User:Zenox/Citation Guide
Hey, there. I'm Marty Chang. My dad's asian. It's fun to see you again. Now, let's address some problems.
Now, I know there's already a guide in the help guide on the subject, but what I hope to educate you on will include the proper way to create references, create a solid standard in referencing, give you my personal philosophies on referencing, and finally, provide you with some sources to begin referencing.
Why should we reference?
Let me tell you a story. When I first got on the wiki, I was unsure about what I should do to help out. So, I looked around and read some of the articles we had here. Now, I haven't played every Zelda game from start to finish, so I obviously don't know all there is to know about the series. Whenever there was some information I was unsure about, I simply deleted it. Obviously, this was bad. Now, with references, we can provide in-game evidence to support the facts, so there's no more of that going around.
Moral of the story, don't delete stuff without first checking the reference. If there isn't a reference on it, Go and goddamn reference it!
Okay, now how do I do a reference?
Now, at this point, you understand why references are an important part of the anatomy of our Wiki. but, at this point, you are probably thinking.
Good question. I'll tell you how. Before you make a reference, you should check where your source is coming from. There are only two types of sources I've ever used a reference for: the in-game quote, which is by far the most common, and the manual quote. Developer quotes might be used the second most, but for the most part, the in-game and manual quotes are the most useful.
In-Game Quote:
<ref>{{Cite|(The text of the quote)|(The character that said the quote)|(The game that the quote appears in NOTE: You can use abbreviations for all the major games, and most the spin-off games, such as TWW, OOT, etc.)}}</ref>
Manual Quote:
<ref>{{Cite manual|quote= (Obviously, the text of the quote) game= (The game this manual is for)|page= over 9000}}</ref>
If in the rare scenario that you need the other templates, you can find the list of all possible citations here.
Now, obviously, take out anything that's in parenthesis and swap it for what I described and you should be good to go. Make sure you put it after any punctuation.
Now, if you place that on a page that has references already, you should be fine. Of course, if it doesn't, it likely doesn't have the references section already and it will probably have something that looks like:
Cite error: <ref> tags exist, but no <references/> tag was found
Now, the most obvious answer to fixing this is to add a <references/> tag, BUT DON'T DO IT. Despite it being used in parts of the wiki, this is the WRONG way to do it. I don't care what anyone else tells you, but the correct way to do it in EVERY scenario is to use one of these two tags at the bottom of the page:
{{Ref}},{{Ref}}
These two commands should be placed at the bottom of the page before the end-page templates, but after all content, including the gallery of the page. This will add the references section to the page, and is easy to use. The difference between the two is the second will add a scroll bar to the references section. Use it when there's about 10 references on the page. If there isn't, it will add a lot of empty space, so just use the {{Ref}} tag in that case.
Now, there are some times when you need to use the same quote to reference more than one section of the page, and this is fine. But you should know how to do this before throwing references at a page left and right.
<ref name="I can count to potato">Stuffz</ref>
<ref name="I can count to potato" />
If you can guess, this attribute to the <ref> tag will give it a name, so whenever you call the <ref name="I can count to potato" /> reference, it will search the page for the original reference. You should place the reference with the actual quote nearest the top of the page, as, frankly, the page will break otherwise. (then the entire wiki will ASPLODEZ)
Where can I find things to reference?
Okay, so now you know how to add a reference to a page, but where can I find things to reference? The worst way in every way, is to go into your game and play up to the point that the character says the quote, then type it. This has, like, one pro. You'll be able to tell who said the quote. Now, the best way is to use text dumps. This has a million different pros and, like, one con. You won't be able to tell who said the quote.
Now you're probably thinking.
Zelda Dungeon has a very good resources section that has many resources, including text dumps, manual dumps, etc. If you're interested in developer quotes and interview, the resources tab at the top of the page has a drop down with links to that and more. Most people will complain about inconsistencies in text dumps, but I've never had any problems, so just ignore them.
My personal philosophies regarding citations
- Despite the fact that you can put a reference anywhere where punctuation isn't directly after it, I think it always looks much nicer at the end of a sentence. Therefore, always try to place references at the end of a sentence. If the sentence eventually goes to the point where the reference is irrelevant, however, placing the reference mid-sentence is an evil we must endure.
- Wow ... I totally just spaced and forgot my other philosophies. I'll add more later.
Thank you, you've been a great audience (or the section for tl;dr people)
I wrote this guide in an attempt to make citations on this wiki standard, even though there isn't a huge problem, I've ran into some trouble over when to use the <references/> tag or when to use the {{Ref}} tag.
If you enjoy references, perhaps you'd be interested in joining the Source and Reference Improvement Association. They are a group of users determined to add references to those pages scarce of references, specifically those pages that require the attention the most.
If you have any comments or recommendations for the page, feel free to express this on my talk page.