Editing Incubator escapee wiki:Help desk (section)

== How do you cite and can you cite a Microsoft Excel file? ==

Hello, I am trying to write about tourism to the United States and I was wondering how'd I'd cite that. It's reliable as its an official US Governmental source and you can find the Excel file [https://www.trade.gov/i-94-arrivals-program here] under the title of: "I-94 Monthly International Visitor Arrivals, 2000-Present (Excel File)" and it does work when you open it. I'm also wondering if your allowed to cite Microsoft Excel files here on Wikipedia.

Sincerely, @[[User:Skim127|Skim127]] 21:35, 26 May 2025 (UTC)

:Hello, @[[User:Skim127|Skim127]]. The format of a source is relatively unimportant. What's important is that it is ''published'' (so a random user can in principle get hold of a copy from some sort of public resource, eg a library) and that it be ''reliably published'' (from somebody with a reputation for editorial control and fact checking). 
:I don't know if there is a citation template that will suit this, but the use of those is optional anyway. The important bits, beside the url (https://www.trade.gov//sites/default/files/2024-06/Monthly%20Arrivals%202000%20to%20Present%20%E2%80%93%20Country%20of%20Residence%20%28COR%29_1.xlsx) are the author (though there presumably isn't one here), publisher, and date.
:However, there is a problem with this source, because it is "-Present", which means that it will presumably be changing regularly. A source which will change is problematic, because a reader in the future may look at it and find it no longer supports the information which it is being used to verify. So if you are going to use this resource, I would suggest using the most recent arhive of it on archive.org - https://web.archive.org/web/20250320162049/https://www.trade.gov//sites/default/files/2024-06/Monthly%20Arrivals%202000%20to%20Present%20%E2%80%93%20Country%20of%20Residence%20(COR)_1.xlsx, which happens to be from 20 March this year. 
:So unless there is a suitable template, I would write the reference) as something like
::<code><nowiki><ref>'I-94 Monthly International Visitor Arrivals, 2000-Present' (Excel File), US Government International Trade Administration, [https://www.trade.gov//sites/default/files/2024-06/Monthly%20Arrivals%202000%20to%20Present%20%E2%80%93%20Country%20of%20Residence%20%28COR%29_1.xlsx current link], [https://web.archive.org/web/20250320162049/https://www.trade.gov//sites/default/files/2024-06/Monthly%20Arrivals%202000%20to%20Present%20%E2%80%93%20Country%20of%20Residence%20(COR)_1.xlsx archived on 2025-03-25]</ref></nowiki></code>
:which displays in the reflist as <ref>'I-94 Monthly International Visitor Arrivals, 2000-Present' (Excel File), US Government International Trade Administration, [https://www.trade.gov//sites/default/files/2024-06/Monthly%20Arrivals%202000%20to%20Present%20%E2%80%93%20Country%20of%20Residence%20%28COR%29_1.xlsx current link], [https://web.archive.org/web/20250320162049/https://www.trade.gov//sites/default/files/2024-06/Monthly%20Arrivals%202000%20to%20Present%20%E2%80%93%20Country%20of%20Residence%20(COR)_1.xlsx archived on 2025-03-25]</ref>
:{{reflist-talk}} [[User:ColinFine|ColinFine]] ([[User talk:ColinFine|talk]]) 10:00, 27 May 2025 (UTC)