Personal Wiki of Galene and Emys
Citation
Definition
A citation is a reference to a source, generally composed of both an in-body note and its corresponding entry in a bibliography[1].
Citation Policy Of This Personal Wiki
- Use a citation format based on MLA.
- Every page should have one or more "Citations" subheading
- When information is original to us, we should say so in the citations subheading.
- Citations which link to our original research should be marked as such.
- When a citation note is followed by an exclamation point, we are its source.
- When it might be useful, the "Citations" subheading can include a "Further Reading" subheading.
- Further reading is for citations that aren't aimed at supporting the points in the article, but which contain related or supplemental information.
Brainstormed Ideas[2!]
- Purposes of citations.
- When a reader is uncertain about a fact, a citation allows them to find further evidence in favor of the fact.
- This further evidence can also be used to help refute the purported fact.
- Including citations encourages due diligence since it encourages the writer to think about the evidence supporting their statements.
- Citations are used to attribute unoriginal work to their sources[1].
- Citations are also useful for providing related and further reading.
- Citations must be findable.
- If a source is or becomes inaccessible, the citation can't serve its purpose.
- To help avoid this, it can be useful to keep a local copy of a cited work, or to link to an archiving service such as archive.org.
- Citations also provide a feeling of legitimacy.
- Something to watch out for: This feeling of legitimacy can be false, since cited works might not be reliable.
- If a writer cites something they have never looked at, most of the above advantages no longer apply.
- For this reason, it's a good idea to at least spot check everything that you cite.
- Wikipedia discourages primary sources and original research[3].
- Wikipedia does not explicitly say why this is discouraged. Here are some ideas why:
- A primary source has not been reviewed by others. (If it had been reviewed by others, those reviews would themselves be secondary sources).
- In a wiki where anyone can contribute anonymously, there is no way to check reliability and authenticity of original research.
- In a personal wiki, we believe it makes sense to accept primary sources and original research, so long as they are identified as such.
- In a personal wiki, there is only one or a handful of contributors, This makes it easier to evaluate their trustworthyness, compared to a large wiki where anything could be contributed by anyone.
- A personal wiki is a personal project, which means that readers expect personal opinions and personal observations to be included.
- If a personal wiki announces which parts are original, readers can choose how much to trust those parts.
[1] ^ 0 1 Wikipedia. Citation. 2021. Retrieved 2021-01-27.[^]
[2!] ^ This section is mostly made up of brainstormed ideas, and so should be considered a primary source, with the exception of the bullets which include a cite note.
[3] ^ Wikipedia. No original research. 2021. Retrieved 2021-01-27.[^]
Date: 2021-01-31
Authors: Emys, Galene
Index
ARC Home Page