On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 2:10 PM, Ashwin Baindur <ashwin.baindur@gmail.com> wrote:

Referencing Tip #1 - Use Google Books to replace unverifiable references.

For a subject like Gandhi, you will often come across references such as this:

^ Bhattacharya, Sabyasachi (1997). The Mahatma and the Poet. New Delhi: National Book Trust, India. p. 1.

(reference 6 on this oldid - http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi&oldid=470829986)

The reference was for Rabindranath Tagore being the person who coined the term "Mahatma" for Gandhi.

Instead, by searching for "Tagore coined the term Mahatma" on Google, I got lots of links, a few with preview.

I immediately find this link:

Indian English poetry and fiction: critical elucidations: Volume 1 - Page 15

books.google.co.inAmar Nath Prasad, A.N. Prasad Rajiv K.Malik - 2007 - 269 pages - Full view

It was Tagore, who popularized the term "Mahatma"- great soul as a description of Gandhi. ... His fame rested partly on his charisma-a world that might have been invented for Tagore — which was experienced at first hand in many ...

So when I click the link, i reach this page,

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=g2DHBzEO9UEC&pg=PA15&dq=Tagore+coined+the+term+Mahatma&hl=en&sa=X&ei=IpQOT9TpEYjUrQetj6XsAQ&ved=0CEIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Tagore%20coined%20the%20term%20Mahatma&f=false

which works admirably as a reference:

It was Tagore who popularised the term "Mahatma" - Great soul, as a description of Gandhi.

So just pickup the page url & add it to reftag

http://reftag.appspot.com/

and bang! RefTag gives you a ready made WikiText reference to use:

<ref name="PrasadMalikPrasad2007">{{cite book|last1=Prasad|first1=Amar Nath|last2=Malik|first2=Rajiv K.|last3=Prasad |first3=A.N. |title=Indian English poetry and fiction: critical elucidations|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=g2DHBzEO9UEC&pg=PA15|accessdate=12 January 2012|date=1 November 2007|publisher=Sarup & Sons|isbn=978-81-7625-730-5|page=15}}</ref>

Just add it instead to the article instead of the unverifiable reference & you only need to save.

Actually, since I used a different search term, I found another reference for the article instead of the one above.

Richard L. Johnson; Gandhi (Mahatma) (2006). Gandhi's experiments with truth: essential writings by and about Mahatma Gandhi. Lexington Books. p. 279. ISBN 978-0-7391-1143-7. Retrieved 12 January 2012.

Warm regards,

Ashwin Baindur
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