WikiIslam:Citing, Linking, and Quoting

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Inline Citations

All the information on WikiIslam, especially any statements which are likely to be challenged, must be appropriately referenced, and these references must be provided via inline citations. A general list of references at the bottom of a page is no use to readers because it does not tell them which particular statement they support.

Single Citation

An example of a reference being made on a page:

I'm about to give a reference.[1]

(article text)

(more article text)

References

  1. ↑ This is the Reference text at the bottom. Links can also be made here.

Here is what has to be typed:

I'm about to give a reference.<ref>This is the Reference text at the bottom. [http://links.sourceforge.net/ Links can also made here.]</ref>

Then at the end of the article, give a "References" heading and below that, write:

{{reflist}}

The wiki will automatically do everything else for you to make 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, you can also use the name attribute by using:

<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>

Linking to External websites

Link rot is a commonly occurring phenomena where a working external website link becomes unavailable after some time. Link rot happens frequently. According to Wikipedia:

The 404 "Not Found" response is familiar to even the occasional Web user. A number of studies have examined the prevalence of link rot on the Web, in academic literature, and in digital libraries. In a 2003 experiment, Fetterly et al. discovered that about one link out of every 200 disappeared each week from the internet. McCown et al. (2005) discovered that half of the URLs cited in D-Lib Magazine articles were no longer accessible 10 years after publication, and other studies have shown link rot in academic literature to be even worse (Spinellis, 2003, Lawrence et al., 2001). Nelson and Allen (2002) examined link rot in digital libraries and found that about 3% of the objects were no longer accessible after one year.
Link rot (Prevalence)

Many of our sources are links to external websites so the preservation of the sources is important.

Also when citing references, it is important not to leave naked URLs. This is due to the nature of the Internet. Once a link becomes "broken" and is no longer available to view, it is essential that we have a record of what that link was referencing. For example, this link:

http://www.jpost.com/HealthAndSci-Tech/Health/Article.aspx?id=184112

Should be referenced like this:

Judy Siegel-Itzkovich - Beduin doctor: Migraines common during Ramadan fast - The Jerusalem Post, August 9, 2010

Give it a try in the WikiIslam:Sandbox. If you want to make other kinds of references using this method, see the related WikiMedia page.

Multi-columned References

For ease of reading, when a page includes many citations, the standard {{reflist}} template should be replaced by {{Reflist|2|refs=}} (for 30+ citations or 20+ citations that quote a lot of text) or {{Reflist|3|refs=}} (for 70+ citations or 60+ citations that quote a lot of text).

Islamic References

On this website you can make different kinds of Islamic references to Qur'an and Hadiths. Templates make it easy for you to make these kinds of references. For example, instead of having to find the exact URL of the verse or hadith you want to refer to, all you need to do is type simple text like {{Muslim|7|88}} and then reference link leading the hadith website will automatically be made for you. Notice the leading zeros that would be included to make the correct link.

The following are a few examples of the templates that are available for you to use:

Qur'an

Usage: Type {{Quran|###|###}} to produce: Quran 9:15

Hadith

Usage: Type {{Bukhari|###|###|###}} to produce: Sahih Bukhari 1:2:3
First Parameter is the Volume Number.
Second Parameter is the Book Number.
Third Parameter is the Verse Number.
Usage: Type {{Muwatta|###|#|#}} to produce:

Al-Muwatta 1:3

First Parameter is the Book Number.
Second Parameter is the Section Number.
Third Parameter is the Verse Number.
Usage: Type {{Abu Dawud|###|####}} to produce: Sunan Abu Dawud 1:2
First Parameter is the Book Number.
Second Parameter is the Verse Number.
Usage: Type {{Muslim|###|###}} to produce: Sahih Muslim 1:2
First Parameter is the Book Number.
Second Parameter is the Verse Number.


Use the Wiki Sandbox for testing it out.

See Also

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