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To use it, click on Cite at the top of the edit window, having already positioned your cursor after the sentence or fact you wish to reference. Then select one of the 'Templates' from the dropdown menu that best suits the type of source.
The easiest way to start citing on Wikipedia is to see a basic example. The example here will show you how to cite a newspaper article using the {} template (see Citation quick reference for other types of citations). Copy and paste the following immediately after what you want to reference:
When editing, you'll see your reference next to the text; but after saving, readers will only see a reference number there; your reference should appear below. Good luck! If you get a warning about a missing "References" section at the end of the page, just add it:
A named reference or a sfn reference pair is transfered into the page by the standard copy and paste technique. Other Tools Re-Fill and Ref-links edit references by adding basic information to bare URLs in citations. Wikipedia tool for Google Books converts a long Google Books URL into a filled-out {} template which is pasted into an article.
Help:Referencing for beginners; Help:Referencing for beginners without using templates; Help:Referencing for beginners with citation templates; Help:Footnotes; Help:References and page numbers; Wikipedia:VisualEditor/User guide#Adding a new reference; Wikipedia:References dos and don'ts; Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources
The following tools can help you assemble a citation from limited information, with limited effort, although you should check their output for accuracy. These are tools with a variety of interfaces that provide a complete formatted reference based on a few initial details.
For a citation to appear in a footnote, it needs to be enclosed in "ref" tags. You can add these by typing <ref> at the front of the citation and </ref> at the end. . Alternatively you may notice above the edit box there is a row of "markup" formatting buttons which include a <ref></ref> button to the right—if you highlight your whole citation and then click this markup button, it will ...
If what appears is the "Reference" icon, clicking on it opens the Reference dialog, where you can edit the reference's contents. Many wikis use templates to format references automatically. If a template is used in your reference, then all the text in the template will be highlighted when you click on the reference information.