User:Bluerasberry/citations

The Wikipedia Manual of Style neither requires nor prohibits the use of citations in the lead of Wikipedia articles. Common arguments for including citations in the lead are a wish to have all claims in Wikipedia backed with a reference and recognition that a citation is the easiest way to check any claim. The common argument against the use of citations in the lead is that footnotes reduce the readability of the lead, and that without the footnotes, the lead is more accessible to more readers.

This page presents published thought on the manner.

Documentation

Rules

• Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section (guideline)
• Wikipedia:Citations in medical articles (essay)
• Wikipedia:When to cite#Citations in leads (essay)

Discussion

Generally the newer discussions build on the previous discussions.

• Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section
  • Citations in lede for medicine, September 2014
  • Citations in lead, May 2013
  • Referencing, September 2011
  • Citations in the lead, June 2010
  • Use of references in the Lead section, October 2009
  • RfC: References in the Lead, May 2009
  • Citations in the Lead, September 2007
  • Citations in the lead - drafts, July 2007
  • "Lead section" article should be clear on citations in lead sections, August 2006
  • References in the lead section, August 2006
  • Should references appear in the lead-in?, June 2006
• Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Medicine
  • Visible citations for every sentence, May 2017
  • "Adding sources to the lead is a reasonable practice but not required as long as the text in question is supported in the body of the article", February 2016
  • Citations in lead - new tools - propose again, August 2015
  • Proposed change to the lead citation standard, May 2014
• Wikipedia:Featured article candidates
  • References in lead section, January 2007
  • Curious, March 2018
• Other
  • Wikipedia:Manual of Style, Citations in the lead, July 2018
  • Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Legal, Case citations in lead, November 2017
  • Electronic cigarette, Why all the refs in the lead?, February 2016
  • Manual of Style/Medicine-related articles, References in the lead, September 2014
  • Wikipedia:When to cite, Leads, June 2007

Arguments for citations in the lead

Higher quality control

Wikipedia's editors maintain quality control by verifying that claims in Wikipedia match the information in sources cited. When information in the lead complies with the same editorial guidelines as content elsewhere in the Wikipedia article then anyone can verify the accuracy of any content with a uniform process. The establishment of two separate quality control processes - one for the lead and another for the body of an article - introduces more confusion and a higher error rate than if there were one uniform expectation for all text and claims in a Wikipedia article.

Uniformity of rules

The general Wikipedia rule is that certain claims require the backing of citations. Whenever possible Wikipedia's rules try to keep things simple. The simplest way to apply the rules would be to say that if any claim merits a citation, then editors should apply the citation to the claim wherever it appears, whether in the lead, the body of the article, or anywhere else. Any restriction on using citations in the lead establishes another rule and a special case for not applying citations in the normal way. It is easier to have a uniform expectation of citations everywhere and to avoid making an additional special rule for the lead.

Readers like citations

Readers know that citations to sources back the content in Wikipedia. They understand the concept of superscript numbers leading to a citation in a list of references. Citations in the lead pose no barrier to readability. Readers like to know that the information in the leads of articles has the backing of citations. Readers also want easy access to the sources of the information in the lead and citations are the way to provide that access.

Translation across languages

The translation of Wikipedia articles almost always starts with the lead of an article. Many translators are unwilling to commit to translate an entire article, but are much more willing to translate the lead as a summary of the topic. When the lead has citations then those citations carry into the other language Wikipedia, bringing a quality control process into that other language. When there are no citations in the lead then the standard translation process cannot bring citations into the translated article summary.

Wiki editors request them

{{Citation needed lead}} is a template for tagging when editors challenge text in the lead of an article. As of April 2018 about 800 articles are using this tag. A positive interpretation of this tag's use is that it helps prioritize requests for citations in leads, because the leads should be especially high quality. A critical interpretation of this tag's use is that reviewers use this template to tag leads because they are confused about how to challenge information in leads without citations.

Arguments against citations in the lead

Absence of a rule requiring a citation

It is correct that there is no rule requiring citations in the lead. However, the absence of a rule is not an argument against the establishment of a rule.

Citations lower readability

The lead of an article should be easy to read. Some people claim that the presence of the citation superscript numbers lowers the readability of article leads. With numerical superscripts linking to citations the readers find the lead more challenging to read. With the numbers absent the lead is easier to read. For the sake of readability Wikipedia should not include citations in the lead.