Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia

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Frequently, people want to know how they should cite Wikipedia in other works.

As with any source, especially those of unknown authorship, you should be wary and independently verify the accuracy of Wikipedia information if possible; see also our General Disclaimer page.

Wiki is an unusual form of media, and as such doesn't conform well to the usual book citation formats. Wiki is not paper, so you will need to use an electronic format instead. The exact citation format will depend upon the citation style guide that you are following, but here are a few general principles to consider:

  • You should not cite any particular author or authors for a Wikipedia article, in general. Wikipedia is collaboratively written. However, if you do need to find the list of authors of a particular article, you can check the Page history.
  • Your citation should normally list both the article title and Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, much as you would for an article in a paper publication.
  • The citation should normally include the full date and time of the article revision you are using, because the page may well change radically between when you view it and when somebody else following your reference views it. This can be found by clicking the Page history link at the left or top of the page, and looking at the time of the topmost revision (times are in Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC, unless you have logged in and entered an offset in your preferences). You can also find the date and time of last revision at the bottom of the page.
  • Most citation styles will likely require the full article URL. If greater brevity is desired, however, you may optionally include just the Wikipedia URL (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/ for an English article) because the article URL can be inferred from the article title. Note you should click "Permanent link" in the toolbox at the left of this page. This lets the URL include a unique identifier such that you can tie your reference back to the exact version of the article you are referencing; it may or may not be desirable to adopt this approach, depending upon the context of your reference. This lets you show what you saw and will not show any page vandalism (or any other changes, for that matter) made after you accessed the page.
  • Many citation styles also request the date on which you retrieved the page. However, we suggest omitting this if your style guide allows because the inclusion of the revision date or "Permanent link" (above) makes the retrieval date unimportant.
  • Each Wikipedia article should normally be a separate citation.

Contents

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Examples

The following examples assume you are citing the Wikipedia article on Plagiarism, using the version that was submitted on July 22, 2004, at 10:55 UTC (see the page history for this information), and that you retrieved the article on August 10, 2004.

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APA style

Citation in APA style, as recommended by the American Psychological Association:[1]

  • Plagiarism (2004, July 22). Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 10, 2004, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism.
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MLA style

Citation in MLA style, as recommended by the Modern Language Association:

  • "Plagiarism." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 22 Jul 2004, 10:55 UTC. 10 Aug 2004 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism>.

Note that MLA style calls for both the date of publication (or its latest update) and the date on which the information was retrieved. Also note that many schools/institutions slightly change the syntax. Another example:

  • "Plagiarism." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 22 July 2004 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism>.

Be sure to double check the exact syntax your institution requires.

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MHRA style

Citation in MHRA style, as recommended by the Modern Humanities Research Association:

  • Wikipedia contributors, 'Plagiarism', Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, 22 July 2004, 10:55 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism> [accessed 10 August 2004]
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Chicago style

Citation in Chicago style:

  • Wikipedia contributors, "Plagiarism," Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism (accessed August 10, 2004).

Note that the Chicago Manual of Style states that "Well-known reference books, such as major dictionaries and encyclopedias, are normally cited in notes rather than bibliographies."

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CBE/CSE Style

Citation in CBE/CSE style, as recommended by the Council of Science Editors:

  • Wikipedia contributors. Plagiarism [Internet]. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; 2004 Jul 22, 10:55 UTC [cited 2004 Aug 10]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism.
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BibTeX entry

 @misc{ wiki:xxx,
   author = "Wikipedia",
   title = "Plagiarism --- Wikipedia{,} the free encyclopedia",
   year = "2005",
   url = "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism",
   note = "[Online; accessed 21-April-2005]"
 }

When using the LaTeX package url (\usepackage{url} somewhere in the preamble) which tends to give much more nicely formatted web addresses, the following may preferred:

 @misc{ wiki:xxx,
   author = "Wikipedia",
   title = "Plagiarism --- Wikipedia{,} the free encyclopedia",
   year = "2005",
   url = "\url{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism}",
   note = "[Online; accessed 21-April-2005]"
 }
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See also

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_Wikipedia"
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