User:GuardDog/Sandbox
- Main article: Assassin's Creed Wiki:Sourcing
The following is the official Assassin's Creed Wiki Attribution policy. The main space of the Assassin's Creed Wiki is not a forum for personal or original thought. All and any information on the Wiki must be attributable to a verifiable source, the names of which are listed below.
Although everything on the Wiki must be attributable, in practice, not all material is attributed. Editors must provide attribution for quotations and any other material that is challenged or likely to be challenged, or it may be removed. The burden of evidence lies with the editor wishing to add or retain the material. If an article topic has no reliable sources, the Assassin's Creed Wiki should not have an article on it.
It must also be noted that the following policy applies only to the Wiki's main space articles, and not to the associated Forums or Fan Section.
Key principles
No original thought
Original thought refers to material that is not attributable to a reliable, published source. This includes unpublished facts, arguments, ideas, statements, and personal opinion; as well as, by extension, unpublished analysis or synthesis of published material. It is forbidden to include such information, especially when accompanied with an introduction such as "This is pure speculation, but..."
All information on an article must be attributed to a reliable source, and any material added to articles must be explicitly presented in said source.
Reliable sources as bases
In order to be classed as a "reliable source", a medium must meet the following criteria;
- The medium must be published or endorsed by Ubisoft, and relate explicitly to the Assassin's Creed series.
- Information given on an official Ubisoft forum should only be considered canon when it is published by an administrator of the forum (who should subsequently be an employee of Ubisoft), and confirmed as fact in said post.
- Information given in any medium must explicitly indicate a view before it is entered into the article. Assumptions cannot be derived from stated or ambiguous data.
Speculation or "news" posted on popular gaming websites does not constitute a reliable source, and cannot be included unless supported by one of the above.
Reliable sources
Below is a non-exhaustive list of media that can be considered as reliable sources.
- Administrators or employees of Ubisoft on the official Assassin's Creed forums.
- Administrators or employees of Ubisoft on the Ubisoft forums.
- Main games;
- Spin-off games;
- Films;
- Written material;
- Comics;
Canonicity
With the growing amount of material available to the Assassin's Creed series, the possibility of conflicting information is present. As such, the following assumptions should be made before information is entered into any of the articles on the Wiki;
- In most cases, the main games (as listed under the "Reliable sources" section) are the highest tier of canon. If any information given in another medium explicitly contradicts that given in these games, it is considered non-canon. For example, if Assassin's Creed: Renaissance states that it took an individual three days to travel from Venice to Florence, while Assassin's Creed II clearly indicates it only took two, the article will cite the game over the novella.
- The canonicity of media is tiered. The highest tier contains the aforementioned main games, while the second tier contains the spin-off games. The third tier contains the films, novellas, the Assassin's Creed Encyclopedia, and two comics, Assassin's Creed: The Fall, and Assassin's Creed: The Chain. Finally, the fourth tier contains the remaining three comics.
Quotations
Quotations must be sourced, both when used in the article body or in the Quote and Dialogue templates.
For the former, quotations must be sourced through the method found under the "Citing a source" section of this policy.
For the latter, quotations must have both its speaker and source placed in the second and third parameters respectively, and can be written as such:
{{Quote|Only a mind free of impediments is capable of grasping the chaotic beauty of the world.|Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad.|Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines}}
Citing a source
Once a source is found for the information to be added, the user who wishes to add the information must also cite it. However, a few key points must be observed.
Introduction
Do not cite sources in the introduction or lead section of an article. Most if not all of the information in the introduction is mentioned again later in the article, and should be cited within the main text. This helps to limit congestion of the introductory text and keep the overall presentation respectable.
If, however, a sourced piece of information in the introduction is not mentioned again in the main text, cite it where required.
Positioning
Citations go immediately after punctuation and outside of quotation marks, with no space between the end of a sentence and a reference tag. It must be made directly after that which is being cited, so as to prevent confusion to the reader.
If an entire paragraph or section cites information from a single source, then simply place the citation at the end of the paragraph or section.
Format
Citations must be formatted in accordance with the formats listed below.
In the case of multiple insertions of the same citation, they must also be named appropriately through the "ref name" parameter (such as "Lineage" in the example below). Numbered main games must be named "AC", "AC2", or "AC3" respectively, while all other media must use their subtitles only, such as "Project Legacy", "Revelations novel", or "The Chain".
For the single insertion of a citation, the following format must be used;
<ref>''[[Assassin's Creed: Lineage]]''</ref>
For multiple insertions of the same citation, two separate formats must be used; one for the first insertion point, and one for all subsequent insertion points.
The following format is used in the first insertion point;
<ref name="Lineage">''[[Assassin's Creed: Lineage]]''</ref>
while the format below is for subsequent insertions points;
<ref name="Lineage" />
Outside references
Outside references, or those external to the Assassin's Creed series, should be kept to a minimum, and mentioned only in the "Trivia" section of an article. The references must add something constructive to the article, and come from a source reliable in relation to the field it is from.
For example, if sourced from Wikipedia's article on The Prince, the line "Niccolò Machiavelli wrote The Prince, a book which seems to counter the very ideals of the Assassins." should be written as such;
[[Niccolò Machiavelli]] wrote ''The Prince'', a book which seems to counter the very ideals of the [[Assassins]].<ref>''{{Wiki|The Prince}}''</ref>.
Reference list
At the bottom of the article, just before categories and appearance templates such as {{ACII}}, the following must be inserted:
==References==
{{Reflist}}