Template:Citation needed/doc

Citation needed is a template used to identify claims in articles, particularly if questionable, that need a citation to a reliable source. This template produces the superscripted message and is installed with no spaces directly after punctuation.

Use


Notes:
 * To automatically add the current date, you can use substitution:.
 * The date parameter need not be added by the editor: if not entered, it will be worked out for you. The date parameter consists of the full English name of the current month with initial capital, a space, and the year, not full dates; e.g., "January 2013", but not "jan13". Any deviation from these two rules will result in an "invalid date parameter" error.
 * The reason parameter is optional but often helpful. It is displayed as a tooltip in some browsers (hover the mouse here to check behaviour of your browser). For example, the following usage might be appropriate to the claim that "Humphrey Bogart has won several snooker world championships":


 * Use only plain text for the reason parameter. It does not support wiki markup like wikilinks, which can "mess up" the tooltip.
 * Double quotation marks used within the reason parameter will likewise "mess up" the tooltip; use single quotes or the HTML code  instead.
 * Use of this template places the article into Category:All articles with unsourced statements and Category:Articles with unsourced statements from 2024 (example; past years are listed in Category:Articles with unsourced statements).
 * This template should be installed directly after punctuation, such as a full stop (period) or a comma.
 * Remove the template when you add a citation for a statement.

Example 1


This wikitext will be rendered as follows:


 * This sentence shows the template used at the end.

Example 2


The template indicates that it may be that Humphrey Bogart played snooker at some point and it may be that he won some tournaments at some point but no reliable, published sources were given to verify it and the information is not considered common knowledge.

Example 3
If it is considered that he might have won just one tournament, the template may be placed accordingly; and a reason for the need of a citation may be given, displayed when the mouse hovers on "citation needed":




 * Humphrey Bogart has won several snooker world championships.

Tracking categories

 * – a hidden maintenance/tracking category which is added to pages using this template with unnamed parameter