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

Note that the use of these templates is not required.

Use of these templates is manual: authors should cut-and-paste into their text and erase fields they do not need. Remember the {{double curly braces}} and a vertical bar between fields. Introductory ("Beginner" and "Tutorial") pages such as the CITING SOURCES tab in the Wikipedia:Tutorial page do not necessarily cover templates. Another template which covers all these uses may be found at Citation.

See full list of citation templates at Wikipedia:Citation templates. For other templates, see Wikipedia:Template_namespace.

Citing a book

{{cite book}}

Longer version	Most common fields
{{Cite book | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | editor = | others = | title = <!-- required --> | origdate = | origyear = | origmonth = | url = | format = | accessdate = | edition = | date = | year = | month = | publisher = | location = | language = | id = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | quote = }}	{{Cite book | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | title = <!-- required --> | publisher = | location = | id = | pages = }}

Citing a journal

{{cite journal}}

Longer version	Most common fields
{{Cite journal | first = | last = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | month = | date = | title = <!-- required --> | quote = | journal = | volume = | issue = | pages = | doi = | id = | url = | format = | accessdate = }}	{{Cite journal | author = | year = | month = | title = <!-- required --> | journal = | volume = | issue = | pages = | id = | url = }}

Citing a news article

{{cite news}}

Not complete

{{Cite news 
 | first = 
 | last = 
 | authorlink =
 | author = 
 | coauthors =
 | title = 
 | url = 
 | format = 
 | work = 
 | publisher = 
 | pages = 
 | page = 
 | date = 
 | accessdate = 
 | language = 
 | quote = 
}}

• 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 last, first
  • 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, in same format as dates in the body of the article.
• pages overrides page
• accessdate: Date when item was accessed, in same format as dates in the body of the article.
• language: the language in which the source is written.
• quote: Relevant quote.

Citing the web

{{cite web}}

Not complete

{{Cite web
| url = <!-- required -->
| title = <!-- required -->
| accessdate = 
| author = 
| last = 
| first = 
| authorlink = 
| coauthors = 
| date = 
| year = 
| month = 
| work = 
| publisher = 
| pages = 
| format = 
| language = 
| quote = 
| archiveurl = 
| archivedate = 
}}

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

{{Cite web |url= |title= |accessdate= |format= |work= }}

Using author

{{Cite web |url= |title= |accessdate= |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= }}

Using last, first

{{Cite web |url= |title= |accessdate= |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= }}

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.
• accessdate in same format as dates in body of article.
• either author, or last and first to produce last, first. 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, in same format as main text of article. 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 same format as main text of the article.