Template:More citations needed/doc

"Template:Additional citations" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Template:Additional citation needed.

"Template:Not verified" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Template:Failed verification.

"Template:Verify" redirects here. For the template used to request clarification of the preceding sentence, see Template:Clarify.

Usage

When to use

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.

For articles that have no inline citations at all, but contain some sources, use Template:No footnotes. Only use Template:Unreferenced for articles that have no references at all.

• For articles about living persons, the more specific template {{BLP sources}} should be used instead.
• For articles containing biomedical information, the more specific template {{Medref}} should be used instead.
• Please consider marking individual unreferenced statements with {{Citation needed}} 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=November 2024}} and if you are certain then add the parameters {{Unreliable source|certain=y|reason=your WP:RS-based reason here.|date=November 2024}}

How to use

Listed below are four examples of usage:

{{More citations needed}}

{{Refimprove|date=November 2024}}

{{Citations missing|section}}  (the same as {{Refimprove section}})

This can be made smaller with {{Cleanup-verify|section|small=y}} or {{Cite-section|small=y}}

{{Not verified|section|{{subst:DATE}}|talk=Talk page section name|small=y}}

According to MOS:LAYOUT, maintenance templates such as this one ought be placed after hatnotes, at the start of the article. That placement is supported by consensus obtained in an RfC at Template talk:More citations needed § RfC: Location of Tag.

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, to the top of the page.

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. A bot will add this parameter if it is omitted. Be careful not to abbreviate the date, because then it will automatically add a redlinked category instead of the correct category. The simplest way to use this parameter manually is {{More sources|{{subst:DATE}}}} but it can be done more explicitly as {{Improverefs|date=November 2024}} (both result in the same output). Do not use {{+R|date={{subst:DATE}}}}: {{subst:DATE}} includes the leading date=.

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

This template adds the article to Category:Articles needing additional references from November 2024, and Category:All articles needing additional references, both hidden categories.

General advantage

• The naming scheme of Refimprove parallels that used for {{Refbegin}}, {{Refend}}, and {{Reflist}}, thereby reducing confusion, in compliance with the KISS principle.

Differences from related templates

{{BLP sources}}

• Use BLP sources in articles about living persons that need additional references. If the article needs additional references but is not about a living or recently deceased subject, then use More citations needed.

{{Unreferenced}} and {{Citation needed}}

• Use Unreferenced when there are no inline citations in an article. If there are one or more, but insufficient inline citations in an article, then use More citations needed.
• However, if an article has sufficient inline citations, but the article lacks citations to cover specific information (such as no citation on a quotation) then use the inline citation template {{Citation needed}} to indicate more precisely where additional citations are needed. Unlike Citation needed, More citations needed places a very conspicuous banner in the article.
• There are also {{Refimprove section}} and {{Unreferenced section}} for problems that are not article-wide.
• If you decide to change the tag from Unreferenced to More citations needed, don't forget to update the date stamp in the tag.

{{Primary sources}}

• If an article has sufficient inline citations, but if the citations in an article are from primary sources (see WP:USEPRIMARY), then use {{Primary sources}}.

{{Third-party sources}}

• If an article has sufficient inline citations, but if the citations in an article are from sources affiliated with the subject (see WP:INDY), then use {{Third-party}}.

{{One source}}

• If an article has exactly one source and that single source is likely to result in bias or other problems in the article (e.g., it cites one fringe-y book instead of a good textbook), then use {{One source}}.

{{Medical citations needed}}

• If the article contains biomedical information, sources must meet the standards of WP:MEDRS ("it is vital that the biomedical information in articles be based on reliable, third-party, published sources and accurately reflect current medical knowledge"). If there are inline citations for biomedical information, but they do not meet the required standards, then use {{Medref}}.

{{Citation style}}

• The More citations needed template is intended for use in articles that need additional citations, while citation style template is used to request consistency within the citations present in an article (see WP:CITEVAR). For example, when there is a mixture of footnotes or parenthetical references.

{{No footnotes}}, {{More footnotes}}

• More citations needed can be used when there is no "References" or "Further reading" section in the article.

Redirects

Include:

1. {{+r}}
2. {{+R}}
3. {{Citations needed}}
4. {{Citations missing}}
5. {{Cite sources}}
6. {{Cleanup-cite}}
7. {{Cleanup-verify}}
8. {{Cleanup cite}}
9. {{Few references}}
10. {{Few refs}}
11. {{Fewreferences}}
12. {{Fewrefs}}
13. {{Improve-refs}}
14. {{Improve references}}
15. {{Improve refs}}
16. {{Improvereferences}}
17. {{Improverefs}}
18. {{Missing citations}}
19. {{More references}}
20. {{More sources}}
21. {{Moreref}}
22. {{Morereferences}}
23. {{Morerefs}}
24. {{Moresources}}
25. {{Not verified}}
26. {{Notverified}}
27. {{Ref-improve}}
28. {{Ref improve}}
29. {{Refimprove}}
30. {{Sources}}
31. {{Verification}}
32. {{Verify}}

Template data

This is the TemplateData documentation for this template used by VisualEditor and other tools; see the monthly error report for this template.

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.

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Type (typically section)	1	This parameter allows an editor to replace the default word "article" with another word, usually the word "section" Default article Example section	String	optional
Month and year	date	The month and year that the need for citations is identified, such as 'June 2013'; may use '{{subst:DATE}}' template instead; if not specified, this parameter will be filled automatically by a bot Auto value {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}	String	suggested
See talk page	talk	Any value (such as 'y') for this parameter will result in the addition of 'See talk page for details.' to the tag Example y	Boolean	optional
Small	small	Set to 'y' to make the template box smaller Default n Example y	Boolean	optional

See also

• {{Refbegin}}
• {{Refend}}
• {{Reflist}}
• {{Verify source}}
• Template:Citation needed/doc#Inline templates
• Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup/Verifiability and sources