Help:Overview of referencing styles
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Wikipedia uses various systems to include and present citations of reliable sources that support assertions in the article content and to add explanatory and supplementary material.
In-text cites
The in-text cite is the element placed in the text that indicates or links to the full citation that supports the preceding content.
Footnotes
Wikipedia footnotes are a specific method of creating in-text cites and reference lists using the Cite software extension. This should not be confused with the concept of footnotes in general.
The in-text cite is placed in the content, usually after punctuation, is created by enclosing the citation or note within <ref>...</ref> tags. Each in-text cite is formatted as a superscripted alphanumeric character called the cite label and is enclosed by brackets; example:[1]. The cite label has an HTML link to the full citation in the reference list. In-text cites are automatically ordered by the cite label starting from the first use on a page. The cite labels default to decimal but can be styled as alphabetic, Roman or Greek. The in-text cite may be defined with a name so they can be reused within the content and may be separated into groups for use as explanatory notes, table legends and the like.
The reference list shows the full citations with a cite label that matches the in-text cite. The cite label is a caret (^) with a backlink to the in-text cite. When a named in-text cite is invoked multiple times, multiple alphabetic back links are created after the cite label in the reference list.
The reference list is created by use of the <references /> tag or the {{reflist}} template. Example:
This is an in-text cite.<ref>citation</ref> <references />
This is an in-text cite.[1]
- ^ citation
Shortened footnotes
Footnote3
Footnote3 is a deprecated but still used method of referencing.