Template:Citation needed/doc

Citation needed (also known by the redirects Cn and Fact) is a template used to identify questionable claims that lack citation to a reliable source. The template produces a superscripted notation like the following:


 * Humphrey Bogart has won several snooker world championships..

While Humphrey Bogart may have played snooker at some point and may have won a tournament at one time, there is no reliable, published source to verify this. Also it is not common knowledge.

TemplateData
{	"description": "", "params": { "name": {}, "reason": {}, "date": { "autovalue": " ", "suggested": true }	} }

Usage
Notes:
 * Substitution of this template will automatically fill the date parameter.
 * If you don't add a date parameter, a bot will date your entry with the month and year at a later time.
 * The date parameter consists of the name of the current month and the year only, not full dates. The names of the months are capitalised in English. Any deviation from these two rules will result in an "invalid date parameter" error.

It is also recommended to add the (non-displayed) reason parameter to leave a better record for future editors. For example, the following usage might be appropriate to the claim that "Humphrey Bogart has won several snooker world championships.":

Please remove the template when you add a citation for a statement.

Examples


The above wikitext will render as follows:


 * This sentence shows the template used at the end.

The template should be inserted after punctuation, such as a period or comma.

When not to use this template
The template is intended for use when there is a general question of the verifiability of a statement, or when an editor believes that a reference verifying the statement should be provided. Other templates are available for other or more specific issues, see the list of inline templates. For example, claims that you think are incorrect should be tagged with Dubious, and those which represent a non-neutral view should be tagged with POV-statement. Being specific about the nature of the problem will help other editors correct it.

If you have the time and ability to find an authoritative reference, please do so. Then add the citation yourself, or correct the article text. After all, the ultimate goal is not to merely identify problems, but to fix them.

How to respond to this tag
The addition of this tag is a request for an inline citation to support the tagged statement. If you are able to provide a citation to support the claim, then please do so.

There is no specific deadline for providing citations. Please do not delete information that you believe is correct simply because no-one has provided a citation within an arbitrary time limit.

Inline templates

 * Cite quote: for "actual quotations" which need citations to make them proper
 * Clarify: request clarification of wording or interpretation
 * Examples: request examples for clarification
 * Nonspecific: flag a general, yet factual statement as needing to be made more specific before it can be verified
 * Page needed: request a page number for an existing citation

Highlighting some text that needs a citation

 * Citation needed span(Cn-span/(Fact span: : similar, except that it outlines the text that needs a citation with a box
 * Reference necessary: : lightly underlines the text that needs a reference

Incomplete citations

 * Full: in-line request for full citation, for example when only (Author, YEAR) is given.
 * Page needed: in-line request for the page number or page numbers in a work such as journal for an existing citation.
 * Season needed, similar to page needed: for missing TV season & episode number.
 * Volume needed, similar to page needed: for missing journal, newspaper, comic, etc., volume and issue numbers).

Verification

 * Better source: flags a statement as requiring a better source.
 * Dead link: request a fix for a dead external link within a paragraph or a reference citation.
 * Failed verification: source was checked, and did not contain the cited material.
 * Request quotation: request a direct quote from an inaccessible source, for verification purposes.
 * Self-published inline: flag a source that cites the author.
 * Source need translation: Self explanatory. See WP:NONENG for policy requirements
 * Verify credibility: flag a source as possibly being unreliable and/or unverifiable.
 * Verify source: request that someone verify the cited source backs up the material in the passage.

Content

 * Definition: flag a definition as being ambiguous/confusing
 * Dubious: flag something as suspected of being incorrect
 * Technical-statement: ...flag a word or phrase Make technical articles understandable
 * Or: flag something as possibly containing original research
 * Peacock term: Avoid peacock terms too
 * POV-statement: dispute the neutrality of a passage
 * Quantify: flag a statement as being vague regarding the amount of something
 * Chronology citation needed: request a source confirming or providing the chronology or timeline of a statement
 * Undue-inline: show that a statement does not ascribe appropriate weight to its sources, according to their prominence; use in preference to...
 * Vague: flag a statement that is too vague to be unambiguously verifiable.
 * Weasel-inline: flag for weasel word cleanup
 * When: flags a particular time period as being vague or ambiguous
 * Who: for placement after descriptions of a group of persons
 * By whom: placement after mention of a vague third party claim that is not sourced
 * Whom?

Timeliness

 * Update after: a template that only shows itself after a specified time, indicating an exceptional statement that will date quickly