wikiHow editors are strongly encouraged to add references to articles they edit. An important part of creating an accurate and authoritative how-to manual is using good source materials when writing or improving articles. Good source materials can help to create new articles or to make old ones more accurate. These instructions will help you to use the best possible practices when researching and using references in your articles.

Show Ads

[edit] Steps

Understand some basics about copyright:
- As a general rule, facts cannot be copyrighted. This means that you are able to use any facts you find to support your article.^[1]
- Although facts are not subject to copyright, the words used to express them are, particularly if the wording is original or unique (copyright covers original expression). You are free to use information from other materials in your articles, but you must use your own words to express it.^[2]
Recognize that you are strongly encouraged to use facts and ideas found in research sources for articles you edit on wikiHow. Here are some examples on how to do this legally:
- Crack Your Knuckles - A stub was improved and referenced to reliable sources. Ideas and facts came from the sources, original wording from the wikiHow editor.
- Remove Fingernail Polish From Carpet. The ideas for these methods were not from the wikiHow editor, but he used original wording to describe ideas found elsewhere and then referenced the original sources.
- Make Horchata - A stub was improved with a recipe found on another site. Ingredient lists are not copyrightable^[3] ^[4] nor are ideas or methodologies. The description was written with unique words for wikiHow. The source was attributed.
Find source materials to cover as many aspects of your topic as possible. Although searching for sources online is one obvious way to find sources, many excellent materials are not readily available online. Your local public library is a great one-stop location to find all sorts of books, magazines, encyclopedias and many other reference materials (and unlike the Internet, there is a librarian there who can help you find what you need).
- Analyze the credibility of the source. The best sources are original materials produced by reputable organizations or authors. Choose to reference the BBC and NASA.gov over someone's MySpace blog when you have a choice.
- Avoid using sources that are opinion-based as much as possible, except when there is significant debate on an issue.
Start editing or writing your article. As you write the article, add the appropriate source information wherever it's helpful.
- Be sure to use the correct wiki syntax when adding references so that your source materials are displayed and linked properly. See How to Do References on wikiHow for instructions.
- Be careful to summarize the information from your source in your own words. Unless doing a direct quote, never just "copy and paste" as this will risk creating a copyright violation.
- Make sure that your citations contain enough information to help a reader quickly find the information you are referencing. If your materials come from a website, be sure to cite the specific page and section (e.g., use wikiHow.com/Use-Research-Sources-on-wikiHow, not just wikiHow.com). If your materials come from a book, a page number is much more helpful than just citing the book itself.
Save the page when you are finished editing. Check to make sure that your references are correct and that all of the links are working properly.

[edit] Tips

These steps work well for either new articles or when reviewing an article for accuracy.
It is usually more effective to use multiple sources for a given article than a single source, because this decreases the likelihood of bias.
While referencing is always a good idea, it is imperative to add references to controversial statements or facts that might be questioned.

[edit] Warnings

Be sure that you are not copying word-for-word from your source materials. Summarize information in your own words instead.
Avoid plagiarism! Cite the sources of the facts and ideas you use.