[template="Guide:Policies"][/template]Source citation is important in any factual endeavor, and the D'niPedia is no exception. Please cite your sources when writing an article, even if the source is fairly obvious or common knowledge. Source citation should follow the guidelines below. If an article is in need of a citation, please either add the citation yourself or add the "CitationNeeded" template after the material in question.

[h="1"]Citation Usage[/h]
Because the D'niPedia presently lacks an automated method for adding citations and end-notes, please use the following formatting to add a "Sources" section at the end of your article:

Beneath this, list your sources in the order they are used in the article. For added clarity when multiple sources are used, please consider using endnote numbering. For example:


[h="1"]Citation Formatting[/h]
[h="2"]Games[/h]
Citation of material from within a game can be made by simply adding the name of the game to your Sources section. Please use the full name of the game, and link it to the game's OOC article. Example:


For Uru Live: Prologue and Myst Online: Uru Live, be sure to also include the date the information you are using as a source was revealed. This is especially important for information revealed through chat logs.

[h="3"]In-Game Sources[/h]
If there is a specific source for your information within the game (such as a journal or notebook), you are encouraged to add that source to your citation. In such cases, please link to the article for source as well. Example:


For DRC research notebooks, you may omit the title of the game and replace it with "DRC Research".

[h="2"]Novels[/h]
Always use the full name of the novel, such as Myst: The Book of Atrus. The title of the book should be italicized, and should be linked to the book's article in the D'niPedia. No additional publishing details are needed (this isn't the MLA), but page numbers and book formats are appreciated. For example:


[h="2"]Websites[/h]
This citation is for non-forum-based citations, such as information on Cyan's website. These citations may or may not include an author depending on the source. Some information comes from an organization or a website as a whole and some comes from an individual on a website. Here you will need to use common sense to determine which is occurring in your source. If you determine that there is not a specific author, then your citation will start with the title of the article/webpage. Next should come the title of the article or specific webpage. After that should come the title for the overall website. The posting date or access date should come next. Finally the URL should be provided.

Author. "Title of article or webpage". Website title. date. <URL>
"Title of article or webpage". Website title. date. <URL>

[h="2"]Forum Posts[/h]
These are essentially website citations, but with an emphasis on the date.

Author. date of post. "Title of thread". Website or forum title. <URL>

[h="2"]Email[/h]
In the past, RAWA has posted quite a lot of information on The Riven Lyst, and later on The Lyst. Historically, those emails were re-posted online on the now-defunct D'ni Desk Reference site. Some of them have also been posted in the Archive under the "Official Communications" tag. In the event that an email needs to be referenced, the best course of action would be to first post the full text of the email from the person in question (provided that such action is permissible... if it was emailed to you privately, get permission from the author before posting the whole thing!) and using a format much like that for forum posts. For example:

Email Author. date. "Email Title". Personal Email to <recipient(s)>.

If the email is archived here, use the Email Title as a link to that message in the Archive.

If an email isn't available for public re-posting, but contains relevant information nonetheless, and you have permission to release that information, please cite the reference as follows: