es" 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}} template

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.

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e, 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 footnote

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 text–source 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

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cite 3 Inline citations 3.1 Footnotes

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.

Wikipedia guidelines
Guidelines list Policies list
Behavioral guidelines
Assume good faith Conflict of interest Courtesy vanishing Disruptive editing Don't bite the newbies Don't edit to make a point Etiquette Don't game the system User pages Other behavioral guidelines WMF friendly space policy
Discussion guidelines
Talk page guidelines Signatures
Content guidelines
Citing sources Identifying reliable sources medicine Fringe theories Non-free content Offensive material Don't copy long texts Don't create hoaxes Patent nonsense External links Other content guidelines
Editing guidelines
Article size Be bold Edit summary Shortcuts Understandability Other editing guidelines
Organization guidelines
Categories, lists, templates Categorization Disambiguation Subpages
Style guidelines
Manual of Style contents lists tables
Deletion guidelines
Deletion process Speedy keep Deletion guidelines for administrators
Other guideline categories
Naming conventions Notability
v t e
Contents  [hide]
1 Types of citation
2 When and why to cite sources
2.1 Multimedia
2.2 When not to cite
3 Inline citations
3.1 Footnotes
3.1.1 How to create the list of citations
3.1.2 How to place an inline citation using ref tags
3.1.3 Repeated citations
3.1.4 Separating citations from explanatory footnotes
3.1.5 Avoiding clutter
3.1.6 Citing multiple pages of the same source
3.1.7 Duplicate citations
3.1.8 Short citations
3.2 Parenthetical referencing
4 What information to include
4.1 Examples
4.1.1 Books
4.1.2 Journal articles
4.1.3 Newspaper articles
4.1.4 Web pages
4.1.5 Sound recordings
4.1.6 Film, television, or video recordings
4.1.7 Other
4.2 Identifying parts of a source
4.2.1 Books and print articles
4.2.2 Audio and video sources
4.3 Links and ID numbers
4.3.1 Linking to Google Books pages
4.3.2 Linking to PDF files
4.4 Say where you read it
4.5 Dates and reprints of older publications
4.6 Seasonal publication dates and differing calendar systems
4.7 Additional annotation
5 Citation style
5.1 Variation in citation methods
5.1.1 To be avoided
5.1.2 Generally considered helpful
6 Handling links in citations
6.1 Avoid embedded links
6.2 Convenience links
6.3 Indicating availability
6.4 Links to sources
6.5 Preventing and repairing dead links
7 Text–source integrity
8 Bundling citations
9 In-text attribution
10 General references
11 Dealing with unsourced material
12 Citation templates and tools
12.1 Metadata
12.2 Citation processing tools
12.3 Programming tools
12.4 Citation export tools
12.5 Reference management software
13 See also
14 Notes
15 Further reading
16 External links

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