View source for Tardis:Prefixes

{{mosnav|p=Citation|In-universe citation|Out-of-universe citation|Citation in articles about living people|c=Citation}}
{{sc|T:PREFIX|T:LOP}}{{moss|We decided many years ago to prefer in-line citation over a more formalised footnote style. In most cases — particularly with in-universe articles — we cite a statement by giving a prefix followed by the name of a story or publication.  This page identifies what prefixes to use.

As a rule of thumb, stories are identified by a prefix related to the '''medium of the story''', like [[TV]], [[COMIC]] or  [[AUDIO]].

Non-narrative source prefixes are more about '''type''', like [[DOC]] and [[ICOM]].}}
 
'''Prefixes''' are used to preface a source name, given as the [[T:SOURCES|origin]] of a given statement of fact in an article. In the example, 
:The [[Tenth Doctor]] once ate a part of a [[chocolate]] [[Easter egg]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]]'') 
the ''prefix'' is [[TV]].

Note that prefixes are a different and, in some ways, simpler system than [[Tardis:Disambiguation term|dab terms]] (the parentheticals you find in page titles). Most prefixes cover several dab terms.

==In-universe sources ==
Prefixes that are used on this site for the citation of stories are:
{|class=wikitable
!Prefix
!When used
!Covers dab terms
|-
|[[TV]]
|stories originally broadcast on television (or in cinemas)
|"(TV story)", "(theatrical film)"
|-
|[[PROSE]]
|short stories, novels, novellas, novelisations, prose non-narrative fiction
|"(novel)", "(short story)", "(feature)", "(reference book)"
|-
|[[AUDIO]]
|sources original to the aural media. Useful to distinguish between different versions of what only appears to be the same thing. For instance, [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Stones of Blood (audio story)|The Stones of Blood]]'' is not just an audiobook of ''[[Doctor Who and the Stones of Blood (novelisation)|Doctor Who and the Stones of Blood]]'', but a wholly different telling of it.  
|"(audio story)"
|-
|[[COMIC]]
|sources told via sequential art, regardless of length
|"(comic story)"
|-
|[[HOMEVID]]
|all sources told via direct-to-video releases
|"(home video)"
|-
|[[GAME]]
|fiction contained within games that are [[T:VS|valid sources]], such as ''[[The Adventure Games]]''
|"(game)", "(video game)"
|-
|[[WC]]
|video fiction released over the Internet
|"(webcast)"
|-
|[[POEM]]
|written fiction written in verse, or otherwise identifying itself as a poem
|"(poem)"
|-
|[[GRAPHIC]]
|fiction taking the form of a non-narrative graphic source, such as a diagram or illustration
|"(illustration)"
|} 
=== Invalid sources ===
Although invalid fiction can belong to various media, we find it easiest to use one catch-all prefix when citing invalid sources. 

This helps make sure that no invalid sources are accidentally used by editors when writing an in-universe page in the main namespace: as their name implies, invalid sources can ''only'' be used as citations for in-universe pages that also bear the {{tlx|invalid}} tag, or, alternatively, in the "Behind the scenes" section of a normal in-universe page.

Consequently, while some dab terms, like "(stage play)", will always be linked to the [[NOTVALID]] prefix, it is possible to see [[The Final Script (comic story)|a comic story]] or even [[Dimensions in Time (TV story)|a TV story]] cited with [[NOTVALID]]. 
{|class=wikitable
!Prefix
!When used
!Covers dab terms
|-
|-
|[[NOTVALID]] 
|Use when citing an officially released story that is ''not'' considered a [[T:VS|valid source]].
|"(stage play)", misc.
|}

== Out-of-universe sources==
Confined mostly to reference sources, the following prefixes may be used in any "real world" article, or in the "behind the scenes" section of an in-universe article.  While the in-universe prefixes are ''strictly'' by medium, the out-of-universe ones emphasise ''type'' of material. 
{|class=wikitable
!Prefix
!When used
!Covers dab terms
|-
|[[REF]]
|reference '''books''' seen as valid under [[T:OOU SRC]]
|"(reference book)"
|-
|[[DOC]]
|Any sort of documentary, regardless of medium. ''[[Doctor Who Confidential]]'' and ''[[Torchwood Declassified]]'' episodes, DVD documentaries, [[Big Finish]] extras, [[Myth Makers]]' releases — they're all [[DOC]]
|"(documentary)", "(DWE episode)", "(CON episode)"
|-
|}

===Commentaries===
Commentaries are especially tricky, thanks in large measure to the [[Tenth Doctor]]'s era, where some episodes have multiple commentaries.  It's important to use the correct prefix, because, for example, [[PCOM]]: ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]'' is a wholly different thing to [[ICOM]]: ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]''.

There is n associated dab term for commentary prefixes, because we do not give audio commentaries their own page; instead, we cover them in the "Behind the scenes" sections of the stories themselves. 
{|class=wikitable
!Prefix
!When used
|-
|[[DCOM]]
|Short for "DVD commentary", this is for the vast majority of ''audio'' commentaries found on DVD/Blu-ray.
|-
|[[PCOM]]
|Short for "podcast commentary", this is for commentaries that were part of the official BBC podcasts during the RTD era
|-
|[[ICOM]]
|Short for "[[in-vision commentary]]".  
|-
|}

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