All pages in the main namespace should have references and citations. If a newly added piece of content is not meaningful information and does not refer to any sources, consider nominating it for deletion with {{delete}} or request fact checking with an {{accuracy}} notice or {{dispute}} tag. Overall, such content run the risk of being reverted or deleted. If you come across any problems while referencing or have any suggestions to improve the way we reference information, contact an administrator.
Purpose[]
Why should you care? Without references, it'll be hard to resolve an issue where two pages contain contradicting information, because it becomes a "your word against mine" situation where we won't be able to even check or know which of the two is actually correct. With proper referencing, we can:
- fix possible misinterpretations of the story
- identify changes between the novel and webtoon adaptation
- fix inconsistent information across different articles/pages
- prevent misinformation due to the above mentioned issues
Guidelines[]
- There should be at least one reference per paragraph
- Citations should follow the APA7 citation style
- The reference list should be placed at the bottom of the article with {{Refs}}
Citation styles[]
We have a couple of templates on the The Death Mage Wiki, which automatically format the citation style by pulling from a predefined list of citations. A couple of them are shorthand references to the webtoon or novel, which makes adding references quick and simple. All you need to do is to define the chapter number like so: {{wn|INSERT CHAPTER NUMBER HERE}}, and the template will automatically format the reference correctly for you.
Templates[]
- Use {{wn}} to add a reference to the web novel
- Use {{ln}} to add a reference to the light novel
- Use {{mn}} to add a reference to the manga
- Use the <ref> tag or {{#tag:ref}} if you need to cite a source that is not already covered by these citation templates.
Key Legend[]
To reference a side chapter or character summary, the reference templates uses some shorthand keys that you can use:
- {{wn|S1}} is shorthand for "Side Chapter 1" of the web novel.
- {{wn|V1}} is shorthand for "Volume 1" of the web novel.
- {{wn|V3CS}} is shorthand for "Character Summary" in volume 3 of the web novel.
- If you leave the reference template empty, it will output {{Citation Needed}} instead, meaning it will tag the article as missing a citation.
Please note that the chapter numbers are counted accumulatively, and does not refresh per volume. For instance, the chapter 5 of volume 3 in the light novel is {{ln|15}}. Although something like {{ln|5|[[Lightnovel/Volume/3|Volume 3]]}} might look okay visually, it will still link to fifth chapter of volume 1 instead of the fifth chapter of volume 3.