Template:Unreferenced/doc

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{{Unr}}

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Unreferenced.
It contains usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

This template is used on 230,000+ pages.
To avoid large-scale disruption and unnecessary server load, any changes to it should first be tested in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. The tested changes can then be added to this page in a single edit. Please consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

If you plan to make breaking changes to this template, move it, or nominate it for deletion, please notify Twinkle's users and maintainers at Wikipedia talk:Twinkle as a courtesy, as this template is used in the standard installation of Twinkle. Thank you!

This template should only be used on articles that have no citations or references at all. Don't add this template to articles that contain even one general reference, parenthetical reference, or citation-containing footnote. A citation is any description of a reliable source that supports any of the article content, even a bare URL. The format of the citation and the name of the section heading are not what determines whether a link or citation is a source.

Usage

When to use

You may add this template only to articles that contain zero citations or references of any kind.

Do not add this template:

In articles that have some citations, but not enough, the {{More citations needed}} template should be used instead as a general template, or the {{Unreferenced section}} template for individual sections that have no citations.
In articles containing a list of sources at the end, but no inline citations, including parenthetical references or in-text attributions, consider {{no footnotes}} when the article would be significantly improved by detailed attribution of sources to specific claims.
Watch out for lists of general references that someone has incorrectly listed under ==External links==. If the link leads to a reliable source that supports some article content, then that website is a reference, not an external link.
Other templates, listed below, should be used when the citations are inadequate for other reasons.

Alternatives:

Be bold! Consider searching for sources and citing them in the article, instead of adding this template.
In articles about people and businesses, consider using the more specific {{Third-party sources}} template, to encourage citation of WP:Independent sources rather than the subject's own website.
See Wikipedia:Biographies of living people for guidance on dealing with unreferenced biographies of living people.
Consider not adding this template to very brief stubs, since anyone visiting the page can see, in a single glance, that it contains no citations.

How to use

{{Unreferenced|date=November 2024}}

or

{{subst:Unreferenced}}

Substitution of this template will automatically fill the date parameter.

To flag an individual section as being unreferenced, use the {{Unreferenced section}} template, which categorizes more narrowly:

{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2024}}

Date parameter: The date parameter is (generally^[1]) used to indicate when the template was added to a page. An example of its usage is {{Unreferenced|date=November 2024}}. Adding this parameter sorts the article into monthly subcategories of Category:Articles lacking sources, rather than adding it to Category:Articles lacking sources itself, allowing the oldest problems to be identified and dealt with first. If the date parameter is omitted, a bot will add it later.

General information

This template can either be placed at the top of an article, at the bottom of the article page (in an empty "References" or "Notes" section—usually just before a {{Reflist}} template), or on the article's talk page.

TemplateData

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

TemplateData for Unreferenced

This template generates a tag to indicate that the article has no citations.

Template parameters
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Type (section)	`1`	Something to replace the word "article", normally "section". This is a legacy feature, and this usage has been replaced with separate '{{Unreferenced section}}' template. Auto value	String	optional
Month and year	`date`	Provides the month and year of the citation request; e.g., 'January 2013', but not 'jan13' Auto value `{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}`	String	suggested

Tracking categories

Footnotes

↑ Because of the nature of the workflow using the current date makes sense, it is simpler to add, especially for the WP:bots it means that older dated categories do not have to be constantly created and deleted, and it enables some measure of progress. Moreover it is "good enough" to get the articles into the workflow and the intention is to ensure they are cleaned up eventually. Occasionally however it may be useful to bulk add items, to older categories, for example when the system was initially set up, when merging two schemes or when adding to the current month would swamp it disproportionately.

[date-1] Because of the nature of the workflow using the current date makes sense, it is simpler to add, especially for the WP:bots it means that older dated categories do not have to be constantly created and deleted, and it enables some measure of progress. Moreover it is "good enough" to get the articles into the workflow and the intention is to ensure they are cleaned up eventually. Occasionally however it may be useful to bulk add items, to older categories, for example when the system was initially set up, when merging two schemes or when adding to the current month would swamp it disproportionately.

[1]

v t e Citation and verifiability article maintenance templates
Sourcing	{{Better source}} {{Category unsourced}} {{Uncited category}} {{Circular}} {{Excessive citations}} {{Failed verification}} {{Further reading cleanup}} {{More citations needed}} {{More footnotes}} {{No footnotes}} {{One source}} {{One source section}} {{Only primary sources}} {{NRIS-only}} {{Partisan sources}} {{Primary sources}} {{Refimprove section}} {{Refexample}} {{Religious text primary}} {{Self-published}} {{Third-party}} {{Unreferenced}} {{Unreferenced section}} {{Unreliable sources}} {{User-generated}}
BLP specific	{{BLP unsourced}} {{BLP unsourced section}} {{BLP primary sources}} {{BLP self-published}} {{BLP sources}} {{BLP sources section}} {{BLP IMDb-only refimprove}} {{BLP IMDb refimprove}} {{BLP no footnotes}} {{BLP more footnotes}} {{BLP one source}}
Topic specific	{{Media IMDb refimprove}} {{Local}} {{Medical citations needed}} {{Neologism}} {{Refimprove science}} {{Science review}} {{Unreferenced-law}} {{Unreferenced-law section}} {{Unreferenced-medical section}}
Dispute related	{{Cite check}} {{Disputed}} {{Dispute about}} {{Disputed section}} {{Expert needed}} {{Original research}} {{Original research section}} {{Speculation}} {{Speculation section}} {{Synthesis}} {{Verifiability}} {{Verify sources}}
Citation improvements	{{Bad linked references}} {{Citation style}} {{Citations broken}} {{Cleanup bare URLs}} {{Cleanup partial cites}} {{Format footnotes}} {{Ibid}} {{Page numbers improve}} {{Page numbers needed}} {{Time needed}}
General advice	Citing sources Reliable sources Maintenance template removal Citation needed Find sources Combining sources Referencing styles

Template:Unreferenced/doc

Contents

Usage

When to use

How to use

General information

Categorization

Differences from related templates

Short-cut

TemplateData

Tracking categories

See also

Footnotes