics for which scholarly sources exist, plus all major and significant-minority views that have been published in other reliable sources as appropriate.

Material published in peer-reviewed sources, and reviewed and judged acceptable scholarship by the academic journals is regarded as reliable; as are items recommended in scholarly bibliographies. Signed items are preferable to unsigned ones.

News organizations
Material from mainstream news organizations is welcome, particularly high-quality ones, such as the The Washington Post, The Times of London, and The Associated Press. When citing opinion pieces in newspapers and magazines, in-text attribution should be used if the material is contentious. When adding contentious biographical material about living persons that relies upon news organizations, only material from high-quality news organizations should be used.

Self-published sources
Self-published sources may be used only in very limited circumstances; see above.

Extremist sources
Organizations and individuals that are widely acknowledged as extremist, whether of a political, religious or anti-religious, racist, or other nature, should be used only as sources about themselves and their activities in articles about themselves, and even then with caution.

In biographies of living persons

 * See Biographies of living persons

Take particular care when writing biographical material about living persons, for fairness and legal reasons. Remove unsourced or poorly sourced contentious material immediately if it is about a living person, and do not move it to the talk page. This applies to any material related to living persons on any page in any namespace, not just article space.