GoArch:Citation guidelines
Source citation is important in any factual endeavor, and the Archive is no exception.
When to cite sources
A source should be cited whenever you make a claim that is challenged or likely to be challenged, or when quoting someone either directly or indirectly as a source anywhere within an article. In general, we recommend adhering to Wikipedia's citing sources documentation when adding citations. The same markup for inline citations can be used here.
Citation formatting
Citations made inline should be grouped under a section titled "Sources", "Notes", or "References" at the bottom of the article. This can be accomplished with the following markup:
==References==
{{reflist}}
Citations for games
Citation of material from within a game can be made by simply adding the name of the game as the reference text. Please use the full name of the game, and link it to the game's article. Example:
<ref name="end of ages">[[Myst V: End of Ages]]</ref>
For Uru Live: Prologue and Myst Online: Uru Live, be sure to also include the date the information you are citing was revealed. This is especially important for information revealed through chat logs.
Citations for in-game sources
If there is a specific source for your information within the game (such as a journal or notebook), you are encouraged to add that source to your citation. In such cases, please link to the reference article as your source, since that will have the game's title in it, and will itself contain a link to the source material. Example:
<ref>[[Reference:Myst IV: Revelation, Achenar, Serenia Journal]]</ref>
For DRC research notebooks, omit the title of the game and replace it with "DRC Research".
Novels
Always use the full name of the novel, such as Myst: The Book of Atrus. The title of the book should be italicized, and should be linked to the book's article in the Archive. No additional publishing details are needed (this isn't the MLA), but page numbers and book formats are appreciated. For example:
<ref>''[[Myst: The Book of Atrus]]''. p.85, Hardcover.</ref>
Websites
This citation is for non-forum-based citations, such as information on Cyan's website. These citations may or may not include an author depending on the source. Some information comes from an organization or a website as a whole, and some comes from an individual on a website. Here you will need to use common sense to determine which is occurring in your source. If you determine that there is not a specific author, then your citation will start with the title of the article/webpage. Next should come the title of the article or specific webpage. After that should come the title for the overall website. The posting date or access date should come next. Finally, the URL should be provided.
Author. "Title of article or webpage". Website title. date. <URL>
"Title of article or webpage". Website title. date. <URL>
Forum Posts
These are essentially website citations, but with an emphasis on the date.
Author. date of post. "Title of thread". Website or forum title. <URL>
In the past, Cyan has posted quite a lot of information on The Riven Lyst, and later on The Lyst. Historically, those emails were re-posted online on the now-defunct D'ni Desk Reference site. Some of them have also been posted in the Archive in the "Official Communications" category of the Reference namespace. In the event that an email needs to be referenced, the best course of action would be to first post the full text of the email from the person in question (provided that such action is permissible... if it was emailed to you privately, get permission from the author before posting the whole thing!) and using a format much like that for forum posts. For example:
Author. Date. "Email Title". Personal Email to <recipient(s)>.
If the email is archived here, use the Email Title as a link to that message in the Reference Archive.
If an email isn't available for public re-posting, but contains relevant information nonetheless, and you have permission to release that information, please cite the reference as follows:
Author. Date. "Email Title". Personal Email to <recipient(s)> (unavailable to publish).
