Here is a sample reference and the markup used for it.

The references markup was changed in January 2010 to conform to MemoTrove syntax (i.e., using square brackets); older refernce files may use ‘angle brackets’ markup, with the same names, etc.

General rules

• Each reference has its own file, filename=nickname of the reference, extension=‘.ref’ (for example, cowlis2003.ref)
  • No blanks are allowed in the filename.

• References are marked up in tagged notation, using square brackets to delimit tags. Each value starts with a ‘major tag’ (one of those listed below) and is ended by the next major tag. All other tags are treated as ‘content’ (e.g., MemoWiki links).
  • HTML entities (e.g., é) can be used for accented characters in names, etc.
  • Tags not in HTML 3.2 might be added to the ‘major tags’ list later.
  • Major tags with no content are ignored (they may be left in the file to be filled in later).

• Multiple blanks are treated as a single blank. A blank after a major tag is ignored.

• Blank lines are ignored, except when embedded in content (within an abstract, etc.), in which case they become an indented paragraph break.

• When processed within MemoWiki, Wiki processing for inline notations is carried out on the content of [abstract], [note], and [comment] tags only; all other content is plain text (and suitable, therefore, to translate to BibTex, etc.).

Major tags

All references must have:

   [itemtype]reference -- MemoTrove type; must be first tag in the
                          reference; content must be the word 'reference'
   [nick]nickname      -- recommended to be surname or abbreviation of
                          surname, plus 4-digit year; suffix a, b, etc. if
                          more than one in a year
   [type]reference type, one of:
           book
           paper       -- refereed or reputable
           chapter
           article
           perscomm    -- personal communication
           www         -- World Wide Web document (must have [url])
           standard
           thesis
           letter
           memo
           manual
           report
   [cat]abc            -- categories (topic-chosen) to which this
                          reference belongs.  Categories are single letters,
                          and a topic can use up to 26 (or just one).
   [title]title        -- formal title of document
   [author]name        -- in either 'surname, firstnames' or 'firstnames
                          surname' format
   [date]year          -- (may give more detail)

Optional tags for additional reference information:

   [in]title           -- in-book or in-journal (needed for a paper, chapter,
                          or article)
   [isbn]number
   [issn]number
   [pub]publisher
   [pp]pages           -- page count n (book, etc.) or page range m-n (for
                          an article, chapter, paper)
   [URL]http:...       -- if any relevant web page/document
   [abstract]          -- if available
   [note]note          -- a note ('previously published as...', etc.); added
                          to abstract
   [source]source      -- name of the person who provided or wrote this
                          reference

Subjective/local information (also optional):

   [file]              -- local filename in ..\files; must start with
                          'nickname-' (nickname from the [nick] tag)
   [proof]1            -- 1 if proofread or 0 if not, 0 assumed
   [comment]           -- description of key results/reason for interest
   [has]               -- (deprecated) as [comment] except Wiki markup
                          not processed
   [keys]              -- additional keywords not in [comment]
   [other]content      -- other information, never added to generated HTML