RuneScape:Style guide/References and citations

References, or footnotes, are notes which appear after a section of text and are linked with a specific part of the text. They are used for long explanations which cannot be worked into the paragraph naturally and for citations. Non-citation references should only be used sparingly, however references used as citations can be used as often as necessary.

Basic references
The basic reference format is:

statement

which will be shown in the text as:

statement

On its own, inserting a reference does nothing significant. It is only when a reference list is inserted into the article that the reference details are visible. To insert a reference list, add:

to the article wherever the list should appear. This creates:

The superscript number will link to the reference details in the reference list below, and likewise, the caret in the reference list will link back to the reference in the text to which it corresponds. The reference should be inserted after the word or statement to which it refers, and any punctuation which follows the word, for instance:

Multiple references
Each reference must fully enclosed in tags, at which point additional references may be inserted later into the text. Each reference will automatically be numbered according to the order in which they appear. This is useful when a section of text requires multiple references, such as the following:

Formatting references
The reference can be formatted just like any text. This includes text formatting, wiki links, and external links. As long as the formatting is contained entirely within the tags, it will work exactly as normal. Some examples follow:

These produce:

Multiple reference lists
If you need to have more than one reference list in an article, you must add a separate for each list you want. Each will list all the references above it, until it reaches another (if there are any). It will list none of the references below it. The numbering starts over with each new list created, and the footnotes in previous/following lists are ignored. An example follows:

Repeating a reference
In order to use a reference more than once while having it appear only once in the reference list, the reference must be named. You do not need to name a reference if you do not intend to use it more than once, however. To name a reference, use the following format:

The reference name will not be visible, so it does not need to be fancy. Once the reference is named the first time, it can be inserted again by adding:

There is no close tag necessary for this particular formatting mark. References other than the named reference will be numbered and listed as usual, however the named reference will only have one number attached to it, and will only be listed once, no mater how many times it is repeated. This can be observed in the following passage of text:

When a reference is repeated more than once, the caret that normally links to it is no longer active and, instead, each occurrence is linked to by a separate letter which appears after the caret.

What should be cited

 * Direct quotes (no exceptions)
 * Statistics such as XP values
 * Facts which are likely to be disputed
 * Jagex approved wiki pages from Jagex's RuneScape wiki
 * Player submitted content on Jagex's RuneScape wiki

Positioning citation lists
Lists of citations should be at the end of the article's content using a level 1 header, as follows:

==References==

Reference lists should be put after the last bit of content, which is usually a "Trivia" section, but before sections such as "See also", "External links", and end-of-page templates such as Stub. An alternative to the standard reference tag is the Reflist template, which produces smaller text. This is typically the best-looking option as it differentiates the reference list from normal text, however it can only be used once per page. The usage is identical:

==References==

There are additional formatting options, although it is rarely necessary to use them.