View source for Tardis:Citation

{{mosnav|p=Citation|c=Citation}}
{{moss|Cite often, cite accurately, and format your citations correctly.  We always use '''in-line''' citations for in-universe articles.  For real world pages, you can use either in-line citations or more formalised referencing, which puts a list of citations at the end of the article.}}
{{sc|T:CITE}}
Telling readers where a statement can be verified is important.  It helps to focus articles and keeps the details in an article to only that which '''actually''' appeared in the various ''Doctor Who'' narratives.  Don't assume that your readers have the same level of knowledge about the [[DWU]] as you do.
==In-universe statements==
When citing an episode, novel, book, audio drama, webcast, comic or any other story, put in parentheses 
*the proper [[Tardis:List of prefixes|prefix]] for the medium 
:''followed by''
* the name of the story 
:''inside italics and linked to the ''full name'' of the article, as close to the factoid as possible

Here are some examples:
{| class="wikitable"
! style="border-bottom:1px solid black" width:33% | Good 
! tyle="border-bottom:1px solid black" width:33%|Bad
! tyle="border-bottom:1px solid black" width:33%|Why
|-
|<pre>
The Doctor's first [[human]] female companion was [[Barbara Wright]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[An Unearthly Child (TV story)|]]'') 
</pre>
|<pre>
The Doctor's first [[human]] female companion was [[Barbara Wright]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[An Unearthly Child]]'') 
</pre>
|It's always best to link to full page name — in this case, the name ending in '''(TV story)''' and then [[pipe trick]] the '''(TV story)''' bit away.
|-
|<pre>The [[Fifth Doctor]] played [[cricket]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Black Orchid (TV story)|Black Orchid]]'') but he also occasionally handed out [[jelly babies]] ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Roof of the World (audio story)|The Roof of the World]]'') and wore [[glasses]] for which he had no medical need. ([[TV]]: ''[[Time Crash (TV story)|Time Crash]]'')</pre>
|<pre>The [[Fifth Doctor]] played [[cricket]], but he also occasionally handed out  [[jelly babies]] and wore [[glasses]] for which he had no medical need. ([[TV]]: ''[[Black Orchid (TV story)|Black Orchid]]'', ''[[Time Crash (TV story)|Time Crash]]''; [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Roof of the World (audio story)|The Roof of the World]]'')</pre>
|In the bad example, readers won't know which thing happened in which story.  The good example makes that clear by putting each citation closer to the relevant factoid. 
|}

== Other information ==
=== How to deal with unsourced statements ===
If you encounter a statement that obviously needs a citation, but you don't have the time or knowledge to correct it, type <nowiki>{{fact}}</nowiki>, which produces: {{fact}}

Should you come across a sentence that seems to need more citations, but you don't have the time or the knowledge to correct it, type <nowiki>{{facts}}</nowiki>, which produces: {{facts}}

In both cases, this is preferable to deleting the information outright, unless it seems likely that the information is not only unsourced, but erroneous — or comes from a [[Tardis:Valid sources|source not considered valid]], such as an {{tlx|invalid}} work of fiction or a behind-the-scenes interview. If you think unsourced information is ''probably'' incorrect, remove it from the page but copypaste it onto the [[Help:Talk pages|talk page]] of the article, explaining that it previously appeared in the main namespace but was unsourced and is of dubious veracity.

=== Weasel words, "etc." and multiple sources ===
On this wiki, it is difficult to avoid using "[[wikipedia:weasel words|weasel words]]" like "many", "often" and "sometimes".  The nature of an internally inconsistent universe like [[Whoniverse|Doctor Who's]] usually makes concise, absolute statements untrue.  For instance, there are ''many'' occasions when the Doctor appears have a [[binary vascular system]], but there are a ''few'' where he does not.  

Weasel words can be made more accurate by remembering to balance them with an appropriate number of citations.  In general, if a sentence implies that something occurred multiple times, then there should multiple citations given.  For instance, if you write, "[[The Doctor]] often thwarted the plans of [[the Master]]", then you should give several story names to give a sense that "often" is an accurate term. Some other words which trigger the need for multiple citations are "frequently", "various", and "regularly" — as well as the simple use of numerals ("the Doctor was known to have gone there three times").  

Of course, in such cases, it is usually impossible to cite all the stories that could be used as sources for a particular statement: how many stories could back up the claim that "[[the Doctor's TARDIS]] was [[blue]]"? In such cases, use three or four sources, preferably from different mediums if available, followed by "'''et al.'''" (short for ''et alibi''). It is preferable not to use "'''etc.'''", as strictly speaking, ''et cetera'' is only appropriate when the full remainder of the list is common knowledge.

=== Sources with identical names ===
Comparatively few [[Tardis:Valid sources|valid sources]] on this Wiki have exactly the same name, and among those namesakes, fewer still have reasons to be cited on the same page. Often, the stories will have the same title but be in different mediums, so they can be distinguished using [[Tardis:Prefixes|prefixes]]. For example, to distinguish information from the TV story [[The Three Doctors (TV story)|''The Three Doctors'']] and its novelisation [[The Three Doctors (novelisation)|of the same name]] on an in-universe page like [[Omega's Champion]], you can write:

: According to one account, Omega's Champion had yellowish skin, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Three Doctors (TV story)|The Three Doctors]]'') while according to another, he had smooth pitch-black skin that looked like [[granite]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Three Doctors (novelisation)|The Three Doctors]]'')

In other cases, unrelated stories from different ranges do share a name, but are unlikely to be cited on the same page. If you're writing about the events of the ''[[Torchwood One (audio series)|Torchwood One]]'' audio story ''[[9 to 5 (Torchwood One audio story)|9 to 5]]'' on [[Ianto Jones]]'s page, you don't need to worry about the [[9 to 5 (BBV audio story)|''P.R.O.B.E.'' audiobook story]] of the same name, so you can just cite it as "([[AUDIO]]: ''[[9 to 5 (Torchwood One audio story)|9 to 5]]'')" without worrying about disambiguation. In the unlikely case that you need to cite both on the same page, it is acceptable to have both citations appear identical, and require of readers that they click through on each of the links to find out the difference.

In the cases of long-running ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' series, whose individual installments never had individual titles, and which are therefore disambiguated by giving the issue number (e.g. [[Dr. Who's Time Tales (DWM 30 comic story)]]), if numerous installments need to be cited separately on the same page, a method exists to clarify which specific story is meant. It consists of [[Help:Pipe switch|pipe-switching]] manually not to the undabbed title, but to a version also bearing the issue number used in the dab term.

For example, you can write:

: The [[Fourth Doctor]] told [[time tale]]s that concerned living time travellers ([[COMIC]]: [[Dr. Who's Time Tales (DWM 30 comic story)|''Dr. Who's Time Tales'' 30]]) as well as ones featuring other kinds of alterations to history. ([[COMIC]]: [[Dr. Who's Time Tales (DWM 31 comic story)|''Dr. Who's Time Tales'' 31]])