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^[update], Wikipedia's guideline on citation styles includes the following guidance:

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

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

Wikipedia:Inline citation/examples

Full citations in footnotes

Parenthetical style references in footnotes

Harvnb and Citation templates

See also