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This guidance is new to the 7th edition. Date created: February 2020 Answered By: Alyssa MitchellLast Updated: Jun 30, 2020 Views: 297666When citing Wikipedia in-text, all you need is the article title. This is because Wikipedia is a collaborative website and there is no author or published date. The citation, which will be in parentheses, will have the title of the page or article in quotations. In place of the published date the common practice is to use n.d., which stands for no date. To put an in-text citation for Wikipedia in APA, you would use the following format: ("Title of article," n.d.) An example would be: ("World War II," n.d.) If you want to direct your reader to a specific section of the Wikipedia article, you can include the paragraph number at the end of your citation. For example: ("World War II," n.d., para. 5) Comments (55)Contact Us!Main Library: (330) 490-7185 Questions? Ask Us!
Related Topics Published on June 10, 2022 by Jack Caulfield. Revised on June 28, 2022. Wikipedia is a useful source of background information that students often use in the early stages of research. However, it’s often
not considered a reliable source to cite in your academic writing. If you’re certain you’re allowed to cite Wikipedia, the citation usually includes: The specific format differs depending on what citation style you’re
following: APA, MLA, and Chicago style are three of the most commonly used. In
APA Style (7th edition), only the first word of the title is capitalized, and there is no period after the URL. The in-text citation includes the title of the article (with title-case capitalization, and shortened if necessary) and the year. APA recommends linking to a specific archived version of the Wikipedia article so that the reader can be sure they are accessing the same version. This can be accessed by clicking the “View history” tab at the top of the article and selecting the latest revision: The date you include is therefore the date of the revision you accessed, the URL that of the specific revision. APA Citation Generator How to cite Wikipedia in MLA styleIn MLA style, the title takes headline capitalization, the publisher is included, and there is a period after the URL. Example: MLA Wikipedia citation
The date of last modification can be found at the very bottom of the article (“This page was last edited on…”). MLA Citation Generator How to cite Wikipedia in Chicago styleChicago style recommends against citing Wikipedia as a source. However, if you do need to cite it, the format depends on which of Chicago’s two styles of citation you’re following:
Notes and bibliographyIn notes and bibliography style, Chicago recommends only citing Wikipedia in your footnotes, and leaving it out of your bibliography. Use the short note format if you need to cite the same article again. Example: Chicago Wikipedia citation (notes and bibliography)
In author-date style, a parenthetical citation appears in the text, and full details are given in the reference list. Example: Chicago Wikipedia citation (author-date)
Is Wikipedia a reliable source?Using Wikipedia as a source is generally discouraged in academic writing, and your institution may even have a specific rule against doing so. There is disagreement about whether Wikipedia can be considered a reliable source, but most academics agree that you shouldn’t cite it in your writing, for two main reasons:
However, there’s no problem with using Wikipedia for background information and to find other sources, especially in the early stages of your research. Using Wikipedia effectivelyWikipedia can be a good starting point, since many of its articles comprehensively cite the primary and secondary sources used. You can often find useful sources under the headings “References,” “Further reading,” and “External links” at the bottom of an article. Look for credible sources like scholarly journals and books. You may occasionally want to cite a piece of general (rather than specialist) information from Wikipedia. When doing so, it’s good practice to independently verify any information you are not sure about before citing it (also called lateral reading). Look out for warning signs that the article contains unreliable or incomplete information:
If you spot one one or more of these issues, it’s probably not a good idea to use the article even for background information. Example: Poor-quality Wikipedia article Frequently asked questions about citationsHow do I cite a source with no page numbers? When you want to cite a specific passage in a source without page numbers (e.g. an e-book or website), all the main citation styles recommend using an alternate locator in your in-text citation. You might use a heading or chapter number, e.g. (Smith, 2016, ch. 1) In APA Style, you can count the paragraph numbers in a text to identify a location by paragraph number. MLA and Chicago recommend that you only use paragraph numbers if they’re explicitly marked in the text. For audiovisual sources (e.g. videos), all styles recommend using a timestamp to show a specific point in the video when relevant. Cite this Scribbr articleIf you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
Is this article helpful?You have already voted. Thanks :-) Your vote is saved :-) Processing your vote... How do I cite a Wikipedia article?A Wikipedia citation usually includes the title of the article, “Wikipedia” and/or “Wikimedia Foundation,” the date the article was last updated, and the URL. In APA Style, you'll give the URL of the current revision of the article so that you're sure the reader accesses the same version as you.
How do I find the last modified date on Wikipedia?Click the View History tab to see the revision history of a page. (Your user preferences offers customization.) See Help:Page history. On the left column of the page, activate the Toolbox's Related changes to see the revision history of an article, classes of articles, or of the entire Wikipedia.
What is retrieved date in Wikipedia?The Retrieved date is when you fetched the reference; the publication date is when the article was published.
How do you reference Wikipedia in APA?The website will always be formatted as “In Wikipedia.” This is what a Wikipedia citation in APA format should look like: Wikipedia entry title. (Year, Month Day). In Wikipedia.
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