6. The use of references
Do not open new topics without providing all the necessary references for whatever you are describing or posing as a fact. Keep in mind that a topic
without a single reference to the relevant primary literature, or to sources of your claims, is effectively worthless as it provides no starting point
and no reading material for a constructive discussion. It is not expected, though it would be desirable, that you perform a complete literature review
on the pertaining topic, but a minimum must be set. Have you ever seen a scientific article without references? Most likely no and for a good reason -
an article without references is not a scientific article. SM is a science forum and it can only remain such as long as the members use references.
The need for references generally correlates with the obscurity of the claim, but too much references is always better than too little. In any case,
do not use phrases of the type “I have read...” or “I have heard...” without providing the source.
The choice of references format is not that important, but enough data must be provided to easily locate the articles or other sources. Wikipedia is
not a reliable source and should not be your only reference. Nowadays, the easiest way to cite sources is to use the digital object identifier (DOI)
codes when available. Alternatively, when possible, a static URL to the abstract can be provided together with the reference. You can provide
references either in the text or as a numbered list at the end of the post.
Never forget to cite sources for citations and make sure to format the cited text in quotations. Failing to cite sources is considered plagiarism
which is definitely not an acceptable behavior. |
