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Citations are important in Wikipedia to ensure that information comes from actual, reliable sources (WP:V, WP:CITE).There are three preferred ways of citing sources: ...
The easiest way to start citing on Wikipedia is to see a basic example. The example here will show you how to cite a newspaper article using the {} template (see Citation quick reference for other types of citations). Copy and paste the following immediately after what you want to reference:
"Say where you read it" follows the practice in academic writing of citing sources directly only if you have read the source yourself. If your knowledge of the source is secondhand—that is, if you have read Jones (2010), who cited Smith (2009), and you want to use what Smith (2009) said—make clear that your knowledge of Smith is based on ...
The word "source" in Wikipedia has three meanings: the work itself (for example, a document, article, paper, or book), the creator of the work (for example, the writer), and the publisher of the work (for example, Cambridge University Press). All three can affect reliability.
This example is the most basic and includes unique references for each citation, showing the page numbers in the reference list. This repeats the citation, changing the page number. A disadvantage is that this can create a lot of redundant text in the reference list when a source is cited many times. So consider using one of the alternatives ...
The quote marks must be the standard, straight, double quotation marks ("); curly or other quotes will be parsed as part of the reference name. You may optionally provide reference names even when the reference name is not required. This makes later re-use of the sourced reference easier.
The citation link will point to the first Harvard reference in the References section that matches both the author(s) and publication date (see examples below). Both the in-text citations and the references at the bottom of the page have format rules. For a full description of their format with examples, see Harvard referencing.
This page shows some comparative examples for different citation methods using shortened notes and full length references in footnotes. These show representations of edit mode views, with examples of how the edits would render to the reader.