A caution before citing Wi ipedia As with any source, especially one of un nown authorship, you should be wary and

independently verify the accuracy of Wi ipedia information if possible. For man y purposes, but particularly in academia, Wi ipedia may not be an acceptable sou rce;[1] indeed, some professors and teachers may reject Wi ipedia-sourced materi al completely. This is especially true when it is used without corroboration. Ho wever, much of the content on Wi ipedia is itself referenced, so an alternative is to cite the reliable source rather than the article itself. We advise special caution when using Wi ipedia as a source for research projects . Normal academic usage of Wi ipedia and other encyclopedias is for getting the general facts of a problem and to gather eywords, references and bibliographica l pointers, but not as a source in itself. Remember that Wi ipedia is a wi i, wh ich means that anyone in the world can edit an article, deleting accurate inform ation or adding false information, which the reader may not recognize. However, we are also confident that Wi ipedia provides good overviews of most to pics that it covers. See Wi ipedia:Researching with Wi ipedia, Caution on academ ic use of Wi ipedia and our General Disclaimer page, for more information. A wi i is an unusual medium, and as such doesn't conform well to the usual boo citation formats. Wi i is not paper, so you will need to use an electronic-citat ion format instead. The exact format will depend upon the citation guide that yo u are following, but here are a few general principles to consider: A special citation tool is available to assist you. On the left of every art icle, there is a "Cite this page" lin . Clic ing it will bring you to a listing of relevant information, as well as automatically generated citations in several styles. Note that it is still your responsibility to ensure the citation meets all requirements. You should not cite any particular author or authors for a Wi ipedia article , in general. Wi ipedia is collaboratively written. However, if you do need to f ind the list of authors of a particular article, you can chec the Page history. Authors are listed only by IP address or chosen user name; you normally cannot verify and often cannot even guess at their identities. Your citation should normally list both the article title and Wi ipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, much as you would for an article in a paper publication. Eve ry article should be a separate citation. Most citation styles will li ely require the full article URL. You can clic "Permanent lin " in the toolbox at the left of this page. This lets the URL inc lude a unique identifier such that you can tie your reference bac to the exact version of the article you are referencing. It may or may not be desirable to ad opt this approach, depending upon the context of your reference. This lets you s how what you saw and ignore any changes made after you accessed the page. If gre ater brevity is desired, you can use the regular URL, or optionally just the sit e URL (e.g. http://en.wi ipedia.org/ for an English article), because an article URL can be inferred from an article title. The citation style may request the full date and time of the article revisio n you are using. If you use the permanent lin feature, this may not be necessar y. However, the date and time of the last revision can be found at the bottom of every page (above the copyright notice). Examples The following examples assume you are citing the Wi ipedia article on Plagiarism , using the version that was submitted on July 22, 2004, at 10:55 UTC, and that you retrieved the article on August 10, 2004, except as otherwise noted. APA style

Citation in APA style, as recommended by the American Psychological Association: [1] Plagiarism. (n.d.). In Wi ipedia. Retrieved August 10, 2004, from http://en. wi ipedia.org/wi i/Plagiarism[2] Note that in APA 5th Edition style, the following rules apply for the reference: For reference boo s, which includes encyclopedias, dictionaries, and glossar ies, the boo title is preceded by the word In. It is not italicized, but the bo o title following it is. The boo title appears in sentence case. You capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns. The URL must go to the exact page that you reference. No punctuation follows the URL. The term or article title appears in the author position. Use sentence case for multiple-word terms or titles, where you capitalize the first word, the firs t word after a colon, and proper nouns. The proper in-text citation is ("Plagiarism," 2004) for a paraphrased passage or ("Plagiarism," 2004, para. #) if you directly quote the material. Note that par a. # represents the paragraph number in the page where the information appears. If there are multiple headings on the page, it is also acceptable to place the s ubheading and then a paragraph number within that heading. For example, proper in-text citation for a direct quote of fewer than 40 words i s: "Plagiarism is the use of another person s wor (this could be his or her words, p roducts or ideas) for personal advantage, without proper ac nowledgment of the o riginal wor " ("Plagiarism," 2004, "Definition," para. 1). If the quoted material is more than 40 words, use the bloc quote format instead . As another example, the proper in-text citation for a paraphrased passage is: Plagiarism is stealing the wor s of others ("Plagiarism," 2004). APA Style requires that you provide a separate reference entry for each term you are citing in your paper because 1) you must provide a URL for each term that g oes directly to the term, and 2) you must provide the publication date for each term separately. However, if you are discussing the "online encyclopedia" itself , not a term in the encyclopedia, you might need to reference the site itself. T he proper citation of Wi ipedia, the site, as referenced in APA 5th Edition Styl e is: Wi ipedia: The free encyclopedia. (2004, July 22). FL: Wi imedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved August 10, 2004, from http://www.wi ipedia.org The in-text citation formation would be (Wi ipedia, 2004). MLA style Citation in MLA style, as recommended by the Modern Language Association: "Plagiarism." Wi ipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wi imedia Foundation, Inc. 2 2 July 2004. Web. 10 Aug. 2004. Note that MLA style calls for both the date of publication (or its latest update ) and the date on which the information was retrieved. According to the most rec

ent edition of the MLA Handboo , there is now information required about any fou ndation involved. Also note that many schools/institutions slightly change the s yntax. In 2009, MLA released a revised version of their citation style which changed se veral things. One of these is the inclusion of either Web. or Print. after the d ate of creation. Another is that URLs are no longer required. Should you wish to include them, place them in brac ets at the end of the citation. An example with a URL: "Plagiarism." Wi ipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wi imedia Foundation, Inc. 2 2 July 2004. Web. 10 Aug. 2004. <http://en.wi ipedia.org/wi i/Plagiarism> MLA 7 says to leave out the URL unless the source cannot be located without it.[ 3] Here is the same example with the URL omitted: "Plagiarism." Wi ipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wi imedia Foundation, Inc. 2 2 July 2004. Web. 10 Aug. 2004. Be sure to double chec the exact syntax your institution requires. For citation of Wi ipedia as a site, use: Wi ipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wi imedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. W eb. 10 Aug. 2004. MHRA style Citation in MHRA style, as recommended by the Modern Humanities Research Associa tion: Wi ipedia contributors, 'Plagiarism', Wi ipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 J uly 2004, 10:55 UTC, <http://en.wi ipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plagiarism&oldid =5139350> [accessed 10 August 2004] Chicago style Citation in Chicago style: Wi ipedia contributors, "Plagiarism," Wi ipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http ://en.wi ipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plagiarism&oldid=5139350 (accessed August 10, 2004). Note that the Chicago Manual of Style states that "Well- nown reference boo s, s uch as major dictionaries and encyclopedias, are normally cited in notes rather than bibliographies." CBE/CSE Style Citation in CBE/CSE style, as recommended by the Council of Science Editors: Wi ipedia contributors. Plagiarism [Internet]. Wi ipedia, The Free Encyclope dia; 2004 Jul 22, 10:55 UTC [cited 2004 Aug 10]. Available from: http://en.wi ip edia.org/w/index.php?title=Plagiarism&oldid=5139350. Turabian style The following are examples of how to cite Wi ipedia articles according to A Manu

al for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th edition, by Kate L . Turabian (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). ISBN 0226816265 (cloth) , ISBN 0226816273 (paper). Note on Turabian style: Please understand that Turabian does not have rules that cover anything li e Wi ipedia. These examples are based on "reading between the lines" and assimilating rules from various not-so-similar cases that Turabian d oes cover. If the party to which you are submitting your paper is particularly s trict, you might want to find out if they have their own adaptation of Turabian that would apply in this case. Alternately, you could always consult with the pa rty before the deadline to ma e sure it's acceptable. Notes 1"Plagiarism," in Wi ipedia: The Free Encyclopedia; (Wi imedia Foundation Inc., updated 22 July 2004, 10:55 UTC) [encyclopedia on-line]; available from http://e n.wi ipedia.org/wi i/Plagiarism; Internet; retrieved 10 August 2004. 2Wi ipedia contributors, "Mar eting."Wi ipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,http://en. wi ipedia.org/wi i/Mar eting (Accessed August 10, 2004) Bibliography Wi ipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wi imedia Foundation Inc. Updated 22 July 2004 , 10:55 UTC. Encyclopedia on-line. Available from http://en.wi ipedia.org/wi i/E ndangered Species. Internet. Retrieved 10 August 2004. (According to Turabian 6th edition, 9.8, for entries in the bibliography, "th e first line of each entry is flush left, and any run over lines are indented fi ve spaces". This presentation does not follow that rule.) Parenthetical reference ("Plagiarism," Wi ipedia: The Free Encyclopedia) or (Wi ipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, s.v. "Plagiarism") Reference list Plagiarism. 22 July 2003, 10:55 UTC. In Wi ipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wi ime dia Foundation Inc. Encyclopedia on-line. Available from http://en.wi ipedia.org /wi i/Plagiarism. Internet. Retrieved 10 August 2004. (Indenting is li e that of the bibliography.) Citation to Wi ipedia The Harvard Journal of Law & Technology has adopted the following format for cit ations to articles in Wi ipedia: [Signal] Wi ipedia, [article], http://en.wi ipedia/wi i/[article] [(optional other parenthetical)] (as of [date], [time] GMT). Here is an example: See Wi ipedia, Blueboo , http://en.wi ipedia/wi i/Blueboo (describing histo ry and application of the Blueboo ) (as of Mar. 21, 2006, 20:50 GMT). This format derives from Rule 18.2 of the 18th edition of the Blueboo , though t he date parenthetical differs slightly. The parenthetical here is designed to sp ecify the exact version of the article to which the author is referring, recogni

zing that articles can and do change often. The date and time used should corres pond exactly to the latest version listed in the article's Wi ipedia history pag e that states the proposition for which you are citing it. Use of GMT conforms t o the timestamp format used in those history entries (e.g., use 24-hour notation to avoid AM/PM).