How to cite this site

Citing the governing standard

A requirement, a test method or an edition date belongs to the standard or the public record that establishes it, not to this site. Every page and datum names that source by designation, edition and clause or page. In technical documents, filings and articles, the governing standard is the authority to cite for the fact, and this site is cited alongside it as the finding aid that located the clause.

Citing a page

Every page offers two addresses. The live address always shows the current text. The revision address shows one numbered revision exactly as published and never changes. A citation that must keep its meaning over time uses the revision address together with the revision number and the date of the last substantive change; a reader can then follow the live address to see whether the page has changed since.

Citing a single fact

Each datum has its own permanent address under /data/, named by its stable identifier. A single fact can be cited there directly. The datum page shows the statement, its source, the date the source was last read and the full history, so a later reader can see whether the fact has been superseded.

The four formats

Every page ends with a cite block in four formats, filled in from the page's own record: its title, the site name, the publisher, the revision address, the revision number, the date of the last substantive change and the date of access.

The plain format is a reference suited to reports, memos and footnotes without a house style. The legal format follows the conventional form for citing an internet source in legal writing, with the title, the address and the date last visited. The BibTeX format is a misc entry for reference managers, carrying the revision number and dates in its note field. The wiki format is a cite web template with title, website, publisher, address, version, date and access date.

Every address in a cite block uses the site's canonical origin on the www host. A citation built by hand follows the same form.