Template:Footnotes
Template:Wikipedia how to
This page explains how to create footnotes on Wikipedia pages. Footnotes are used most commonly to provide references in articles, although they have other uses as well. They are generated using the following tags in the editable text of a page: <ref>...</ref> within the text, and <references /> or {{reflist}} at the end where the footnote list is to appear.
The most common use of footnotes in Wikipedia articles is to provide inline citations to reliable sources, although footnotes can also be used for other purposes. The use of <ref> tags is not required by any policy or guideline, and other systems of inline citation, including parenthetical referencing, may be used at the editors' discretion. However, <ref> tags are by far the most popular system for inline citations.
This page concerns technical methods for creating footnotes. For advice on how to organize and format references, see Citing sources and Citation template examples.
Contents
Overview
The footnoting system involves two elements:
- Footnote markers. These are links, usually in the form [1], [2], etc. Clicking on a footnote marker will take you to the correspondingly numbered footnote.
- The footnotes themselves. These appear in a list (usually placed near the end of the article), and include links back to the corresponding footnote markers.
Footnote markers are generated using <ref> tags. The list of footnotes is generated using the <references /> tag, or the corresponding {{reflist}} template, placed in the editable text at the point where the footnotes are to appear. The text of a footnote is placed between opening <ref> and closing </ref> tags, either at the point where the footnote marker is to appear, or within the <references /> element. If the page contains footnote markers but no footnote list, a red cite error message will appear.
Creating a footnote marker
At the point in the page text where the footnote marker is to appear, enter the text of the footnote and put the two pieces of coding before and after the footnote-text, like this:
<ref>LibreOffice For Starters, First Edition, Flexible Minds, Manchester, 2002, p. 18</ref>
This will create a footnote marker (automatically numbered). The footnote text itself will appear in the footnote list, generated as described below. If there is no footnote list code, a red warning message will appear, reminding you to write the code that generates the list.
You can include formatting and links in a footnote in the usual way, although certain features, such as the pipe trick and template substitution, will not work in footnotes. For the formatting of references, citation templates, such as a generic {{citation}}, or more specific {{cite book}}, {{cite web}}, etc., are available, although many editors prefer not to use them. See Citing sources for details on how references can be structured.
To aid readability in the edit window, a single newline can be added after the closing </ref> tag before continuing with the text of the paragraph. This has the same effect as putting a space after the closing tag.
Multiple references to the same footnote
It is possible to refer to the same footnote more than once, in other words to generate several footnote markers, all with the same number, which link to the same footnote. To achieve this, named footnotes (named references) are used.
A footnote is named using the name parameter of the <ref> tag. Choose a name (such as "Perry"), and then at one of the footnote marker points (it makes sense to choose the first), enter the footnote like this:
<ref name="Perry">Perry's Handbook, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill Co., 1984.</ref>
Then you can create another identical marker linking to the same footnote from any other point in the text, by entering the following (note the final slash):
<ref name="Perry" />
The footnote name is internal and will not be displayed anywhere when the page is viewed. Footnote names are case sensitive and may not be an integer numeral. The quotes are optional unless the name or group includes a space, or certain punctuation marks and other characters. It is recommended that names be kept simple and restricted to the standard English alphabet and numerals.
Be careful when deleting text containing named footnotes – if you delete the instance which contains the footnote text, without replacing it elsewhere, you will break other instances of the same named footnote on the page. Error messages will be generated if the named footnotes used have not been properly defined.
Creating the footnote list
At the point where you want the text of the footnotes to appear (usually at the end of the article in a section titled "Notes" or "References" – see the Footers in the layout guideline), write the following code:
<references />
A commonly used alternative, which also introduces some formatting, is the {{Reflist}} template:
{{reflist}}
This template has parameters available for splitting the list into columns, and for controlling their width. For example, {{reflist|2}} creates a list split into two columns. For more options, see the reflist template documentation.
The footnote list must come after all the footnote markers.
If a footnote list is generated but there are no footnotes on the page, the list will simply appear empty (no warning or error message is displayed).
List-defined references
In order to make the article text easier to read in the edit window, particularly in sections with many citations, editors may decide to write all footnotes in the shorter "named" form. This can be done using the list-defined references function, where the content of the references is defined within the reference list, rather than in the article text. The syntax is as follows:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.<ref name="LazyDog" /> <references> <ref name="LazyDog">This is the lazy dog reference.</ref> </references>
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.[1]
- ↑ This is the lazy dog reference.
This can also be done using the {{Reflist}} template with a |refs= parameter:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.<ref name="LazyDog" />
Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes.<ref name="Jukeboxes" />
How razorback-jumping frogs can level six piqued gymnasts.<ref name="JumpingFrogs" />
==References==
{{reflist|
refs=
<ref name="LazyDog">This is the lazy dog reference.</ref>
<ref name="Jukeboxes">This is the jukeboxes reference.</ref>
<ref name="JumpingFrogs">This is the jumping frogs reference.</ref>
}}
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.[1] Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes.[2] How razorback-jumping frogs can level six piqued gymnasts.[3]
References
References which are list-defined but unused will show a cite error message. The references will appear numbered in the order that they are referred to in the text, regardless of how they are ordered within the reflist/references template.
The References segregator tool can automatically convert references to the list-defined format.
What it looks like
When a page with footnotes is displayed in a browser, the <ref> tags in the main text are converted to auto-numbered superscripts, like this:
|
The only reference to LibreOffice for Starters.[1] The first reference to Perry's Handbook.[2] The second reference to Perry's Handbook and to another, related book.[2][3] A statement that requires a reference.[citation needed] The only reference to Linux in a Nutshell.[4] And third reference to Perry's Handbook.[2] |
Clicking on a numbered superscript takes you straight to the text of the corresponding footnote. (The "[citation needed]" item is not a footnote marker; it is produced by the {{fact}} template, used to indicate a point where a reference ought to be provided.)
The <references /> tag or {{reflist}} template is expanded to show the text of the footnotes against their corresponding numbers, like this:
For single-reference footnotes, clicking on the caret (^) takes you back to the footnote marker in the main text. For multiple-reference footnotes, 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 marker in the main text.
Previewing edits
When you edit a single section of a page, the footnotes list will not be visible when you preview your edits. Thus you ordinarily cannot see how your footnotes will later appear when you save your edits.
If this is a problem, you can insert a {{reflist}} into the edited section temporarily (remembering to delete it again before you save your edits). However you will still not be able to see named references which were defined in other sections: to do this, you would either have to paste in text from the other sections as a temporary measure, or open the whole page in the edit window instead of just one section.
Another workaround for this issue is to use the wikEd gadget.
Grouping footnotes
Sometimes it is useful to group the footnotes into separate lists, for example to separate explanatory notes from references, or to list references for tables, image captions, infoboxes and navboxes. This can be accomplished with the group parameter. The sequence of footnote labels is independent in each group.
Editor-defined groups
Footnotes that do not use the group parameter have plain automatic numbers for their labels. When the group parameter is used, in-text footnote labels are formed from the group name, a space and the automatic number. However the labels in the footnote list entries just use the numbers without the prefix.
Which will show as:
This part of the text requires clarification,[note 1] whereas the entire text is cited.[1]
Notes
- ↑ Listed separately from the citation
References
- ↑ Citation.
Predefined groups
There are several predefined group names that apply a style to the footnote labels and to the reference list:
Label styles
Group name
Style
Sample
Decimal numbers (default)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
decimal
Decimal numbers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
lower-alpha
Alpha, lower case
a b c d e f g h i j
upper-alpha
Alpha, upper case
A B C D E F G H I J
lower-greek
Greek, lower case
α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ
lower-roman
Roman, lower case
i ii iii iv v vi vii viii ix x
upper-roman
Roman, upper case
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X
The in-text footnote is defined using one of the group names:
The reference list is invoked using {{reflist}} with the group name. The group name must not be enclosed by quotes. For example:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.[lower-alpha 1] Cconsectetur adipisicing elit.[lower-alpha 2]. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.[lower-alpha 2]
Issues
- Backlink labels are always styled as lower alpha. This can be confusing when the footnotes are also labelled alphabetically.
- The entries in the reference list will show the default decimal styling if:
Multiple reference lists
It is possible to include multiple instances of the reference list markup <references /> or {{reflist}} on a page. Care must be taken to ensure that multiple reference lists are closed so that the references intended for one list do not appear in another list. To close the reference list markup, simply use any parameter in the the reference list markup. Normally different reference lists would use different groups, so the reference list markup will be closed.
In this example, the reference list markup is unclosed and the reference list is repeated in the two subsequent lists and the third in-text footnote number is rendered incorrectly:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. [1]
- ↑ Reference 1
Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.[1]
- ↑ Reference 2
Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.[1]
- ↑ Reference 3
To prevent this and close references so that they are not rendered incorrectly, the reference list markup must include any parameter, such as |group=, |refs= or a column parameter. If parameters are not desired, a dummy parameter may be used, by convention |close=. For example:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. [1]
- ↑ Reference 1
Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.[1]
- ↑ Reference 2
Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.[1]
- ↑ Reference 3
Embedding references within footnotes
Explanatory notes may need to be referenced. Due to limitations in the Cite software, reference tags cannot be nested— a set of <ref>...</ref> tags cannot be placed inside another pair of <ref>...</ref> tags; attempting to do so will result in a cite error.
The magic word #tag:ref may be used to nest references. The markup is:
{{#tag:ref|refcontent|name=name|group=groupname}}
Where refcontent may include <ref>...</ref> tags. The name and groupname are optional, but must come after refcontent. If the groupname is not specified, then the main and nested references will be rendered into the same reference list. Attempting to use #tag:ref more than once within list-defined references will result in a cite error. The syntax of #tag:ref is not obvious, as parameters must come after the content; {{refn}} may be used in place of the #tag:ref markup.
Example:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.[nb 1]
Notes
References
- ↑ A reference for the footnote.
Explanatory notes
Template:Seealso
Most footnotes are citations, which identify sources. Another kind of footnote is an explanatory footnote which is a comment that would be too detailed or too awkward to include in the body of the article. The Wikipedia Manual of style does not mandate a layout for explanatory footnotes at the bottom of the article, and in fact provides for several approaches that are acceptable. An important factor whether or not shortened citations are used or not. Here are some common approaches to laying out the footnotes.
Example A) This example puts all citations and explanatory notes into a single Notes sections, and does not use shortened citations:
- Template:Pre2
- Produces a notes section that looks like this:
The Sun is pretty big.[1] But the Moon[2] is not so big.[3] The Sun is also quite hot.[4]
Notes
- ^ Miller, The Sun, Oxford, 2005, p. 23. But Miller points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars.
- ^ The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena - see, for example Brown, The Moon, 2006, Penguin, p 623.
- ^ Brown, The Moon, 2006, Penguin, p. 46. Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large. For a discussion, see Miller, The Sun, Oxford, 2005, p 411.
- ^ Smith, The Universe, Random House, 2005, p. 334.
Example B) This example uses shortened citations (with a References section) and combines explanatory notes and citations in a Notes section:
- Template:Pre2
- Produces a notes section that looks like this:
The Sun is pretty big.[1] But the Moon[2] is not so big.[3] The Sun is also quite hot.[4]
Notes
References
- Brown, The Moon, Penguin. 2001.
- Miller, The Sun, Oxford, 2005.
- Smith, The Universe, Random House, 2005.
Example C) This example uses shortened citations (with a References section) and separates explanatory notes from citations. Notice that for an article without explanatory notes (in other words, an article with only citations) example B and example C are nearly identical (the only difference is the section names).
- Produces a notes section that looks like this:
The Sun is pretty big.[1][Note 1] But the Moon[Note 2] is not so big.[2][Note 3] The Sun is also quite hot.[3]
Notes
Citations
References
- Brown, The Moon, Penguin. 2001.
- Miller, The Sun, Oxford, 2005.
- Smith, The Universe, Random House, 2005.
See also
ca:Ajuda:Notes a peu de pàgina
de:Hilfe:Einzelnachweise
eo:Helpo:Referencoj kaj piednotoj
fr:Aide:Note
id:Bantuan:Catatan kaki
it:Aiuto:Note
nl:Help:Referenties en voetnoten
pt:Wikipedia:Livro de estilo/Notas de rodapé
ja:Help:脚注
pl:Pomoc:Przypisy
sk:Pomoc:Referencie
sr:Помоћ:Фусноте
tr:Yardım:Dipnotlar
