Manual of Style/Citations

General

A citation, also called a reference, uniquely identifies a source of information.

The Library does not cite sources as it is done in other academic works. There are no Footnotes section, as it is usually done in Wikipedia. However, we keep the good practice that every fact that is written in an article, must also be supported by providing an appropriate reference for it. The current page aims to make citing sources easier for editors by explaining the templates used in the Library.

Citing Wheel of Time Sources

The main source material used in the articles comes from the work by Robert Jordan The Wheel of Time, and its accompanying works, such as The World of Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" and The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game.

Important!! The Wheel of Time Companion is not used as a source for articles submitted to TarValon.Net's Library. There is however a set of templates that are used to confirm if the information exists in the Companion.

Multiple Book References

The most usual citing case is when there are multiple books being cited in a single article.

In case of multiple book references, the citation, or several citations, are written inline, right after the fact they support, followed by the appropriate punctuation. The inline citations should use the acronym of the book they are referencing and the chapter number, with "Chapter" being abbreviated as "Ch.".

For example:

In case of a single inline reference

Verin has often been described to resemble a plump bird or a "sparrow." She is apparently very old (even for an Aes Sedai) because it has been noted that she has gray streaks in her brown hair (TDR, Ch. 11).

In case of multiple inline references

Verin, like most Browns, always appears to be lost in thought and relatively unaware of the world beyond her studies. However, it has been noted repeatedly that Verin can lose her ambiguity in an instant and show a startling amount of alertness (TGH, Ch. 7; Ch. 12; TSR, Ch. 31).

The Library supplies templates for ease of citing each of the existing source material books.

Use the shortened book name templates here - Category:Chapter Templates. The abbreviated chapter templates are as follows (examples used with Chapter 5):

• New Spring: {{Ns|5}}
• The Eye of the World: {{teotw|5}}
• The Great Hunt: {{tgh|5}}
• The Dragon Reborn: {{tdr|5}}
• The Shadow Rising: {{tsr|5}}
• The Fires of Heaven: {{tfoh|5}}
• Lord of Chaos: {{loc|5}}
• A Crown of Swords: {{acos|5}}
• Path of Daggers: {{tpod|5}}
• Winter's Heart: {{wh|5}}
• Crossroads of Twilight: {{cot|5}}
• Knife of Dreams: {{kod|5}}
• The Gathering Storm: {{tgs|5}}
• Tower of Midnight: {{tom|5}}
• A Memory of Light: {{amol|5}}
• The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time: {{guide|5}}

Exception - Character Quotes

At the bottom of an article about a character, it is common to put quotes about, or from that character. In such cases, the citation is written inline, following the closing quotation mark.

When citing a source of a quote in a character page, the book name should be spelled out completely, and not abbreviated. The word "Chapter" is also not abbreviated. As with the other citations, the Library supplies the necessary templates for ease of use.

• New Spring: {{Ns2|5}}
• The Eye of the World: {{teotw2|Chapter 5}}
• The Great Hunt: {{tgh2|Chapter 5}}
• The Dragon Reborn: {{tdr2|Chapter 5}}
• The Shadow Rising: {{tsr2|Chapter 5}}
• The Fires of Heaven: {{tfoh2|Chapter 5}}
• Lord of Chaos: {{loc2|Chapter 5}}
• A Crown of Swords: {{acos2|Chapter 5}}
• Path of Daggers: {{tpod2|Chapter 5}}
• Winter's Heart: {{wh2|Chapter 5}}
• Crossroads of Twilight: {{cot2|Chapter 5}}
• Knife of Dreams: {{kod2|Chapter 5}}
• The Gathering Storm: {{tgs2|Chapter 5}}
• Tower of Midnight: {{tom2|Chapter 5}}
• A Memory of Light: {{amol2|Chapter 5}}
• The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time: {{guide2|Chapter 5}}

Single Book Reference

There are subjects that might have only been described in one of the source material books.

In such cases, the source is cited at the top of the page, using the template {{info}} and including the book and chapter where the source is taken from, using the longer book name templates for character quotes described above.

Example: On the Aedomon page, the template is used like this: {{info|{{tsr2|Chapter 37}}}} and renders the text "Unless stated otherwise, all information herein is taken from The Shadow Rising, Chapter 37.".

Companion Templates

Even though the Wheel of Time Companion is not used as a direct source of information for TarValon.Net Library articles, it is used to confirm information, written in those articles. However, information available only in the Wheel of Time Companion, is not included in TarValon.Net's Library articles.

The Library supplies templates for Companion references too. The Companion templates are always used at the top of the page.

In case of confirming information from the Companion

Use the template {{Comp}}, which would render

A similar entry appears in the Wheel of Time Companion confirming the information available in the main story arc.

In case of the Companion adding additional information

Use the template {{Compextra}}, which would render

A similar entry appears in the Wheel of Time Companion. Other information about the character is also included in the Companion, but we did not use it in the TarValon.Net Library.

Or use the template {{Compmore}}, which would render

A similar entry appears in the Wheel of Time Companion, confirming the information. Other information is also included in the Companion, but we did not use it in the TarValon.Net Library.

In case of information available only in the Companion

Use the template {{Compnew}}, which would render

An entry appears in the Wheel of Time Companion for this article but no information is available in the main story arc.

All of the Companion templates can be found under Category:Companion Templates.

Citing Outside Sources

In cases where other works (outside of the Wheel of Time books and supplementary works) are cited, they must be referenced at the end of the page in a ==References== section.

The current process for this is still in development.

If you have questions about citing sources, please contact the Director of Research and Records at library@tarvalon.net.