GoArch:Citation guidelines
 | This page documents an Archive policy. It describes a widely accepted standard that all editors should normally follow. To propose changes, use this sub-page. |
Source citation is important in any factual endeavor, and the Archive is no exception. Therefore, providing references to information found in an article is desired to be as reliable and accurate as possible. If those references are cleanly formatted, they can be more easily understood and the article's information easily verified. A reference should be included for any information that cannot be verified by the game itself or by another article on the wiki.
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.
If the source of information is in-game, editors can use an inline wikilink to the source article where appropriate. Otherwise, cite it in a reference using the "in-game content" citation style below.
Local archival
In some cases, it can be advantageous to copy the content of a source into the Archive's Reference namespace. This is particularly useful for emails and other private forms of communication, provided all parties consent to it being posted publicly. For other content, such as forum posts, retaining a copy on the Archive may be overkill. In those cases, use an archiving service such as http://archive.is to make a backup, or be sure that the thread is archived in the Wayback Machine, in order to ensure that it will remain accessible in the future.
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}}
or
==References== <references />
Citation style
In-game sources
In-game material such as journals and spoken dialog should be archived in the Reference namespace, and a link to it should be included in the citation if it is available. Instructions for formatting reference material titles can be found in the relevant reference section.
Journals and notebooks
<Author>. <Document name (with article link)>. <Game (with article link)>.
Example: Atrus. Channelwood journal. Myst.
When citing DRC research documents, use "DRC" as the author whenever the individual writer is unknown.
Dialog
<Speaker>. <Scene (with article link)>. <Game (with article link)>.
Example: Atrus. Forechamber message. Myst.
Books
<Book title (with link to article)>. <Format>, <Location>.
Example: Myst: The Book of Atrus. Hardcover, pages 10–11.
Always use the full name of the book, such as Myst: The Book of Atrus. When citing the ebook version of a book, do not use device- or service-specific page numbers such as iBooks page numbers or Kindle location numbers (if your Kindle copy also has real page numbers, you may use them). Instead, cite the chapter of the book in which the quote or reference appears. If you want to be particularly precise, you can also include the section of the chapter—as determined by the D'ni number separators which break up individual scenes—or the paragraph number, as counted from the start of the chapter.
Example: Myst Reader. Ebook, The Book of Ti'ana "Part Three: Fault Lines", section 4
Websites
This citation is for non-forum-based citations, such as information on Cyan's website.
"<Page title (with link to page)>", <Website name>, accessed <Date>.
Example: "The Riven Journals", Realm of RIUM+, accessed July 5, 2017.
Forum Posts
<Post Author (with link to post)>, "<Thread title>". <Forum name>. <Date of post>.
Example: RAWA, "Deciphering the Age names?". Myst Online forums. December 11, 2006.
Archival links
Often, older web references may no longer be available online. In these cases, use a link to the Wayback Machine or other archiving utility in place of the actual URL, and add "archived from the original on <date>" to the end of the citation, where <date> is the date the archival version was created.
Example: "Minutiae", D'ni Desk Reference, accessed July 5, 2017. Archived from the original on April 17, 2001.
In the past, Cyan 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's Reference namespace. In the event that an email needs to be referenced, the best course of action would be to first create a reference article with the full text of the email (provided all parties consent to it being posted publicly), and including a link to it in your citation. For example:
Email, <Author>. "<Subject (with link if available)>". <Date received>.
Example: Email, RAWA. "Questions about the Book/Books of Birenni". May 30, 2013.
If you do not have permission to post an email publicly, but you do have permission to release the information in the message, please cite the reference as follows:
Email, Author. "<Subject>". <Date received>. Personal Email to <recipient(s)> (unavailable to publish).
Content in this section is based on the help documents for Wikipedia and the Guild Wars 2 Wiki. In accordance with the Guild Wars 2 Wiki's licensing terms, the material on this page is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) 1.2.
