Citations

Occasionally you might want to include content from a third-party source. If you do so, you must make sure that the source is reputable, the information is accurate, the quoted material is distinguished from the surrounding content, and the source is cited. Follow these guidelines:

• Include content only from expert sources that have a named author or are from a known company. Don't quote Wikipedia articles.

• If necessary, verify that the content is accurate.

• Set off the quoted content from the other content in the following ways:

  • If the quotation is short (just a phrase or sentence), you can include it in an existing paragraph. Set the quotation off with quotation marks, and put ending punctuation within the closing quotation mark.

  • If the quotation is longer than a phrase or sentence, or it makes sense to separate it from the surrounding content, you can place it in its own paragraph. Indent the paragraph to set it off from the surrounding paragraphs.

  • Don't use italics or bold to distinguish quoted content. Use such formatting only if it was used in the source.

• Attribute the source as follows:

  • If you have just one or two quotations, you can attribute them within the article text by stating the author, the source document, or both and providing a link to the source. Usually such an attribution would precede the quotation, as an introduction to it.

  • If you have more than one or two quotations, follow each quotation with a number in square brackets. Start at [1] and number each quotation in the document consecutively. At the end of the document, use a numbered list to list each resource in the order that it's shown in the article. Cite the author, the name of the source, and provide a link to the source. Put the list under a heading such as “Numbered citations in this article.” Then, go back to each numbered reference in the article and create a link between the reference number (such as [1]) and the numbered item at the end of the article.