Template:Citation

 

Template documentation

Template:For2 The Citation template generates a citation for a book, periodical, contribution in a collective work, patent, or a web page. It determines the citation type by examining which parameters are used.

If invoked with the right parameters, this template produces output identical to that of the Cite templates, such as {{Cite book}} and {{Cite web}}. The default behavior sometimes differs from that of the Cite templates; for example, this template by default generates anchors for Harvard references whereas the Cite templates do not (although they can be made to do so), and this template by default uses commas to separate some fields that the Cite templates separate with periods (full stops).

The template should be inserted after punctuation, such as a period or comma.

All parameter names are lowercase.

Simple citation

This template gives the most commonly used attributes. You can copy the horizontal form or vertical form below and then add in extra attributes from the full list. Spacing and ordering is irrelevant.

{{Citation | last = | first = | year = | title = | publisher = | publication-place = | page = | url = | accessdate = }}

{{Citation | last = | first = | year = | title = | publisher = | publication-place = | page = | url = | accessdate = }}

• last: The author's surname or last name. Don't use with author.
• first: The author's first or given name(s).
• year: Year of authorship or publication. Mandatory for use with links from Template:Harvard citation, unless |date= specifies both month and year.
• title: Title of the work. Mandatory for web references.
• publisher: The name of the publisher. Omit terms such as Publishers, Co., Inc., Ltd., etc., but retain the words Books or Press.
  • publication-place (or place): The city of publication. If more than one town/city is listed on the title page, give the first one or the location of the publisher's head office.
• page: For use when one page is cited. Adds "p." before the page number. Do not use with pages.
• url: An url of an online location where the item can be found. If the url includes double quotes, these must be encoded as "%22".
  • accessdate: Date when the url was accessed.

Example

{{Citation | last = Turner | first = Orsamus | title = History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve | publisher = William Alling | place = Rochester, New York | year = 1851 | id = {{OL|7120924W}} }}

Turner, Orsamus (1851), History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve, Rochester, New York: William Alling, Template:OL

Full citation parameters

These can be used for all types of publication except patents. All are optional and indentation is used simply to group related items — these may be mutually exclusive where indicated. Some hyphenated names can also be placed without hyphens.

{{Citation | author = | last = | first = | author2 = | last2 = | first2 = | author-link = | author2-link = | author-separator = | author-name-separator = | author-mask = | display-authors = | coauthors = | editor = | editor-last = | editor-first = | editor2 = | editor2-last = | editor2-first = | editor-link = | editor2-link = | others = | publication-date = | year = | month = | origyear = | title = | chapter = | chapter-url = | contribution = | contribution-url = | type = | journal = | periodical = | newspaper = | magazine = | work = | edition = | series = | volume = | issue = | publisher = | publication-place = | place = | language = | page = | pages = | nopp = | at = | id = | isbn = | issn = | oclc = | pmid = | pmc = | bibcode = | doi = | doi-inactive = | url = | accessdate = | format = | archiveurl = | archivedate = | quote = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = | separator = | postscript = | ref = }}

• author (or author1): The author's name. It is preferable to use the last/first attributes below for single or multiple authors.
  • last (or last1): The author's surname or last name.
  • first (or first1): The author's first or given name(s).
  • author2, last2, first2, up to author9 etc.: can be used for multiple authors– up to 8 will be shown before et al. is displayed
  • author-link: Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the first author (author2-link etc can also be used).
  • author-separator: override the default semi-colon that separates authors.
  • author-name-separator: override the default comma that separates authors' last and first names.
  • author-mask: See #Additional parameters, below.
  • display-authors: Truncate the list of authors at an arbitrary point with "et al". You should still include the first 9 authors to allow metadata to be generated. n.b. operates only when the authors are given using either several |authorn=, or several |lastn=|firstn= pairs; does not affect the display of a list in either |authors= or |coauthors=.
  • lastauthoramp: If supplied, whether or not assigned a value, places an ampersand (&) before the last name of final author, if more than one author is supplied. Recommended usage is lastauthoramp = yes.
  • coauthors: Names of additional author(s) can be given but author2 or last2, first2 is preferred.
• editor: Name of editor, placed after date with ,ed. Not required for periodicals.
  • editor-link: link to article about the editor
• others: Any other associated people, e.g., foreword, placed after editor.
• publication-date (or date): Date of publication.
  • date: Date of authorship, if different from date of publication. If only date is used, it will be treated as the date of publication.
  • year: Year of authorship or publication. (Mandatory for use with links from Template:Harvard citation. In some situations, the template may be able to derive a year from the full date.)
    • month: Month of publication (ignored if the date field is used).
  • origyear: Year of first publication, if different.
• title: Title of the book or article in a periodical. If the title includes [square brackets], these must be encoded as "[" for "[" and "]" for "]"
• chapter or contribution: title of the chapter or part of a publication will be put in quotes.
  • chapter-url or contribution-url: use to add a link to the chapter or contribution title.
• type: An optional field which can be used to provide additional information about a publication type. The content appears in parentheses following the title. If the publication is a thesis or dissertation, the type might be specified as type = PhD thesis, If the publication is an audiobook on compact disk, the type might be specified as type = CD.
  • journal or periodical or newspaper or magazine or work: Name of the journal or periodical.
• edition: Number or name of the edition, if not the first; for example: edition = 2nd.
  • series: The book series of which this book is a part.
  • volume: The volume number of a multi-volume book.
  • issue: Issue number of a periodical.
• publisher: The name of the publisher. Omit terms such as Publishers, Co., Inc., Ltd., etc., but retain the words Books or Press. Not needed if ISSN or DOI used.
  • publication-place (or place): The city of publication. If more than one town/city is listed on the title page, give the first one or the location of the publisher's head office. If the city is not well-known, you may add a county, region, or state. States in the U.S. are denoted by a two-letter code; for example: place = Paris, TX (no period at the end). Where the publisher is a university and the place or location is included in the name of the university, do not use this parameter.
    • place or location: City in which the work was made, if different from the city of publication. If only place is used, it will be treated as the city of publication.
• language: If not English. e.g., Finnish.
• page: For use when one page is cited. Adds "p." before the page number. Do not use with pages.
  • pages: For use when multiple pages are cited. Adds "pp." before the page numbers. Do not use with page.
  • nopp: if set to any value, page = /pages = do not generate 'p.' or 'pp.'. E.g. nopp = true. Using at = has the same effect.
  • at: Position within the resource when |page=/|pages= is inappropriate or insufficient. This parameter is ignored if |page=/|pages= is specified. Examples of usage of |at=: |at=para. 14 (when citing a source without page numbers), |at=02:56 (a film or audio timestamp), |at=no. 456 (something in a numbered list), |at=p. 6, col. 2 (for a page and a column because "column" is not a Citation template parameter), or |at=sec. F pp. 4–6 (for a section and a page within the section, "section" not being a parameter).

• separator: specifies the punctuation mark used to separate certain fields. This defaults to a comma; the Citation Style 1 family of templates uses a period.
• laysummary: url of a lay summary of a technical article, which could be in a popular science magazine or newspaper.
  • laysource: Name of the source, e.g., The Guardian (UK newspaper) or New Scientist.
  • laydate: The date of publication or, where this is not available, date of retrieval of the lay summary.
• postscript: Set terminal punctuation. Omit or leave blank to remove the trailing full stop. Punctuation specified by this parameter will appear within the cite span, and consequently before any icons added by metadata-using software, e.g., library browser plugins. Hence this parameter should be used instead of manually appending data to the citation. This parameter is ignored if |quote= is specified, when |postscript=. is forced.
• ref: An explicit ID for Harvard references; see Anchors for Harvard references

Examples

Books

Three authors, a volume, and an edition. Ampersand (&) forced before final author's name.

{{Citation | last1 = Lincoln | first1 = A. | last2 = Washington | first2 = G. | last3 = Adams | first3 = J. | lastauthoramp = yes | title = All the Presidents' Names | publisher = The Pentagon | place = Home Base, New York | volume = XII | edition = 2nd | year = 2007 }}

Lincoln, A.; Washington, G. & Adams, J. (2007), All the Presidents' Names, XII (2nd ed.), Home Base, New York: The Pentagon

Web

Web page	{{Citation | url = http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov | title = NPS Focus | work = National Register of Historic Places | publisher = [[National Park Service]] | accessdate = November 30, 2010 }}	"NPS Focus", National Register of Historic Places (National Park Service), http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov, retrieved November 30, 2010
Archived page	{{Citation | url = http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/ academy/space/atmosphere.html | title = Earth's Atmosphere | accessdate = October 25, 2007 | publisher = [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] | year = 1995 | author = NASA | archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20071013232332/ http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/space/atmosphere.html | archivedate = October 13, 2007 }}	NASA (1995), Earth's Atmosphere, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, archived from the original on October 13, 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20071013232332/http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/space/atmosphere.html, retrieved October 25, 2007

Journals, newspapers, magazines, or other periodicals

Journal article	{{Citation | last = Hill | first = Marvin S. | title = Joseph Smith and the 1826 Trial: New Evidence and New Difficulties | journal = BYU Studies | volume = 12 | issue = 2 | year = 1976 | pages = 1–8 | url = https://byustudies.byu.edu/ shop/PDFSRC/12.2Hill.pdf }}	Hill, Marvin S. (1976), "Joseph Smith and the 1826 Trial: New Evidence and New Difficulties", BYU Studies 12 (2): 1–8, https://byustudies.byu.edu/shop/PDFSRC/12.2Hill.pdf
Journal article with multiple authors and identifier	{{Citation | last1 = Mandelkern | first1 = M, | last2 = Elias | first2 = J, | last3 = Eden | first3 = D, | last4 = Crothers | first4 = D | display-authors = 2 | title = The dimensions of DNA in solution | journal = J Mol Biol | volume = 152 | issue = 1 | pages = 153–61 | year = 1981 | pmid = 7338906 | doi = 10.1016/0022-2836(81)90099-1 }}	Mandelkern, M,; Elias, J, et al. (1981), "The dimensions of DNA in solution", J Mol Biol 152 (1): 153–61, doi:10.1016/0022-2836(81)90099-1, PMID 7338906
Newspaper article	{{Citation | last = Smith | first = Joseph III | author-link = Joseph Smith III | title = Last Testimony of Sister Emma | newspaper = The Saints' Herald | publication-place = Plano, IL | volume = 26 | issue = 19 | date = October 1, 1879 | year = 1879 | month = October | page = 289 | url = http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/ dbroadhu/IL/sain1872.htm#100179 }}	Smith, Joseph III (October 1, 1879), "Last Testimony of Sister Emma", The Saints' Herald (Plano, IL) 26 (19): 289, http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/IL/sain1872.htm#100179
Conference paper	{{Citation | last = Sullivan | first = D.B. | contribution = Time and frequency measurement at NIST: The first 100 years | year = 2001 | title = 2001 IEEE Int'l Frequency Control Symp. | publisher = National Institute of Standards and Technology | url = http://tf.nist.gov/timefreq/ general/pdf/1485.pdf | format = PDF }}	Sullivan, D.B. (2001), "Time and frequency measurement at NIST: The first 100 years" (PDF), 2001 IEEE Int'l Frequency Control Symp., National Institute of Standards and Technology, http://tf.nist.gov/timefreq/general/pdf/1485.pdf

Parts of books, including encyclopedia articles

Manuscript published in an edited compilation	{{Citation | last = Bidamon | first = Emma Smith | author-link = Emma Hale Smith | chapter = Letter to Emma S. Pilgrim | date = March 27, 1876 | year = 1876 | editor-last = Vogel | editor-first = Dan | title = Early Mormon Documents | volume = 1 | publisher = Signature Books | publication-date = 1996 | isbn = 1–56085–072–8 }}	Bidamon, Emma Smith (March 27, 1876), "Letter to Emma S. Pilgrim", in Vogel, Dan, Early Mormon Documents, 1, Signature Books, 1996, ISBN 1–56085–072–8
Work with an editor but no author	{{Citation | editor-last = Vogel | editor-first = Dan | title = Early Mormon Documents | volume = 1 | publisher = Signature Books | publication-date = 1996 | isbn = 1–56085–072–8 }}	Vogel, Dan, ed. (1996), Early Mormon Documents, 1, Signature Books, ISBN 1–56085–072–8
Encyclopedia article by a named author	{{Citation | last = Kramer | first = Martin | author-link = Martin Kramer | contribution = Bernard Lewis | editor-last = Boyd | editor-first = Kelley | title = Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing | volume = 1 | pages = 719–720 | publisher = Fitzroy Dearborn | place = London | publication-date = 1999 | contribution-url = http:// www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/ BernardLewis.htm }}	Kramer, Martin (1999), "Bernard Lewis", in Boyd, Kelley, Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing, 1, London: Fitzroy Dearborn, pp. 719–720, http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/BernardLewis.htm
Encyclopedia article with no named author	{{Citation | contribution = Bernard Lewis | editor-last = Boyd | editor-first = Kelley | title = Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing | volume = 1 | pages = 719–720 | publisher = Fitzroy Dearborn | place = London | year = 1999 | contribution-url = http:// www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/ BernardLewis.htm }}	Boyd, Kelley, ed. (1999), "Bernard Lewis", Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing, 1, London: Fitzroy Dearborn, pp. 719–720, http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/BernardLewis.htm

Republications, or edited quotations in a periodical article

Manuscript edited and published in a journal	{{Citation | last = Knight | first = Joseph, Sr. | year = 1833 | editor-last = Jessee | editor-first = Dean | title = Joseph Knight's Recollection of Early Mormon History | journal = BYU Studies | volume = 17 | issue = 1 | publication-date = 1976 | pages = 35 | url = https://byustudies.byu.edu/ shop/PDFSRC/17.1Jessee.pdf }}	Knight, Joseph, Sr. (1833), Jessee, Dean, ed., "Joseph Knight's Recollection of Early Mormon History", BYU Studies 17 (1): 35, 1976, https://byustudies.byu.edu/shop/PDFSRC/17.1Jessee.pdf
Manuscript written at one date and place, then published in a periodical at a different date and place with commentary by the editor.	{{Citation | last = Klingensmith | first = Philip | contribution = Affidavit | year = 1872 | date = September 5, 1872 | place = Lincoln County, Nevada | title = Mountain Meadows Massacre | editor-last = Toohy | editor-first = Dennis J. | journal = Corinne Daily Reporter | publication-date = September 24, 1872 | publication-place = Corinne, Utah | volume = 5 | issue = 252 | pages = 1 | contribution-url = http:// udn.lib.utah.edu/u?/corinne,5359 }}	Klingensmith, Philip (September 5, 1872), Affidavit, written at Lincoln County, Nevada, in Toohy, Dennis J., "Mountain Meadows Massacre", Corinne Daily Reporter (Corinne, Utah) 5 (252): 1, September 24, 1872, http://udn.lib.utah.edu/u?/corinne,5359

Press release

Press release with quotation

{{Cite press release | url = http://www.apple.com/pr/ library/2010/04/05ipad.html | title = Apple Sells Over 300,000 iPads First Day | publisher = Apple Inc | accessdate = April 10, 2010 | quote = in the US as of midnight Saturday, April 3}}

"Apple Sells Over 300,000 iPads First Day" (Press release). Apple Inc. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/04/05ipad.html. Retrieved April 10, 2010. "in the US as of midnight Saturday, April 3"

Citing patents

Parameters (all are optional)

{{Citation | inventor-last = | inventor-first = | inventorlink = | inventor2-last = | inventor2-first = | inventorlink2 = | publication-date = | issue-date = | title = | country-code = | description = | patent-number = }}

inventor-last (or inventor1-last): The inventor's surname or last name. inventor-first (or inventor1-first): The inventor's first or given name(s). inventorlink (or inventorlink1): Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the first inventor. inventor2-last, inventor3-last, inventor4-last: The second, third, and fourth authors' surname or last name, if applicable. inventor2-first, inventor3-first, inventor4-first: The second, third, and fourth inventors' first or given name(s), if applicable. inventorlink2, inventorlink3, inventorlink4: Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the second, third, and fourth inventor, if applicable. publication-date: Date of publication or filing. issue-date (or date): Date patent was issued by patent agency. title: Title of the patent. If the title includes [square brackets], these must be encoded as "[" for "[" and "]" for "]" country-code: Two-letter abbreviation of the country issuing the patent. description: Type of patent; shown between country code and number. patent-number: The number of the patent.

Examples

United States patent with multiple inventors

{{Citation | inventor1-last = Degermark | inventor1-first = Mikael | inventor2-last = Brodnik | inventor2-first = Andrej | inventor3-last = Carlsson | inventor3-first = Svante | inventor4-last = Pink | inventor4-first = Stephen | title = Fast routing lookup system using complete prefix tree, bit vector, and pointers in a routing table for determining where to route IP datagrams | issue-date = 2001 | patent-number = 6266706 | country-code = US}}

Template:Citation/patent

Anchored citations

This template can generate a citation that can be combined with shortened footnotes or parenthetical referencing. It does this by creating an HTML anchor containing an ID. The special parameter |ref=harv generates an ID suitable for Harvard referencing templates such as {{harv}} as specified in the next section; this is the default for the {{citation}} template. If an empty |ref= is given, no anchor is generated; this is the default for the Cite templates such as {{cite book}} and {{cite news}}. You can also specify the ID directly, using the |ref=ID parameter. For example, suppose an article's References section contains the markup:

• {{Citation | author = Sigmund Freud | title=Civilization and Its Discontents | year = 1930 | ref = CivDis}}

which generates the citation:

• Sigmund Freud (1930), Civilization and Its Discontents 

Then, the markup "([[#CivDis|Freud 1930]])" generates a parenthetical reference "(Freud 1930)" containing a wikilink to the citation (try clicking on the wikilink).

Anchors for Harvard referencing templates

IDs compatible with Harvard referencing templates such as {{harv}} are computed from the last names of the authors and the year of the cited source. For example, the markup "{{harv|Wright|Evans|1851|p = ix}}" generates the Harvard reference "Template:Harv", which wikilinks to the citation whose markup and appearance are shown below:

• {{Citation | last1 = Wright | first1 = Thomas | last2 = Evans | first2 = R.H. | title = Historical and Descriptive Account of the Caricatures of James Gillray | location = London | publisher = Henry G. Bohn | year = 1851 | oclc = 59510372 }}
• Wright, Thomas; Evans, R.H. (1851), Historical and Descriptive Account of the Caricatures of James Gillray, London: Henry G. Bohn, OCLC 59510372 

In this example the {{citation}} template defines, and the {{harv}} template uses, the HTML ID "CITEREFWrightEvans1851", composed by concatenating the string "CITEREF" with the last names of the authors and the year. The {{harvid}} template can be used to generate such IDs, for example, {{harvid|Wright|Evans|1851}} generates "Template:Harvid".

Related methods which leave only a number in the text are to use the {{harvnb}} template enclosed in the <ref></ref> html code, or to use the {{sfn}} template alone. The example above would be <ref>{{harvnb|Wright|Evans|1851|p = ix}}</ref> or {{sfn|Wright|Evans|1851|p = ix}} both of which generate a footnote, such as

17. (Wright & Evans 1851, p. ix)

The names of only the first four authors are used; other author names are not concatenated to the ID. If no author names are given, editor names are used instead. For patents, inventor names are used instead of authors or editors. If these names are not given, this template does not generate an anchor.

Last names are used, as specified by the parameters |last1= (or |last=), |last2=, |last3=, and |last4=, and similarly for |editor1-last= etc. and for |inventor1-last= etc. If a full name is given but no last name is specified, this template falls back on the full name, but this usage is not recommended. For example, in "{{Citation | author = Sigmund Freud | title = The Ego and the Id | year = 1923}}" no last name is given, so this citation cannot be combined with the Harvard reference "{{harv|Freud|1923}}". To make these {{citation}} and {{harv}} invocations compatible, either replace "|author=Sigmund Freud" with "|first=Sigmund |last=Freud", or add "|ref={{harvid|Freud|1923}}" to the {{citation}} invocation, or add the same ref parameter (say, "|ref=EgoId") to both the {{citation}} and the {{harv}} invocations.

Similarly, the year is used, as specified by |year=. If no year is given, this template attempts to derive the year from |date= (or, if no date is given, from |publication-date=) by applying the MediaWiki#time function. This heuristic works with many common date formats (American, International and ISO standard format YYYY-MM-DD as listed in WP:MOS), but may not work as expected with other formats, so when in doubt it may be safer to use |year=. Note that if only a year, say 2005, is known you must use |year=2005 rather than |date=2005.

IDs must be unique

Names, years, and hand-specified IDs must be chosen so that the IDs are unique within a page; otherwise the HTML will not conform to the W3C standards, and any references to the citations will not work reliably. For example, suppose a page contains the following two citations with {{harv}}-compatible IDs:

• Montes, G; Halterman, JS (2008a), "Association of childhood autism spectrum disorders and loss of family income", Pediatrics 121 (4): e821–6, doi:10.1542/peds.2007-1594, PMID 18381511, http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/121/4/e821 
• Montes, G; Halterman, JS (2008b), "Child care problems and employment among families with preschool-aged children with autism in the United States", Pediatrics 122 (1): e202–8, doi:10.1542/peds.2007-3037, PMID 18595965, http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/122/1/e202 

If these citations were altered to say "2008" rather than "2008a" and "2008b", the resulting page would not work, because the two different citations would both attempt to use the ID "CITEREFMontesHalterman2008". To avoid this problem, distinguish the citations by appending suffixes to the years, e.g., "|year=2008a" and "|year=2008b", as was done above. Any Harvard references to these citations should use years with the same suffixes.

It is good practice to verify that a page does not contain duplicate IDs by using the W3C Markup Validation Service; see External links.

Dates

Tools

See Wikipedia:Citing sources#Citation templates and tools for a list of tools that can help create a reference in the "citation" format.

COinS

Template:Visible anchor