Help:Footnotes


 * See also Manual of Style/Footnotes for further details.



This page explains how to create footnotes using the, , and   tags. The most common use of footnotes in Wikipedia articles is to provide references (inline citations) in articles, although footnotes can also be used for other purposes.

For policy about the need for citations and choice of sources to cite, see Verifiability. For how to format the citations, see Citing sources. For another method of presenting inline citations, see Parenthetical references.

Overview
The footnoting system involves two elements: The text of a footnote is placed in the page's editable text, between  tags, at the point where the footnote marker is to appear. The list of footnotes is generated using the  tag (or a corresponding template), placed in the editable text at the point where the footnotes are to appear. If the page contains footnote markers but no footnote list, a red warning message will appear.
 * Footnote markers. These are links, usually in the form [1], [2], etc., which appear in the page text. 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.

Creating a footnote
At the point in the page text where the footnote marker is to appear, enter the text of the footnote like this:



This will create a footnote marker (automatically numbered). The footnote text itself will appear in the footnote list, generated as described in the next section. If there is no footnote list, a red warning message will appear, reminding you to generate the list.

You can include formatting and links in a footnote in the usual way, although note that certain features, such as the pipe trick, will not work in footnotes.

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"), insert the tag:



A commonly used alternative, which also introduces some formatting, is to use the Reflist template:



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).

Multiple references to the same footnote
It is possible to refer to the same footnote more than once, i.e. 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  parameter of the   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:



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):



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 a numeric integer. The quotes are optional unless the name or group includes a space, punctuation or other mark. Names should be kept simple and restricted to the standard English alphabet and numerals.

Using templates to insert reference text
A number of templates, such as a generic citation, or more specific cite book, cite web, etc., are available to format the text between  and   tags in a more structured way. These are described at Citation templates. Their use is optional: they do aid with consistent formatting, but on the other hand they can make editing more cumbersome.

References or footnotes missing
When you want to note that a reference is needed, use the template fact within the text, in the same place where the  should be.

If many footnotes and/or references are needed consider tagging the article with a specific template, instead of tagging every reference needed.

What it looks like
The  tags in the main text are converted to auto-numbered superscripts, and fact is expanded to "citation needed", like this:

Clicking on a numbered superscript takes you straight to the text of the corresponding footnote or reference.

The


 * }

This part of the text requires clarification, whereas the entire text is cited.

may be used to nest references. The markup is:
 * Notes



where refcontent may include  tags. The name and groupname are optional, but must come after refcontent. A named #tag:ref construct may be reused by invoking:



Further information can be found at WP:REFNEST

Footnotes may also be listed at the ends of each section of text by closing the Reflist template with the "close" parameter, as shown in the box just above.

List-defined references
As of September 2009, the cite software allows named references to be defined within the reference list rather than in the article text. This can make editing articles much easier, particularly on heavily cited sections. For example:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

This can also be done using the Reflist template with a refs parameter. If desired, the group parameter can be used to group references for the template:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes. How razorback-jumping frogs can level six piqued gymnasts.


 * Notes


 * References

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes. How razorback-jumping frogs can level six piqued gymnasts.


 * Notes


 * References

Technical note
A MediaWiki site (such as Wikipedia) must have the extension implemented to have the   and   tags rendered. Extensions like  are installed after installing MediaWiki.