Wiki source for VoteEasyCitations
===**VoteEasy Citation Guide**===
**Overview**
In order to keep everything uniform in our research, all evidence should be cited following the format outlined below. These citations appear on each candidate's profile on our live website and are meant to clearly demonstrate to reviewers and website users how and why we came to the determination that we did. Furthermore, every citation provides additional information about a politician's issue position beyond a simple “yes” or “no”. In order to make our research easily accessible for all reviewers and website users, all citations must include a working link to the source of the information which we are using; this link should be provided at the end of each citation.
Before any citations/evidence can be entered, be sure the appropriate research sheet has been created. You can follow this page to create a sheet: [[BuildingResearchSheets BuildingResearchSheets]]
===**Tier 1 Evidence**===
**Direct Quotes**
If the evidence is a direct quote from a candidate, it can simply be put in quotes followed by a space and the link to the source of that quote.
For instance, following the Supreme Court overturning the Roe v. Wade decision, Joe Biden was discussing his views on abortion saying **“This fall, we must elect more senators and representatives who will codify a woman's right to choose into federal law once again, elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level. We need to restore the protections of Roe as law of the land. We need to elect officials who will do that.This fall, Roe is on the ballot. Personal freedoms are on the ballot. The right to privacy, liberty, equality, they're all on the ballot.Until then, I will do all in my power to protect a woman's right in states where they will face the consequences of today's decision.”**
This comes from a speech in our database, so the proper citation of this evidence would look like this:
**//“We must elect more senators and representatives who will codify a woman's right to choose into federal law once again, elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level. We need to restore the protections of Roe as law of the land.”// https://justfacts.votesmart.org/public-statement/1611497/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-supreme-court-decision-to-overturn-roe-v-wade**
**Note:** Issue Positions, Press Releases, social media posts, old PCT answers, content taken from candidate's official campaign websites and direct candidate quotes from third party sources should all be considered direct quotes.
**Signed Letters/Pledges**
Any pledge or letter signed by a candidate is treated as an equivalent to a quote from a candidate. However, when it comes to citing these sources, the quotes should be prefaced with “Signed a letter stating:” or “Signed a pledge stating:”. It might help to include who the letter is addressed to, but this is not required of you. For example, this would look like: “Signed a Letter to President Biden stating:”
For example, Rand Paul signed a letter to Obama asking for the Keystone XL Pipeline to be approved, this would be cited as follows:
**//Signed a letter stating: “Mr. President, six years is too long. We urge you to approve the Keystone XL pipeline immediately.”// http://votesmart.org/public-statement/921964**
===**Tier 2 Evidence**===
**Special Interest Group Ratings/Endorsements**
For ratings/endorsements from a Special Interest Group, state the rating/endorsement from the group first, then the group's name, and then a link to the source of that rating/endorsement.
Make sure to write out the name of the Special Interest Group you are using the ratings from. (For example, NRA should be expanded to National Rifle Association)
For instance, Rand Paul has a 100% rating from Gun Owners of America so the citation would be:
**//Rated 100% by Gun Owners of America// https://votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/117285/rand-paul/37**
When linking to a Vote Smart page, be sure to **link to the candidate's ratings/endorsements page**, not the list of that SIG's ratings/endorsements for all candidates.
**Legislation**
When citing votes on legislation the format is essentially the same as for SIG's. Start with how they voted and then state the name of the legislation followed by a link to the specific piece of legislation. Please also note that tabling votes should only be used as evidence as a last resort; before including a tabling vote as evidence please consult your supervisor.
Also avoid Appropriation bills as evidence for an issue position. Please let your supervisor know if you think an appropriation bill should be used as evidence for an issue position.
The proper citation of Ted Cruz's cosponsoring and vote in favor SB 1 to create the Keystone XL pipeline, would look like this:
**//Voted in favor of S.1 “A Bill to Approve the Keystone XL Pipeline”// http://votesmart.org/bill/votes/50943**
The link above is specific to Ted Cruz’s vote on this bill. This is preferable because it’ll link you to the vote breakdown, but it will show at the top how Senator Cruz voted. To use this link, you just have to go to the candidate’s votes folder and then right-click on the bill you want to cite.
**Third Party Reports**
In order to properly cite an excerpt from a reputable third party source, start with the name of the organization that published the source (ie. Washington Post, New York Times), then put the quote, and finally the link to the article. Please note that if you are simply taking a candidate quote from a third party it should be cited as a direct quote not as a third party report. Please note, when citing local new-stations, use the call letters for the citation.
As an example, the citation for an article from a local Arizona news station discussing Kyrsten Sinema’s reaction to the proposition of a border wall should look like this:
**// KNXV “A wall is not an effective way to keep individuals out of the country […]” http://www.abc15.com/news/state/rep-kyrsten-sinema-talks-border-wall-healthcare-with-abc15**
**Citation Abbreviations**
Quotes are often excessively long. When this happens, it is necessary to shorten them to allow them to fit and display properly on our live website. When shortening quotes we want to be sure not to change the meaning of what is being said in any way. Whenever words are removed from a quote, they should be replaced with [...].
Additionally, while we do want to shorten the quotes, it is better to have a longer quote with a couple ellipses than a short quote with many ellipses as this creates the appearance that we are taking things out of context.
**Note:** When using ellipses, enclose them in hard brackets [...] and have spaces on either side of it from the end of the last word to the beginning of the next.
**Overview**
In order to keep everything uniform in our research, all evidence should be cited following the format outlined below. These citations appear on each candidate's profile on our live website and are meant to clearly demonstrate to reviewers and website users how and why we came to the determination that we did. Furthermore, every citation provides additional information about a politician's issue position beyond a simple “yes” or “no”. In order to make our research easily accessible for all reviewers and website users, all citations must include a working link to the source of the information which we are using; this link should be provided at the end of each citation.
Before any citations/evidence can be entered, be sure the appropriate research sheet has been created. You can follow this page to create a sheet: [[BuildingResearchSheets BuildingResearchSheets]]
===**Tier 1 Evidence**===
**Direct Quotes**
If the evidence is a direct quote from a candidate, it can simply be put in quotes followed by a space and the link to the source of that quote.
For instance, following the Supreme Court overturning the Roe v. Wade decision, Joe Biden was discussing his views on abortion saying **“This fall, we must elect more senators and representatives who will codify a woman's right to choose into federal law once again, elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level. We need to restore the protections of Roe as law of the land. We need to elect officials who will do that.This fall, Roe is on the ballot. Personal freedoms are on the ballot. The right to privacy, liberty, equality, they're all on the ballot.Until then, I will do all in my power to protect a woman's right in states where they will face the consequences of today's decision.”**
This comes from a speech in our database, so the proper citation of this evidence would look like this:
**//“We must elect more senators and representatives who will codify a woman's right to choose into federal law once again, elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level. We need to restore the protections of Roe as law of the land.”// https://justfacts.votesmart.org/public-statement/1611497/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-supreme-court-decision-to-overturn-roe-v-wade**
**Note:** Issue Positions, Press Releases, social media posts, old PCT answers, content taken from candidate's official campaign websites and direct candidate quotes from third party sources should all be considered direct quotes.
**Signed Letters/Pledges**
Any pledge or letter signed by a candidate is treated as an equivalent to a quote from a candidate. However, when it comes to citing these sources, the quotes should be prefaced with “Signed a letter stating:” or “Signed a pledge stating:”. It might help to include who the letter is addressed to, but this is not required of you. For example, this would look like: “Signed a Letter to President Biden stating:”
For example, Rand Paul signed a letter to Obama asking for the Keystone XL Pipeline to be approved, this would be cited as follows:
**//Signed a letter stating: “Mr. President, six years is too long. We urge you to approve the Keystone XL pipeline immediately.”// http://votesmart.org/public-statement/921964**
===**Tier 2 Evidence**===
**Special Interest Group Ratings/Endorsements**
For ratings/endorsements from a Special Interest Group, state the rating/endorsement from the group first, then the group's name, and then a link to the source of that rating/endorsement.
Make sure to write out the name of the Special Interest Group you are using the ratings from. (For example, NRA should be expanded to National Rifle Association)
For instance, Rand Paul has a 100% rating from Gun Owners of America so the citation would be:
**//Rated 100% by Gun Owners of America// https://votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/117285/rand-paul/37**
When linking to a Vote Smart page, be sure to **link to the candidate's ratings/endorsements page**, not the list of that SIG's ratings/endorsements for all candidates.
**Legislation**
When citing votes on legislation the format is essentially the same as for SIG's. Start with how they voted and then state the name of the legislation followed by a link to the specific piece of legislation. Please also note that tabling votes should only be used as evidence as a last resort; before including a tabling vote as evidence please consult your supervisor.
Also avoid Appropriation bills as evidence for an issue position. Please let your supervisor know if you think an appropriation bill should be used as evidence for an issue position.
The proper citation of Ted Cruz's cosponsoring and vote in favor SB 1 to create the Keystone XL pipeline, would look like this:
**//Voted in favor of S.1 “A Bill to Approve the Keystone XL Pipeline”// http://votesmart.org/bill/votes/50943**
The link above is specific to Ted Cruz’s vote on this bill. This is preferable because it’ll link you to the vote breakdown, but it will show at the top how Senator Cruz voted. To use this link, you just have to go to the candidate’s votes folder and then right-click on the bill you want to cite.
**Third Party Reports**
In order to properly cite an excerpt from a reputable third party source, start with the name of the organization that published the source (ie. Washington Post, New York Times), then put the quote, and finally the link to the article. Please note that if you are simply taking a candidate quote from a third party it should be cited as a direct quote not as a third party report. Please note, when citing local new-stations, use the call letters for the citation.
As an example, the citation for an article from a local Arizona news station discussing Kyrsten Sinema’s reaction to the proposition of a border wall should look like this:
**// KNXV “A wall is not an effective way to keep individuals out of the country […]” http://www.abc15.com/news/state/rep-kyrsten-sinema-talks-border-wall-healthcare-with-abc15**
**Citation Abbreviations**
Quotes are often excessively long. When this happens, it is necessary to shorten them to allow them to fit and display properly on our live website. When shortening quotes we want to be sure not to change the meaning of what is being said in any way. Whenever words are removed from a quote, they should be replaced with [...].
Additionally, while we do want to shorten the quotes, it is better to have a longer quote with a couple ellipses than a short quote with many ellipses as this creates the appearance that we are taking things out of context.
**Note:** When using ellipses, enclose them in hard brackets [...] and have spaces on either side of it from the end of the last word to the beginning of the next.
