User:RockOfVictory/Appendices order draft

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This is a temporary editing-ground for two articles. --J. J. 16:11, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

The actual articles have now been revised. I'll keep this page up for history/comparison purposes. --J. J. 20:34, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Explanation[edit]

I am going to move the majority of the content to Guide to layout. Discuss specifics on this talk page, or follow the chain of discussions that led to this page being created:

I have proposed to convert the two articles to this "standard" format. If you'd like to help edit this page in the next day or two, please use <del> and <ins>, as well as footnotes if applicable.[1] It'll make it easier to see what's changing.

  • Quotations (depreciated)[2]
  • See also [or Related topics]
  • Notes
  • References
  • Further reading [or Bibliography]
  • External link(s)

As a reference in case of any edit wars when I make the actual changes to the pages, here are the final drafts of both guides.

Side-by-side comparison[edit]

Wikipedia:Guide to layout#Standard appendices (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs) Wikipedia:Guide to writing better articles#Standard appendices (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
  • 7.0 Quotations (depreciated)[3]
  • 7.1 See also
  • 7.1 Notes[4]
  • 7.2 References
  • 7.3 Bibliography
  • 7.4 External links
  • 7.5 Quotations

Standard appendices[edit]

Certain optional standard sections should be added at the bottom of an article. There is currently no consensus on whether or not the singular or plural form of the section name should be used, although plural is more common (changing section names breaks permalinks, so it is best not to change already-established article section names). Common appendix sections (in the preferred order) are:

  • Quotations (depreciated)[2]
  • See also (or Related topics)[5]
  • Notes
  • References
  • Further reading (or Bibliography)[6]
  • External links

All succession boxes and navigational footers[7] should go at the very end of the article, following "External links" but preceding the categories and interwiki links.

Quotations[edit]

Under this header, list any memorable quotations that are appropriate to the subject.

  • "Misquotations are the only quotations that are never misquoted." — Hesketh Pearson, Common Misquotations (1934)

This header is largely deprecated. Usually, the most relevant quotes can be placed directly into the article text in order to illustrate the topic. Lists of quotes are generally moved to Wikiquote and the Quotations section as a whole is replaced with a {{wikiquote}} badge, usually placed at the top of the "External links" section.[8]

See also[edit]

Put here, in a bulleted list, other articles in the Wikipedia that are related to this one. A less common practice is to name this section "Related topics".

Mostly, topics related to an article should be included within the text of the article as free links. The "See also" section provides an additional list of internal links as a navigational aid.

For a less formal feel you can simply use this:

See also: Main page, Recent changes

Generally, though,[9] it should be a heading of level 2 so that it appears in the table of contents. For example:

==See also==
[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style]]
[[Wikipedia:How to edit a page]]

which produces:

Related topics should be grouped by subject area for ease of navigation. Please also provide a brief explanatory sentence, when the relevance of the added links is not immediately apparent - like so:

Individual sections in the "Main article" may have their own "See also" which should be placed before any other text in the section. Use Template:See also:

{{See also|:Help:Section|Main page}}

which produces:

[10]

Notes[edit]

A footnote is a note placed at the bottom of a page of a document that comments on, and may cite a reference for, a part of the main text. The connection between the relevant text and its footnote is often indicated with a number or symbol which is used both after the text fragment and before the footnote. The note following this sentence is one example.[11] Syntax:

According to scientists, the Sun is pretty big.<ref>Miller, E: "The Sun.", page 23. Academic Press, 2005</ref> The Moon, however, is not so big.<ref>Smith, R: "Size of the Moon", Scientific American, 46(78):46</ref>
==Notes==
<!--See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags-->
<references/>

[12]

References[edit]

Put under this header, again in a bulleted list, any books, articles, web pages, et cetera that you used in constructing the article and have referenced (cited) in the article.[11] While not required, using a generic citation template segregates the reference into useful metadata that can be machine-interpreted. Additionally, notes should be added to the end of any reference that may not be self-evident. If you are dealing with controversial issues, it is useful to point out which sites take which stance, and maybe separate the links by proponents and critics. Example:

  • "Wikipedia Reaches 1,000,000 Articles". Slashdot. March 1, 2006. Popular tech community mentions Wikipedia milestone.

[13]

Bibliography[edit]

Put under this header, again in a bulleted list, any books, articles, web pages, et cetera that you recommend as further reading, useful background, or sources of further information to readers.[11] This section follows the same formatting rules as the "References" section, but is for references that are not specifically cited in the article but have additional value for the reader who wants to know more about the topic. If desirable, you can add sources here that have been used to write the article so that there is a complete bibliography for users in one place. This section may also be titled "Further reading."

External links[edit]

Put here, in list form, any web sites that you have used or recommend for readers of the article.[11] Unlike wikilinks, which are often used within the article's text, external links are generally limited to the "External links" section. This section follows the same formatting rules as the "References" section. Some editors prefer to list external links under "References;" there is currently no consensus on the desirability of a separate section for on-line citations.


  • 1.1.6.1 Quotations
  • 1.1.6.2 Related topics or See also
  • 1.1.6.3 Notes[14]
  • 1.1.6.3 References
  • 1.1.6.4 Further reading
  • 1.1.6.5 External links

Standard appendices[edit]

For a more in-depth and up-to-date explanation of appendices, see Wikipedia:Guide to layout#Standard appendices

Certain optional sections go at the bottom of the article. Common appendix sections (in the preferred order) are:[15]

  • Quotations (depreciated) - A {{wikiquote}} badge in "External links" is preferred; other quotes should simply be used within the article body.
  • See also (or Related topics) - A bulleted list of interwiki links and a short explanation of each if it is not already obvious.
  • Notes - If footnotes are used in the article, this section should be added.
  • References - If any sources are cited in the article, they should be listed here (sources may also be listed in the "Notes," "Further reading," and "External link(s)" sections depending on their context).
  • Further reading (or Bibliography) - This is for references that are not specifically cited in the article. A complete list of all references, whether cited or not, can be included here.
  • External links - While internal wiki links are preferred over external links, this section is for listing sites that don't apply to any of the appendices already mentioned.

All succession boxes and navigational footers should go at the very end of the article, following "External links" but preceding the categories and interwiki links.[7]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Wikipedia:Footnotes
  2. ^ a b Quotations added to list
  3. ^ Move the Quotations section to the top.
  4. ^ Will need a new Notes section
  5. ^ (or Related topics) added
  6. ^ Further reading added, Bibliography bold removed
  7. ^ a b Succession boxes and navigational footers updated
  8. ^ Quotations moved from bottom to top for ordering consistency.
  9. ^ Less formal See also section added; Troll and Flame examples replaced with more relevant ones
  10. ^ m:Help:Section#.22See_also.22_line_or_section needs to be updated to reflect this newly updated section.
  11. ^ a b c d This is an example footnote. The "Notes" section generally only requires a <references> tag. This is automatically populated with <ref> notes made throughout the article. See Wikipedia:Footnotes for details about this developing practice. The system of presenting notes (as well as "References," "Further reading," and "External links") in a Wikipedia article may change over time; it is more important to have clarity and consistency in an article than to adhere to any particular system.
  12. ^ Notes section added and fleshed out.
  13. ^ References section updated with proper templates
  14. ^ Will need new Notes section; not changing other section links so they don't break if they're already linked to.
  15. ^ Summarized Guide to writing appendices