Project:References

From WikiName

Any material that is directly quoted or could be challenged should include an attribution. This means that almost every article on wiki.name.com should include references. We will place notices on articles that are not appropriately referenced.

Please note: we do not support the cut & paste technique of page creation. If the author says it better than you can, you may add quotation marks and a footnote. Out of respect for the originality of wiki.name.com, refrain from copying portions of other websites (including lists of names). If you have any questions about specific cases, please feel free to email wiki [at] name.com.

Footnotes and References

On the web

If you quote or paraphrase a source in your article, you must add a footnote. Footnotes should link to the specific web page you used, not to the home page of the web site. For example, if you wrote about the name John, and you quoted or paraphrased something you found on Behind the Name, click the reference button on the right-hand of the editing toolbar to insert

<ref> “http://www.behindthename.com/name/john” </ref>

into the text of your article, and then at the bottom of the page, add the citation. Your footnote will look like this:

<http://www.behindthename.com/name/john>.

References are citations of sources you used in your research, but did not quote or paraphrase in your article. You must cite all of them. They’re formatted just like footnotes.

How and when to cite a book

A book should be cited when – and only when – you actually use it as a resource. Do not cite it if it’s simply noted on a web site you visited. In other words, if you own a book, or got one from the library, and you used it in your research, cite it; otherwise don’t.

If you used Bruce Lansky’s The New Baby Name Survey in your research, the MLA citation at the bottom of your article will look like this:

Lansky, Bruce. The New Baby Name Survey. New York: Meadowbrook Press, 2007.

To add a footnote for a quote or a paraphrase from a book, make an in-text parenthetical notation with the author’s name and the page number. For instance, if you quote something you found on page 14 of The New Baby Name Survey, insert (Lansky 14) immediately after it.

What material must be cited?

Written work is divided into three categories: copyright, public domain, and common knowledge. Go to Online Library Learning Center for excellent guidelines on what work must be cited.

All written work published after 1989, whether in print or on the web, is considered copyright-protected even if it doesn’t have a formal copyright notice.

Name web sites

The web sites that wiki.name authors use most often for research (including Birth Village, Yeah Baby, Think Baby Names, Baby Name World, Baby Names World, House of Names, and Behind the Name), are copyright protected, and they must be cited. Always check your sources for copyright notices, and when in doubt, cite them.

We will periodically check the references on articles submitted to us. Copyright infringement is a serious matter and will not be tolerated on wiki.name.com.