OrganizedWisdom

References and Citations

In your GuideWisdom and Fast Facts, please use citations (references) to demonstrate that the facts which you have included are indeed factual. This is essential to fostering credibility, trust, and value in your WisdomCard. Please see the following examples:


  • Please note that citations are required to support any fact, opinion, or interesting piece of information - especially when it could be challenged by others.


Formatting guidelines:

  • The following tags are used: <ref> and </ref>
  • <ref> : This tag immediately follows the period of a sentence in the GuideWisdom, or the last word in a Fast Fact. It needs to be touching without a space.
  • After the first <ref> tag, include the source website and the appropriate link. In most cases, this will be identical to the formatting of a typical link in your WisdomCard.
  • Attach the </ref> tag to the end bracket ( ] ) after your link text.
  • If you have properly formatted your references, a superscript number will appear on the WisdomCard immediately following the sentence you are footnoting, and you will see the details at the bottom of the page in the section "Guide Wisdom and Fast Facts References."


Watch the Video: Adding References

  • Example:
  • Smoking causes almost 90% of lung cancer.<ref>Mayo Clinic: [http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lung-cancer/DS00038 Lung Cancer]</ref>
  • This is what it looks like on a page:
  • Smoking causes almost 90% of lung cancer.1


  • Multiple footnotes for the same source:
  • If the same source has been used to support different statements in your GuideWisdom or Fast Facts, you can use a shortcut to avoid having to retype the source information each time. If you use <ref="Arbitrary Name of the Source"> instead of <ref> you can save time by assigning a "name" to the reference that can be used more than once. In other words, even though a link from A.D.A.M might be used multiple times throughout an article, it gets listed only once in the GuideWisdom and Fast Facts References section.


  • Formatting: <ref name="A.D.A.M. (via New York Times)">A.D.A.M. (via New York Times): [http://url Link Description]</ref>
  • Subsequent footnotes for the same source can look like this: <ref name="A.D.A.M. (via New York Times)"/>


  • Example of proper formatting with multiple footnotes for the same source:
  • Please note that citations are required to support any fact, opinion, or interesting piece of information - especially when it could be challenged by others.<ref name="OW">OrganizedWisdom: [http://organizedwisdom.com/OrganizedWisdom:References References and Citations]</ref> By citing the source, a user is more likely to attribute value to a fact or statement.<ref name="OW"/> This is what it looks like when the coding is properly formatted.<ref name="OW"/>


  • And this is what it looks like on the page:

Please note that citations are required to support any fact, opinion, or interesting piece of information - especially when it could be challenged by others.2 By citing the source, a user is more likely to attribute value to a fact or statement.2 This is what it looks like when the coding is properly formatted.2

Your footnotes will appear in the section below:

GuideWisdom and Fast Facts References

  1. Mayo Clinic: Lung Cancer
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 OrganizedWisdom: References and Citations


  • Always double-check your formatting!
  • Check your GuideWisdom and Fast Facts to be sure that your formatting is correct.
  • Check the GuideWisdom and Fast Facts References section at the bottom of the page to be sure that your references are listed with the correct formatting.


Does this mean I can copy & paste information? No! We do not condone plagiarizing. You still need to write the copy yourself, but add citations when you're stating facts or information that comes directly from a specific source. You may quote short bits of information, but you need to put those quotes inside quote marks and then add the reference.

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