Help:Citing OrthodoxWiki

Frequently, people want to know how they should cite Wikipedia in other works.

As with any source, especially those of unknown authorship, you should be wary and independently verify the accuracy of Wikipedia information if possible; see also our General Disclaimer page.

Wiki is an unusual form of media, and as such doesn't conform well to the usual book citation formats. Wiki is not paper, so you will need to use an electronic format instead. The exact citation format will depend upon the citation style guide that you are following, but here are a few general principles to consider:

• You should not cite any particular author or authors for a Wikipedia article, in general. Wikipedia is collaboratively written. However, if you do need to find the list of authors of a particular article, you can check the Page history.

• Your citation should normally list both the article title and Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, much as you would for an article in a paper publication.

• The citation should normally include the full date and time of the article revision you are using, since the page may well change radically between you viewing it and somebody following your reference. This can be found by clicking the Page history link at the left and looking at the time of the topmost revision (times are in Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC, unless you have logged in and entered an offset in your preferences).

• Most citation styles will likely require the full article URL. If greater brevity is desired, however, you may optionally include just the Wikipedia URL (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/ for an English article) since the article URL can be inferred from the article title.

• Many citation styles also request the date on which you retrieved the page. However, we suggest omitting this if your style guide allows since the inclusion of the revision date (above) makes the retrieval date unimportant.

• Each Wikipedia article should normally be a separate citation.

Examples

The following examples assume you are citing the Wikipedia article on Plagiarism, using the version that was submitted on July 22, 2004, at 10:55 UTC (see the page history for this information), and that you accessed the article through the World Wide Web on August 10, 2004.

APA style

Citation in APA style, as recommended by the American Psychological Association:

• Plagiarism (2004, July 22). Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 10, 2004, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism. [1]

MLA style

Citation in MLA style, as recommended by the Modern Language Association:

• "Plagiarism." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 22 Jul 2004, 10:55 UTC. 10 Aug 2004 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism>.

Note that MLA style calls for both the date of publication (or its latest update) and the date on which the information was retrieved.

MHRA style

Citation in MHRA style, as recommended by the Modern Humanities Research Association:

• Wikipedia contributors, 'Plagiarism', Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, 22 July 2004, 10:55 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism> [accessed 10 August 2004]

Chicago style

Citation in Chicago style:

• Wikipedia contributors, "Plagiarism," Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism (accessed August 10, 2004).

Note that the Chicago Manual of Style states that "Well-known reference books, such as major dictionaries and encyclopedias, are normally cited in notes rather than bibliographies."

CBE/CSE Style

Citation in CBE/CSE style, as recommended by the Council of Science Editors:

• Wikipedia contributors. Plagiarism [Internet]. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; 2004 Jul 22, 10:55 UTC [cited 2004 Aug 10]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism.

BibTeX-Entry

 @misc{ wiki:xxx,
   author = "Wikipedia{,} the free encyclopedia",
   title = "Citing {W}ikipedia (URL_HERE)",
   year = "2005",
   url = "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Citing_Wikipedia"
 }

See also

• The original article at wikipedia:Citing_Wikipedia.
• A suggestion for citations on every page, with models
• Wikipedia:Cite sources
• Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia Turabian-style
• Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia