Template:Citation needed
{{Citation needed}} (also known by the redirects {{Cn}} and {{Fact}}) is a template used to identify questionable claims that lack a citation to a reliable source. The template produces a superscripted notation like the following:
- Humphrey Bogart has won several snooker world championships.
Usage
You may append a date to the template in the following format:
{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}
Notes:
- Substitution of this template will automatically fill the date parameter.
- The date parameter consists of the name of the current month and the year only, not full dates. The names of the months are capitalized 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.":
{{Citation needed|reason=please give a reliable source for this assertion. I thought he was an actor.}}
Adding this template to an article places the article into Category:Pages needing sources.
Please remove the template when you add a citation for a statement.
Examples
This sentence shows the template used at the end.{{Citation needed|reason=reliable source needed for the whole sentence}}
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
Unsourced or poorly sourced contentious material about living persons should be removed immediately. Do not tag it: immediately remove it.
Material that is doubtful and harmful may be removed immediately, rather than tagged.
The {{cn}} 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. 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 page text. After all, the ultimate goal is not to merely identify problems, but to fix them.
While an editor may add this template to any uncited passage for any reason, many editors object to what they perceive as overuse of this tag, particularly in what is known as "drive-by" tagging, which is applying the tag without attempting to address the issues at all. Consider whether adding this tag in a page is the best approach before using it, and use it judiciously. Wikibooks' original research policy does not require reliable sources for common facts (e.g., "The Moon orbits the Earth"), or that citations be repeated through every sentence in a paragraph. All direct quotations and facts whose accuracy might be challenged (e.g., statistics) require citations.
This template is intended for specific passages that need citation. For entire pages or sections that contain significant material lacking sources (rather than just specific short passages), there are other, more appropriate templates, such as {{Unreferenced}} or {{Refimprove}}.
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.
Except for certain kinds of claims about living people, which require immediate production of inline citations, 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. Where there is some uncertainty about its accuracy, most editors are willing to wait about a month to see whether a citation can be provided.