Wikipedia:Inline citation/examples

This page contains examples of various types of inline citations. Variations on all of the examples included here exist throughout Wikipedia.

As of July 2009, Wikipedia's guideline on citation styles includes the following guidance:

All citation techniques require detailed full citations to be provided for each source used. Full citations must contain enough information for other editors to identify the specific published work you used. There are a number of styles used in different fields. They all include the same information but vary in punctuation and the order of the author's name, publication date, title, and page numbers. Any of these styles is acceptable on Wikipedia so long as articles are internally consistent. You should follow the style already established in an article, if it has one. Where there is disagreement, the style used by the first editor to use one should be respected. There are some specific examples of citations here.

Full citations in footnotes

Many articles use "<Ref> tags" to remove inline citations to an endmatter section. Citations which are referenced multiple times may be collapsed. The text is expanded in the document where a "<References />" tag or a {{reflist}} template appears. This citation style is sometimes termed "Shortened notes", and more information about it can be seen here, here and here.

wikitext

* This is some wikitext supported by a cite of a book written in 2000 by an author named Jones, with no page number specified.<ref>Jones, John (2000), My Life and Times, John Q. Bookbinder & Sons.</ref>
* This is some wikitext supported by a cite of pages 3-5 of a book written in 2000 by an author named Jones.<ref name=Jones2000pp3-5>Jones, John (2000), ''My Life and Times'', John Q. Bookbinder & Sons, pp. 3-5.</ref>
* This is text supported by a second reference to a citation declared elsewhere.<ref name=Jones2000pp3-5 />

== References ==
<References />

rendering

• This is some wikitext supported by a cite of a book written in 2000 by an author named Jones, with no page number specified.
• This is some wikitext supported by a cite of pages 3-5 of a book written in 2000 by an author named Jones.
• This is text supported by a second reference to a citation declared elsewhere.

References

Parenthetical style references in footnotes

Parenthetical-style references are often placed in footnotes. This example uses the {{Reflist}} template instead of the <References /> tag, and uses the {{refbegin}} along with {{refend}} templates to similarly format full citations placed after the numbered footnotes. This citation style is sometimes termed "Shortened notes", and more information about it can be seen here.

wikitext

* This is some wikitext supported by a cite of a book written in 2000 by an author named Adams, with no page number specified.<ref>Adams (2000)</ref>
* This is some wikitext supported by a cite of pages 3-5 of a book written in 2000 by an author named Adams.<ref name="Adams2000pp3-5">Adams (2000:3-5)</ref>
* This is text supported by a second reference to a citation declared elsewhere.<ref name="Adams000pp3-5" />

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* Adams, John (2000), ''My Life and Times'', John Q. Bookbinder & Sons.
{{refend}}

rendering

• This is some wikitext supported by a cite of a book written in 2000 by an author named Adams, with no page number specified.
• This is some wikitext supported by a cite of pages 3-5 of a book written in 2000 by an author named Adams.
• This is text supported by a second reference to a citation declared elsewhere.

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Adams, John (2000), My Life and Times, John Q. Bookbinder & Sons.

Harvnb and Citation templates

Sources / Citations / References templates are sometimes used to help automate citations. Examples are the {{Harvnb}} and {{Citation}} templates, which can work with one another to provide internal links between author-date citations and the related full citations (navigation forward is by clicking a link; navigation back is via the browser's "Back" button).

This example places the footnotes in an endmatter section named Notes, and places the full citations into a section named References.

wikitext

* This is some wikitext supported by a cite of a book written in 2000 by an author named Marsh, with no page number specified.<ref>{{Harvnb|Marsh|2000}}</ref>
* This is some wikitext supported by a cite of pages 3-5 of a book written in 2000 by an author named Marsh.<ref name="Marsh2000pp3-5">{{Harvnb|Marsh|2000|pp=3-5}}</ref>
* This is text supported by a second reference to a citation declared elsewhere.<ref name="Marsh2000pp3-5" />

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}
<nowiki>
=== Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Citation
|last = Marsh
|first = John
|title = My Life and Times
|year = 2000
|publisher = John Q. Bookbinder & Sons.
}}
{{refend}}
</nowiki>

rendering

• This is some wikitext supported by a cite of a book written in 2000 by an author named Marsh, with no page number specified.
• This is some wikitext supported by a cite of pages 3-5 of a book written in 2000 by an author named Marsh.
• This is text supported by a second reference to a citation declared elsewhere.

References

Citations

 Bibliography

• Marsh, John (2000), My Life and Times, John Q. Bookbinder & Sons.

See also

• Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners – a simple yet versatile guide for beginners
• Wikipedia:Citing sources/example style
• Template:Reflist-talk – for use on talk pages
• Wikipedia:Footnotes