Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles/Citation quick reference

Note that the use of these templates is not required.

See full list of citation templates at Citation templates.

= Citing a book =

cite book

= Citing a journal =

cite journal

= Citing a news article =

cite news


 * title is required, rest is optional. Note that title must be on one line in order for the hyperlink to display properly.
 * author: Author
 * last works with first to produce
 * authorlink works either with author or with last & first to link to the appropriate wikipedia article. Does not work with URLs.
 * coauthors: allows additional authors
 * url: Link to the news item if available online
 * format: Format, i.e. PDF. Don't specify for HTML (implied as default).
 * Specify as 'fee required' if free access no longer available.
 * Specify as 'Reprint' if a full original version but not hosted by the original publisher.
 * work: If this item is part of a larger work (such as a newspaper), name of that work.
 * publisher: Publisher, if any.
 * date: date of publication. ISO 8601 YYYY-MM-DD format recommended. If the whole date is known it should be wikilinked to enable date user preferences.
 * pages overrides page
 * accessdate: Date when item was accessed. Use ISO 8601 YYYY-MM-DD format. Do not wikilink the date.
 * language: the language in which the source is written.
 * quote: Relevant quote.

Note: news reference is now deprecated; please use cite news instead for new references, and gradually migrate existing references.

= Citing the web =

cite web

This template is specifically for web sites which are not news sources. See also citation templates for more on templates for citing open-source web content in Wikipedia articles. Here are some convenient examples.

 
 * Common form for cases where little is known about authorship of the page (with current date)

 
 * Using author (with current date)

 
 * Using last, first (with current date)

The most common parameters are as follows. See also the complete documentation in Template:Cite web.
 * url (required): URL of online item.
 * title (required): Title of online item.
 * one of accessdate in YYYY-MM-DD format with no wikilink (e.g. "accessdate = 2006-02-17"), or accessmonthday and accessyear, for example "accessmonthday = May 10 |accessyear = 2005". (One or the other required.)
 * either author, or last and first to produce . Don't wikilink these; instead use authorlink to link to the appropriate wikipedia article. Does not work with URLs. Add optional coauthors to record additional authors. (optional)
 * date: Full date of publication, YYYY-MM-DD format, e.g. 2006-02-17. May be wikilinked. Or, use year, and optionally month. If you also have the day, use date instead. (optional)
 * archiveurl: URL of the archive location of the item, and archivedate: Date when the item was archived, in YYYY-MM-DD format, e.g. 2006-02-17. Must not be wikilinked; the template will link it automatically. (optional, but must use both together or neither)