User:Ac2k/Cite your sources
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SmashWiki encourages editors to provide citations to reference their article content and corroborate it with another source. Unlike some other wikis (including Wikipedia), SmashWiki does not require every single fact to be reliably sourced. However, adding citations helps lend additional credibility to SmashWiki articles, and proper source attribution avoids potential plagiarism of other writers. In addition, there are a few situations (noted below) where citing sources is required, in order to meet standards against potentially dubious claims, and to protect the credibility of sensitive content.
Use discretion in deciding whether or not the information requires a reference—if it is basic Smash knowledge (i.e. Mario is a playable character in Super Smash Bros.), you don't need a link to another source to confirm that. However, if you make a claim like "Snake was considered as a playable character in Melee, but wasn't included in the final roster due to time constraints", you'd better be able to link to a website with a game developer interview or something to confirm that! Any disputes over whether an article should be properly cited or not can be resolved on the talk page. As a rule of thumb, most sentences on SmashWiki would be stronger with citations to back them up.
What is citation?[edit]
Citation is the process by which an article references information found at another location (usually the internet in SmashWiki's case). They appear at the bottom of articles under a level 2 header called External links (i.e. ==External links==).
Provide a link to the website where the information was found in a bullet point under the External links header, preferably with the title of the target page and/or what information is being referenced (i.e. [http://www.source.com/mariosfinalsmash.html Source.com - Mario's Final Smash]). If there are multiple sources of information, each link should get its own bullet point.
On another note, you should generally archive any cited links through the Internet Archive, and cite the archived link instead of the direct link. All too often, web pages being cited are deleted or otherwise become inaccessible to the public, leaving the wiki with invalid citations, and making the sources impossible to retrieve if no one else archived it prior. This is especially important with citations of social media posts, which are volatile and frequently become inaccessible from a cited post being deleted, the user who made the cited post deactivating their account, or said user being banned from the site the cited post was on.
How do I cite a source?[edit]
Nearly all citations on SmashWiki will be made using the Cite web template. The following parameters must be filled out:
- url: a link to the original source, created from web.archive.org (see below).
- title: a description that summarizes the source (example: title of a online news article, or "Tweet from Player X announcing Y". Any text in non-English languages should be noted accordingly.
Other useful (but not required parameters) include the following:
- accessdate: The date the website was viewed while editing the SmashWiki article. This can be useful for websites whose content changes frequently.
All URLs for citations must be saved using the Internet Archive (also known as The Wayback Machine), to preserve information in case old websites become deprecated, or social media posts get deleted. To get a URL using this method, visit web.archive.org/save and paste the original URL. The website will then generate a new saved URL, which you can then copy and paste into SmashWiki.
Other more rarely used citation formats include Cite book (for published books) and Cite news (for printed news articles).
What material needs to be cited?[edit]
- In-game content: Facts related to in-game content do not need to be cited. However, more obscure or difficult-to-perform aspects of the games (such as glitches) should be accompanied by images or video footage. Extensive technical data (such as KO percents) should be backed up by outside sources (ex: Smashboards posts) when possible. If a SmashWiki user has performed their own research/testing, they can also be credited in the article.
- Game development sections: These should be cited by primary sources whenever possible, such as a post from an official Nintendo website or social media account, or an interview with Masahiro Sakurai. For example, the line "Character X was confirmed on Y date" should cite the character's official Nintendo announcement trailer and/or a post from a Nintendo twitter account.
- History, reaction, and reception sections: When applicable, all material should be cited with primary sources (such as an interview with the player who coined an unofficial Smash term). Ideally, reaction and reception sections should include quotes from top players and other well-known community members. Lines such as "Many community members believed that", etc. can also be used, and can be reinforced with Twitter posts, reddit threads, and data from other popular websites/social media. (See "Citing "the Smash community"" below for more details)
- Rumors and hoaxes: All claims in these sections must be cited. These can include publications from the originator of the rumor, and proven debunks of the rumor. If original sources are unavailable or lost to time, forum posts and news articles may also be accepted as secondary sources; these should be noted as so in the title parameter.
- Controversy sections on smasher articles: All claims in these sections must be cited. These should include any links to the initial raising of allegations, responses from the smasher in question, and announcements of punishment from other parties, if applicable. Uncited material in these sections will be automatically removed.
Citing "the Smash community"[edit]
Sometimes, the most valuable resource regarding Smash is the Smash community itself (especially on the competitive side of things). SmashWiki recognizes that much of the game's knowledge is transferred through informal means such as social media; in addition, every SmashWiki contributor is involved in the Smash community, in one way or another. As such, general statements regarding the opinions of the Smash community do not need a citation (ex: "Axe is widely considered to be the greatest Pikachu main of all time," or "Meta Knight's Shuttle Loop is often viewed as one of the best attacks in all of Brawl"). Smasher articles (except for controversy sections) also do not need to be thoroughly cited. However, additional care should be taken to ensure that these statements are accurate, and these edits will undergo more scrutiny from other SmashWiki reviewers.
- Be extra mindful when using quantifiers ("some people," "it is commonly believed," "most community members," "a few players," etc.), to make sure that the implied quantity accurately reflects the consensus of the community.
- Reinforce general statements with sources whenever possible. Saying "Many players believe that Character X should be banned" is one thing, but this becomes much stronger when supported by a survey of 50 top players, or even 5,000 reddit users.
- When appropriate, include the opinions of well-known community members.
- Ex: "Some players, including Player Y, the best Donkey Kong main in the world, believe that Donkey Kong could soon rise on the tier list."
- Ex: “Smasher Z (organizer of the most popular local series in Florida), argued that this new ruling would increase tournament attendance.”
- Include multiple different opinions as necessary; if the community consensus is split on a certain topic, be sure to include arguments from both sides (see also SmashWiki:Neutral point of view).
- For news events, sources should be relevant on a historical basis (not just on a current timeline).
Examples[edit]
Here are some examples of well-referenced articles:
