Reference readability

Try it out! View the tooltip prototype.

References are essential to wikipedia articles: all content must be verifiable with reliable sources. This project seeks to make references more readable - so that people can easily verify they support the article and learn more about the rich information they contain. We also hope this will encourage editors to write higher quality references.

Current state of references

Reference List

Screenshot of references in Claude Monet article on English Wikipedia

There's a great gadget to view references in context in an article with Reference Tooltips, but most readers must click to scroll to the reference list to read one. The reference list is difficult to read - the text is small and close together, and the list is difficult to navigate.

Reference formatting

Screenshot of a reference in Monosodium glutamate article

References have a strong history following academic standards. Editors are encouraged to use formatting styles and/or use citation templates, but they can still be difficult for readers to understand. There are many different styles, and the labels in templates are not visible to readers. For example, in the 2nd screenshot, what does the number "14" mean? Does a casual reader know this?

How we use references

We use references in many different ways. Here are a few personas and the things they might care about when looking at a reference. This list is a work in progress, please add more on the talk page!

Verifier: I want to verify this is a reliable source and supports the claim in the article
Skeptic: Is this a trusted source? I want to read all the information - for example date published, date retrieved (and maybe view web archive at that date), etc.
Formatter: I want to make sure this reference was filled out properly
Linker: I want to fix this broken link or replace with an updated reference
Student: Would my school approve of this source? I want to cite this in MLA/another format that my school requires
Book lover: Is this book interesting? Where can I read it?
Proving a fact: I want to quickly show this to a friend to prove a fact
Explorer: This is cool, I want to learn more and keep clicking and seeing how this connects to other references or articles.

Proposals to improve usability

Utilize reference tooltips in the new hovercards format to show references in context, so that readers don't have to scroll to reference list
Display each reference in a "human-readable" format - showing the most important information first, and providing labels for confusing fields (such as chapter and page number)
Allow readers to sort reference list by type (such as books, web, news, etc.)

journal reference

journal reference - opened

These mockup shows the same reference from the screenshot above. There is an icon indicating which type it is: journal. The title is bold, followed by the author and date. The user can then choose to click the link, open and view more information, or view in citation format.

Academic Citations

View in academic format

A user can view the reference in its academic formatting. It is already selected so they can easily copy and paste.

Broken Link

Broken link

If a bot or editor has marked the reference as a broken link, a user can click edit to go directly to fixing or replacing that reference.

Used on other pages

Used on other pages

Reference indicates if it had been used on other pages. When a user clicks that indication, they can navigate to all other pages that use the reference. This helps explorers find more related articles, and could indicate that this is a good source. This could be accomplished with Wikidata.

Author/organization image

Author/organization image

If the title or source (author, organization, etc.) has a corresponding wikipedia article, we can display the lead image of that article to help readers quickly recognize the source.

Find this book

find this book

A user can use the find this book tool to search libraries or stores. A simpler version of a book sources page.

Icon Designs

Reference icons

multiple references

Currently a reference is indicated within an article by a superscript number in brackets after a sentence. This is derived from print footnotes, and is useful to see how many references there are in an article. But with the navigation improvements we're proposing here, the number is not as necessary. Instead there could be a simple icon within the text to indicate a reference. If there are multiple references to support a passage, the number of references will be indicated.

List Designs

list - type of source

list - date

list - contents

The reference list can be sorted by template type, most recent date, or by order in the article. The references are collapsed by default to show only titles, author/source, and date. A user can expand a reference in line to view more information.