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Help:References and page numbers

This help page is a how-to guide. It details processes or procedures of some aspect(s) of Wikipedia's norms and practices. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels of consensus and vetting.

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When citing sources in Wikipedia articles, the citation must clearly support the material as presented in the article, per the verifiability policy. It helps to give a page number or page range—or a section, chapter, or other division of the source—because then the reader does not have to carefully review the whole cited source to find the relevant supporting evidence, which promotes efficient source checking. This page shows examples of various ways to include a page number or page range in citations as well as various ways to cite the same source multiple times with different page numbers. It also summarizes ways to include other in-source locations.

The following examples use Citation Style 1 templates, but these are not required (see the section Inline citations in the guideline Citing sources for alternatives). For a basic introduction to citation templates, see Help:Referencing for beginners with citation templates.

This example uses Footnotes.

This example is the most basic and includes unique references for each citation, showing the page numbers in the reference list. This repeats the citation, changing the page number. A disadvantage is that this can create a lot of redundant text in the reference list when a source is cited many times. So consider using one of the alternatives listed in the sections below this one.

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.<ref>{{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972 |page=5}}</ref> Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.<ref>{{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972 |pages=6–7}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

The following two examples use Shortened footnotes, showing the author(s) and date and page number(s) in the notes list and a separate list for the full reference. An advantage is that the list of full references can be sorted arbitrarily—for example, by author last name or by publication date. A disadvantage is that it is necessary to have two separate sections for short and full references.

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.<ref>{{harvtxt|Elk|1972|p=5}}</ref> Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.<ref>{{harvnb|Elk|1972|p=6–7}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972}}
{{refend}}

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.{{sfn|Elk|1972a|p=5}} Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.{{sfn|Elk|1972a|p=6–7}}

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972a}}
{{refend}}

The next example shows that it is possible to mix Footnotes and Shortened footnotes with the full reference in the first footnote and shortened footnotes for subsequent references. An advantage is that it is not necessary to have two separate sections for short and full references. A disadvantage is that the full references cannot be sorted arbitrarily—for example, by author last name or by publication date—as in the previous two examples.

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.<ref>{{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972b |page=5}}</ref> Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.{{sfn|Elk|1972b|p=6–7}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

This example uses Footnotes with the addition of adjacent page numbers in the text by using {{rp}}. This allows named references to be used, combining multiple references to the same citation in a single footnote.

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.<ref name=elk1972>{{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972}}</ref>{{rp|5}} Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.<ref name=elk1972 />{{rp|6–7}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

Named references[edit]

The following two examples use {{r}}. Whether using List-defined references or inline named references, {{r}} compactly combines the functions of <ref /> and {{rp}}.

In this first example, {{rp}} must be used in tandem with the initial complete inline-citation, whereas {{r}} is used to duplicate the citation elsewhere with different page numbers:

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.<ref name=elk1972>{{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972}}</ref>{{rp|5}} Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.{{r|elk1972|p=6–7}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

In this second example, {{r}} is used for all inline citations whilst the complete citation—rather than being written inline—is stored within the reference list itself. {{rp}} isn't used at all:

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.{{r|elk1972|p=5}} Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.{{r|elk1972|p=6–7}}

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=elk1972>{{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972}}</ref>
}}

Often, a page number is not appropriate such as when citing an audio or video source or a book that has no page numbers. The Citation Style 1 templates have an |at= parameter that can be used to include non-page locators. The Author-date citation templates use |loc=.

Some example locators: section (sec.), column (col.), paragraph (para.); track; hours, minutes and seconds; act, scene, canto, book, part, folio, stanza, back cover, liner notes, indicia, colophon, dust jacket, verse

• Wikipedia:Citing sources § Citing multiple pages of the same source