Help:Overview of referencing styles

Wikipedia uses various referencing systems to cite sources that support assertions in the article and to add explanatory and supplementary material. This page compares two systems that are currently used (Footnotes and Shortened footnotes) and two older systems that are deprecated and no longer used for new articles (Footnote3 and Parenthetical referencing).

Current systems

Standard footnotes

Main page: Help:Footnotes

Standard footnotes, comprising inline cites and automatically generated reference list entries, make use of functionality provided by the Cite mediawiki extension, and are thus essentially "built-in" to wikipedia (as opposed to community-created template solutions). This should not be confused with the concept of footnotes in general.

An inline cite is placed within the page content, usually after punctuation, and is created by enclosing the citation or note within <ref>...</ref> tags. In place of this, a superscripted number is displayed, known as the cite label (or footnote label), enclosed in a pair of square brackets (example: ). Together the label and brackets are called the cite marker (or footnote marker). A copy of the full citation is also generated, commonly referred to as a footnote, and is automatically added to the reference list (sometimes called the footnote list, or just footnotes). The cite label has a link to the full citation in the reference list and vice versa.

A reference list is positioned within a page by use of the <references /> tag or the {{reflist}} template. If this is missing, a reference list will automatically be shown at the bottom of the page, but convention dictates that it should always be manually placed under a section, using a method as just described, with the section name usually being titled "References".

Numbering is automatic, based on order of use within a page. The cite labels default to decimal but can be styled as alphabetic, Roman or Greek. The <ref> tag can be assigned a name, which enables reuse of the cite within the page without full duplication, and <ref> tags can also be separated into groups for use as explanatory notes, table legends and the like.

Example:

Markup	Renders as
This is an in-text cite.<ref>citation</ref> ==References== <references />	This is an in-text cite. References

Shortened footnotes

Main page: Help:Shortened footnotes

In this short example, note that an in-text cite such as links to the shortened citation in the Notes list, which in turn links to the long citation in the References list:

Markup

Renders as

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.{{sfn|Elk|1972|p=5}} Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.{{sfn|Elk|1972|p=6}} The Norwegian blue parrot will not move if its feet are nailed to the perch.{{sfn|Praline|1969|p=12}} Its metabolic processes are a matter of interest only to historians.{{sfn|Praline|1969|p=16}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972 }} *{{cite book |last=Praline |first=Eric |title=[[Dead Parrot sketch]] |date=December 7, 1969 }} {{refend}}

The brontosaurus is thin at one end. Then it becomes much thicker in the middle. The Norwegian blue parrot will not move if its feet are nailed to the perch. Its metabolic processes are a matter of interest only to historians. Notes References Elk, Anne (November 16, 1972). Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses. Praline, Eric (December 7, 1969). Dead Parrot sketch.

Obsolete/deprecated systems

Footnote3

Main page: Wikipedia:Footnote3

Footnote3 is a deprecated method of referencing. New articles should not be created with it. Although it appears similar to the Footnotes system, it uses the {{ref}} and {{note}} templates.

Markup	Renders as
According to scientists, the Sun is pretty big.{{ref|1}} The Moon, however, is not so big.{{ref|2}} ==Notes== # {{note|1}} Miller, E: "The Sun.", page 23. Academic Press, 2005 # {{note|2}} Smith, R: "Size of the Moon", ''Scientific American'', 46(78):46	According to scientists, the Sun is pretty big. The Moon, however, is not so big. Notes ^ Miller, E: "The Sun.", page 23. Academic Press, 2005 ^ Smith, R: "Size of the Moon", Scientific American, 46(78):46

Comparison of Footnote3 and Cite.php Footnote

	Footnote3	Cite.php
Use	Deprecated for standard footnotes	Standard
Number style	User applied, free style: can use numbers, alpha, Greek, etc.	Automatic with several styles
Reference list order	Manual	Automatic
Nesting	Can nest <ref>...</ref> and other templates	Nesting with limitations
Reuse	Yes, but creates duplicate HTML ids	Yes, unique HTML ids
Error checking	No	Yes
Markup	Fairly terse	Can be a bit long, especially when using groups
Preview testing	Clicking on a {{ref}} link while previewing an edit will cause the page to reload and changes to be lost	No issues

Parenthetical referencing

Main page: Wikipedia:Parenthetical referencing

Parenthetical referencing is a citation system in which citations are added within sentences using brackets (parentheses). An example would be "Paris is the capital of France (Smith 2020, p. 1)". Full citations are collected in footnotes or endnotes, or in alphabetical order by author's last name, under a "references", "bibliography", or "works cited" heading at the end of the text.

This style of citation was a type of referencing used on Wikipedia until September 2020, when a community discussion reached a consensus to deprecate this format of citation. While some existing articles may still use this form of citation, new articles should not be created with it.

See also

For instructions on how to "bundle" citations, see Help:Citation merging.

• Help:References and page numbers