Wikipedia:Citing sources

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For information on referencing citations in Wikipedia articles,
see Help:Footnotes, Wikipedia:Inline citation, and Help:Referencing for beginners.
For information about citing Wikipedia articles for use in work outside of Wikipedia,
see Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia.
"WP:CS" redirects here. For the essay about using common sense, see WP:UCS. For
WikiProject Computer Science, see WP:COMPSCI.
"WP:REF" redirects here. For the Wikipedia Reference desk, see WP:RD.

This page documents an English Wikipedia content

Shortcuts
guideline.
It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to
follow, though it is best treated with common sense, WP:CS
and occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to
this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first WP:CITE
on the talk page. WP:REF

A citation, also called a reference,[1] uniquely identifies a source of information, e.g.:

Ritter, R. M. (2002). The Oxford Style Manual. Oxford University Press. p. 1.
Wikipedia's Verifiability policy requires inline citations for any material challenged or likely to
be challenged, and for all quotations, anywhere in article space.
A citation or reference in an article usually has two parts. In the first part, each section of
text that is either based on, or quoted from, an outside source is marked as such with
an inline citation. The inline citation may be a superscript footnote number, or an
abbreviated version of the citation called a short citation. The second necessary part of the
citation or reference is the list of full references, which provides complete, formatted detail
about the source, so that anyone reading the article can find it and verify it.
This page explains how to place and format both parts of the citation. Each article should
use one citation method or style throughout. If an article already has citations, preserve
consistency by using that method or seek consensus on the talk page before changing
it (the principle is reviewed at Variation in citation methods). While you should try to write
citations correctly, what matters most is that you provide enough information to identify the
source. Others will improve the formatting if needed. Help:Referencing for
beginners provides a brief introduction on how to reference Wikipedia articles.

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Contents
[hide]

1Types of citation
2When and why to cite sources
o 2.1Multimedia
o 2.2When not to cite
3Inline citations
o 3.1Footnotes
3.1.1How to create the list of citations
3.1.2How to place an inline citation using ref tags
3.1.3Repeated citations
3.1.4Separating citations from explanatory footnotes
3.1.5Avoiding clutter
3.1.6Citing multiple pages of the same source
3.1.7Duplicate citations
3.1.8Short citations
o 3.2Parenthetical referencing
4What information to include
o 4.1Examples
4.1.1Books
4.1.2Journal articles
4.1.3Newspaper articles
4.1.4Web pages
4.1.5Sound recordings
4.1.6Film, television, or video recordings
4.1.7Other
 o 4.2Identifying parts of a source
4.2.1Books and print articles
4.2.2Audio and video sources
o 4.3Links and ID numbers
4.3.1Linking to Google Books pages
4.3.2Linking to PDF files
o 4.4Say where you read it
o 4.5Dates and reprints of older publications
o 4.6Seasonal publication dates and differing calendar systems
o 4.7Additional annotation
5Citation style
o 5.1Variation in citation methods
5.1.1To be avoided
5.1.2Generally considered helpful
6Handling links in citations
o 6.1Avoid embedded links
o 6.2Convenience links
o 6.3Indicating availability
o 6.4Links to sources
o 6.5Preventing and repairing dead links
7Textsource integrity
8Bundling citations
9In-text attribution
10General references
11Dealing with unsourced material
12Citation templates and tools
o 12.1Metadata
o 12.2Citation processing tools
o 12.3Programming tools
o 12.4Citation export tools
o 12.5Reference management software
13See also
14Notes
15Further reading
16External links

Types of citation
Shortcut

WP:CITETYPE

A full citation fully identifies a reliable source and, where

applicable, the place in that source (such as a page number)
where the information in question can be found. For
example: Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Harvard
University Press, 1971, p. 1. This type of citation is usually
given as a footnote, and is the most commonly used citation
method in Wikipedia articles.
An inline citation means any citation added close to the
material it supports, for example after the sentence or
paragraph, normally in the form of a footnote.
A short citation is an inline citation that identifies the place
in a source where specific information can be found, but
without giving full details of the source these will have been
 provided in a full bibliographic citation either in an earlier
footnote, or in a separate section. For example: Rawls 1971,
p. 1. This system is used in some articles; the short citations
may be given either as footnotes, or as parenthetical
references within the text.
In-text attribution involves adding the source of a statement
to the article text, such as Rawls argues that X.[5] This is done
whenever a writer or speaker should be credited, such as
with quotations, close paraphrasing, or statements of opinion
or uncertain fact. The in-text attribution does not give full
details of the source this is done in a footnote in the normal
way. See In-text attribution below.
A general reference is a citation that supports content, but is
not linked to any particular piece of material in the article
through an inline citation. General references are usually
listed at the end of the article in a References section. They
are usually found in underdeveloped articles, especially when
all article content is supported by a single source. They may
also be listed in more developed articles as a supplement to
inline citations.

When and why to cite sources

Shortcut

WP:WHYCITE
By citing sources for Wikipedia content, you enable users to verify that the information
given is supported by reliable sources, thus improving the credibility of Wikipedia while
showing that the content is not original research. You also help users find additional
information on the subject; and by giving attribution you avoid plagiarising the source of
your words or ideas.
In particular, sources are required for material that is challenged or likely to be challenged
if reliable sources cannot be found for challenged material, it is likely to be removed from
the article. Sources are also required when quoting someone, with or without quotation
marks, or closely paraphrasing a source. However, the citing of sources is not limited to
those situations editors are always encouraged to add or improve citations for any
information contained in an article.
Citations are especially desirable for statements about living persons, particularly when the
statements are contentious or potentially defamatory. In accordance with the biography of
living persons policy, unsourced information of this type is likely to be removed on sight.
Multimedia
For an image or other media file, details of its origin and copyright status should appear on
its file page. Image captions should be referenced as appropriate just like any other part of
the article. A citation is not needed for descriptions such as alt text that are verifiable
directly from the image itself, or for text that merely identifies a source (e.g., the caption
"Belshazzar's Feast (1635)" for File:Rembrandt-Belsazar.jpg).
When not to cite
Shortcut

WP:WHENNOTCITE
Citations are not used on disambiguation pages (sourcing for the information given there
should be done in the target articles). Citations are often omitted from the lead section of an
article, insofar as the lead summarizes information for which sources are given later in the
article, although quotations and controversial statements, particularly if about living
persons, should be supported by citations even in the lead. See WP:LEADCITE for more
information.

Inline citations
Shortcuts

WP:INCITE
WP:INLINECITE
Further information: Wikipedia:Inline citation
Inline citations allow the reader to associate a given bit of material in an article with the
specific reliable source(s) that support it. Inline citations are added using
either footnotes (long or short) or parenthetical references. This section describes how to
add either type, and also describes how to create a list of full bibliography citations to
support shortened footnotes or parenthetical references.
If long or short inline citations placed in footnotes are used, the first editor to add footnotes
to an article must create a section where the list of those citations is to appear. This is not
necessary for inline parenthetical references, as these appear directly inline in the article
prose.
Footnotes
See also: Help:Footnotes
How to create the list of citations
This section, if needed, is usually titled "Notes" or "References", and is placed at or near
the bottom of the article. For more about the order and titles of sections at the end of an
article (which may also include "Further reading" and "External links" sections),
see Wikipedia:Footers.
Shortcut

WP:ASL
With some exceptions discussed below, citations appear in a single section containing only
the <references /> tag or the {{Reflist}} template. For example:

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

The footnotes will then automatically be listed under that section heading. Each numbered
footnote marker in the text is a clickable link to the corresponding footnote, and each
footnote contains a caret that links back to the corresponding point in the text. Scrolling
lists, or lists of citations appearing within a scroll box, should never be used. This is
because of issues with readability, browser compatibility, accessibility, printing, and site
mirroring.[2]
If an article contains a list of general references, this is usually placed in a separate section,
titled (for example) "References". This usually comes immediately after the section(s) listing
footnotes, if any. (If the general references section is called "References", then the citations
section is usually called "Notes".)
How to place an inline citation using ref tags
Shortcut

WP:CITEFOOT
Further information: Footnotes: the basics
To create a footnote, use the <ref>...</ref> syntax at the appropriate place in the
article text, for example:

Justice is a human invention.<ref>Rawls, John.

''A Theory of Justice''. Harvard University
Press, 1971, p. 1.</ref> It...

which will be displayed as something like:

Justice is a human invention.[1] It...

It will also be necessary to generate the list of footnotes (where the citation text is actually
displayed); for this, see the previous section.
As in the above example, citation markers are normally placed after adjacent punctuation
such as periods and commas. Citations should not be placed within, or on the same line as,
section headings. For exceptions, see the Punctuation and footnotes section of the Manual
of Style. Note also that no space is added before the citation marker.
The citation should be added close to the material it supports, offering textsource integrity.
If a word or phrase is particularly contentious, an inline citation may be added next to that
word or phrase within the sentence, but it is usually sufficient to add the citation to the end
of the clause, sentence, or paragraph, so long as it's clear which source supports which
part of the text.
Repeated citations
Further information: Footnotes: using a source more than once
For multiple use of the same inline citation or footnote, you can use the named
references feature, choosing a name to identify the inline citation, and typing <ref
name="name">text of the citation</ref> . Thereafter, the same named reference
may be reused any number of times either before or after the defining use by typing
just <ref name="name" /> . The use of the slash before the > means that the tag is self-
closing, and the </ref> used to close other references must not be used in addition.
The text of the name can be almost anythingapart from being completely numeric. If
spaces are used in the text of the name , the text must be placed within double quotes.
Placing all named references within double quotes may be helpful to future editors who do
not know that rule. To help with page maintenance, it is recommended that the text of
the name have a connection to the inline citation or footnote, for example "author year
page": <ref name="Smith 2005 p94">text of the citation</ref> .
Separating citations from explanatory footnotes
If an article contains both footnoted citations and other (explanatory) footnotes, then it is
possible (but not necessary) to divide them into two separate lists, using the grouping
feature described in the Grouping footnotes section of the footnotes help page. The
explanatory footnotes and the citations are then placed in separate sections, called (for
example) "Notes" and "References" respectively.
Avoiding clutter
Inline references can significantly bloat the wikitext in the edit window and can become
difficult and confusing. There are two main methods to avoid clutter in the edit window:

Inserting short citations (see below) that then refer to a full list
of source texts
Parenthetical references (see below) are an established
subformat of this, which forgoes the use of inline notes
and simply puts the short citation in the main body.
 Using list-defined references by collecting the full citation
code within the reference list template, and then inserting
them in the text with <ref name="ABC" /> tags.
As with other citation formats, articles should not undergo large-scale conversion between
formats without consensus to do so.
Citing multiple pages of the same source
Shortcut

WP:IBID
Further information: Help:References and page numbers
When an article cites many different pages from the same source, to avoid the redundancy
of many big, nearly identical full citations, most Wikipedia editors use one of three options:

Short citations in footnotes

Named references in conjunction with
the {{rp}} or {{r}} templates to specify the page
Short citations in parenthesis
The use of ibid. or Id. (or similar abbreviations) is discouraged, as these may become
broken as new references are added (op. cit. is less problematic in that it should refer
explicitly to a citation contained in the article; however, not all readers are familiar with the
meaning of the terms). If the use of ibid is extensive, use the {{ibid}} template.
Duplicate citations
Shortcut

WP:DUPCITES
Please combine precisely duplicated full citations, in keeping with the existing citation style
(if any). Do not discourage editors, particularly inexperienced ones, from adding duplicate
citations when the use of the source is appropriate, because a duplicate is usually better
than no citation. But any editor should feel free to combine them, and doing so is the best
practice on Wikipedia.
Citations to different pages or parts of the same source can also be combined (preserving
the distinct parts of the citations), as described in the previous section. Any method that is
consistent with the existing citation style (if any) may be used, or consensus can be sought
to change the existing style.
Short citations
Shortcuts

WP:CITESHORT
WP:SFN
Main page: Help:Shortened footnotes
Some Wikipedia articles use short citations, giving summary information about the source
together with a page number, as in <ref>Smith 2010, p. 1.</ref> . These are used
together with full citations, which give full details of the sources, but without page numbers,
and are listed in a separate "References" section. Short citations are used in articles that
apply parenthetical referencing (see below), but they can also be used as footnote
citations, as described here.
Forms of short citations used include author-date referencing (APA style, Harvard style,
or Chicago style), and author-title or author-page referencing (MLA style or Chicago style).
As before, the list of footnotes is automatically generated in a "Notes" or "Footnotes"
section, which immediately precedes the "References" section containing the full citations
to the source. Short citations can be written manually, or by using
the {{sfn}} or {{harvnb}} templates. (Note that templates should not be added without
consensus to an article that already uses a consistent referencing style.) The short citations
and full citations may be linked so that the reader can click on the short note to find full
information about the source. See the template documentation for details and solutions to
common problems. For variations with and without templates, see wikilinks to full
references. For a set of realistic examples, see these.
This is how short citations look in the edit box:

The Sun is pretty big,<ref>Miller 2005, p. 23.</ref> but the Moon is

not so big.<ref>Brown 2006, p. 46.</ref> The Sun is also quite
hot.<ref>Miller 2005, p. 34.</ref>

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
*Brown, Rebecca (2006). "Size of the Moon", ''Scientific American'',
51(78).
*Miller, Edward (2005). ''The Sun''. Academic Press.

This is how they look in the article:

The Sun is pretty big,[1] but the Moon is not so big.[2] The Sun is also quite hot.[3]

Notes

1. ^ Miller 2005, p. 23.

2. ^ Brown 2006, p. 46.
3. ^ Miller 2005, p. 34.

References

Brown, Rebecca (2006). "Size of the Moon", Scientific

American, 51(78).
Miller, Edward (2005). The Sun. Academic Press.
Shortened notes using titles rather than publication dates would look like this in the article:
Notes

1. ^ Miller, The Sun, p. 23.

2. ^ Brown, "Size of the Moon", p. 46.
3. ^ Miller, The Sun, p. 34.

When using manual links it is easy to introduce errors such as duplicate anchors and
unused references. The script User:Ucucha/HarvErrors will show many related errors.
Duplicate anchors may be found by using the W3C Markup Validation Service.
Parenthetical referencing
Further information: Wikipedia:Parenthetical referencing
While most articles use footnote citations as described in the above sections, some articles
use a parenthetical referencing style. Here, short citations in parentheses, such as (Smith
2010, p. 1), are placed within the article text itself. Full details of each source used are
given in a full citation, e.g., Smith, John. Name of Book. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
The full citations are listed in alphabetical order, according to the authors' surnames, at the
end of the article in a "References" section.
Several forms of short citation are used in Wikipedia; see Short citations above. The inline
citation and full citation may be linked using a template (see linking inline and full citations);
as with other citation templates, these should not be added to articles without consensus.
This is how it looks in the edit box:

The Sun is pretty big (Miller 2005, p. 1), but the Moon is not so big
(Brown 2006, p. 2). The Sun is also quite hot (Miller 2005, p. 3).
== References ==
*Brown, R (2006). "Size of the Moon", ''Scientific American'', 51(78).
*Miller, E (2005). ''The Sun'', Academic Press.

This is how it looks in the article:

The Sun is pretty big (Miller 2005, p. 1), but the Moon is not so big (Brown 2006, p. 2). The
Sun is also quite hot (Miller 2005, p. 3).

References

Brown, R (2006). "Size of the Moon", Scientific American,

51(78).
Miller, E (2005). The Sun, Academic Press.
Notice that, unlike footnotes, parenthetical references are placed before adjacent
punctuation such as commas and periods.

What information to include

Shortcuts

WP:CITEHOW
WP:HOWCITE
Listed below is the information that a typical inline citation or general reference will provide,
though other details may be added as necessary. This information is included in order to
identify the source, assist readers in finding it, and (in the case of inline citations) indicate
the place in the source where the information is to be found. (If an article uses parenthetical
referencing or short citations, then the inline citations will refer to this information in
abbreviated form, as described in the relevant sections above.)
Examples
Books
See also the template {{cite book}}.
Citations for books typically include:
 name of author(s)
title of book in italics
translated title of book in square brackets after the title if not
in English (optional)
volume when appropriate
name of publisher
city of publication, e.g. London: Routledge (optional)
year of publication of the edition you are citing
original year of publication in square brackets, e.g. 2017
[1972] (optional)
chapter or page numbers cited, if appropriate
edition, if not the first edition
ISBN (optional)
Citations for individually authored chapters in books
typically include:

name of author(s)
title of the chapter
translated title of the chapter book if not in English
(optional)
name of book's editor
name of book and other details as above
chapter number or page numbers for the chapter
(optional)
In some instances, the verso of a book may record,
"Reprinted with corrections XXXX" or similar, where 'XXXX' is
a year. This is a different version of a book in the same way
that different editions are different versions. In such a case,
record: the year of the particular reprint, the edition
immediately prior to this particular reprint (if not the first
edition) and a note to say "Reprint with corrections". If {{cite}}
(or similar) is being used, the notation, "Reprint with
corrections", can be added immediately following the
template. Reprints of older publications gives an example of
appending a similar textual note.
Journal articles
See also the template {{cite journal}}.
Citations for journal articles typically include:

name of the author(s)

year and sometimes month of publication
title of the article within quotation marks
translated title of the article in square brackets after the
title if not in English
name of the journal in italics
volume number, issue number, and page numbers
(article numbers in some electronic journals)
DOI and/or other identifiers are optional
Newspaper articles
See also the template {{cite news}}.
Citations for newspaper articles typically include:
 byline (author's name), if any
title of the article within quotation marks
translated title of the article in square brackets after the
title if not in English
name of the newspaper in italics
city of publication (if not included in name of newspaper),
in parentheses
date of publication (the "{{Cite news}}" template places
the date after the byline if there is one)
page number(s) are optional
Web pages
Shortcut

WP:CITEWEB
See also the template {{cite web}}.
Citations for World Wide Web pages typically include:

URL of the web page that is the URL of the web

page where the referenced content can be found, not,
e.g., the main page of a website when the content is on a
subpage of that website (see Wikipedia:Shallow
references)
name of the author(s)
title of the article within quotation marks
translated title of the article in square brackets after the
title if not in English
title or domain name of the website
publisher, if known
date of publication
page number(s) (if applicable)
the date you retrieved (or accessed) the web page
(required if the publication date is unknown)
Sound recordings
For more details on this topic, see Help:References and page
numbers Other in-source locations.
Citations for sound recordings typically include:

name of the composer(s), songwriter(s), script writer(s)

or the like
name of the performer(s)
title of the song or individual track in quotation marks
title of the album in italics (if applicable)
name of the record label
year of release
medium (for example: LP, audio cassette, CD, MP3 file)
approximate time at which event or point of interest
occurs, where appropriate
Do not cite an entire body of work by one performer. Instead,
make one citation for each work your text relies on.
Film, television, or video recordings
See also the template {{cite AV media}}.
Citations for films, TV episodes, or video recordings typically
include:

name of the director

name of the producer, if relevant
names of major performers
for a TV episode, the title of the episode in quotation
marks
title of the film or TV series in italics
name of the studio
year of release
medium (for example: film, videocassette, DVD)
approximate time at which event or point of interest
occurs, where appropriate
Other
See also the template {{cite album notes}}.
See also the template {{cite comic}}.
See also the template {{comic strip reference}}.
See also the template {{cite conference}} for conference
reports or papers.
See also the template {{cite court}} for court cases or legal
decisions.
See also the template {{cite encyclopedia}}.
See also the template {{cite episode}} for TV or radio series.
See also the template {{cite mailing list}}.
See also the template {{cite map}}.
See also the template {{cite newsgroup}}.
See also the template {{citation}} for patents.
See also the template {{cite press release}}.
See also the template {{cite thesis}}.
See also the template {{cite video game}}.
Identifying parts of a source
Shortcuts

WP:Page numbers
WP:PAGENUM
Further information: Help:References and page numbers
When citing lengthy sources, you should identify which part
of a source is being cited.
Books and print articles
Specify the page number or range of page numbers. Page
numbers are not required for a reference to the book or
article as a whole. When you specify a page number, it is
helpful to specify the version (date and edition for books) of
the source because the layout, pagination, length, etc. can
change between editions.
If there are no page numbers, whether in ebooks or print
materials, then you can use other means of identifying the
relevant section of a lengthy work, such as the chapter
number or the section title.
In some works, such as plays and ancient works, there are
standard methods of referring to sections, such as "Act 1,
scene 2" for plays and Bekker numbers for Aristotle's works.
Use these methods whenever appropriate.
Audio and video sources
Specify the time at which the event or other point of interest
occurs. Be as precise as possible about the version of the
source that you are citing; for example, movies are often
released in different editions or "cuts". Due to variations
between formats and playback equipment, precision may not
be accurate in some cases. However, many government
agencies do not publish minutes and transcripts but do post
video of official meetings online; generally the subcontractors
who handle audio-visual are quite precise.
Links and ID numbers
A citation ideally includes a link or ID number to help editors
locate the source. If you have a URL (web page) link, you
can add it to the title part of the citation, so that when you
add the citation to Wikipedia the URL becomes hidden and
the title becomes clickable. To do this, enclose the URL and
the title in square bracketsthe URL first, then a space, then
the title. For example:

Carr A, Ory D (2006).

[http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030496
"Does HIV cause cardiovascular disease?"]
''PLoS Medicine'', 3(11):e496.

For web-only sources with no publication date, the

"Retrieved" date (or the date you accessed the web page)
should be included, in case the web page changes in the
future. For example: Retrieved 15 July 2011 or you can use
the accessdate parameter in the
automatic Wikipedia:refToolbar 2.0editing window feature.
You can also add an ID number to the end of a citation. The
ID number might be an ISBN for a book, a DOI (digital object
identifier) for an article, or any of several ID numbers that are
specific to particular article databases, such as a PMID
number for articles on PubMed. It may be possible to format
these so that they are automatically activated and become
clickable when added to Wikipedia, for example by typing
ISBN (or PMID) followed by a space and the ID number.
If your source is not available online, it should be available in
reputable libraries, archives, or collections. If a citation
without an external link is challenged as unavailable, any of
the following is sufficient to show the material to be
reasonably available (though not necessarily reliable):
providing an ISBN or OCLC number; linking to an established
Wikipedia article about the source (the work, its author, or its
publisher); or directly quoting the material on the talk
page, briefly and in context.
Linking to Google Books pages
Shortcuts

WP:PAGELINKS
WP:BOOKLINKS
Further information: Wikipedia talk:Citing sources/Archive 29
Linking to Google Books pages
Google Books sometimes allows numbered book pages to be
linked to directly. These can be added in several ways (with
and without citation templates):

Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Harvard University

Press, 1971, p. 18.
Or with a template: Rawls, John (1971). A Theory of
Justice. Harvard University Press. p. 18.
Rawls 1971, p. 18.
Rawls 1971, p. 18.
Rawls 1971, p. 18.
Rawls 1971, 18.
In edit mode, the URL for p. 18 of A Theory of Justice can be
entered like this using the {{Cite book}} template:

{{cite book |last=Rawls |first=John |title=A

Theory of Justice |publisher=Harvard University
Press |date=1971 |page=18 |url=
https://books.google.com/books?id=kvpby7HtAe0C&
pg=PA18}}

or like this, in the first of the above examples, formatted

manually:

Rawls, John.
[https://books.google.com/books?id=kvpby7HtAe0C
&pg=PA18 ''A Theory of Justice'']. Harvard
University Press, 1971, p. 18.

When the page number is a Roman numeral, commonly seen

at the beginning of books, the URL looks like this for page
xvii (Roman numeral 17) of the same book:
https://books.google.com/books?id=kvpby7HtAe
0C&pg=PR17
The &pg=PR17 indicates "page, Roman, 17", in contrast to
the &pg=PA18, "page, Arabic, 18" the URL given earlier.
You can also link to a tipped-in page, such as an
unnumbered page of images between two regular pages. (If
the page contains an image that is protected by copyright, it
will be replaced by a tiny notice saying "copyrighted image".)
The URL for eleventh tipped-in page inserted after page
304of The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and
Susan B. Anthony, looks like this:
https://books.google.com/books?id=dBs4CO1DsF
4C&pg=PA304-IA11
The &pg=PA304-IA11 can be interpreted as "page, Arabic,
304; inserted after: 11".
Page links should only be added when the book is available
for preview; they will not work with snippet view. Keep in
mind that availability varies by location. No editor is required
to add page links, but if another editor adds them, they
should not be removed without cause; see the October 2010
RfC for further information.
Note that the Citation Style 1, Citation Style 2 and Citation
Style Vancouver templates properly support links only in
the |url= and |archive-url= parameters. Placing
links in the |page= or |pages= parameters may not link
properly and will cause mangled COinSmetadata output.
There is a Wikipedia citation tool for Google Books that
may be helpful.
Linking to PDF files
Links to long PDF documents can be made more
convenient by taking readers to a specific page with the
addition of #page=n to the document URL, where n is
the page number. For example,
using http://www.domain.com/document.pdf#page
=5 as the citation URL displays page five of the
document in any PDF viewer that supports this feature. If
the viewer or browser does not support it, it will display
the first page instead.
Say where you read it
Shortcuts

WP:SAYWHEREYOUREADIT
WP:SAYWHEREYOUGOTIT
WP:SWYRT
WP:SWYGT
WP:SAYWHERE
"Say where you read it" follows the practice in academic
writing of citing sources directly only if you have read the
source yourself. If your knowledge of the source is
secondhandthat is, if you have read Jones (2010), who
cited Smith (2009), and you want to use what Smith
(2009) saidmake clear that your knowledge of Smith is
based on your reading of Jones.
When citing the source, write the following (this
formatting is just an example):
John Smith (2009). Name of Book I Haven't Seen,
Cambridge University Press, p. 99, cited in Paul Jones
(2010). Name of Encyclopedia I Have Seen, Oxford
University Press, p. 29.
Or if you are using short citations:
Smith (2009), p. 99, cited in Jones (2010), p. 29.
Note: The advice to "say where you read it"
does not mean that you have to give credit to any
sources, search engines, websites, library catalogs,
archives, etc., that led you to Smith's book. If you have
read Smith's book yourself, that's all you have to cite.
You do not need to specify how you obtained and read
Smith's book.
So long as you are confident that you read a true and
accurate copy, it does not matter whether you read the
book using an online service like Google Books; using
preview options at a bookseller's website like Amazon;
on an e-reader (except to the extent that this affects page
numbering); through your library; via online paid
databases of scanned publications, such as JSTOR;
using reading machines; or any other method.
Dates and reprints of older publications
Editors should be aware that older sources (especially
those in the public domain) are sometimes reprinted with
modern publication dates. When this occurs and the
citation style being used requires it, cite both
the original publication date, as well as the date of the re-
publication. E.g.:

Darwin, Charles (1964) [1859]. On the Origin of

Species (facsimile of 1st ed.). Harvard University
Press.
This is done automatically in the {{citation}} and {{cite
book}} templates when you use the |orig-
year= parameter.

Alternately, information about the reprint can be

appended as a textual note:

Boole, George (1854). An Investigation of the Laws

of Thought on Which are Founded the Mathematical
Theories of Logic and Probabilities.
Macmillan. Reprinted with corrections, Dover
Publications, New York, NY, 1958.
Seasonal publication dates and differing
calendar systems
Publication dates, for both older and recent sources,
should be written with the goal of helping the reader find
the publication and, once found, confirm that the correct
publication has been located. For example, if the
publication date bears a date in the Julian calendar, it
should not be converted to the Gregorian calendar.
If the publication date was given as a season or holiday,
such as "Winter" or "Christmas" of a particular year or
two-year span, it should not be converted to a month or
date, such as JulyAugust or December 25. If a
publication provided both seasonal and specific dates,
prefer the specific one.
Additional annotation
In most cases it is sufficient for a citation footnote simply
to identify the source (as described in the sections
above); readers can then consult the source to see how it
supports the information in the article. Sometimes,
however, it is useful to include additional annotation in
the footnote, for example to indicate precisely which
information the source is supporting (particularly when a
single footnote lists more than one source
see Bundling citations and Textsource integrity,
below).
A footnote may also contain a relevant exact quotation
from the source. This is especially helpful when the cited
text is long or dense. A quotation allows readers to
immediately identify the applicable portion of the
reference. Quotes are also useful if the source is not
easily accessible.
In the case of non-English sources, it may be helpful to
quote from the original text and then give an English
translation. If the article itself contains a translation of a
quote from such a source (without the original), then the
original should be included in the footnote. (See
the WP:Verifiability Non-English sources policy for
more information.)

Citation style
Shortcut

WP:CITESTYLE
While citations should aim to provide the information
listed above, Wikipedia does not have a single house
style, though citations within any given article should
follow a consistent style. A number of citation styles exist
including those described in the Wikipedia articles
for Citation, APA style, ASA style, MLA style, The
Chicago Manual of Style, Author-date referencing,
the Vancouver system and Bluebook.
Although nearly any consistent style may be
used, avoid all-numeric date formats other than YYYY-
MM-DD, because of the ambiguity concerning which
number is the month and which the day. For
example, 2002-06-11 may be used, but not 11/06/2002.
The YYYY-MM-DD format should in any case be limited
to Gregorian calendar dates where the year is after 1582.
Variation in citation methods
Shortcut

WP:CITEVAR
Editors should not attempt to change an article's
established citation style merely on the grounds of
personal preference, to make it match other articles, or
without first seeking consensus for the change. The
arbitration committee ruled in 2006:
Wikipedia does not mandate styles in many different
areas; these include (but are not limited to) American vs.
British spelling, date formats, and citation style. Where
Wikipedia does not mandate a specific style, editors
should not attempt to convert Wikipedia to their own
preferred style, nor should they edit articles for the sole
purpose of converting them to their preferred style, or
removing examples of, or references to, styles which
they dislike.
As with spelling differences, it is normal practice to defer
to the style used by the first major contributor or adopted
by the consensus of editors already working on the page,
unless a change in consensus has been achieved. If the
article you are editing is already using a particular citation
style, you should follow it; if you believe it is inappropriate
for the needs of the article, seek consensus for a change
on the talk page. If you are the first contributor to add
citations to an article, you may choose whichever style
you think best for the article.
If all or most of the citations in an article consist of bare
URLs, or otherwise fail to provide needed bibliographic
data such as the name of the source, the title of the
article or web page consulted, the author (if known), the
publication date (if known), and the page numbers
(where relevant) then that would not count as a
"consistent citation style" and can be changed freely to
insert such data. The data provided should be sufficient
to uniquely identify the source, allow readers to find it,
and allow readers to initially evaluate it without retrieving
it.
To be avoided
When an article is already consistent, avoid:

switching between major citation styles,

e.g. parenthetical and <ref> tags, or replacing the
preferred style of one academic discipline with
another's;
adding citation templates to an article that already
uses a consistent system without templates, or
removing citation templates from an article that uses
them consistently;
changing where the references are defined, e.g.
moving reference definitions in the reflist to the
prose, or moving reference definitions from the prose
into the reflist.
Generally considered helpful
The following are standard practice:
 improving existing citations by adding missing
information, such as by replacing bare URLs with full
bibliographic citations: an improvement because it
aids verifiability, and fights linkrot;
replacing some or all general references with inline
citations: an improvement because it provides more
verifiable information to the reader, and helps
maintain textsource 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 <ref> markup
problems: an improvement because it helps the
citations to be parsed correctly;
combining duplicate citations (see Duplicate
citations, above).

Handling links in citations

As noted above under What information to include, it is
helpful to include hyperlinks to source material, when
available. Here we note some issues concerning these
links.
Avoid embedded links
Embedded links to external websites should not be used
as a form of inline citation, because they are highly
susceptible to linkrot. Wikipedia allowed this in its early
yearsfor example by adding a link after a sentence, like
this
[http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1601858,
00.html], which looks like this. [1] This is no longer
recommended. Raw links are not recommended in lieu of
properly written out citations, even if placed between ref
tags, like
this <ref>[http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/s
tory/0,14173,1601858,00.html]</ref> . Since any
citation that accurately identifies the source is better than
none, do not revert the good-faith addition of partial
citations. They should be considered temporary, and
replaced with more complete, properly formatted citations
as soon as possible.
Embedded links should never be used to place external
links in the content of an article, like this: "Apple,
Inc. announced their latest product...".
Convenience links
Further information: Wikipedia:Copyrights Linking to
copyrighted works
A convenience link is a link to a copy of your source on a
web page provided by someone other than the original
publisher or author. For example, a copy of a newspaper
article no longer available on the newspaper's website
may be hosted elsewhere. When offering convenience
links, it is important to be reasonably certain that the
convenience copy is a true copy of the original, without
any changes or inappropriate commentary, and that it
does not infringe the original publisher's copyright.
Accuracy can be assumed when the hosting website
appears reliable. Where several sites host a copy of the
material, the site selected as the convenience link should
be the one whose general content appears most in line
with Wikipedia:Neutral point of
view and Wikipedia:Verifiability.
Indicating availability
Shortcut

WP:INDICATEAVAIL
If your source is not available online, it should be
available in reputable libraries, archives, or collections. If
a citation without an external link is challenged as
unavailable, any of the following is sufficient to show the
material to be reasonably available (though not
necessarily reliable): providing
an ISBN or OCLC number; linking to an established
Wikipedia article about the source (the work, its author,
or its publisher); or directly quoting the material on the
talk page, briefly and in context.
Links to sources
Shortcut

WP:SOURCELINKS
For a source available in hardcopy, microform,
and/or online, omit, in most cases, which one you read.
While it is useful to cite author, title, edition (1st, 2nd,
etc.), and similar information, it generally is not important
to cite a database such as ProQuest, EbscoHost,
or JStor (see the list of academic databases and search
engines) or to link to such a database requiring a
subscription or a third party's login. The basic
bibliographic information you provide should be enough
to search for the source in any of these databases that
have the source. Don't add a URL that has a part of a
password embedded in the URL. However, you may
provide the DOI, ISBN, or another uniform identifier, if
available. If the publisher offers a link to the source or its
abstract that does not require a payment or a third party's
login for access, you may provide the URL for that link. If
the source only exists online, give the link even if access
is restricted (see WP:PAYWALL).
Preventing and repairing dead links
See also: Wikipedia:Link rot
Shortcut

WP:DEADREF
To help prevent dead links, persistent identifiers are
available for some sources. Some journal articles have
a digital object identifier (DOI); some online newspapers
and blogs, and also Wikipedia, have permalinks that are
stable. When permanent links aren't available, consider
archiving the referenced document when writing the
article; on-demand web archiving services such
as WebCite (http://www.webcitation.org) or the Wayback
Machine (http://www.archive.org/web) are fairly easy to
use (see pre-emptive archiving).
Dead links should be repaired or replaced if possible. Do
not delete a citation merely because the URL is not
working. Follow these steps when you encounter a dead
URL being used as a reliable source to support article
content:

1. Confirm status: First, check the link to confirm

that it is dead and not temporarily down. Search
the website to see whether it has been
rearranged. The online service "Is it down right
now?" can help to determine if a site is down,
and any information known.
2. Check for a changed URL on the same Web
site: Pages are frequently moved to different
location on the same site as they become
archive content rather than news. The site's error
page may have a "Search" box; alternatively, in
the popular Google search engine the keyterm
"site:" is used, as in site:en.wikipedia.org "New
Zealand police vehicle markings and livery".
3. Check for web archives: Many Web
archiving services exist; link to their archive of
the URL's content, if available. Examples:
Internet Archive has billions of archived web
pages. See Wikipedia:Using the Wayback
Machine.
WebCite has billions of archived web pages.
See Wikipedia:Using WebCite.
The UK Government Web
Archive (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
webarchive/) preserves 1500 UK central
government websites.
The Mementos interface allows you to
search multiple archiving services with a
single request using the Memento protocol.
Unfortunately, the Mementos web page
interface removes any parameters which are
passed with the URL. If the URL contains a
"?" it is unlikely to work properly. When
entering the URL into the Mementos
interface manually, the most common
change needed is to change "?" to "%3F".
While making only this change will not be
sufficient in all cases, it will work most of the
time. The bookmarklet in the table below will
 properly encode URLs such that searches
will work.
If multiple archive dates are available, try to use one that
is most likely to be the contents of the page seen by the
editor who entered the reference on the |access-
date= . If that parameter is not specified, a search of the
article's revision history can be performed to determine
when the link was added to the article.
For most citation templates, archive locations are entered
using the |archive-url= , |archive-
date= and |dead-url= parameters. The primary link is
automatically switched to the archive when |dead-
url=yes . This retains the original link location for
reference.
If the web page now leads to a completely different
website, set |dead-url=usurped to hide the original
website link in the citation.
Note: Some archives currently operate with a delay of
~18 months before a link is made public. As a result,
editors should wait ~24 months after the link is first
tagged as dead before declaring that no web archive
exists. Dead URLs to reliable sources should normally be
tagged with {{dead link|date=December 2017}} , so
that you can estimate how long the link has been dead.
Bookmarklets to check common archive sites for
archives of the current page:
Archive.org
javascript:void(window.open('https://web.arc
hive.org/web/*/'+location.href))
WebCite
javascript:void(window.open('http://www.webc
itation.org/query.php?url='+location.href))
Archive.is
javascript:void(window.open('http://archive.
is/?run=1&url='+location.href))
Mementos interface
javascript:void(window.open('http://www.weba
rchive.org.uk/mementos/search/'+encodeURICom
ponent(location.href)+'?referrer='+encodeURI
Component(document.referrer)))

4. Remove convenience links: If the material

was published on paper (e.g., academic
journal, newspaper article, magazine, book),
then the dead URL is not necessary. Simply
remove the dead URL, leaving the
remainder of the reference intact.
5. Find a replacement source: Search the
web for quoted text, the article title, and
parts of the URL. Consider contacting the
website/person that originally published the
 reference and asking them to republish it.
Ask other editors for help finding the
reference somewhere else, including the
user who added the reference. Find a
different source that says essentially the
same thing as the reference in question.
6. Remove hopelessly lost web-only
sources: If the source material does not
exist offline, and if there is no archived
version of the web page (be sure to wait ~24
months), and if you cannot find another copy
of the material, then the dead citation should
be removed and the material it supports
should be regarded as unverified if there is
no other supporting citation. If it is material
that is specifically required by policy to have
an inline citation, then please consider
tagging it with {{citation needed}} . It
may be appropriate for you to move the
citation to the talk page with an explanation,
and notify the editor who added the now-
dead link.

Textsource integrity
Shortcut

WP:INTEGRITY
For WikiProject Integrity (which is not related to text
source integrity), go here.
When using inline citations, it is important to maintain
textsource integrity. The point of an inline citation is
to allow readers and other editors to check that the
material is sourced; that point is lost if the citation is
not clearly placed. The distance between material
and its source is a matter of editorial judgment, but
adding text without clearly placing its source may
lead to allegations of original research, of violations
of the sourcing policy, and even of plagiarism.
Editors should exercise caution when rearranging or
inserting material to ensure that textsource
relationships are maintained. References need not
be moved solely to maintain the chronological order
of footnotes as they appear in the article, and should
not be moved if doing so might break the text-source
relationship.
If a sentence or paragraph is footnoted with a
source, adding new material that is not supported by
the existing source to the sentence/paragraph,
without a source for the new text, is highly
misleading if placed to appear that the cited source
supports it. When new text is inserted into a
paragraph, make sure it is supported by the existing
or a new source. For example, when editing text
originally reading
The sun is pretty big.[1]

Notes

1. ^ Miller, Edward. The Sun. Academic Press,

2005, p. 1.

an edit that does not imply that the new material is

sourced by the same reference is
The sun is pretty big.[1] The sun is also quite hot.[2]

Notes

1. ^ Miller, Edward. The Sun. Academic Press,

2005, p. 1.
2. ^ Smith, John. The Sun's Heat. Academic Press,
2005, p. 2.

Do not add other facts or assertions into a fully cited

paragraph or sentence:

The sun is pretty big, but the moon is not so

big.[1] The sun is also quite hot.[2]

Notes

1. ^ Miller, Edward. The Sun. Academic Press,

2005, p. 1.
2. ^ Smith, John. The Sun's Heat. Academic Press,
2005, p. 2.

Include a source to support the new information.

There are several ways to write this, including:

The sun is pretty big,[1] but the moon is not so

big.[2] The sun is also quite hot.[3]

Notes

1. ^ Miller, Edward. The Sun. Academic Press,

2005, p. 1.
2. ^ Brown, Rebecca. "Size of the Moon", Scientific
American, 51(78):46.
3. ^ Smith, John. The Sun's Heat. Academic Press,
2005, p. 2.

Bundling citations
Shortcuts
 WP:CITEBUNDLE
WP:BUNDLING
Main page: Help:Citation merging
Further information: Wikipedia:Citation overkill
Sometimes the article is more readable if multiple
citations are bundled into a single footnote. For
example, when there are multiple sources for a given
sentence, and each source applies to the entire
sentence, the sources can be placed at the end of
the sentence, like this.[4][5][6][7] Or they can be bundled
into one footnote at the end of the sentence or
paragraph, like this.[4]
Bundling is also useful if the sources each support a
different portion of the preceding text, or if the
sources all support the same text. Bundling has
several advantages:

It helps readers and other editors see at a glance

which source supports which point, maintaining text
source integrity;
It avoids the visual clutter of multiple clickable
footnotes inside a sentence or paragraph;
It avoids the confusion of having multiple sources
listed separately after sentences, with no indication of
which source to check for each part of the text, such
as this.[1][2][3][4]
It makes it less likely that inline citations will be
moved inadvertently when text is re-arranged,
because the footnote states clearly which source
supports which point.
When formatting multiple citations in a footnote,
there are several layouts available, as illustrated
below. Within a given article, only a single layout
should be used.
The sun is pretty big, but the moon is not so big.
The sun is also quite hot.[1]

Notes

1. Bullets

1. ^ For the sun's size, see Miller, Edward. The

Sun. Academic Press, 2005, p. 1.
For the moon's size, see Brown,
Rebecca. "Size of the Moon", Scientific
American, 51(78):46.
For the sun's heat, see Smith, John. The
Sun's Heat. Academic Press, 2005, p. 2.

Line breaks

1. ^ For the sun's size, see Miller, Edward. The

Sun. Academic Press, 2005, p. 1.
 For the moon's size, see Brown, Rebecca.
"Size of the Moon", Scientific American,
51(78):46.
For the sun's heat, see Smith, John. The
Sun's Heat. Academic Press, 2005, p. 2.
Paragraph

1. ^ For the sun's size, see Miller, Edward. The

Sun. Academic Press, 2005, p. 1. For the
moon's size, see Brown, Rebecca. "Size of
the Moon", Scientific American, 51(78):46.
For the sun's heat, see Smith, John. The
Sun's Heat. Academic Press, 2005, p. 2.

In-text attribution
Shortcut

WP:INTEXT
Further information: Wikipedia:Neutral point of
view Attributing and specifying biased
statements
In-text attribution is the attribution inside a
sentence of material to its source, in addition to
an inline citation after the sentence. In-text
attribution should be used with direct speech (a
source's words between quotation marks or as
a block quotation); indirect speech (a source's
words modified without quotation marks);
and close paraphrasing. It can also be used
when loosely summarizing a source's position in
your own words. It avoids inadvertent plagiarism
and helps the reader see where a position is
coming from. An inline citation should follow the
attribution, usually at the end of the sentence or
paragraph in question.
For example:

To reach fair decisions, parties must

consider matters as if behind a veil of
ignorance.[2]

John Rawls says that, to reach fair decisions,

parties must consider matters as if behind a veil
of ignorance.[2]
When using in-text attribution, make sure it
doesn't lead to an inadvertent neutrality violation.
For example, the following implies parity
between the sources, without making clear that
the position of Darwin is the majority view:

Charles Darwin says that human beings

evolved through natural selection, but John
Smith writes that we arrived here in pods from
Mars.
 Humans evolved through natural selection,
as first explained in Charles Darwin's The
Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to
Sex.
Neutrality issues apart, there are other ways in-
text attribution can mislead. The sentence below
suggests The New York Times has alone made
this important discovery:

According to The New York Times, the sun

will set in the west this evening.

The sun sets in the west each evening.

It is preferable not to clutter articles with
information best left to the references. Interested
readers can click on the ref to find out the
publishing journal:

In an article published in The Lancet in 2012,

researchers announced the discovery of the new
tissue type.[3]

The discovery of the new tissue type was

first published by researchers in 2012.[3]
Simple facts such as this can have inline
citations to reliable sources as an aid to the
reader, but normally the text itself is best left as a
plain statement without in-text attribution:

By mass, oxygen is the third most abundant

element in the universe after hydrogen and
helium.[4]

General references
Shortcut

WP:GENREF
A general reference is a citation to a reliable
source that supports content, but is not linked to
any particular text in the article through an inline
citation. General references are usually listed at
the end of the article in a "References" section,
and are usually sorted by the last name of the
author or the editor. General reference sections
are most likely to be found in underdeveloped
articles, especially when all article content is
supported by a single source. The disadvantage
of general references is that textsource
integrity is lost, unless the article is very short.
They are frequently reworked by later editors into
inline citations.
The appearance of a general references section
is the same as those given above in the sections
on short citations and parenthetical references. If
both cited and uncited references exist, their
distinction can be highlighted with separate
section names, e.g., "References" and "General
references".

Dealing with unsourced

material
Shortcuts

WP:NOCITE
WP:BLPCITE
If an article has no references at all, then:

If the entire article is "Patent Nonsense", tag

it for speedy deletion using criterion G1.
If the article is a biography of a living person,
it can be tagged with {{subst:prod blp}} to
propose deletion. If it's a biography of a
living person and is an attack page, then it
should be tagged for speedy deletion using
criterion G10, which will blank the page.
If the article doesn't fit into the above two
categories, then consider finding references
yourself, or commenting on the article talk
page or the talk page of the article creator.
You may also tag the article with
the {{unreferenced}} template and
consider nominating it for deletion.
For individual unreferenced claims in an article:

If the article is a biography of a living person,

then any contentious material must be
removed immediately: see Biographies of
living persons. If the unreferenced material is
seriously inappropriate, it may need to be
hidden from general view, in which
case request admin assistance.
If the material added appears to be false or
an expression of opinion, remove it and
inform the editor who added the unsourced
material. The {{uw-
unsourced1}} template may be placed on
their talk page.
In any other case consider finding
references yourself, or commenting on the
article talk page or the talk page of the editor
who added the unsourced material. You may
place a {{citation
needed}} or {{dubious}} tag against the
added text.

Citation templates and tools

 Shortcut

WP:CITECONSENSUS
Further information: Wikipedia:Citation
templates and Help:Citation tools
For a comparison of citations using templates
with citations written freehand,
see Wikipedia:Citing sources/Example edits for
different methods Footnotes.
Citation templates can be used to format
citations in a consistent way. The use of citation
templates is neither encouraged nor
discouraged: an article should not be switched
between templated and non-templated citations
without good reason and consensus
see Variation in citation methodsabove.
If citation templates are used in an article, the
parameters should be accurate. It is
inappropriate to set parameters to false values to
cause the template to render as if it were written
in some style other than the style normally
produced by the template (e.g., MLA style).
Metadata
Citations may be accompanied by metadata,
though it is not mandatory. Most citation
templates on Wikipedia use the COinS standard.
Metadata such as this allow browser plugins and
other automated software to make citation data
accessible to the user, for instance by providing
links to their library's online copies of the cited
works. In articles that format citations manually,
metadata may be added manually in a span,
according to the COinS specification.
Citation processing tools

User:Ark25/RefScript, a JavaScript
bookmarklet creates references in one
click, works for many newspapers
User:Badgettrg, Biomedical citation maker.
uses Pubmed ID (PMID) or DOI or PMCID or
NCT. Adds links to ACP Journal
Club and Evidence-Based
Medicine comments if present.
User:Citation bot (formerly DOI bot) a bot
that automatically fixes common errors in
individual citations and adds missing fields
User:Zhaofeng Li/Reflinks adds titles to
bare url references and other cleanup
Citation template generator generates
complete templates using identification
numbers such as PMIDs (PubMed IDs).
 Wikipedia template filling
generates Vancouver style citations from
PMIDs (PubMed IDs).
Wikipedia citation tool for Google Books
converts bare Google book links into {{cite
book}} format.
DOI Wikipedia reference generator
New York Times Wikipedia reference
generator
Yadkard: A web-based tool for
generating shortened footnotes and citation
using Google Books URLs, DOI or ISBN.
Also supports some news websites.
User:Salix alba/Citoid a client for
the mw:citoid server which
generates Citation Style 1templates from
urls.
Template:Ref info, which can aid evaluating
what kind of citation style was used to write
the article
Programming tools
See also: Help:Citation tools Tools

Wikicite is a free program that helps editors

to create citations for their Wikipedia
contributions using citation templates. It is
written in Visual Basic .NET, making it
suitable only for users with the .NET
Framework installed on Windows, or, for
other platforms, the Mono alternative
framework. Wikicite and its source code is
freely available; see the developer's page for
further details.
Wikicite+ is a program based on the
original Wikicite source code. It features
extra validation, bug fixes, additional cite
templates (such as cite episode) as well
as tools for stub sorting and more. It is
also available for free under the Apache
License 2.0 and is open source.
User:Richiez has tools to automatically
handle citations for a whole article at a time.
Converts occurrences of {{pmid XXXX}} or
{{isbn XXXX}} to properly formatted footnote
or Harvard-style references. Written
in Ruby and requires a working installation
with basic libraries.
pubmed2wikipedia.xsl an XSL stylesheet
transforming the XML output of PubMed to
Wikipedia refs.
RefTag by Apoc2400 creates a prefilled
{{cite book}} template with various options
from a Google Books URL. The page
provides a bookmarklet for single-click
transfer.
 wikiciter web interface, does Google Books,
pdf files, beta.
Citation export tools
You can insert a link beside each citation in
Wikipedia, allowing you to export the citation to a
reference manager such as EndNote. To install
the script just add the following line
to Special:MyPage/skin.js (applies to the
currently selected skin)
or Special:MyPage/common.js(applies to all
skins)"

importScript("User:Smith609/endnote.js
");

Then "Publish changes" and follow the

instructions at the top of that page to bypass
your browser's cache.
Reference management software
Reference management software can output
formatted citations in several styles,
including BibTeX, RIS, or Wikipedia citation
template styles.
Comparison of reference management software side-
by-side comparison of various reference management
software
Wikipedia:Citing sources with Zotero essay on
using Zotero to quickly add citations to articles. Zotero
(by Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media;
license: Affero GPL) is open-source software with local
reference database which can be synchronized between
several computers over the online database (up to 300
MB without payment).
EndNote (by Thomson Reuters; license: proprietary)
Mendeley (by Elsevier; license: proprietary)
Paperpile (by Paperpile, LLC; license: proprietary)
Papers (by Springer; license: proprietary)

See also
How to cite

Wikipedia:References dos and don'ts

a concise summary of some of the most
important guidance on this page
Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners a
simple practical guide to getting started
Wikipedia:Citation templates a full
listing of various styles for citing all sorts
of materials
Wikipedia:Verification methods listing
examples of the most common ways
 that citations are used in Wikipedia
articles
Wikipedia:Citing sources/Example edits
for different methods showing
comparative edit mode representations
for different citation methods and
techniques
Wikipedia:Citing sources/Further
considerations
Wikipedia:Inline citation
Wikipedia:External links for information
about the External links section
Wikipedia:Improving referencing efforts
Wikipedia:Layout Further reading for
information about the Further
reading section
Wikipedia:List of sources
Wikipedia:Nesting footnotes
Wikipedia:Scientific citation guidelines
guidelines for dealing with scientific and
mathematical articles
Wikipedia:Plagiarism Public-domain
sources guideline covering the
inclusion of material in the public domain
Wikipedia:How to mine a source essay
on getting maximum information from
cited material
Citation problems

Template:Refimprove template to add

to article (or section) where citations are
needed
Template:Text-source template to add
to article (or section) where textsource
integrity is questioned
Wikipedia:Citation needed explanation
of template to tag statements that need
a citation
Wikipedia:Link rot guide to
preventing link rot
Wikipedia:Copyright problems in case
of text that has been copied verbatim
inappropriately
Template:Irrelevant citation citation
does not say what it is claimed to say
Wikipedia:WikiProject Citation cleanup
a group of people devoted to cleaning
citations
Wikipedia:Citation overkill why too
many citations on one fact can be a bad
thing
Wikipedia:Bombardment an essay
regarding the overuse of citations
 Wikipedia:You don't need to cite that the
sky is blue an essay advising: do not
cite already obvious information
Wikipedia:You do need to cite that the
sky is blue an essay advising: just
because something appears obvious to
you does not mean it is obvious to
everyone
Wikipedia:Video links an essay
discussing the use of citations linking to
YouTube and other user-submitted
video sites
Wikipedia:Reference database
essay/proposal
Changing citation style formats

WP:CITEVAR

Notes
1. Jump up^ Words
like citation and reference are used
interchangeably on the English
Wikipedia. On talk pages where the
language can be more informal or in edit
summaries or templates where space is
a consideration, reference is often
abbreviated ref with the
plural refs. Footnote may refer
specifically to citations using ref tag
formatting or to explanatory
text; endnotes specifically refers to
citations placed at the end of the page.
See also: Wikipedia:Glossary.
2. Jump up^ See this July 2007
discussion for more detail on why
scrolling reference lists should not be
used.

Further reading
Concordia Libraries (Concordia
University). Citation and Style Guides.
New Oxford Style Manual. Oxford
University Press. ISBN 978-0198767251
The Writers' Workshop, Center for
Writing Studies. "Citation Styles
Handbook: APA", University of Illinois.
The Writers' Workshop, Center for
Writing Studies. "Citation Styles
Handbook: MLA", University of Illinois.
University of Chicago Press. (2003). The
Chicago Manual of Style, 16th
edition. ISBN 978-0226104201
A writer's practical guide to MLA
documentation
 AMA Citation Style
Chicago/Turabian Documentation
"Citation Guide Turabian" (PDF).
Guide to Citation Style Guides
Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts
Submitted to Biomedical Journals
American Chemical Society reference
style guidelines
Citation Machine
How to write citations

External links
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Citation
needed.

reFill, expand bare references with ease

Video tutorial on citing sources: Part
1, Part 2

[show]

e
Wikipedia key policies and guidelines

[hide]

e
Wikipedia referencing

Verifiability

Biographies of living persons

Identifying reliable sources

Policies and guidelines Medicine

Citing sources

Scientific citations

Citation needed
Find sources
General advice
Combining sources
Offline sources
 Referencing styles

Citation Style 1

Citation Style 2

Citation Style Vancouver

Citing sources LSA

Comics

Citation templates

Reflist template

Footnotes

Parenthetical referencing

Inline citations Punctuation and footnotes

Shortened footnotes

Nesting footnotes

Reference-tags

Citations quick reference

Introduction to referencing

Help for beginners Referencing with citation templates

Referencing without using templates

Referencing dos and don'ts

Citing Wikipedia

Cite link labels

Citation tools

Cite errors

Advanced help Cite messages

Converting between references formats

Reference display customization

References and page numbers

{{Edit refs}}

Template {{Refref}}

documentation {{Refref2}}

{{Refstart}}

[hide]

t
e
 Citation Style 1

{{Cite arXiv}}

arXiv preprints

{{Cite AV media}}

audio and visual

{{Cite AV media notes}}

audio and visual liner notes

{{cite bioRxiv}}

bioRxivpreprints

{{Cite book}}

books

{{Cite conference}}

General conference papers

templates {{Cite encyclopedia}}

edited collections

{{Cite episode}}

radio or television episodes

{{Cite interview}}

interviews

{{Cite journal}}

academic journals and papers

{{Cite magazine}}

magazines

{{Cite mailing list}}

public mailing lists

 {{Cite map}}
maps

{{Cite news}}

news articles

{{Cite newsgroup}}

online newsgroups

{{Cite podcast}}

audio or video podcast

{{Cite press release}}

press releases

{{Cite report}}

unpublished reports

{{Cite serial}}

audio or video serials

{{Cite sign}}

signs, plaques

{{Cite speech}}

speeches

{{Cite techreport}}
technical reports

{{Cite thesis}}

theses

{{Cite web}}

web sources

Categories Citation Style 1 templates

Documentation {{Citation Style documentation}}

 Citation Style 1 noticeboard
Categories:
Wikipedia content guidelines
Wikipedia style guidelines
Wikipedia citation administration
Wikipedia how-to
Wikipedia verifiability
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