Help:Footnotes

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This page explains very briefly how to create numbered footnotes and references using the <ref> ... </ref> and <references/> syntax, which is the current best-practice method in most circumstances. See Wikipedia:Footnotes for more detail.

An older method, using {{ref}} and {{note}} templates, is explained at Wikipedia:Footnote3. Apart from Harvard references, this method is obsolete. See Wikipedia:Embedded citations for a third approach.

Single citation of a reference or footnote

At the point of citation in the main text, enter the reference or footnote like this:

<ref>Excel For Dummies, First Edition, Hungry Minds, Inc., 1980.</ref>

You can include formatting and links in the footnote or reference text in the usual way.

When you want to note that a reference would be needed, use instead the {{fact}} template.

Multiple citations of the same reference or footnote

To cite the same reference or footnote several times, identify it using the name parameter of the <ref> tag.

At one of the citation points (it makes sense to choose the first), enter the reference like this:

<ref name="Perry">Perry's Handbook, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill Co., 1984.</ref>

Then, at all the other citation points just enter:

<ref name="Perry"/>

Producing the reference or footnote list

At the point where you want the text of the footnotes or references to appear (usually at the end of the article in a "Notes" or "References" section), insert the tag:

<references/>

What it looks like

The <ref> tags in the main text are converted to auto-numbered superscripts, like this:

The only reference to Excel For Dummies.[1]
The first reference to Perry's Handbook.[2]
The second reference to Perry's Handbook.[2]   
The third reference to Perry's Handbook and to another, related book.[2][3]
The only reference to Linux in a Nutshell[4]
A sentence which would need a referenceTemplate:Fact

Clicking on a numbered superscript takes you straight to the text of the corresponding footnote or reference.

The <references/> tag is expanded to show the text of the footnotes or references against their corresponding numbers, like this:

  1. ↑ Excel For Dummies, First Edition, Hungry Minds, Inc., 1980.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Perry's Handbook, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill Co., 1984.
  3. ↑ Nuclear Chemical Engineering (2nd Edition), McGraw-Hill Co., 1981.
  4. ↑ Linux in a Nutshell, O'Reily Co., 2003.

For single citations, clicking on the caret (^) takes you to the point of citation in the main text.

For multiple citations, the links back to the main text are distinguished by letter superscripts (a, b, c etc.). Clicking on a letter superscript takes you to the corresponding citation in the main text.

Using templates to insert reference text

A number of templates, such as {{cite book}} and {{cite web}}, are available to format the text between the <ref> and </ref> tags in a more structured way. These are described at Wikipedia:Citation templates. Their use is optional: they do aid with consistent formatting, but on the other hand they can make editing more cumbersome.

See also

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