Help:Citing OrthodoxWiki

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

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

A Wiki is an unusual form of media, and as such doesn't conform well to the usual book citation formats. A 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 OrthodoxWiki article, in general. OrthodoxWiki 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 OrthodoxWiki: The Orthodox Open 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 OrthodoxWiki URL (e.g. http://www.orthodoxwiki.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 OrthodoxWiki article should normally be a separate citation.

Examples

The following examples assume you are citing the OrthodoxWiki article on Baptism, using the version that was submitted on June 24, 2005, at 12:28 UTC (see the page history for this information), and that you accessed the article through the World Wide Web on July 28, 2005.

APA style

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

  • Baptism (2005, June 24). OrthodoxWiki: The Orthodox Open Encyclopedia. Retrieved July 28, 2005, from http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Baptism. [1]

MLA style

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

  • "Baptism." OrthodoxWiki: The Orthodox Open Encyclopedia. 24 Jun 2005, 12:28 UTC. 28 Jul 2005 <http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Baptism>.

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:

  • OrthodoxWiki contributors, 'Baptism', OrthodoxWiki: The Orthodox Open Encyclopedia, 24 June 2005, 12:28 UTC, <http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Baptism> [accessed 28 July 2005]

Chicago style

Citation in Chicago style:

  • OrthodoxWiki contributors, "Baptism," OrthodoxWiki: The Orthodox Open Encyclopedia, http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Baptism (accessed July 28, 2005).

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:

  • OrthodoxWiki contributors. Baptism [Internet]. OrthodoxWiki, the Orthodox open encyclopedia; 2005 Jun 24, 12:28 UTC [cited 2005 Jul 28]. Available from: http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Baptism.

BibTeX entry

 @misc{ wiki:xxx,
   author = "OrthodoxWiki",
   title = "Baptism --- OrthodoxWiki{,} the Orthodox open encyclopedia",
   year = "2005",
   url = "http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Baptism",
   note = "[Online; accessed 28-July-2005]"
 }

When using the TeX package url (\usepackage{url} somewhere in the preamble) which tends to give much more nicely formatted web addresses, the following may preferred:

 @misc{ wiki:xxx,
   author = "OrthodoxWiki",
   title = "Baptism --- OrthodoxWiki{,} the Orthodox open encyclopedia",
   year = "2005",
   url = "\url{http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Baptism}",
   note = "[Online; accessed 28-July-2005]"
 }

See also

External Links