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. Not normally included where the publication is a periodical which has its own Wikipedia article (e.g. Newsweek, Billboard).
    • publication-place (or place or location): 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. Omit when the publication is a periodical whose name specifies the location (e.g. The New York Times, The Times of India)
  • 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[n 1] 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, প্ৰকাশক Rochester, New York: William Alling, সাঁচ: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 =
}}

Parameters

Syntax

Nested parameters rely on their parent parameters:

  • parent
  • OR: parent2—may be used instead of parent
    • child—may be used with parent (and is ignored if parent is not used)
    • OR: child2—may be used instead of child (and is ignored if parent2 is not used)
Where aliases are listed, only one of the parameters may be defined; if aliased parameters are defined, then only one will show.

This template embeds COinS metadata in the HTML output, allowing reference management software to retrieve bibliographic metadata; see Wikipedia:COinS.

  • Be careful using templates within the citation template, as many will add a lot of extraneous HTML or CSS that will be rendered in the meta-data.
    • Known templates that should not be used: {{smallcaps}}.

By default, sets of fields are terminated with a comma (,).

Deprecated

These parameters are deprecated and will no longer work. Use will place the page in Category:Pages containing cite templates with deprecated parameters.

  • access-date · accessed · accessdaymonth · accessday · accessmonthday · accessmonth · accessyear: Use accessdate to include the full date of access.
  • day: Use date to include the day, month and year.
  • dateformat · doilabel: These parameters are no longer supported.

Description

Authors

  • last: Surname of author. Do not wikilink—use authorlink instead. Where the surname is usually written first—as in Chinese—or for corporate authors, simply use last to include the same format as the source. Aliases: last, author, authors, last1, author1
    • first: Given or first names of author, including title(s); for example: Firstname Middlename or Firstname M. or Dr. Firstname M., Sr. Do not wikilink—use authorlink instead. Aliases: first, first1.
    • OR: for multiple authors, use last1, first1 through last9, first9 for up to nine authors. By default, if nine authors are defined, then only eight will show and "et al." will show in place of the last author. Aliases: last1, author1 through last9, author9.
  • authorlink: Title of existing Wikipedia article about the author—not the author's website; do not wikilink. Aliases: authorlink, authorlink1, author-link, author1-link.
  • OR: for multiple authors, use authorlink1 through authorlink9. Aliases: authorlink1, author1-link through authorlink9, author9-link.
When using Shortened footnotes or Parenthetical referencing styles with templates, do not use multiple names in one field else the anchor will not match the inline link.

Editors

  • editor-last: Surname of editor. Do not wikilink—use editor-link instead. Where the surname is usually written first—as in Chinese—or for corporate authors, simply use editor-last to include the same format as the source. Aliases: editor-last, editor1-last, editor, editors.
    • editor-first: Given or first names of editor, including title(s); example: Firstname Middlename or Firstname M. or Dr. Firstname M., Sr. Do not wikilink—use editor-link instead. Aliases: editor-first, editor1-first.
    • OR: for multiple editors, use editor1-last, editor1-first through editor4-last, editor4-first for up to four editors.
  • editor-link: Title of existing Wikipedia article about the editor—not the editor's website; do not wikilink. Aliases: editor-link, editor1-link.
  • OR: for multiple editors, use editor1-link through editor4-link.
Display:
If authors: Authors are first, followed by the included work, then "In" and the editors, then the main work.
If no authors: Editors appear before the included work; a single editor is followed by "ed."; multiple editors are followed by "eds."; more than three editors will be followed by "et al., eds."

Title

  • title: Title of source. Can be wikilinked to an existing Wikipedia article or url may be used to add an external link, but not both. Displays in italics.
    • trans_title: English translation of the title if the source cited is in a foreign language. Displays in square brackets after title; if url is defined, then trans_title is included in the link. Use of the language parameter is recommended.
Titles containing certain characters will display and link incorrectly unless those characters are encoded.
newline [ ] |
space [ ] |

সাঁচ:Citation Style documentation/chapter

  • type: Provides additional information about the media type of the source; format in sentence case. Displays in parentheses following the title. Examples: Thesis, Booklet, CD liner, Press release.
  • language: The language the source is written in, if not English. Displays in parentheses with "in" before the language name. Use the full language name; do not use icons or templates.

Date

  • date: Full date of source being referenced in the same format as other publication dates in the citations.[1] Do not wikilink. Displays after the authors and enclosed in parentheses. If there is no author, then displays after publisher.
  • OR: year: Year of source being referenced.
    • month: Name of the month of publication. If you also have the day, use date instead; do not wikilink.
    • origyear: Original publication year; displays after the date or year. For clarity, please supply specifics; example: |origyear=First published 1859 or |origyear=Composed 1904.
  1. Publication dates in article references should all have the same format. See MOS:DATEUNIFY.

Periodical

সাঁচ:Citation Style documentation/journal

Publisher

  • publisher: Name of publisher; may be wikilinked if relevant. Not normally included for periodicals. Corporate designations such as "Ltd", "Inc" or "GmbH" are not usually included. Displays after title; if work is defined, then publisher and location are enclosed in parentheses.
  • location: Geographical place of publication; generally not wikilinked; omit when the name of the work includes the location; examples: The Boston Globe, The Times of India. Displays preceding publisher.
  • publication-date: Date of publication when different from the date the work was written. Displays only if year or date are defined and only if different, else publication-date is used and displayed as date. Use the same format as other dates in the article; do not wikilink. Follows publisher; if work is not defined, then publication-date is preceded by "published" and enclosed in parenthesis.

Edition, series, volume

  • edition: When the publication has more than one edition; for example: "2nd", "Revised" etc. Displays " ed." after this field, so |edition=2nd produces "2nd ed." Does not display if a periodical field is defined.
  • series or version: When the source is part of a series, such as a book series or a journal where the issue numbering has restarted.
  • volume: For one publication published in several volumes. Displays in bold after the title and series fields; if bolding is not desired, then include the volume information in the title field.

In-source locations

  • page: Page in the source that supports the content. Displays preceded with ​p.​ unless |nopp=y.
  • OR: pages: Pages in the source that supports the content; separate page ranges with an en dash (–); separate non-sequential pages with a comma (,); do not use to indicate the total number of pages in the source. Displays preceded with ​pp.​ unless |nopp=y.
    • nopp: Set to y to suppress the ​p.​ or ​pp.​ notations where this is inappropriate; for example, where |page=Front cover.
  • OR: at: For sources where a page number is inappropriate or insufficient. Overridden by |page= or |pages=.
Examples: page (p.) or pages (pp.); section (sec.), column (col.), paragraph (para.); track; hours, minutes and seconds; act, scene, canto, book, part, folio, stanza, back cover, liner notes, indicia, colophon, dust jacket, verse.

URL

  • url: URL of an online location where the text of the publication can be found. Cannot be used if title is wikilinked. If applicable, the link may point to the specific page(s) referenced. Do not link to any commercial booksellers such as Amazon.com; see WP:PAGELINKS.
    • accessdate: Full date when URL was accessed; use the same format as other access and archive dates in the citations;[1] do not wikilink. Can be hidden by registered editors.
    • archiveurl: The URL of an archived copy of a web page, if or in case the url becomes unavailable. Typically used to refer to services like WebCite and the Internet Archive; requires archivedate.
      • archivedate: Date when the item was archived; use the same format as other access and archive dates in the citations;[1] do not wikilink. Displays preceded by "archived from the original on".
      • deadurl: When the URL is still live, but preemptively archived, then set |deadurl=no. This changes the display order with the title retaining the original link and the archive linked at the end.
    • template doc demo: The archive parameters have error checking to ensure that all the required parameters are included, else {{citation error}} is invoked. On errors, main, help and template pages are placed into Category:Articles with incorrect citation syntax. Set |template doc demo=true to disable categorization; mainly used for documentation where the error is demonstrated.
  • format: Format of the work referred to by url; examples: PDF, DOC, XLS; HTML is implied and should not be specified; displayed in parentheses after title. Does not change external link icon.
URLs must begin with a supported URI scheme: http:// and https:// will be supported by all browsers; irc://, ircs://, ftp://, news:, mailto: and gopher:// will require a plugin or an external application and should normally be avoided. IPv6 host-names are currently not supported.
If URLs in citation template parameters contain certain characters they will display and link incorrectly. Those characters need to be percent-encoded. For example, a space must be replaced by %20. To encode the URL, replace these characters:
sp " ' < > [ ] | }
%20 %22 %27 %3c %3e %5b %5d %7c %7d
Single apostrophes do not need to be encoded; but unencoded multiples will be parsed as italic or bold markup. Single curly closing braces also do not need to be encoded; but an unencoded pair will be parsed as the double closing braces for the template transclusion.
  1. 1.0 1.1 Access and archive dates in references should all have the same format – either the format used for publication dates, or YYYY-MM-DD. See MOS:DATEUNIFY.

Anchor

সাঁচ:Citation Style documentation/ref2

Identifiers

  • id: A unique identifier, used where none of the specialized identifiers are applicable; wikilink or use a template as applicable.

Quote

  • quote: Relevant text quoted from the source. Displays enclosed in quotes. When supplied, the citation terminator (a period by default) is suppressed, so the quote needs to include terminating punctuation.

Laysummary

  • laysummary: URL link to a non-technical summary or review of the source; the URL title is set to "Lay summary".
    • laysource: Name of the source of the laysummary. Displays in italics and preceded by an endash.
    • laydate: Date of the summary. Displays in parentheses.

Display options

  • author-mask: Replaces the name of the first author with em dashes or text. Set author-mask to a numeric value to set the dash in em spaces; set author-mask to a text value to display a word instead; for example, "with". You must still include the values for all authors for metadata purposes. Primarily intended for use in bibliographies for some styles where multiple works by a single author are listed. Do not use in a list generated by {{reflist}}, <references></references> or similar as there is no control as to the order that references will display.
  • author-name-separator: Changes the separator between last and first names; defaults to a comma and space (, ); if the parameter is present, but blank, no separator punctuation will be used; a space must be encoded as &#32; do not use an asterisk (*), colon (:) or hash (#) as they will be interpreted as wikimarkup.
  • author-separator: Changes the separator between authors; defaults to a semicolon and space (; ); if the parameter is present, but blank, no separator punctuation will be used; a space must be encoded as &#32; do not use an asterisk (*), colon (:) or hash (#) as they will be interpreted as wikimarkup.
  • display-authors: By default, the number of authors displayed is limited to 8; if 9 are provided, the ninth is displayed as "et al." This parameter allows display of fewer authors before the "et al."; example: |display-authors=2; "et al." may be suppressed altogether by setting |display-authors=9.
  • lastauthoramp: When set to any value, changes the separator to use between the last two names in lists of authors to an ampersand (&); defaults to a semicolon and space (; ), else author-separator if set.
  • postscript: The closing punctuation for the citation; defaults to a period (.); if the parameter is present, but blank, no terminating punctuation will be used. Ignored if quote is defined.
  • separator: The punctuation used to separate lists of authors, editors, etc. Defaults to a period (.); if the parameter is present but blank, no separator punctuation will be used; do not use an asterisk (*), colon (:) or hash (#) as they will be interpreted as wikimarkup.

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 সম্পাদনা), প্ৰকাশক 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, আহৰণ কৰা হৈছে: 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, আহৰণ কৰা হৈছে: 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 খণ্ড 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 খণ্ড 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) খণ্ড 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, প্ৰকাশক 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, প্ৰকাশক 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
| page = 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 খণ্ড 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
| page = 1
| contribution-url = http://
udn.lib.utah.edu/u?/corinne,5359
}}
Klingensmith, Philip (September 5, 1872), Affidavit, ৰচনা কৰা হৈছে Lincoln County, Nevada, in Toohy, Dennis J., "Mountain Meadows Massacre", Corinne Daily Reporter (Corinne, Utah) খণ্ড 5 (252): 1, September 24, 1872, http://udn.lib.utah.edu/u?/corinne,5359 

Press release

Press release with quotation
{{Citation
| 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, Apple Inc, http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/04/05ipad.html, আহৰণ কৰা হৈছে: 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 =
| ref =
}}
  • 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 "&#91;" for "[" and "&#93;" 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.
  • ref: Anchor id.

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}}
US 6266706, Degermark, Mikael; Andrej Brodnik & Svante Carlsson et al., "Fast routing lookup system using complete prefix tree, bit vector, and pointers in a routing table for determining where to route IP datagrams", issued 2001 

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 "(Wright & Evans 1851, পৃষ্ঠা ix)", 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, প্ৰকাশক 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 "CITEREFWrightEvans1851".

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, পৃষ্ঠা 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 8601 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:

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

  1. The format of dates in the references of an article should use consistent and unambiguous styles. Example formats used in Wikipedia citations include: Dates should not be linked in references. Please see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers)#Dates for more guidance about formatting 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.

This template produces COinS metadata; see COinS in Wikipedia for background information.