h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I see that GA Kristina has greeted you ::waves to Kristina:: and I'll say hi also!

I'm sorry that the news of DNA's death is what brought you to h2g2 Forkboy, but I'm very glad you're here now!

If you're interested in leaving a message of condolence, please do so on Douglas's personal space:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A5932

Welcome to h2g2! My name is Shea, and I am an Assistant Community Editor (ACE) and a Guardian Angel (GA). We're a group of volunteers that flit about welcoming and helping new Researchers. If you want to ask me a question, or need help with anything, just hit the "Reply" button and leave a message, I'll fly back in and help you in any way I can!

Have you checked out the Welcome pages yet? They're a good place to start:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/Welcome
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/Welcome-DNA

If you're interested Forkboy, I made a page with a list of links that you might like to check out. It's at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A534953

There's lots to do around h2g2! You can read or write Guide Entries, post in your Journal, join clubs and communities, have a few drinks in a pub, join spirited debate, or just make some new friends!

If you ever want to talk to a Researcher, just click on their name. That will take you to their Personal Space, and you can leave them a message there (like I'm doing now!) by clicking on the 'Discuss this Entry' button.

Most importantly Forkboy, have fun! You might find yourself meeting some great new friends! I know I have!

- Shea the Sarcastic

I have a question that I have (as of yet) been unable to find an answer for. Namely: how does one go about citing reference material in a research piece?

I ask because I am certain that, somewhere in the Guide, there exists an entry that needed to be researched elsewhere. It would seem to me, that in order to comply with the Rules and Terms that I would need to cite those sources (so as to avoid the issue of plagiarism). In addition, source citation adds an element of accountability sorely needed on the Web.

Any comments (including a direction to start looking) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Forkboy

I'm not exactly sure what you mean ... do you mean how do you put external links in an entry, or how do you make footnotes, or what format those footnotes should be in? Sorry to have to answer your question with a question, I just want to be sure I'm telling you what you want to know!

Essentially, what I'm asking about is footnotes, but it goes a little deeper than that.

When one looks at researched articles in the periodical world (ie- magazines, journals), there are usually citations of other articles from which the article itself was compiled. This is not to say that the text itself was lifted from the other articles, but rather that some information was gleened from said articles, and the author wishes to allow for fact checking on the part of the reader.

These are typically given as either footnotes or (more usually) endnotes to the article. I have, as yet, not seen such usage of the footnotes in the Guide, although I am sure such cases exist.

The question is, then, when (or if) such a citation is to be used, what is the standard format for its usage?

I hope this helps clarify a little bit.

Forkboy

Hi Forkboy!

I did some research, and found the Writing Guidelines page:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/Writing-Guidelines

It has the answers to a lot of questions, and it gives some links under the
8. Research Your Entry Thoroughly
section to some Entries that use extensive footnotes. Check out this Entry:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A264854

That's pretty much what I was wondering about.

Thank you.

Forkboy

You're very welcome!