Category:Citable Source Templates

A Citable Source Template, is one with a short name optimized for placing a footnote in an article body, with the page/folio/plate number supplied as the single parameter.

When it is used with NO parameters, a more verbose reference to the encompassing book/work or source is supplied, suitable for use in a page's Bibliography section.

Purpose

Editing the site often requires a lot of boilerplate syntax. We have around 200-500 sources we use continually, and making flexible templates helps us refer to them in a footnote, reducing error and saving time. The templates in this category show the basic model we use.

Naming Standards

These have to be sufficiently long to specify the work being referred to, but must be short enough to be unique (of course) and easy to type. Editors should err on making them short rather than pretty, especially those that will be used frequently (e.g., ARTS1914 is good for "Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1914", as it is used hundreds of times and is part of a series).

To this end, I suggest:

• no standard prefix (i.e., no Bib or Cit, though we maybe we should consider SR for Service Records, when we "go there")
• I have been abbreviating
  • Manual as M
  • Handbook as H
  • Drill Book as DB
  • Gunnery as Gun
  • Torpedo as Torp
  • Technical History as TH
• books by the naval service should not mention an author
• books should have last name of the first author, if the author seems vital to remembering the work
• if the book is in a prominent series, however; drop the author name: e.g., NavOpsIV rather than NewboltNOIV
• include a year as a suffix when the work was part of a regular or occasional series, e.g., ARTS1916, if there is a Volume number or such, have that come after the year, e.g., ManGun1920III

Using the Templates in a Wiki Article

As a citation, a single parameter is used to specify the page number (or similar details particular to this citation, but not to the source itself).

Crumpets are best for breakfast.{{CrumpetH|p. 5}}

When listing this source in a Bibliography section, however, no parameter is used. The template spits out the long format reference.

==Bibliography==
* {{CrumpetH}}

Creating a Citable Source Template

How does one write such a template? The basic form is:

{{Cit|Complete source reference|Abbreviated reference|{{{1|}}}}}<noinclude>{{CatCit}}</noinclude>

Note that it calls another template called Cit, and hands it three parameters:

• the bibliographic (long format) description of the source (final period omitted).
• a pipe character: |
• the abbreviated footnote mention of the same work (final period omitted)
• the following mess: |{{{1|}}}<noinclude>{{CatCit}}</noinclude></nowiki>

Gotchas

• There should be NO line breaks anywhere, or the including article may have ugly whitespace and stray bullets and periods.
• Any equal signs (such as in a URL) must be replaced by {{Eq}}
• Let me know if you see other anomalies — TONY LOVELL, Editor.