Metroid Wiki:Citation Policy
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This policy covers the rules of citing sources and references in articles.
For how to cite sources, see Help:References.
Why Sourcing?
On Metroid Wiki, we mainly take our information we put in the article from those it is all about - the Games, comics, and other media. However, in some places, we also take information from official gameplay guides, official websites, and press on info of upcoming news. In order to ensure our credibility and style, but still be able to use press as a source, we need to cite our sources.
What needs References, what not?
References are needed when you take information that is not taken directly from the source. These could include a game manual, official or nonofficial websites and magazines, and similar sources.
There is no need to cite the game itself. Any information you observe from the game by simply playing it can be written into the article without a source - we do not want to flood the articles with references. On the other hand, information derived from in-game quotes should be cited exactly as it appears in the dialogue using the proper templates.
What to put into References?
To cite a written source, which you cannot provide a link to, you only need to state it exactly. Remember that a reference section does not always need a link. For example:
"Once you enter Corrupt Hypermode, however, you can only vent the corruption by firing your weapon rapidly until the meter empies, or resist for a limited time so the meter will not scale out" ~ Metroid Prime 3: Corruption" manual, page 11.
To cite websites, you add a link to the page, a date when the info became published on that site (when available), and use the page's title as the link name:
Smash Bros. DOJO!! (Retrieved on 2012-5-12)
Keeping References Uniform
When quoting in-game information using the {{cite}} template, the user is given a fair amount of freedom in entering data sources. For the sake of uniformity, the following guidelines should be followed:
When quoting an individual, use only their name.
When citing a Logbook entry, link to the correct Logbook followed by the entry name in quotation marks (Example: [[Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Logbook]] "Dark Splinter"). Conversely, you may pipe-link to the correct Logbook entry followed by the entry name in quotation marks (Example: [[Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Logbook#Dark Splinter|Logbook]] "Dark Splinter").
When citing Scan Data, simply use Scan Data. If necessary, supplementary information may be supplied following a hyphen, but the uncluttered use is preferred.
See also: Referencing Quality Standards
