User:Iadmc/How to source an article
 | This is an essay on the Verifiability and No original research policies. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
Besides being about notable subjects, all articles on Wikipedia need to be verifiable from reliable sources. This is especially true of biographies of living persons. In general, it is the responsbility of the editor contributing or restoring the material to source it. There are several ways to find sources for an article, and several ways to use those sources within an article. These are explained below.
Reasons for sourcing articles
No original research is allowed on Wikipedia and all articles should be written from a neutral point of view (this latter is one of Wikipedia's Five pillars). Taken together, these principles lead to the fact that all information on Wikipedia needs to be verifiable from reliable sources. "The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth".
Biographies of living persons [BLPs]
There are many reasons that articles about living persons should be sourced. After all, they are living breathing human beings just like you and me and deserve respect. The most important legal reason, however is that all statements about living persons need to avoid making libelous claims. New BLPs, especially, need to be sourced. Wikipedia recently decided that BLPs must be sourced; however, rather than deleting en bloc all unsourced BLPs, it was felt that no new unsourced BLPs would be allowed to stand. To this end, a new deletion process, a close relative of the process described in Wikipedia:Proposed deletion, is under development. (See Wikipedia talk:Sticky Prod workshop.)
How to find sources
- General policies
- Specific policies
- Guidelines
- Also important (but not critical perhaps)
- Also useful: