Help:Footnotes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- See also Wikipedia:Footnotes for further details on this method, specific to Wikipedia
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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.
[edit] Inserting references or footnotes
[edit] Single citation of a reference or footnote
At the point of citation in the article, enter the footnote or reference like this:
<ref>Excel For Dummies, First Edition, Hungry Minds, Inc., 1980.</ref>
You can include formatting and links in the footnote or reference in the usual way.
[edit] Creating the list of References or Footnotes
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 template {{reflist}} is an alternative, mostly used if there are many footnotes.
[edit] 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"/>
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 reference needed.
[edit] 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:
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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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] See also
- Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners - a step by step guide
- Wikipedia:Citing sources
- 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
