Memory Alpha:Cite your sources

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"How do you know this?"
"Information comes my way."
"From whom? Where is your documentation?"
"I know what they're doing. I can smell it."

– Jean-Luc Picard and Benjamin Maxwell, describing the gist of how Memory Alpha's source policy works and doesn't work. (TNG: "The Wounded")

Memory Alpha doesn't exist in a vacuum. There are a great deal of other sources of information out there, many of which are used in writing articles for Memory Alpha. It's always important to cite your sources when you use external works. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism and may be a copyright violation.

For the sake of consistency, please adhere to the system described through the examples below for any citations you add.

Episodes and films

All in-universe information comes from the various Star Trek episodes and films and these should be referenced when writing a Trek universe article.

Whenever possible try to keep the reference at the end of a paragraph. At the end of a body paragraph, the following format is preferred, adding the episode reference parenthesized at the end of the statement it refers to, so as not to break the "perspective" of writing about Star Trek from a character's point of view:

She adjusted phaser banks to emit a power beam. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint")

The wiki code is:

She adjusted phaser banks to emit a power beam. ({{TNG|Encounter at Farpoint}})

To cite two or more episodes of the same series:

On two occasions she visited the Enterprise-D. (TNG: "The Emissary", "Reunion")

On two occasions she visited the ''Enterprise''-D. ({{TNG|The Emissary|Reunion}})

Use a semicolon to cite two or more episodes of different series:

He worked as a diagnostic engineer, sometimes assigned to projects involving advanced holography. (TNG: "Hollow Pursuits", "Realm Of Fear"; VOY: "Projections")

He worked as a diagnostic engineer, sometimes assigned to projects involving advanced holography. ({{TNG|Hollow Pursuits|Realm Of Fear}}; {{VOY|Projections}})

In appendices, however, it is not necessary to parenthesize an entire episode reference if it is part of a statement, occurring within the body of a sentence (every part of the background note is from the same POV). In this case, it could be formatted like this:

The actors both went on to appear in "Conspiracy".

The actors both went on to appear in {{e|Conspiracy}}.

References can also be in a list or at the end of an article in which case the following format is preferred:

• TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint"
• DS9: "Emissary"
• VOY:
  • "Caretaker"
  • "Dark Frontier"
  • "Endgame"

* {{TNG|Encounter at Farpoint}}
* {{DS9|Emissary}}
* {{VOY}}
** {{e|Caretaker}}
** {{e|Dark Frontier}}
** {{e|Endgame}}

This is recommended especially if a single phrase has more than three or four episode references relevant to it. Note the format of multiple episodes from the same series with the VOY examples.

To cite a film use the {{film}} template; the first parameter is the number of the film:

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

{{film|5}}

A more complex example:

Zefram Cochrane invented warp drive on Earth. (TOS: "Metamorphosis"; Star Trek: First Contact)

He later appeared in Star Trek: Enterprise.

[[Zefram Cochrane]] invented [[warp drive]] on [[Earth]]. ({{TOS|Metamorphosis}}; {{film|8}})

He later appeared in {{s|ENT}}.

Please note that, even though American English (MA's standard) recommends placing punctuation within quotation marks, titles of creative works are an exception: commas, semicolons, periods, and other punctuation marks should be placed outside of the quotes.

Italics should only be used in citations when referring to a movie or series title, not individual episode citations.

See also

• Linking to episodes and films
• Manual of Style § Quotations

Real-world sources

Valid information from a "real-world" point of view must also be referenced where it derives from an external source. This is done with an in-text citation immediately following the statement or paragraph.

Books

The citation for a book should include a link to the work. When referring to a particular section of the book, it is preferable to provide a page number:

Leonard Nimoy is not Spock. (I Am Not Spock, p. 1)

When citing a specific page, an edition number should also be provided if the book has multiple editions:

The Crazy Horse was named for Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux tribe. (Star Trek Encyclopedia, 3rd ed., p. 104)

When referring to multiple pages:

Leonard Nimoy is Spock. (I Am Spock, pp. 10-17)

This statement can be traced to various individual statements in the book. (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, pp. 5, 102)

Alternatively, the title of a book may be mentioned as part of a sentence:

According to the Star Trek Cookbook (p. 22), the thill is a large game bird native to the Dalibardadian Plains of Central Talax in the Delta Quadrant.

The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 210 states that this episode was a homage to Frankenstein.

Commentaries

Audio or text commentaries from DVDs or Blu-ray can be cited in the following manner:

It was intended that Worf would be a descendant of T'Pol. ("Broken Bow" audio commentary, ENT Season 1 DVD)

When the item to be cited is on the episode article, the episode name can be omitted.

DVD/Blu-ray special features

The citation for a DVD or Blu-ray special feature should include the title of the feature and a link to the DVD or Blu-ray:

"Shuttlepod One" was created as a bottle show. (Inside Shuttlepod One, ENT Season 1 DVD special features)

Journals and magazines

References to journals and magazines should include the name of the publication as well as the volume or issue number. When referring to a particular section of the magazine, it is preferable to provide a page number:

This number is a recurring in-joke in Star Trek. (Star Trek Monthly, issue 47, p. 74)

Online chats

To cite an online chat archived on Memory Alpha, use the {{AOLchat}} template:

Ronald D. Moore made some comment related to this episode or topic. (AOL chat, 1997)

Scripts

If information comes from a script, it is sufficient to state this in the note:

The script for "Journey to Babel" gives a description of Gav's voice, calling it "rough, grating, and accented in some way... as though English is very alien on his tongue."

A link should also be provided if the script is available online:

In the script for "Tapestry", Marta Batanides is described as "a short, pretty woman, and is [...] roughly twenty-one." [1]

Web sites (not from periodicals)

Although a great deal of information circulates relatively freely and without credit throughout the web, at Memory Alpha we consider it important that all information be credited to the best extent possible. Web sites, blogs, and online message board postings may be referenced by adding a direct link in the text. Link to the original article rather than merely an image wherever possible:

The Borg tactical cube was designed by Doug Drexler. [2]^(X)

Citing Memory Alpha

For suggestions on how to cite Memory Alpha, see Citing Memory Alpha.