| This page in a nutshell:
About finding sources to support a specific Wikipedia article. For finding a source you have already identified, see
Wikipedia:Find your source
.
|
Independent
and
reliable
sources are vital for creating encyclopedia articles. Reliable sources allow editors to
verify
that claims in an article are
accurate
. The higher the quality of the source for the statement it backs up, the more likely that statement is to be accurate. Independent sources help editors to write
neutrally
and to prove that the subject has
received note
. Wherever possible, editors should aim to use sources that are independent and highly reliable for the subjects they write about.
Many of the best sources are not available online, or are only available under subscription. For example, many books are not available online at all, and subscription to academic databases such as
JSTOR
can be fairly expensive. However, it is possible to use the open web to find many good sources to use in writing encyclopedia articles. Examples of such sources are news stories from newspapers with a reputation for accuracy, books which have previews on digital libraries, and academic papers which are available
open access
in
open archives
.
Many types of sources are available, although some are appropriate only in certain situations.
- Scholarly articles
: short papers published in
academic journals
. They may present original research or review the research of others. Many undergo a process of
peer review
before publication. Watch two short videos on
traditional peer review
and
a comparison to open peer review
.
- Books
and
monographs
: longer academic or popular works.
- Textbooks
: an instructional or educational manual covering a particular subject area.
- Dictionaries
and
encyclopedias
: reference works containing multiple entries for different words or topics. Wikipedia is an example of an encyclopedia.
- Archival
and other
primary sources
: historic documents.
This page
outlines appropriate use of primary sources.
- Magazine
articles: short papers in popular or trade publications.
- Newspaper
articles or
news
reports: writing or multimedia that discusses current events or editorial analysis.
This page
assesses the reliability of news content.
- Reports and other
grey literature
: a broad category that includes most government documents, conference proceedings, and other writings not provided by traditional publishers.
- Statistics
: data, particularly
census
data, and analysis.
- Theses
and
dissertations
: works created as a requirement for the completion of an advanced postsecondary degree.
This page
describes some of the considerations in using these types of sources.
- Websites, blogs and other user-generated sources: online content from a variety of authors/publishers. Reliability depends on the editorial control of the website.
This page
discusses issues with user-generated content.
- DuckDuckGo
or other general
search engines
are effective for finding online sources in particular, but can also be used for some other kinds of sources depending on the topic area.
This video
outlines the fundamentals of "advanced search" techniques.
- User:Syced/Wikipedia Reference Search
provides a
Google Custom Search
that can be used to efficiently find sources on certain websites that some Wikipedia editors have determined are generally reliable, overall. Some hits (such as opinion pages) may not necessarily comply with
WP:RS
, so judgment is still needed. Because this search only includes returns from a pre-determined list of candidates it could miss many others possible sources. Nonetheless, this tool can sometimes be a good starting point.
- Several
general search engines
exist for more academic material, particularly scholarly articles, although some content will be behind a paywall: examples are
Google Scholar
,
BASE
and the
Internet Archive
's
https://scholar.archive.org/
.
This longer video
outlines the use of some Google Scholar features.
- Internet Archive
and
Google Books
indexes millions of books, both academic and popular; however, not all will be available in full text.
- This video
introduces the use of Internet Archive for research.
- Several publishers make multiple editions of their books available through Google Books. Sometimes, Google initially returns a link only to the e-book edition, but that edition may include links to alternate hardcover or softcover editions which do have original pagination. Google Books limits previews of copyrighted books to a certain number of pages. It is possible to jump ahead to exhaust that number from a later starting page by editing the browser URL. For example, adding "&pg=PA100" will usually jump to page 100.
WP:GBOOKS
explains how to cite sources found through Google Books.
- Installing the
Unpaywall
extension on your browser helps you find the full text of the articles wherever you found them.
- Public or research libraries have both books and research databases, covering a wide variety of subject areas.
Find yours
.
- Wikipedia:Free English newspaper sources
(WP:FENS) provides a list of text-searchable, free (no-pay, non-subscription/-membership/-login) online English newspaper sources.
- See if any
free resources
cover the topic area
- The Wikipedia Library
is an initiative to help Wikipedians get access to subscription or paid sources to improve Wikipedia articles. Editors can
apply for access to databases
,
request specific sources
, or
request help with research
.
- Bibliographies on a topic outline the main scholarly sources in a subject area and provide a good starting point, where they are available.
- Once you have found one good scholarly source, you can see what sources it cites and what cited it (
citation chaining
).
This video
describes citation chaining using Google Scholar.
- If you are having trouble accessing a particular source, e.g. due to
privacy laws
, try this
list of ways to get around IP-based restrictions
.
Issues to consider in deciding whether a source is
reliable
include:
- Who is the author? What are their qualifications and reputation? Do they have any identifiable biases?
- Who is the publisher? Is the work
self-published
? Does the publisher have a history of editorial reputation? Does the publisher have any biases?
- When was the source published? Is the information outdated?
- Does the source cite its own sources? Is it based on facts or opinions?
- Is the source
primary, secondary, or tertiary
?
- Are there any obvious errors or omissions?
To help find sources, Wikipedians have developed a number of
source-finding templates
which link to searches most likely to find references suitable for use in articles. The most well-known of these is
{{
find sources
}}
, an inline template which can be used almost anywhere. (But
please don't use it in articles themselves
.) This template allows editors to tweak search strings to find the best match for the subject; see the
documentation
for details. Alternatively, users who desire more freedom can use the meta-template
{{
find sources multi
}}
, which allows a choice of search engines.
Example of
{{
find sources
}}
:
{{find sources|human disguise}}
produces:
Find sources:
Google
(
books
·
news
·
scholar
·
free images
·
WP?refs
)?
·
FENS
·
JSTOR
·
TWL
Example of
{{
find sources multi
}}
:
{{find sources multi|human disguise|link1=g|link2=gnews|link3=ddg}}
produces:
Google
·
Google News
·
DuckDuckGo
For subjects that have several names or spellings, it may be desirable to use more than one search. This can be as simple as using several
{{
find sources
}}
templates.