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Help:Growth/How to create help contents/Examples/Add a citation

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How to add a Citation

Citations are vital to make Wikipedia reliable. This page explains how to add a citation to an article, using different tools.

Why add citations

Citations are needed to make Wikipedia reliable. With citations, readers can check where the information comes from.

You need a proper source to add a citation. Sources are needed to make Wikipedia reliable. With sources, readers can check where the information comes from.

Read more about sources.

How to

Desktop (visual edit)

  1. On an Article page, click "Edit".
  2. Click at the end of the sentence you want to add a citation to.
  3. In the toolbar at the top of the page, click on   Cite.
  4. A panel opens with 3 options:
    1. "Automatic" allows you to add a new citation from an external resource (Enter a link or reference code (ISBN, DOI or other) to create a citation). Add the citation you want to use, then click on "Create".
      This feature may have some troubles. Please check the Troubleshootings section.
    2. "Manual" allows you to insert a Citation using templates or a blank field.
    3. "Re-use" allows you to re-use a Citation already used on the page.
  5. Click on "Insert" to add the Citation. A new footnote call appears where you've inserted the Citation.

  Note: Don't forget to save your work when done!

Troubleshootings

  • The "Automatic" feature may not work for your Citation. Use "Manual" mode instead.
  • The "Automatic" feature may miss some information, or add some information at the wrong place. Click on "Insert", and then on "Edit" to change the wrong elements.

Desktop (source edit)

  1. On an Article page, click "Edit source".
  2. Click at the end of the sentence you want to add a citation to.
  3. To add a Citation:
    • Click on the icon  . It will add the wikitext code for Citations to the text: ‎<ref>...‎</ref>
    • Type ‎<ref> and ‎</ref>
  4. Type the details of the Citation between the ‎<ref> and ‎</ref> codes, for instance:
    <ref> Author, Title, Date, Publisher</ref>

  Note: It is possible to use some templates to format the Citation you're going to add.
  Note: Don't forget to save your work when done!

Mobile (visual edit)

  Note: This feature is only available on the mobile Website. For apps, see Wikitext (mobile).

  1. On an Article page, click on   Edit.
  2. Click at the end of the sentence you want to add a citation to.
  3. Type <ref: a dialog box opens
  4. Type the details of the Citation in the dialog box, for instance:
    Author, Title, Date, Publisher

  Note: It is possible to use some templates to format the Citation you're going to add.
  Note: Don't forget to save your work when done!

Mobile (source edit)

  1. On an Article page, click on   Edit.
  2. Click at the end of the sentence you want to add a citation to.
  3. Type ‎<ref> and ‎</ref>
  4. Type the details of the Citation between the ‎<ref> and ‎</ref> codes, for instance:
    <ref> Author, Title, Date, Publisher</ref>
      Note: It is possible to use some templates to format the Citation you're going to add.
  5. Click on "Insert" to add the Citation. A new footnote call appears where you've inserted the Citation.

  Note: Don't forget to save your work when done!

See also

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