This policy covers the rules of citing sources and references in articles.
Why sourcing?[edit]
On CyberAcme, we mainly take our information we put in the article from those it is all about - the Marathon games. However, in some places, we also take information from official gameplay guides, official websites and press & fan websites reporting on unreleased content. In order to ensure our credibility and style, but still be able to use press as a source, we need to give our sources.
What needs references, what not?[edit]
References are needed when you take information that is not directly from the trilogy or main game, which would be the manual, Official Game Guide, an official or unofficial website and similar sources.
There is no need to cite the game itself. Any information you have on the game by simply playing it can be put in the article as previous - we do not want to flood the articles with references.
What to put into references?[edit]
To cite a written source, which you cannot provide a link to, you only need to state it exactly. Remember that a reference section does not always need a link.
How to add references[edit]
- Main article: Help:References
We have a system of references that is quite similar to Wikipedia, if you are familiar with it. The special tags you will need are <ref></ref> and {{Ref/Sources}}.
Using the reference system[edit]
After the information that needs referencing, use the following format to create a reference:
<ref>[http://www.website.com/ Name of article or source]</ref>
Then add the following to the bottom of the article to create the list of sources:
==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}
That's all there is to it! For a live example, see Tau Ceti IV.
Multiple citations of the same source[edit]
In long articles, you could come across the problem of needing to give the same source twice. To do this, you do not need to say the same things twice and add it to the References list two times, but can reuse your previous reference and give it again. For this, you need to give names to your references:
If you give two or more references the same name<ref name="test">Only the description in the first ref with the name (that is, a) is shown</ref>, they will have the same number<ref name="test"/>
The first time you give the reference, you have to use the name= parameter to give a specific, preferably descriptive name (e.g. "official_guide"). The second time you use the reference, you simply use an empty <ref/> tag with the same name given as your previous. Both references will then share the same number, and in the list of references at the bottom of the page, there will only be one entry, with links back to each part of the article from where it is linked, so that the reader can continue to read exactly where they have clicked on the reference:
If you give two or more references the same name[2],
they will have the same number[2]
[...]
2. ^ a b Only the description in the first ref with the name (that is, a) is shown
Requesting a source[edit]
To request a source, we use a workaround. Add {{citation needed}} to statements which seem source-worthy for you:
The Thief shell is not inside of the '''[[halopedia:Halo games|Halo games]]'''. {{citation needed}}.
The result is this:
The Thief shell is not inside of the Halo games. [citation needed].
...with a link to this very page.
Discord citation policy[edit]
Discord can not be cited on CyberAcme. Any attempts will be removed as they can not be verified.