One Piece Wiki:Guidebook/Referencing Information

This page details our practice of referencing information and citing sources, and explains how you can do it.

Why Do We Reference Information?
This wiki's purpose is to compile information about the One Piece franchise, but since it is fanmade it cannot be considered an authoritative source in itself; information can only be considered official if it is verified by an official source. If a statement is not referenced with its correct source, that means it is not certain that it is official. Since facts about One Piece come from thousands of media sources, from the manga and anime to supplementary materials to news articles, it is typically difficult for an average fan to immediately know whether or not a fact is true and exactly where that fact comes from.

Since anyone can edit this wiki, this means that it's very possible for people to add falsehoods, speculation, and misinterpreted or erroneous information to it. Having references for verified facts helps us to better identify questionable content and deal with it as necessary.

How Do I Add a Reference?
Referencing is quite simple, and fairly easy to master once you know your sources. We use the Qref template to reference information, and a more comprehensive guide to the template can be found on its page. Below is a more simple guide to help you get started.

1 Start off with the code:  {{qref 

2 If you are using the reference multiple times on a page, give it a unique name such as:  {{qref|name=Example1 
 * Giving a name to a reference allows you to use it multiple times on one page. Once you have the first reference written out, you can just put in the code  {{qref|name=Example1}}  in all the other cases where the same reference is to be put. A name is not needed when the chance of having the same reference twice in a page is minimum. Also, keep in mind that always the first reference of the page needs to be written out, not the second or the third. A standard formula for these names is cXXX with XXX being the chapter number. So for example:  {{qref|name=c542| 

3 Next we add the chapter number:  {{qref|name=Example1|chapter=3 

4 Once the chapter number is filled in, it is time to put in what pages of the chapter the reference refers to:  {{qref|name=Example1|chapter=3|page=14-15 
 * The pages do not need to be included when the reference refers to the whole chapter. This is usually in the arc pages. Also, another thing to watch out for: double pages count as two pages. The chapter cover will always count as the first page. A color spread will count as two pages as well. A magazine cover will not add to the page count. Keep in mind that when referencing something on a double page, the left page will be the higher number.

5 Now we add the episode number:  {{qref|name=Example1|chapter=3|page=14-15|episode=5 
 * This is of course only possible when the episode accompanying the chapter in the reference is released already, but putting the code in and leaving the episode number itself blank when the episode is not yet released is advisable.

6 The text is next: ''' {{qref|name=Example1|chapter=3|page=14-15|episode=5|text=Luffy beats Crocodile. '''
 * The text is used so that users can immediately see what the reference refers to just by looking in the list of references at the bottom of the page or at the pop-up. It needs to be a short summary of what is referenced, written in present tense. Short sentences usually suffice.

7 Then we close the coding with }} so it ends up looking like this:  {{qref|name=Example1|chapter=3|page=14-15|episode=5|text=Luffy beats Crocodile.}} 

8 The last thing to do is add the following coding to a page (if it isn't already there somewhere):

 ==References== 

 

Once the amount of references is getting too much for a page, which is usually about 10 references, there will need to be a scrollbox. To put in a scrollbox, simply replace   with  {{References}} .

For reference to a book, movie, et cetera, go to Template:Qref. If you need help with referencing, you can contact our Reference Crew here. They will be more than pleased to help you with your problems. And if you have the passion for referencing, you might even end up joining the crew!

The End Result
After this the page will contain the reference. It will look like a number in a square like this: and appear in the references section like this:

Shortcuts
Our Qref template has shortcuts for our convenience:


 * chapter=3 can be shortened to chap=3.
 * episode=5 can be shortened to ep=5.
 * text= can simply be left out.

The reference with shortcuts will now look like this:  . The result will be the same.

Handling Unreferenced Information
The best way to tackle unreferenced information and help the wiki is to look up the sources and add the references yourself! We encourage all of our editors to identify unreferenced articles and add references to them to help make the wiki complete.

There are also ways to mark unreferenced articles and statements to ask for a source, particularly if you are unsure about what that source is.
 * If all or most of the page lacks references, add the template at the top of the page.
 * If there is a statement whose source you are unsure of, you can add the template to the end of it, which will generate the note.

Please limit usage of the Confirm template for when you have actual doubts about the veracity of a statement, and do not know its source. Below is a general guide to properly referencing information and handling unreferenced content.
 * If the unreferenced statement is clearly false, ridiculous, or changes the scope of the subject's article considerably, it is better to simply remove it. In the case of the latter where the statement could potentially be true, ask about the source on the talk page of the article or the user who added it.
 * Not all statements necessarily need a reference. Examples include:
 * Statements that are confirmed by a picture on the article. These are usually statements about the subject's appearance.
 * Statements on pages for works (such as chapter, episode, and movie pages) which describe things that happened in the work; in most cases, the subject of the article is inherently the source of the article information, with references only needed for behind-the-scenes information. However, pages for broader works like story arcs should still be referenced, to help readers identify the specific chapters and episodes that information comes from.
 * Statements that directly mention the source, such as "Shanks gave Luffy his straw hat in Chapter 1". However, this language is out-of-universe and should only be used in sections for behind-the-scenes information, like Anime/Manga Differences and Trivia.
 * The Confirm template is only to request a source citation. It is not to be used to demand more advanced evidence such as visual proof. If a statement is given an obscure source that you cannot access, you can feel free to ask for more direct evidence on the article talk page.