Editing Encyclopedia:Citing sources (section)

====Generally considered helpful====
The following are standard practice:
* improving existing citations by adding missing information, such as by replacing [[WP:bare URLs|bare URLs]] with full bibliographic citations: an improvement because it aids [[WP:Verifiability|verifiability]], and fights [[WP:Link rot|link rot]];
* replacing some or all general references with inline citations: an improvement because it provides more verifiable information to the reader, and helps maintain text–source integrity;
* imposing one style on an article with inconsistent citation styles (e.g., some of the citations in footnotes and others as parenthetical references): an improvement because it makes the citations easier to understand and edit;
* fixing errors in citation coding, including incorrectly used template parameters, and <code><nowiki><ref></nowiki></code> markup problems: an improvement because it helps the citations to be parsed correctly;
* combining duplicate citations {{crossref|(see {{section link||Duplicate citations}}, above)}};
* converting [[WP:PAREN|parenthetical referencing]] to an acceptable referencing style;
* replacing opaque [[WP:NAMEDREFS|named-reference]] names with conventional ones, such as "Einstein-1905" instead of ":27"; and
* making citations added by other editors match the existing style (if any).  Do not revert someone else's contribution merely because the citation style doesn't match.  [[WP:SOFIXIT|If you know how to fix it, then fix it]].