Explanatory notes
Explanatory or content notes are used to add explanations, comments, or other additional information relating to the main content. One of the reasons they may be used is to avoid making the text too long or awkward to read. Such notes may include supporting references.
Explanatory notes can be combined with shortened footnotes or can contain nested shortened footnotes. Nesting footnotes is typically done with the {{efn}} or {{refn}} templates. Because of a technical limitation, some standard Wikipedia markup elements often used in the article prose will not work within a set of <ref>...</ref>
tags, including a second "nested" set of <ref>...</ref>
tags. For example, <ref>Explanatory footnote<ref>Brown 2001</ref></ref>
will not work as expected. It generates, "Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). </ref>" The {{efn}} and {{refn}} templates are written to allow nesting. The same example written with templates, {{efn|Explanatory footnote{{sfn|Brown|2001}} }}
generates the nested footnotes at the end of this sentence.[a]
There are several methods to combine shortened footnotes and explanatory notes:
Nested footnotes
The methods in this section can nest footnotes because the explanatory notes use templates designed to support nesting.
Using {{efn}}
This method uses {{sfn}} to create the main footnotes, {{efn}} to create the explanatory notes, {{sfn}} to create footnotes in the explanatory notes and {{notelist}} to create the notes list.
Markup | Renders as |
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The Sun is pretty big.{{sfn|Muller|2005|p=23}}{{efn|But Muller points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars.{{sfn|Muller|2005|p=23}}}} But the Moon{{efn|The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena.{{sfn|Braun|2001|p=63}}}} is not so big.{{sfn|Braun|2001|p=46}}{{efn|Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large.}} The Sun is also quite hot.{{sfn|Schmidt|2005|p=334}} ==Notes== {{notelist}} ==Citations== {{reflist}} ==References== {{refbegin}} * {{citation |last=Braun |title=The Moon |publisher=Penguin |year=2001}} * {{citation |last=Muller |title=The Sun |publisher=Oxford |year=2005}} * {{citation |last=Schmidt |title=The Universe |publisher=Random House |year=2005}} {{refend}} |
The Sun is pretty big.[2][a] But the Moon[b] is not so big.[4][c] The Sun is also quite hot.[5]
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Using {{refn}}
This method uses {{sfn}} to create the main footnotes, {{refn}} to create the explanatory notes and {{sfn}} to create footnotes in the explanatory notes.
Markup | Renders as |
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The Sun is pretty big.{{sfn|Millerd|2005|p=23}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|But Millerd points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars.{{sfn|Millerd|2005|p=23}}}} But the Moon{{refn|group=lower-alpha|The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena.{{sfn|Browne|2001|p=63}}}} is not so big.{{sfn|Browne|2001|p=46}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large.}} The Sun is also quite hot.{{sfn|Smithe|2005|p=334}} ==Notes== {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} ==Citations== {{reflist}} ==References== {{refbegin}} * {{citation |last=Browne |title=The Moon |publisher=Penguin |year=2001}} * {{citation |last=Millerd |title=The Sun |publisher=Oxford |year=2005}} * {{citation |last=Smithe |title=The Universe |publisher=Random House |year=2005}} {{refend}} |
The Sun is pretty big.[1][a] But the Moon[b] is not so big.[3][c] The Sun is also quite hot.[4]
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Combined footnotes
Explanatory notes containing shortened citations
This example creates a separate notes section using the {{sfn}} and {{efn}} templates. Because the explanatory footnotes do not contain footnote references, there are no technical hurdles.
Markup | Renders as |
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The Sun is pretty big.{{sfn|Miller|2005|p=23}}{{efn|But Miller points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars.}} But the Moon{{efn|The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena – see, for example Jones, ''The Solar System'', MacMillan, 2005, p. 623.}} is not so big.{{sfn|Brown|2001|p=46}}{{efn|Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large, see, for example, Peterson, ''Astronomy'', MacMillan, 2005, p. 623.}} The Sun is also quite hot.{{sfn|Smith|2005|p=334}} ==Notes== {{notelist}} ==Citations== {{reflist}} ==References== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Brown |title=The Moon |publisher=Penguin |date=2001}} * {{cite book |last=Miller |title=The Sun |publisher=Oxford |date=2005}} * {{cite book |last=Smith |title=The Universe |publisher=Random House |date=2005}} {{refend}} |
The Sun is pretty big.[1][a] But the Moon[b] is not so big.[2][c] The Sun is also quite hot.[3]
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When the explanatory notes and shortened footnotes are separate and not nested, they can still be created using standard reference tags. This example creates a separate notes section by using <ref>
and <ref group=>
.
Markup | Renders as |
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The Sun is pretty big.<ref name=Foot01/><ref group=Note name=Note01/> But the Moon<ref group=Note name=Note02/> is not so big.<ref name=Foot02/><ref group=Note name=Note03/> The Sun is also quite hot.<ref name=Foot03/> ==Notes== {{reflist|group=Note|refs= <ref name=Note01>But Miller points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars.</ref> <ref name=Note02>The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena – see, for example Jones, ''The Solar System'', MacMillan, 2005, p. 623.</ref> <ref name=Note03>Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large, see, for example, Peterson, ''Astronomy'', MacMillan, 2005, p. 623.</ref> }} ==Citations== {{reflist|refs= <ref name=Foot01>Miller, p. 23</ref> <ref name=Foot02>Brown, p. 46</ref> <ref name=Foot03>Smith, p. 334</ref> }} ==References== {{refbegin}} * Brown, ''The Moon'', Penguin. 2001. * Miller, ''The Sun'', Oxford, 2005. * Smith, ''The Universe'', Random House, 2005. {{refend}} |
The Sun is pretty big.[1][Note 1] But the Moon[Note 2] is not so big.[2][Note 3] The Sun is also quite hot.[3]
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The example below uses only basic wikitext syntax and single list of footnotes. Because the explanatory footnotes do not contain footnote references, there are no technical hurdles.
Markup | Renders as |
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The Sun is pretty big.<ref>Miller, p. 23. But Miller points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars.</ref> But the Moon<ref>The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena - see, for example Jones, ''The Solar System'', MacMillan, 2005, p 623.</ref> is not so big.<ref>Brown, p. 46. Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large, see, for example Peterson, ''Astronomy'', MacMillan, 2005, p 623.</ref> The Sun is also quite hot. <ref>Smith, p. 334.</ref> ==Notes== <references /> ==References== * Brown, ''The Moon'', Penguin. 2001. * Miller, ''The Sun'', Oxford, 2005. * Smith, ''The Universe'', Random House, 2005. |
The Sun is pretty big.[1] But the Moon[2] is not so big.[3] The Sun is also quite hot. [4]
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Explanatory notes containing parenthetical citations
This method uses {{sfn}} to create the main footnotes, {{efn}} to create the explanatory notes and {{harv}} to create the parenthentical references in the explanatory notes. The use of inline parenthetical referencing has been deprecated for an article's body text.
Markup | Renders as |
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The Sun is pretty big.{{sfn|Mahler|2005|p=23}}{{efn|But Mahler points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars {{harv|Mahler|2005|p=23}}.}} But the Moon{{efn|The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena {{harv|Brauner|2001|p=63}}.}} is not so big.{{sfn|Brauner|2001|p=46}}{{efn|Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large.}} The Sun is also quite hot.{{sfn|Ferrero|2005|p=334}} ==Notes== {{notelist}} ==Citations== {{reflist}} ==References== {{refbegin}} * {{citation |last=Brauner |title=The Moon |publisher=Penguin |year=2001}} * {{citation |last=Mahler |title=The Sun |publisher=Oxford |year=2005}} * {{citation |last=Ferrero |title=The Universe |publisher=Random House |year=2005}} {{refend}} |
The Sun is pretty big.[1][a] But the Moon[b] is not so big.[2][c] The Sun is also quite hot.[3]
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List-defined explanatory notes containing citations
This method uses {{sfn}} to create the main footnotes, {{efn}} to create list-defined explanatory notes using {{notelist}} in the "Notes" appendix, and {{harv}} to create links nested within the explanatory notes:
Markup | Renders as |
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The Sun is pretty big.{{sfn|Mailer|2005|p=23}}{{efn|name="sun size"}} But the Moon{{efn|name="Selena"}} is not so big.{{sfn|Brawn|2001|p=46}}{{efn|name="moon size"}} The Sun is also quite hot.{{sfn|Smythe|2005|p=334}} ===Notes=== {{notelist |refs= {{efn|name="sun size"|But Mailer points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars. {{harv|Mailer|2005|p=23}}}} {{efn|name="Selena"|The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena. {{harv|Brawn|2001|p=63}}}} {{efn|name="moon size"|Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large.}} }} {{notelist}} ===Citations=== {{reflist}} ===References=== {{refbegin}} * {{citation |last=Brawn |title=The Moon |publisher=Penguin |year=2001}} * {{citation |last=Mailer |title=The Sun |publisher=Oxford |year=2005}} * {{citation |last=Smythe |title=The Universe |publisher=Random House |year=2005}} {{refend}} |
The Sun is pretty big.[1][a] But the Moon[b] is not so big.[2][c] The Sun is also quite hot.[3]
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