I am of the opinion that we should always reference
sources if we're
not writing directly from our own knowledge. If you have sources open
in front of you, we should be open about disclosing that fact, and
what sources those are.
Okay, I'll back up a little. I prefer to write on subjects
where I'm something of an expert. That means I'm often
writing from my own knowledge, acquired through the years
from a number of sources. Then maybe I use a google search
to look up a certain date. I come up with a mediocre website.
When I list the references for the article I'd rather not
list the website I looked up this one fact on. Instead I'll
think "what would be a good English source for this?" and
maybe list some book I read a year ago but don't have in
front of me.
In happy cases, which is more often than not, I do have
the book I want to reference right in front of me.
Inclusion of references includes foreign language
sources, appropriately labeled, as you cannot assume that no user who
understands Icelandic will ever read the articles.
Of course someone eventually might but that's not
the point. The reference would be completely irrelevant
information for the vast majority of readers. Worse,
it would be misleading, implying that this Icelandic
ornithology book contains something not found in
numerous works in English. At best it belongs on
the talk page or in the edit summary.
Citing non-English sources is, however, completely
appropriate when corresponding English ones are lacking.
There's nothing wrong with citing works in Hungarian on
relatively obscure aspects of Hungarian history.
Full references should be listed at the bottom of
every article
(ideally, even below the category listings) where they have very
limited ability to distract the reader.
I think a good bibliography can be an important part
of the article and should be displayed reasonably
prominently. The best bibliographies tell you a little
bit about the books - look at [[User:Jallan]]'s
bibliography for [[Norse mythology]].
A short overview on the major works on a subject is,
when appropriate, one of the most useful things you
can find in an introductory article.
Regards,
Haukur