Difference between revisions of "Help:Footnotes"

From Timelines
Jump to: navigation, search
(don't really need a TOC on this page... just takes up space uselessly)
Line 1: Line 1:
 +
<ref name="Perry">Perry's Handbook, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill Co., 1984.</ref>
 +
 
__NOTOC__
 
__NOTOC__
 
This page explains very briefly how to create numbered footnotes and references using the '''<nowiki><ref> ... </ref></nowiki>''' and '''<nowiki><references/></nowiki>''' syntax, which is the current best-practice method in most circumstances. See [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]] for more detail.
 
This page explains very briefly how to create numbered footnotes and references using the '''<nowiki><ref> ... </ref></nowiki>''' and '''<nowiki><references/></nowiki>''' syntax, which is the current best-practice method in most circumstances. See [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]] for more detail.

Revision as of 01:13, 18 May 2007

[1]


This page explains very briefly how to create numbered footnotes and references using the <ref> ... </ref> and <references/> syntax, which is the current best-practice method in most circumstances. See Wikipedia:Footnotes for more detail.

An older method, using {{ref}} and {{note}} templates, is explained at Wikipedia:Footnote3. Apart from Harvard references, this method is obsolete. See Wikipedia:Embedded citations for a third approach.

Single citation of a reference or footnote

At the point of citation in the main text, enter the reference or footnote like this:

<ref>Excel For Dummies, First Edition, Hungry Minds, Inc., 1980.</ref>

You can include formatting and links in the footnote or reference text in the usual way.

Multiple citations of the same reference or footnote

To cite the same reference or footnote several times, identify it using the name parameter of the <ref> tag.

At one of the citation points (it makes sense to choose the first), enter the reference like this:

<ref name="Perry">Perry's Handbook, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill Co., 1984.</ref>

Then, at all the other citation points just enter:

<ref name="Perry"/>

Producing the reference or footnote list

At the point where you want the text of the footnotes or references to appear (usually at the end of the article in a "Notes" or "References" section), insert the tag:

<references/>

What it looks like

The <ref> tags in the main text are converted to auto-numbered superscripts, like this:

The only reference to Excel For Dummies.[2]
The first reference to Perry's Handbook.[1]
The second reference to Perry's Handbook.[1]   
The third reference to Perry's Handbook.[1]

Clicking on a numbered superscript takes you straight to the text of the corresponding footnote or reference.

The <references/> tag is expanded to show the text of the footnotes or references against their corresponding numbers, like this:

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Perry's Handbook, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill Co., 1984. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Perry" defined multiple times with different content
  2. ↑ Excel For Dummies, First Edition, Hungry Minds, Inc., 1980.

For single citations, clicking on the caret (^) takes you to the point of citation in the main text.

For multiple citations, the links back to the main text are distinguished by letter superscripts (a, b, c etc.). Clicking on a letter superscript takes you to the corresponding citation in the main text.

Using templates to insert reference text

A number of templates, such as {{cite book}} and {{cite web}}, are available to format the text between the <ref> and <ref/> tags in a more structured way. These are described at Wikipedia:Citation templates. Their use is optional: they do aid with consistent formatting, but on the other hand they can make editing more cumbersome.

See also

Retrieved from "http://timelines.issarice.com/index.php?title=Help:Footnotes&oldid=8393"