Template:More citations needed/doc

Usage[edit]

When to use[edit]

This template indicates that the article needs additional inline citations. This template should be used only for articles where there are some, but insufficient, inline citations to support the material currently in the article. Don't use this tag for articles that contain no unreferenced material, even if all the material is supported by a single citation.

Some editors understand this template to be redundant when it is used on articles clearly marked as stubs since by definition stubs are unlikely to be well referenced. Only use Template:Unreferenced for articles that have no references at all.

  • Please consider marking individual unreferenced statements with the {{Citation needed}} inline template, instead of placing this template.
  • If most of an article is supported by inline citations and a few of those use unreliable sources, use {{Unreliable source?|date=April 2024}} and if you are certain, then add the parameters {{Unreliable source|certain=y|reason=your reason here.|date=April 2024}}

Placement

As with all maintenance templates, such as this one, they should (except when section-specific) be placed after hatnotes, at the start of the article.

User warning

A user warning template, {{uw-refimprove}}, is available to notify contributors that an article they created needs its referencing improved.

Auto-categorization

This template adds the article to Category:Articles needing additional references.

Parameters[edit]

There are six parameters, one positional, and five named parameters. All parameters are optional.

  • |1= – scope of notification (e.g., 'section', 'article') default: 'article'.
  • |date= – month name and year; e.g. 'April 2024' (no default)
  • |small= – set to left or no; see details at Ambox. Default: standard-width banner.
  • |talk= – title of talk page section where discussion can be found

Details[edit]

Talk parameter

A |talk= parameter is allowed; setting this to any value will result in the message "See talk page for details." being included in the tag. If the value is a valid anchor on the talk page (e.g., the title of a section or subsection heading), then the talk page link will go directly to that anchor; if not, then to the top of the page.

Date parameter

This template also includes support for using the |date= parameter. Adding this parameter sorts the article into subcategories of Category:Articles needing additional references and out of the parent category, allowing the oldest problems to be identified and dealt with first. The simplest way to use this parameter manually is {{More citations needed|{{subst:DATE}}}}, but it can be done more explicitly as {{More citations needed|date=April 2024}} (both result in the same output). Do not use {{More citations needed|date={{subst:DATE}}}} because {{subst:DATE}} already includes the leading date= code.

Examples[edit]

Listed below are several examples of usage:

{{More citations needed|date=April 2024}} or the common redirect: {{Refimprove|date=April 2024}}
{{More citations needed|section|date=April 2024}} 
The template can be made smaller with {{More citations needed|section|small=y}}
{{More citations needed|section|{{subst:DATE}}|talk=Talk page section name|small=y}}

Differences from related templates[edit]

{{Unreferenced}} and {{Citation needed}}[edit]

  • Use Unreferenced when there are no citations of any kind in an article. If citations have been added to an article, but they are insufficient, then use More citations needed.
  • Alternatively, if an article has sufficient inline citations, but lacks citations covering specific information (such as missing a citation on a quotation), then use the inline citation template {{Citation needed}} to indicate more precisely where additional citations are needed. Unlike the inline Citation needed, More citations needed is placed as a general banner at the top of an article.
  • If you decide to change a tag from Unreferenced to More citations needed, don't forget to update the date stamp in the tag, if necessary.

TemplateData[edit]

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools.

TemplateData for More citations needed

This template generates a tag to indicate that the article needs additional inline citations.

Template parameters

This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.

ParameterDescriptionTypeStatus
Affected area1

Text to replace the word "article", usually "section"

Example
section
Lineoptional
Talk page sectiontalk

Section name on the talk page for further discussion

Lineoptional
Make template smallsmall

Enter any text here to make the template box small and aligned to the left.

Example
y
Auto value
y
Lineoptional
Month and yeardate

The month and year that the template was placed (in full). "{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}" inserts the current month and year automatically.

Example
June 2013
Auto value
{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}
Linesuggested
Namename

no description

Unknownoptional

Redirects[edit]

Include:

See also[edit]