WikiIslam:Citing, Linking, and Quoting

A citation, or reference, uniquely identifies a source of information. Citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which all WikiIslam articles are based. They usually appear on pages in the form of footnotes and are indicated by a superscript number in a line of text.

Ref Tags

Statements of facts, especially those that are likely to be challenged, must be appropriately referenced. These references must be provided via inline citations. A general list of references at the bottom of a page is of little use because they do not specify which particular statements they support.

Single Citation

An example of a reference being made on a page:

Here is what has to be typed:

This is how to provide inline citations.<ref>This is the reference text. [http://example.com/ Links can also be provided]</ref>

At the end of an article, there should be a "References" heading and below that:

{{reflist}}

The wiki will then automatically do everything else to produce the reference. To edit the reference section produced at the bottom, edit the <ref> tags.

Multiple Citations

For multiple citations of the same reference or footnote:

<ref name="name here">details of the citation</ref>

Thereafter, the same footnote may be used multiple times by adding:

<ref name="name here"></ref>

Multi-Columned References

For ease of reading, when a page includes many citations, the standard {{reflist}} template should be replaced by {{Reflist|30em}} (for 10+ citations).

Cite Web

The Cite Web template deals with the actual references i.e. the content that goes between the ref tags. Its use ensures that the formatting for references remains consistent throughout the site and also enable easy system-wide changes.

When citing references in articles, it is important not to leave naked URLs. What is being referenced should be easily identifiable without having to leave the page through an external link. For example, this link:

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=19888

When applied to the Cite Web template:

{{cite web|url= http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=19888|title= Productivity suffers during holy month|publisher= The Jordan Times|author= Mohammad Ghazal|date= September 10, 2009|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=19888&date=2011-04-04|deadurl=no}}

Should produce this:

Mohammad Ghazal, "Productivity suffers during holy month", The Jordan Times, September 10, 2009 (archived), http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=19888. 

Minimal Parameters

{{cite web| url= | title= | author= | publisher= | date= | archiveurl= | deadurl=no/yes}}

• url= URL of an online location where the text of the publication can be found.
• title= Title of web page. Displays in quotes.
• author= Name of author or authors if available.
• publisher= Organization or website's name. A website's URL should be used only when there is no proper name available. So, for example, Islam Q&A is located at islamqa.info, but Islam Q&A is the title that should be cited as the publisher.
• date= Full date of source being referenced in the month/day/year format (e.g. February 21, 2014). This is the date mentioned on the website (if any).

• accessdate= Full date when URL was accessed (use if the sourced page does not indicate a date of publication).

• archiveurl= The URL of an archived copy of a web page, if or in case the url becomes unavailable. Typically used to refer to services like WebCite.
• deadurl= When the URL is still live, but preemptively archived, then set |deadurl=no. This changes the display order with the title retaining the original link and the archive linked at the end.

Additional Parameters

| accessdate= | series= | isbn= | page= | pages= | quote=

• series= Additional information that cannot be included under author or publisher. For example journal number
• quote= Relevant text quoted from the source. Displays enclosed in quotes. When supplied, the citation terminator (a period by default) is suppressed, so the quote needs to include terminating punctuation.
• isbn= For citing books. The ISBN is a numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit SBN code. Most published books have them.
• page= Page number of the book/journal being cited.
• pages= Page numbers of the book/journal being cited. Used when the information is spread over more than 1 page (e.g. 223-224).

Archived Links

Link rot is a frequently occurring phenomena where external website links become unavailable after some time.

The Cite Web template has two parameters dedicated to archived links. This is due to the many sources that are comprised of links to external websites, making the preservation of the content of these external links very important. However, archiving links is very easy and only takes a moment.

WebCitation.org

Enter the target URL and any email address as that of the citing author on the WebCite archive form (http://www.webcitation.org/archive), then press submit. Using the "transparent" WebCite URL is preferred over the short one. This site archives PDF and other media files.

Archive.is

Enter the target URL into the "submit url" box (http://archive.is/) and press submit. You will then see the new archived URL that can be used in the 'archiveurl' parameter for the Cite Web template. This site does not archive PDF and other media files.

Embedded Links

Embedded links to external websites should never be used as a form of inline citation. Nevertheless, they are used on occasion, for example, in the Translations of Arabic/Islamic Media pages. In these rare instances, only a single link is appropriate, rather than both the original and the archive link side-by-side. For these, the Reference archive template should be used.

To use this template, the target URL would have to be archived by entering it into the WebCite archive form (http://www.webcitation.org/archive).

Then the target URL in its original form, along with the date it was archived, need to be added to the Reference archive:

{{Reference archive|1=###|2=###}}

The first parameter is the original URL, and the second parameter is the date it was archived. The date format is year-month-day, all in numbers rather than words (e.g. 2014-02-26 rather than February 26, 2014).

Islamic Text

Templates make it easy to cite Islamic sources. For example, instead of finding the exact USC-MSA URL of a Qur'an verse or hadith, all that is needed is to type {{Muslim|7|88}} and the reference and link is automatically created.

The following are a list of templates that are available for use:

Referencing the Qur'an

Not all Qur'an-related templates are covered here. Refer to the Q section in Category:Templates for the full list.

Single Verse

To reference a verse from the Qur'an type: {{Quran|###|###}}

The first parameter is the chapter/surah number, while the second parameter is the verse number.

Multiple Verses

To reference multiple verses from the Qur'an type: {{Quran-range|###|###|###}}

The first parameter is the chapter/surah number, while the second parameter is the starting verse number, and the third parameter is the ending verse number.

Verse and Transliteration

To reference a verse from the Qur'an along with its Romanized transliteration type: {{Qtt|###|###}}

The first parameter is the chapter/surah number, while the second parameter is the verse number.

Referencing Hadith

Referencing Bukhari

To reference a hadith from Bukhari type: {{Bukhari|###|###|###}} The first parameter is the volume number, the second parameter is the book number and the third parameter is the narration number.

Referencing Muslim

To reference a hadith from Muslim type: {{Muslim|###|###}}

The first parameter is the book number and the second parameter is the narration number.

Referencing Dawud

To reference a hadith from Dawud type: {{Abudawud|###|####}}

The first parameter is the book number and the second parameter is the narration number.

Referencing Muwatta

To reference a hadith from Malik's Muwatta type: {{Muwatta|###|###|###|}}

The first parameter is the book number, the second parameter is the section number and the third parameter is the narration number.

Referencing Tirmidhi

To reference a hadith from Tirmidhi type: {{Al Tirmidhi|###|###|###|###}}

The first parameter is the URL ending (book number), the second parameter is the volume number, the third parameter is the book number, and the forth parameter is the narration number.

Referencing Nasai

To reference a hadith from Nasai type: {{Al Nasai|###|###|###|###}}

The first parameter is the URL ending (book number), the second parameter is the volume number, the third parameter is the book number, and the forth parameter is the narration number.

Referencing Majah

To reference a hadith from Majah type: {{Ibn Majah|###|###|###|###}}

The first parameter is the URL ending (book number), the second parameter is the volume number, the third parameter is the book number, and the forth parameter is the narration number.

Referencing Sirah

Referencing Tabari

To reference text from Tabari type: {{Tabari|###|###}}

The first parameter is the volume number and the second parameter is the page or page range. "p." or "pp." (whichever is applicable) will have to be typed in manually. For example, {{Tabari|4|p. 220}} or {{Tabari|4|pp. 220-221}}.

Examples

Quotation Boxes

When quoting a source, type: {{Quote|###|###}}

The first parameter is the reference for the text being quoted (this parameters can be left empty if references are being cited via ref tags). The second parameter is where the actual text is placed.

Islamic Texts

To quote an Islamic text, the relevant template for referencing that particular text must be placed within the first parameter of the quotation box template.

For example, to quote Quran 2:256, this is what has to be typed:

{{Quote|{{Quran|2|256}}|Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error...}}

And it should produce this:

Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error...

Quran 2:256

Bold or italic emphasis may be added to quotations, but underlining and ALLCAPS should be avoided.

See Also

• WikiIslam:Reliable Sources
• WikiIslam:Standardization