Template:Harvard citation documentation
{{[[Template:{{{1}}}|{{{1}}}]]}} is designed to be used to create shortened footnotes, a citation style where there is an author-date citation in a footnote and a complete citation in a references section at the end of the article. (See example below.) This citation style is used to reduce clutter in the edit window and to combine identical citations.
Common problems and known workarounds are given in the section possible issues section below.
There are several other templates that are designed for use with shortened footnotes. They differ slightly in the way they format the author-date citation and how much of their functionality is automated. A full list of these related templates is below.
Note that the use (or even non-use) of these templates is an element of citation "style", and adding or removing them in articles with an established style should be consistent with that style. See WP:CITEVAR.
Also note that inline use of these templates, i.e. use of {{harv}} without <ref>...</ref>
tags around it, was deprecated in September 2020.
Usage
change{{{1}}} generates an "author-date" style short-cite from the following parameters:
<ref>{{{{{1}}} | <last1*> | <last2> | <last3> | <last4> | <year*> | p= <page> | loc= <location> }}</ref>
with
- - <last1> – required; surname of first author or corporate author
- - <last2>–<last4> – positional parameters; surnames of next three authors
- - <year> – required; four-digit year; may have a lowercase disambiguation letter
- -
|p=
– specific page referenced in the source - -
|pp=
– comma-separated list of individual pages and / or range(s) of pages referenced in the source - -
|loc=
– in-source location when|p=
and|pp=
are inappropriate; may be used to supplement|p=
and|pp=
; information such as a section or figure number.
Typical usage is shown in the example below. The text and the footnote are connected by a bi-directional link -- clicking on the superscript takes the reader to the footnote, clicking on the footnote number takes them back to the superscript. The clicking on the short citation takes them to the full citation in the references section.
Template {{{1}}} is placed inside <ref>...</ref>
tags to create shortened footnotes. (Using {{{1}}} outside of <ref>...</ref>
tags was deprecated in September 2020).
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text.<ref>{{{{{1}}}|Smith|2020|p=25}}</ref> More article text.<ref>{{{{{1}}}|Smith|2020|p=25}}</ref> Still more article text.<ref>{{{{{1}}}|Smith|2020|p=26}}</ref> ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite book | last = Smith | first = John | year = 2020 | title = Smith's Book }} |
|
Parameters
changeAuthor(s) and year
changeThe author and the year of publication are the only required parameters. Up to four authors can be given as parameters.
The possible issues section below describes workarounds for various common problems, such as large number of authors, no author name, multiple works in the same year, multiple authors with same last name and others.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text.<ref>{{{{{1}}}|Smith|2020|p=25}}</ref> |
|
Article text.<ref>{{{{{1}}}|Smith|Jones|2020|p=25}}</ref> |
|
Article text.<ref>{{{{{1}}}|Smith|Jones|Brown|2020|p=25}}</ref> |
|
Article text.<ref>{{{{{1}}}|Smith|Jones|Brown|Black|2020|p=25}}</ref> |
|
Location in the source text
changeThe optional parameters |p=
, |pp=
and |loc=
can be used to indicate the location in the source, such as page numbers. For single pages, use |p=
; for multiple pages (such as ranges), use |pp=
. Use of |p=
for multiple pages or |pp=
for single pages can cause cite errors. |loc=
can be used to specify a location in the source in another way, such as section numbers or chapters. The parameters |page=
and |pages=
exist as aliases for |p=
and |pp=
, respectively.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text.<ref>{{{{{1}}}|Smith|2020|p=25}}</ref> |
|
Article text.<ref>{{{{{1}}}|Smith|2020|pp=25–26}}</ref> |
|
Article text.<ref>{{{{{1}}}|Smith|2020|loc=chpt. 3}}</ref> |
|
Article text.<ref>{{{{{1}}}|Smith|2020|loc=section 7}}</ref> |
|
Additional text
changeThe optional parameter |postscript=
or |ps=
can be used to change the text which appears at the end of the note in the reference list. (See § Adding additional comments or quotes and § No closing period, below.) The postscript is only effective the first time {{sfn}}
is used for a particular author, year and location.
Hard-coded link names
changeNot available in {{sfn}}
and similar templates.
The optional parameter |ref=
is used to create a unusually named link from the short citation to the full citation. This parameter is usually not necessary, and it is more common to use {{sfnRef}}
or {{harvid}}
in the reference section. If you specify |ref=none
, no hyperlink is created. However, if one does not want the link, it is always possible to simply use plain text instead of the template. The parameter |Ref=
is an alias for |ref=
.
Possible issues
change
Adding additional comments or quotes
changeThe templates {{harvnb}}
or {{harvtxt}}
can be used to add quotes or additional comments into the footnote, as shown in the examples below.
This effect can also be achieved using {{sfn}}
with |ps=
. The postscript is only effective the first time {{sfn}}
is used for a particular author, year, and location.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Some information.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2011|p=2}}: "A quote verifying the information."</ref> == Notes == {{reflist}} |
Some information.[1]
|
"A quote in a secondary source."<ref>{{harvtxt|Smith|2011|p=2}} quoted in {{harvtxt|Jones|2010|p=343}}</ref> == Notes == {{reflist}} |
"A quote in a secondary source."[1]
|
Some information.{{sfn|Smith|2011|p=2|ps=: "A quote verifying the information."}} == Notes == {{reflist}} |
Some information.[1]
|
Nota bene: two or more {{sfn}}
templates with the same authors, same year, and same page, but different |ps=
will result in a Cite error: Invalid <ref>
tag; name... message. This message happens because the reference names that {{sfn}}
creates will be the same, but the content between the <ref name="FOOTNOTE...">
tag and the </ref>
tag will be different. A workaround is to convert one or some of the {{sfn}}
templates to {{harvnb}}
wrapped in <ref>...</ref>
tags.
Two or more {{sfn}}
templates with the same authors and same year, but different |ps=
will also result in a Cite error: Invalid <ref>
tag; name... message. A workaround is to add |loc={{sp}
} to one of the {{sfn}}
templates, which makes them different from a technical standpoint but the same when rendered.
Adding a URL for the page or location
changeIf a specific link to the page or section is available, a URL can be added to the location or page number.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
{{harv|Smith|2011|loc=[http://en.wikipedia.org chpt 3]}} |
(Smith 2011, chpt 3) |
{{harv|Smith|2011|loc=[http://en.wikipedia.org §7]}} |
(Smith 2011, §7) |
Article text.{{sfn|Smith|2011|p=[http://en.wikipedia.org 3]}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite book | last = Smith | year = 2011 | title = Smith's other book }} |
|
A citation inside an explanatory footnote
changeSometimes an explanatory footnote requires a citation. Templates like {{sfn}} can't be directly imbedded between <ref>...</ref>
tags, because the following message will be produced: Cite error references missing group.
The templates {{efn}} and {{notelist}} can be used to create separate explanatory footnotes from short citations, as shown in the first example. An article that uses this technique extensively is Chinese Room.
It is also possible to use the magic word {{#tag:ref|...}}
and template sfn will work correctly inside the footnote, as show in the second example.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Interesting fact.{{efn|Clarification of interesting fact.{{sfn|Smith|2018}}}} ==Notes== {{notelist}} ==Citations== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite book | last = Smith | year = 2018 | title = Smith's other book }} |
Interesting fact.[a]
|
Interesting fact.{{#tag:ref|Clarification of interesting fact.{{sfn|Smith|2017}}}} ==Citations== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite book | last = Smith | year = 2017 | title = Smith's other book }} |
Interesting fact.[2]
|
More than one work in a year
changeWhere there is a need to cite more than one work by the same author published in the same year, the standard way to disambiguate such works is to add a letter suffix after the year element of the {{sfn}}
template (e.g. {{sfn|Smith|2006a}}
and {{sfn|Smith|2006b}}
). Make sure to add the disambiguation letter to the matching full citation, (e.g. {{cite book|...|last=Smith|year=2006b}}
).
Templates that use Module:Citation/CS1
changeWhen {{sfn}}
is used with {{citation}}
or Citation Style 1 templates, a year-suffix letter may be added to |date=
for all accepted date formats except year-initial numeric (YYYY-MM-DD). It is not necessary to include both |year=
and |date=
. If both are included, |year=
is used for the CITEREF
anchor to be compliant with legacy citations.
|date=2013a
: simple year only dates|date=Jan 2013b
or|date=Winter 2013b
: month or season and year dates|date=9 November 2013b
or|date=November 9, 2013b
: full dates|date=June–July 2013c
or|date=Winter–Spring 2013c
: month or season ranges and year dates|date=c. 2013d
: circa year dates|date=2024–2025f
or|date=Summer 2024–25f
: year ranges|date=n.d.e
: no date (n.d.): not supported, the template must use|date=2013x-11-09
|year=2013x
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text.{{sfn|Smith|1993a|p=25}} More text.{{sfn|Smith|1993b|p=32}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Karen |date=January 1993a |title=Smith's first paper |journal=Important Journal }} * {{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Karen |date=Spring–Summer 1993b |title=Smith's second paper |journal=Another Important Journal }} |
Article text.[1] More text.[2]
|
More than one author with the same last name
changeThe above solution to add a letter suffix after the year element also works for multiple authors with the same last name. For example, both Richard Bushman and Claudia Lauper Bushman published books in 2006. To differentiate between the two books, the first one can be given the year "2006a" and the second one "2006b".
Large number of authors
changeOnly the first four authors are required by the template. Listing more is not supported. It is also possible to use the |ref={{harvid}}
in the citation template, which allows a more concise citation in the article text.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text.<ref>{{harv|Smith|Jones|Brown|Black|1994|p=25}}</ref> ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite journal | last = Smith | last2 = Jones | last3 = Brown | last4 = Black | last5 = Davis | last6 = Martinez | last7 = Hsu | year= 1994 | title= Scientific paper written by many scientists | journal = Important Journal }} |
Article text.[1]
|
Article text.<ref>{{harv|Smith et al.|1995|p=25}}</ref> ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite journal | last = Smith | last2 = Jones | last3 = Brown | last4 = Black | last5 = Davis | last6 = Martinez | last7 = Hsu | year= 1995 | title= Another paper by many scientists | journal = Important Journal | ref = {{harvid|Smith et al.|1995}} }} |
Article text.[1]
|
No author name in citation template
changeSome sources do not have a single author with a last name, such as a magazine article or a report from a government institution. There is no consensus (in Wikipedia or among citation styles) about how to format author–date citations for works that do not have a specific author. Several choices are:
- For a newspaper or periodical, you may use the name of the paper and the date.
- For a publication by an institution, use either:
- The initials of the institution
- The name of the institution
- Alternatively, some style guides recommend using the title of the article.
- Other style guides recommend using "Anonymous" or "Anon."
An article should adopt one of these styles consistently. Using |ref={{harvid}}
in the citation template can handle these cases.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text.{{sfn|BGI|1996|p=429}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite book | title = Important Book | year = 1996 | publisher = Big Government Institution | ref = {{harvid|BGI|1996}} }} |
|
Article text.{{sfn |''Popular Magazine''|1996|p=29}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite magazine | magazine = Popular Magazine | title = An Article by an Anonymous Author | year = 1996 | ref = {{harvid|Popular Magazine|1996}} }} |
Article text.[1]
|
Citation has |date=
and no |year=
change
Either the |year=
or |date=
of a citation template can be matched—the template logic can extract the year from a full date. If the date parameter is not a full date, then the extraction will fail. If the link does not seem to work, it also possible to set both |date=
and |year=
parameters. The template will display the date and use the year for the anchor. These two examples show a year being successfully extracted from full date.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text.{{sfn|Smith|1997|p=101}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite journal | last = Smith | first = Karen | date = 11 May 1997 | title = Smith's 1997 paper | journal= Important Journal }} |
Article text.[1]
|
Article text.{{sfn|Smith|1998|p=101}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite journal | last = Smith | first = Karen | date = May 1998 | title = Smith's 1998 paper | journal= Important Journal }} |
Article text.[1]
|
The Citation Style Vancouver family of templates use parameter |harvid=
to create an anchor for the Harvard citation templates. This must be set to a concatenation of the parameters passed to the Harvard citation template.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text.{{sfn|Smith|1999|p=101}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{vcite book | author = Smith K | year = 1999 | title = Smith's 1999 Book | harvid = Smith1999 }} |
|
Citation format does not support anchors: {{wikicite}}
change
In a few very rare cases, it may be impossible for the citation templates to create an anchor. Either (1) the citation is formatted with a template that does not support the |ref=
parameter or (2) the source can't be described using our citation templates at all. In these cases, it is possible to use {{wikicite}}
to make the anchor. (As of November 2010, there are only approximately 100 articles that require this technique.) It is also possible that (3) local editors would prefer not to use citation templates. In this case, it is important to discuss what the local editors would like to do about the bad links. It is always possible to simply remove {{harv}}
or {{sfn}}
, leaving plain text without links.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text.{{sfn |Big Government Agency|1999}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{wikicite | reference = {{cite report | title=Important Government Report | publisher=Big Government Agency | year=1999 }} | ref = {{harvid|Big Government Agency|1999}} }} |
Article text.[1]
|
Article text.{{sfn |A particularly unusual citation}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{wikicite | reference = A source that can't be described using our citation templates at all. | ref = {{harvid|A particularly unusual citation}} }} |
Article text.[1]
|
It is also possible to use <cite>
to achieve the same effect, but this may not be compatible with HTML 5.
Citation has multiple authors and no date
changeThe templates assume that the last unnamed parameter is the year. Where there are multiple authors and no year, the template will form a correct link but will display the last author as if it were a year. To force the displayed text to show all authors as names, the following workaround may be used:
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text.<ref>[[#{{harvid|Lane|Singh}}|Lane & Singh]]</ref> ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{citation | last = Lane | first = Kieran | last2 = Singh | first2 = Karun | title = Richard Watts | work = Richard Watts Charities | url = http://www.richardwatts.org.uk/richardwatts1.html | access-date = 21 June 2012 }} |
Article text.[1]
|
No closing period: |ps=none
change
Using |ps=none
in {{sfn}}
removes the final period. Compare the two examples. Suppressing the default period (full stop) ensures consistency with Citation style 2, as produced by {{Citation}}
, which does not use a trailing period (full stop) when rendering full citations. The postscript is only effective the first time {{sfn}}
is used for a particular author, year, and location. |ps=
will also suppress terminal punctuation. Follow-on editors who encounter 'empty' parameters can't know if a previous editor intended to leave that parameter blank. Using the keyword none is a positive indication of the previous editor's intent.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text.{{sfn|Smith|2011|ps=none}} == Notes == {{reflist}} |
Article text.[1] |
Article text.{{sfn|Smith|2011}} == Notes == {{reflist}} |
Article text.[1] |
Wikilink to citation does not work
changeIf an article is using this template, and nothing happens when you click on the highlighted wikilink from a Harvard style citation to a full citation at the bottom of the page, there are several possible solutions. If:
- The correct citation does not appear at the bottom of the article. Solution: Find the source (it may be copied from an article on a similar subject), and check that it verifies the text. If the source can't be found, tag the citation with
{{citation not found}}
. - The correct citation appears at the bottom of the article, and
- The Harvard citation uses a template (such as
{{sfn}}
or{{harv}}
):- The citation uses a template from the list at Citation Style 1:
- The name is spelled or capitalized differently here than in the citation. Solution: check the source for the correct spelling, and use the same spelling, spacing, and capitalization in both the short and full citations.
- The year is different here than the citation. Solution: check the source for the correct year, and use the same year in both the short and full citations.
- The template has a
|date=
field and no|year=
field, but the format of the|date=
field is unusual. Solution: Try to fix the date. If the link still does not work, add|year=
to the citation template. (It's okay if it has both.) - The citation does not have an author's, or an editor's, last name (authors take precedence over editors). Solution: check that
|ref={{harvid}}
is set correctly (see below).
- The citation uses a Citation Style Vancouver template. Solution: check that
|harvid=
is set correctly (see below). - The citation uses a template that does not support
|ref=
(See Wikipedia:Citation templates and reference anchors). Solution: Consider modifying the template to support|ref=
. Alternatively, an anchor can be created using{{wikicite|id={{harvid|args}}|reference={{citation}}}}
. - The full citation does not use a template:
- It has no wikicode to create an anchor. Solution: If
{{cite *}}
citation templates are used liberally throughout the article, then reformat the full citation with the appropriate{{cite *}}
template (and set the|ref=
appropriately, if necessary). Otherwise consult with local editors on the talk page about how to proceed. Either add{{cite *}}
templates and{{harv}}
templates, or remove all templates, depending on what local editors prefer. A few articles use{{wikicite}}
to create an anchor as an alternative to standard templates. - It uses a
<cite>...</cite>
span to create an anchor. Solution: remove the cite span (these are deprecated) and proceed following the recommendation immediately above. - It uses
{{wikicite}}
. Solution: Check that the text in|id={{harvid}}
matches the text in{{wikicite}}
.
- It has no wikicode to create an anchor. Solution: If
- The citation uses a template from the list at Citation Style 1:
- If the Harvard citation uses a handwritten wikilink, such as
[[#Reference-Smith2006|Smith (2006)]]
:- The citation uses a citation template which supports
|ref=
(See Wikipedia:Citation templates and reference anchors). Solution: Check that|ref=
is set to a matching id. - Otherwise, check that the reference has
{{wikicite|ref=id|reference=citation}}
with a matching id.
- The citation uses a citation template which supports
- The Harvard citation uses a template (such as
Templates that have broken wikilinks using these templates are added to the category Category:All articles with broken links to citations.
Link works but displays a no target error
changeWhen a short-cite template links to a full citation that is rendered by a template that wraps a CS1 template, like {{cite DNB}}
(which wraps {{cite encyclopedia}}
), a no target error may be displayed even when the short-cite template is valid and the link works. That is a "false positive" error. The error message can be suppresed by adding |ignore-err=yes
to the template.
Other author–date citation templates
changeThere are several templates used to create short citations; they differ in the use and placement of parentheses, in the separator before the page or location, and in whether a terminal full stop (period) is present:
Templates | Aliases | Example |
---|---|---|
{{Harvard citation no brackets}} |
{{harvnb}} |
Smith 2006, p. 25 |
{{Harvard citation}} |
{{harv}} |
(Smith 2006, p. 25) |
{{Harvard citation text}} |
{{harvtxt}} |
Smith (2006, p. 25) |
{{Harvcoltxt}} |
Smith (2006:25) | |
{{Harvcol}} |
(Smith 2006:25) | |
{{Harvcolnb}} |
Smith 2006:25 | |
{{Harvard citations}} |
{{harvs}} |
John Smith (2006, 2007) (and many other forms). |
{{Harvp}} |
Smith (2006), p. 25 | |
{{Harvc}} |
{{Citec}} |
(Cite several contributions/chapters in a larger work) Article text.[1] More article text.[2] Even more article text.[3] References Sources
|
{{Shortened footnote template}} |
{{sfn}} |
Article text.[1]
|
{{Sfnp}} |
Article text.[1]
| |
{{Sfnm}} |
Article text.[1]
| |
{{Sfnmp}} |
Article text.[1]
|
Full citations can be created manually or by templates:
- Citation Style 1 templates
{{citation}}
All of these templates have the same parameters and basic functionality. This page describes all of them except the parameters of {{sfnm}}
and {{harvs}}
; please see their documentation pages. Editors editing one of these templates are requested to make parallel changes to the other versions.
Applications of these templates
changeTemplate {{harv}}
creates a parenthetical reference with a link to the full citation in the references section at the bottom of the article.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text.<ref>{{harv|Smith|2006|p=25}}</ref> ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite book | last = Smith | first = John | title = Smith's book | year = 2006 }} |
|
Shortened footnote: {{sfn}}
or {{harvnb}}
change
Template {{harvnb}}
inside a <ref>
span can be used to create a shortened footnote that is linked to the full citation at the bottom of the article. Template {{sfn}}
(without the use of <ref>
) has the same effect, automatically adds a period (full stop) after the page number, and combines identical footnotes automatically.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text.{{sfn|Smith|2007|p=25}} More article text.{{sfn|Smith|2007|p=25}} Still more article text.{{sfn|Smith|2007|p=26}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite book | last = Smith | first = John | year = 2007 | title = Smith's Book }} |
Article text.[1] More article text.[1] Still more article text.[2]
|
Article text.<ref name=Smith2008p25>{{harvnb|Smith|2008|p=25}}.</ref> More article text.<ref name=Smith2008p25/> Still more article text.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2008|p=26}}.</ref> ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite book | last = Smith | first = John | year = 2008 | title = Smith's Book }} |
Article text.[1] More article text.[1] Still more article text.[2]
|
In text attribution: {{harvtxt}}
change
Template {{harvtxt}}
can be used to link an in-text attribution to the full citation at the bottom of the page.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
According to {{harvtxt|Smith|2009|p=25}} ... ==References== * {{citation | last = Smith | first = John | year = 2009 | title = Smith's Book }} |
According to Smith (2009, p. 25) ...
|
Bundled citation: {{harvnb}}
or {{sfnm}}
change
Template {{harvnb}}
can be used to bundle citations. {{sfnm}}
also produces bundled citations.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text ({{harvnb|Smith|2010|p=25}}; {{harvnb|Jones|2010}}). |
Article text (Smith 2010, p. 25; Jones 2010). |
Article text.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2010|p=25}}; {{harvnb|Jones|2010}}</ref> |
Article text.[1]
|
Article text.{{sfnm|la1=Smith|y1=2010|p1=25|la2=Jones|y2=2010}} |
Article text.[1]
|
==References== * {{cite book | last = Smith | first = John ... Smith's book }} * {{cite book | last = Jones | first = Mary ... Jones' book }} |
|
Note that {{sfn}}
is inappropriate for bundled citations; use {{harvnb}}
or {{sfnm}}
.
More exotic Harvard citations: {{harvid}}
or {{harvs}}
change
More exotic Harvard citations can be constructed using the {{harvs}}
template, such as multiple papers by the same author, using both the first and last names, links to articles about the author, and others. Any kind of unusual link can also be constructed using the idiom [[#{{harvid|
parameters}}|
link name]]
. ({{citeref}} is a wrapper for {{harvid}} making it easier to consistently create such internal links in small superscript[n] or plain-text label styles.)
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
The theory was developed by {{harvs|txt|first=F. J.|last=Murray|author1-link=F. J. Murray|first2=J.|last2=von Neumann|author2-link=John von Neumann|year=1936|year2=1937|year3=1943}}. |
The theory was developed by F. J. Murray and J. von Neumann (1936, 1937, 1943). |
The theory was developed by [[F. J. Murray]] and [[John von Neumann|J. von Neumann]] ([[#{{harvid|Murray|von Neumann|1936}}|1936]],[[#{{harvid|Murray|von Neumann|1937}}|1937]],[[#{{harvid|Murray|von Neumann|1943}}|1943]]). |
The theory was developed by F. J. Murray and J. von Neumann (1936, 1937, 1943). |
== References == * {{citation | last1 = Murray | first1 = F. J. | year = 1936 | ...}} * {{citation | last1 = Murray | first1 = F. J. | year = 1937 | ...}} * {{citation | last1 = Murray | first1 = F. J. | year = 1943 | ...}} |
|
Some articles use this idiom [[#CITEREF
id | link name ]]
. See notes on implementation details below.
Variations
changeUsing colon format: {{harvcol}}
, {{harvcolnb}}
, {{harvcoltxt}}
change
Templates {{harvcol}}
, {{harvcolnb}}
, and {{harvcoltxt}}
use a colon to indicate the page number(s) or location.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
{{harvcol|Smith|2011|p=25}} |
(Smith 2011:25) |
{{harvcolnb|Smith|2011|p=25}} |
Smith 2011:25 |
{{harvcoltxt|Smith|2011|p=25}} |
Smith (2011:25) |
{{harvcol|Smith|2011|p=25–26}} |
(Smith 2011:25–26) |
{{harvcol|Smith|2011|loc=chpt. 3}} |
(Smith 2011:chpt. 3) |
Template {{sfnp}}
puts parentheses around the year. Compare the two examples.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Article text.{{sfnp|Smith|2011}} == Notes == {{reflist}} |
Article text.[1] |
Article text.{{sfn|Smith|2011}} == Notes == {{reflist}} |
Article text.[1] |
Similarly, in order to mimic Citation Style 1 citations, template {{harvp}}
puts parentheses around the year.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
{{harvp|Smith|2011|p=25}} |
Smith (2011), p. 25 |
Implementation notes
changeThese templates use two elements: a wikilink in the body of the article, and an anchor in the reference section of the article. Clicking on the wikilink repositions the page at the anchor.
The most common citation templates are Citation Style 1 or Citation Style 2. By default, Module:Citation/CS1 and {{Citation/core}}
create an anchor <a name="CITEREF">
followed by the concatenation of the following parameters:
- last or last1 or surname or surname1 or author or author1 or authors,
- last2 or surname2 or author2,
- last3 or surname3 or author3,
- last4 or surname4 or author4,
- editor-last or editor-surname or editor1-last or editor1-surname or editor or editors,
- editor2-last or editor2-surname,
- editor3-last or editor3-surname,
- editor4-last or editor4-surname,
- year.
This covers the most common templates. Information about all of the templates is available at Wikipedia:Citation templates and reference anchors.
Use of the date parameter in place of the year parameter in citation templates is preferred when full dates are known.
The Harvard citation templates create a wikilink to the anchor. For example {{Harv|Smith|2006|p=25}}
produces the link #CITEREFSmith2006
and {{Citation|last=Smith|first=John|date=27 January 2006|title=My Life}}
produces the anchor CITEREFSmith2006
.
Using CITEREF directly
changeA few articles create a custom ID using CITEREF
, either in place of the Harvard citation template (e.g. [[#CITEREFSmith2006|(2006)]]
) or as a value for |ref=
in the citation template.
A custom ID must follow these rules:
- Names are case-sensitive. Please do not use raNdOM capitalization.
- Names must not be purely numeric; the software will accept something like
":1"
(which is punctuation plus a number), but it will ignore"1"
(purely numeric). - Names should have semantic value, so that they can be more easily distinguished from each other by human editors who are looking at the wikitext. This means that ref names like
"Nguyen 2010"
are preferred to names like":1"
. - Names must be unique. You may not use the same name to define different groups or footnotes.
- Please consider keeping reference names simple and restricted to the standard English alphabet and numerals. Failing that, if spaces are used, the following technical restrictions become relevant:
- Quotation marks are preferred but optional if the only characters used are letters
A–Z
,a–z
, digits0–9
, and the symbols!$%&()*,-.:;<@[]^_`{|}~
. That is, all printable ASCII characters except#"'/=>?\
. - Inclusion of any other characters, including spaces, requires that the reference name be enclosed in quotes; for example,
name="John Smith"
. - The quote marks must be the standard, straight, double quotation marks (
"
); curly or other quotes will be parsed as part of the reference name. - Quote-enclosed reference names may not include a less-than sign (
<
) or a double straight quote symbol ("
). These may be escaped with<
and"
, respectively.
- Quotation marks are preferred but optional if the only characters used are letters
- If CITEREF is used, then spaces in the
|ref=
field must be replaced with underscores - You may optionally provide reference names even when the reference name is not required. This makes later re-use of the sourced reference easier.
Examples:
Where cite_name is a name such as the publisher.
To avoid the sometimes difficult to remember syntax for links to CITEREF anchors, {{citeref}} can be used to create internal wikilinks with either small superscript-style labels (like this[n]) or plain free-text labels to such anchors. It can be used inside of other citations.
Note that the CITEREF
prefix is necessary for the reference tooltips gadget (MediaWiki:Gadget-ReferenceTooltips.js) to detect that a link goes to a citation.
Template {{sfn}}
creates a named footnote, so that identical footnotes are combined automatically. The footnote name begins with FOOTNOTE
followed by a concatenation of the arguments to {{sfn}}
. E.g.: this template call {{sfn|Smith|2006|p=26}}
should have exactly the same functionality as <ref name="FOOTNOTESmith200626">{{Harvnb}}</ref>
which, in turn, has the same functionality as <ref name="FOOTNOTESmith200626">[[#CITEREFSmith2006|Smith (2006)]], p. 26</ref>
.
The ref name becomes more complicated when the page (p) parameter includes a URL, e.g. {{sfn|Joyce|1903|p=213}}
, which, once defined, can be called by <ref name="FOOTNOTEJoyce1903[httpsarchiveorgdetailsaconcisehistory00joycgoogpagen226 213]" />
. The "p=" and the characters |,:,.,/,?,=; are therefore stripped out of the URL.
The call to {{harvnb}}
has been subst'ed for quicker load times.