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Wikipedia:Suggested sources

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This essay relates to ways to find reliable sources, depending on the particular topic (see below: List of suggested sources). There are the general Wikipedia policies:

  • WP:Reliable sources (WP:RS) - rules about determining reliable sources
  • WP:Verifiability (WP:V) - rules about writing verifiable text.
  • WP:BLP - rules about living people, and what not to quote from sources.

Other essays:

Specific questions:

However, editors new to a particular topic might not realize some specific major publications are preferred as sources. Guideline WP:MEDRS suggests sources for medical text, but other subjects need recommendations for reliable sources, as well.

The term "reliable" is a relative measure, depending on context. The answer to the question, "Is X a reliable source?"  should always be "For what?"  because expert publications might be better sources to back rare details, whereas news reports cover general aspects. For example, a top newspaper is typically unable to match the expertise of a medical journal or computer-technology magazine, but news reports are the most likely to have recent information, for major facts (but not for precise technical details, which are sometimes mistaken in general news reports).

List of suggested sources

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There are thousands of reliable sources, but perhaps consider the following list, as a start:

Specific subject areas

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History topics

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Medical topics

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Sciences

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Parapsychology

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Computer technology

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Films, TV, video games or music

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Others

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  • For topics related to human intelligence and IQ testing, see a Wikipedia editor's annotated bibliography: " Intelligence Citations".

Current news

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The above-mentioned list is just a small list of suggestions, but it provides a specific starting point for editors unfamiliar with the major sources covering each specific field.

Notes

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  1. ^ Note that not all sections of The Guardian, or of any "reliable" newspaper, should be considered reliable sources for purposes of establishing notability-- The Guardian's "Review Anything" section has been found to be an inadequate source for establishing real world notability in at least one deletion discussion.

See also

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