Help:Footnotes
|
This page explains how to create numbered footnotes and references using <ref>
,</ref>
, and <references/>
syntax, which is the current best-practice method in most circumstances.
For the policy about the need and choice of sources to cite see Wikipedia:Verifiability, and Wikipedia:Citing sources.
Inserting references or footnotes
Single citation of a reference or footnote
At the point of citation in the main text, enter the reference or footnote like this:
<ref>Excel For Dummies, First Edition, Hungry Minds, Inc., 1980.</ref>
You can include formatting and links in the footnote or reference text in the usual way.
Multiple citations of the same reference or footnote
To cite the same reference or footnote several times, identify it using the name
parameter of the <ref>
tag.
At one of the citation points (it makes sense to choose the first), enter the reference like this:
<ref name="Perry">Perry's Handbook, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill Co., 1984.</ref>
Then, at all the other citation points just enter:
<ref name="Perry"/>
Using templates to insert reference text
A number of templates, such as a generic {{citation}}, or more specific {{cite book}}, {{cite web}}, etc., are available to format the text between <ref>
and </ref>
tags in a more structured way. These are described at Wikipedia:Citation templates. Their use is optional: they do aid with consistent formatting, but on the other hand they can make editing more cumbersome.
Producing the reference or footnote list
At the point where you want the text of the footnotes or references to appear (usually at the end of the article in a "Notes" or "References" section), insert the tag:
<references/>
The temmplate {{reflist}} is an alternative, mostly if there are many footnotes.
References or footnotes missing
When you want to note that a reference is needed, use the template {{fact}} within the text, in the same place where the <ref>
should be.
If many footnotes and/or references are needed consider tagging the article with a specific template, instead of tagging every referenced needed.
What it looks like
The <ref>
tags in the main text are converted to auto-numbered superscripts, and {{fact}} is expanded to "citation needed", like this:
The only reference to Excel For Dummies.[1] The first reference to Perry's Handbook.[2] The second reference to Perry's Handbook and to another, related book.[2][3] A statement that requires a reference.[citation needed] The only reference to Linux in a Nutshell.[4] And third reference to Perry's Handbook.[2] |
Clicking on a numbered superscript takes you straight to the text of the corresponding footnote or reference.
The <references/>
tag is expanded to show the text of the footnotes or references against their corresponding numbers, like this:
For single citations, clicking on the caret (^) takes you to the point of citation in the main text. For multiple citations, the links back to the main text are distinguished by letter superscripts (a, b, c etc.). Clicking on a letter superscript takes you to the corresponding citation in the main text.
Technical note
A MediaWiki site (such as Wikipedia) must have the extension Cite/Cite.php
implemented to have the <ref>
and <references/>
tags rendered. Extensions like Cite/Cite.php
are installed after installing MediaWiki.
See also
- Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners - a step by step guide
- Wikipedia:Footnotes - Further details on this method, specific to Wikipedia
- Wikipedia:Embedded citations
- m:help:footnotes - General MediaWiki footnotes documentation
- Wikipedia:Footnote3 - An older method, obsolete except for Harvard references
- mw:Extension:Cite/Cite.php - technical details about cite.php technology