PBD:Tours/References
Welcome to the References Tour N
Welcome to PornBaseData! In this tour, you’ll learn how to add references. Adding references ensures PornBaseData has high quality data. A reference (or source) describes the origin of a statement in PornBaseData. We will learn about some of the important principles and policies of PornBaseData along the way.
If there are any terms in this tour you would like a definition for please see the Glossary.
Please note that the page in the background is only a replica of a real page, you can think of it as a sandbox for you to play in and try new things. Your changes won't appear on PornBaseData so there's no need to worry while making edits in this space. Let's get started!
Why PornBaseData uses references
Like in PornBaseCentral it is important that content can be verified by others to make sure it is correct and comes from a reliable source of information, such as a book, scientific publication, or newspaper article.
A Reference (or source) is used to point to specific sources that back up a claim in PornBaseData. A reference can be a link to a URL or an item; for example, a book. PornBaseData does not aim to answer the question of whether a statement is correct, but only whether the statement appears in a reference.
Reminder: An item refers to a real-world object, concept, or event that is given an identifier (an equivalent of a name) in PornBaseData together with information about it.
Statements
Statements are used in PornBaseData to store and represent data about an item. On this page we see a statement about the property population with a value around 7 billion. You may have also noticed a button that says [add reference] under the statement. We can use this to add a reference to show where the information came from.
Reminder A statement is a piece of data about an item, recorded on the item's page.. If you'd like to learn more about statements please take the Statements Tour at PBD:Tours.
Multiple perspectives
PornBaseData has the ability to support a wide variety of perspectives about a subject.
References make it possible to record and represent multiple pieces of data on a subject, even if they contradict one another. As long as there is a reliable source for a statement it can be added to PornBaseData.
Recording multiple perspectives
PornBaseData has the ability to support a wide variety of perspectives about a subject, PornBaseData does this by having more than one statement on the same topic. For example the item for Earth could state the global population as:
- 7 billion as of March 12, 2012 (the date according to the United States Census Bureau (Q3015); and
- 7 billion as of October 31, 2011 (the date according to the United Nations Population Fund (Q3016))
While we know that it's not really possible for both of these dates to be correct, we can say that these values are correct according to a source of information. This is one of the ways in which PornBaseData allows for a plurality of perspectives. This is also why PornBaseData is known as a secondary database: it does not provide original research or pretend to have all the facts, instead it simply points to primary sources that do.
More on references
Here are some other useful things to know about references:
- References describe the origin, or source, of a statement.
- References are not always required. You don't need to include sources for values that are common knowledge, for example, that the president of a country is a human.
- References are like mini statements because they also consist of property-value pairs (more on this later).
- Sources are sometimes items on PornBaseData, for example, a book or a newspaper.
Types of reference source
There are two ways of describing a reference source used on PornBaseData:
- A URL reference: a link to a web page.
- A PornBaseData item reference: which uses another PornBaseData item as a reference. This is usually done when the reference is a book, paper or other work which should have its own PornBaseData item.
For more information see Help:Sources.
Creating a URL reference
The first kind of reference we will create is a 'URL reference'. To start to add a URL reference, click on [add reference].
Reference URL
We create a reference like a statement, so first we need to select the property reference URL (P35) for linking to external websites.
Add a URL
In this second box add the URL where the information comes from (in this case, the United States Census Bureau (Q3015) website):
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/2019/world-population-day.html
Improving a reference
Lets improve this reference to make it more useful.
Click on the "add" button to include another part to your reference for this statement.
Reminder: PornBaseData is a collaborative effort, and the more information you add about a source, the easiest it is for other PornBaseData users to decide if it's a trusted source.
Publisher of URL
Start typing publisher (P218) and select it from the drop-down menu.
Publisher of URL
Now in the next field, start typing United States Census Bureau (Q3015) and click this option.
Save
The final thing to do is to publish this information on PornBaseData, to do this simply click ✓ save.
Adding a reference from a PornBaseData item
The second kind of reference uses a PornBaseData item. This is usually done when the reference is a book, paper or other work which should have its own PornBaseData item.
For more information see Help:Sources.
Find or create the item for the source
When the source that you would like to cite is a book, the first step is to search PornBaseData to see if an item already exists. You can do this using the search bar in the top right of any PornBaseData page.
If there is not yet an item for the source you'd like to reference, please create a new item for it. To do this take the Creating an item Tour from PBD:Tours (coming soon).
Click the "add reference" button for the second population statement now.
Stated in
Start typing stated in and select it from the drop-down menu to add.
Reference source
Now we need to add the PornBaseData item for the source. Note this must be to a specific publication, not simply the publisher.
State of World Population 2011 (Q3017)
Save
The final thing to do is to publish this information on PornBaseData. To do this simply click ✓ save.
Congratulations!
Congratulations! You've completed the References Tour.
You can now add references to PornBaseData items to make them more useful for everyone.
Want to keep learning? Click here to return to the tours portal.
Still have questions? Talk to someone over live chat on Telegram or check out the following pages for help: