Bhamwiki:Cite
Bhamwiki is an evolving general resource and compendium, rather than an original or authoritative source for information. In order for Bhamwiki to be useful for research, the sources for all content should be indicated. There are many ways to accomplish this requirement, and the guidelines for citation will no doubt evolve along with the project. As a starting point, the following practices are encouraged:
- Cite books, magazine and newspaper articles, websites and other published sources. Formatting of citations does not need to be rigorously consistent (See "Style" below), but should at least include the author's name(s), date of publication, title of article, title of work, and an online link (if reliably accessible online).
- Link online resources with both the URL and the date that you made use of the reference. Replacing obsolete links with archived versions is helpful, but the primary concern is to provide enough information that a researcher has an opportunity to find the source themselves.
- Orient the reader to physical locations, objects, or persons referenced in the text so that your observations can be directly verified.
- Avoid purely personal recollections which can not be verified by others and conclusions which could be reasonably disputed from the evidence at hand. (See Wikipedia:Verifiability and Wikipedia:Neutral Point of View for lengthy discussion of these principles in use.)
Style
Any style of citation may be used to comply with this requirement, and consistency is secondary to usefulness. It is always easier for other editors to reformat a bibliographic entry than to go looking for one that's missing.
Citation style guides such as those maintained by the Chicago Manual of Style (predominant in the sciences), the Modern Language Association (predominant in literature), or the American Psychological Association (predominant in social sciences) are excellent references.
Footnotes
Use footnotes where appropriate to cite the source of a particular claim, especially if it might be perceived as controversial or unexpected. Typically, superscripted references in the text, keyed to a "Notes" section, are the simplest way to provide this information. Some articles use parenthetical references to sources cited in the "References" section. Special templates and formatting for hotlinked footnotes and annotations may also be used.