Help:Introduction to referencing with Wiki Markup/5
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Verifiability
Why references are important
Inline citations
How to add them
RefToolbar
Citations the easy way
Reliable sources
Which sources are good enough?
Summary
Review of what you've learned
Summary
- All article content must be verifiable, that is, to be possible to support with a reliable, published source.
- All quotations, any material whose verifiability has been challenged or is likely to be challenged, and contentious material, whether negative, positive, or neutral, about living persons, must include an inline citation.
- Inline citations are added between
<ref>...</ref>
tags, after the fact they support. - A
{{Reflist}}
template should be added at the end of the article, in a "References" section, for the inline citations to display properly. - The RefToolbar can be used to make adding citations easier, by clicking "Cite" in the toolbar at the top of the edit window.
- Wikipedia articles require citations to reliable, published sources, with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy.
More detailed information

- Wikipedia:Verifiability
- Wikipedia:Citing sources
- Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources
- Help:Citations quick reference
- Wikipedia:References dos and don'ts
- Help:References and page numbers
- Wikipedia:Advanced footnote formatting
- Wikipedia:Parenthetical referencing
Put what you learned into practice
At the moment, there are over 549,544 articles that have statements that need citations. The tool Citation Hunt makes referencing those statements easier by suggesting random articles which you can work on. Practice your new skills by helping us solve a "Citation needed" issue: