In order that Wikipedia content may be taken seriously and be of use its readers, all information entered into Wikipedia needs to be verifiable by written sources. As such, and especially considering the nature of the pages within this WikiProject, referencing is an essential skill which editors and contributors need to be familiar with. This page lists several efficient and comprehensive ways of referencing facts according to the preferred Wikipedia style of in-line referencing. This is an abridged version of Wikipedia:Citing sources designed for quick reference or a crash course in referencing.

This style consists of two parts:

1. An anchor point in the body of the article listing the source;

e.g. This is a verifiable fact <ref name="ref1">{{cite journal | author=Author| title=How to place an anchorpoint| journal=The Journal of Stuff| year=2006| volume=1| issue=30| page=30-32}}</ref>.

2. A placeholder tag under == References == in the article. This collects all the in-line references and presents them as a whole.

e.g. {{reflist}}, {{reflist|2}} for a two-column spread

Multiple references

Where multiple references to the same source occur, the name of the reference is all that is needed when anchoring for all except one. For example, if a textbook was referred to many times during an article the first reference would use the full notation as described below under "Book". All subsequent references to the textbook can be made by simply using <ref name="textbook"> </ref> (complete with space and closing ref tag), where "textbook" is the specific name of the reference as set by the full citation. In the example given above, this would correspond with "ref1".

Journal

<ref name="1">{{cite journal | author=1| authorlink=1| title=1| journal=1| year=1| volume=1| issue=1| page=1-1| url=1}}</ref>

Book

<ref name="1">{{cite book | title=1| url=1| last=1| first=1| authorlink=1| coauthors=1| date=1| pages=1| publisher=1| location=1| doi=1| id=1}}</ref>

Internet

<ref name="a">{{Cite web|url=a|title=a|accessdate=|publisher=a|year=a|author=a|work=a|format=a}}</ref>

• Format is an optional field you may choose to fill if the document is in something other than HTML, for example a PDF or JPEG format.
• If you used an online journal article please use the journal citing style, as it has provision for a URL.

Examples

• Apoptosis: 2-column spread with multiple references to the same source.
• Virus: Separating in-line references with general references not listed in-line.

Assistant programs

• WikiCite, a program that takes your input and formats it appropriately.
• Template filling form, a webpage that automatically produces the reference in the correct format, given only the PubMed ID, ISBN, HGNC ID or DrugBank ID of the source.