CZ:List-defined references

See also Help:Index/Formatting/References

List-defined references (LDR) is a referencing method that moves the text of the references out of the main body of an article and into the "References" section at the bottom of the article.

LDR is a way to make referencing of article contents with a great deal less cluttering of the article's main body text in the edit page. Reduced clutter makes reading the edit page and revising it much easier. Creating LDR is not only cleaner than previous methods such as the <ref>-</ref> method, it is a method that will be more easily understood by new users.

Overview of how LDR works

This section explains the steps and coding to be used in the edit page of a Citizendium article in order to cite references as the sources for words or statements (sentences or paragraphs) in the main body of the article.

The user creates a short unique id (identifier or name) for each individual reference which is formatted like this:

<ref name=id/>   Note the forward slash ( / ) at the end of the id.

To cite a reference in the main body of the article, the user places <ref name=id/> for that reference immediately to the right of the statement. The same insertion may be used in multiple locations in an article however many times that reference is needed.

Then in the References section at the bottom of the article, the user lists each reference formatted like this:

<ref name=id>xxxx</ref>  Where xxxx is the reference's full description. Quotation marks enclosing the id are not needed.

Note that the forward slash ( / ) is not included after the id in the References section.

Some rules

• When a comma or a period is located immediately to the right of a word or statement where the user wants to locate a reference id (e.g., <ref name=id/>), the id should be located immediately to the right of the comma or the period and should be separated from the next word or next sentence by a single blank character space.

• A blank line space must be provided between each listed reference.

• Note that the list in the References section is within a template. The list must start with {{reflist|refs= and it must end with }} exactly as shown in the example coding below.

Putting it together

To summarize, the basic templates used for bibliographic information are the same {{cite book ...}} and {{cite journal ...}} and {{cite web...}} templates used with the <ref>-</ref> method. However, these templates are placed not in the text, but at the end of the article following a References header using the format:

{{reflist|refs=              (notice the vertical separator and refs=)

<ref name=Ref1> {{cite book ...}} </ref>  (this is first reference)

<ref name=Ref2> {{cite book ...}} </ref>  (this is second reference, separated by a space)

}}                  (these are additional final braces)

where the names "Ref1", "Ref2" are arbitrary creations of the writer. Connection to these definitions from the text is done with an insertion, such as <ref name=Ref1/>, but notice, with a forward slash.

Although not necessary to its functionality, for ease in editing, the list of named notes in the References section can be put in alphabetical order. That makes finding the note in this list easier in the event the note should be edited, for example to update a link or add to descriptive material.

Example

This is how to code the edit page of an article using "List-Defined References" :

The Sun is the dwarf star<ref name=Weissman2007p71/> at the center of the Solar System. There are eight major planets and other celestial bodies orbiting it.<ref name=Weissman2007p3/> It is extremely hot, with surface temperatures in excess of 6,000 K and a central core temperature of about 15,700,000 K.<ref name=Weissman2007p72/> Since the Sun is about 150,000,000 kilometers away,<ref name=Weissman2007p72/> only a very small amount of its heat and light reach the Earth. By contrast, the Earth's Moon is very much smaller and very much colder.<ref name=Vasavada1999/> ==References== {{reflist|refs= <ref name=Vasavada1999>{{ cite journal | author=Ashwin R. Vasavadaa, David A. Paige and Stephen E. Wood | title= Near-Surface Temperatures on Mercury and the Moon and the Stability of Polar Ice Deposits | journal= Icarus | volume=141 | issue=2 |pages=pp. 179-193 | date= October 1999 |doi=10.1006/icar.1999.6175 }}</ref> <ref name=Weissman2007p3>{{ cite book | author=Paul R Weissman |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=G7UtYkLQoYoC&pg=PA3 | title=Encyclopedia of the solar system |chapter=Chapter 1: The solar system and its place in the galaxy| edition= 2nd Edition |editor=Lucy-Ann McFadden, Paul Robert Weissman, Torrence V. Johnson, editors | publisher=Academic Press | year=2007 | pages= pp. 3 ff |isbn= 0120885891 }}</ref> <ref name=Weissman2007p71>{{ cite book | author=Markus J Aschwanden |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=G7UtYkLQoYoC&pg=PA71 | title=Encyclopedia of the solar system |chapter=Chapter 4: The Sun | edition= 2nd Edition |editor=Lucy-Ann McFadden, Paul Robert Weissman, Torrence V. Johnson, editors | publisher=Academic Press | year=2007 | pages= pp. 71 ff | isbn= 0120885891 }}</ref> <ref name=Weissman2007p72>{{ cite book | author=Markus J Aschwanden |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=G7UtYkLQoYoC&pg=PA72 | title=Encyclopedia of the solar system |chapter=Table 1: Basic physical properties of the sun | edition= 2nd Edition |editor=Lucy-Ann McFadden, Paul Robert Weissman, Torrence V. Johnson, editors | publisher=Academic Press | year=2007 | pages= p. 72 | isbn= 0120885891 }}</ref> }}

This is what the above coding produces on the article page :

The Sun is the dwarf star at the center of the Solar System. There are eight major planets and other celestial bodies orbiting it. It is extremely hot, with surface temperatures in excess of 6,000 K and a central core temperature of about 15,700,000 K. Since the Sun is about 150,000,000 kilometers away, only a very small amount of its heat and light reach the Earth. By contrast, the Earth's Moon is very much smaller and very much colder. References

Additional examples can be seen in the article Set (mathematics), which is formatted using the CZ:List-defined references methodology.

A style note

Note that the {{cite book}} and {{cite journal}} templates used in the above coding example are formatted with the cells in a horizontal style rather than a vertical style where the cells are in a vertical column. The horizontal style looks neater and definitely uses less space. However, the horizontal style is only a suggestion, it is not mandatory.

The information fields in the templates do not have to be filled in in any particular order (the template puts them in standard order automatically), and fields can be left blank. For readers looking for sources, the url links that the template imbeds in the titles of books and papers are helpful, and isbn or doi entries will assist readers even if the url links expire.