 | This is an information page. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, but rather intends to describe some aspect(s) of Wikipedia:Verifiability policy. It may reflect varying levels of consensus and vetting. |
| A complete version of the documentation for this template is provided at Template:Citation needed. If you are new to editing and instead just need a general overview of how sources work, please visit the referencing for beginners help page. |
To ensure that all Wikipedia content is verifiable, anyone may question an uncited claim. If your work has been tagged, please provide a reliable source for the statement, and discuss if needed.
You can add a citation by selecting from the drop-down 
menu at the top of the editing box. In markup, you can add a citation manually using ref tags. There are also more elaborate ways to cite sources.
In wiki markup, you can question an uncited claim by inserting a simple {{verifiable, anyone may question an uncited claim. If your work has been tagged, please provide a reliable source for the statement, and discuss if needed.
You can add a citation by selecting from the drop-down menu at the top of the editing box. In markup, you can add a citation manually using ref tags. There are also more elaborate ways to cite sources.
In wiki markup, you can question an uncited claim by inserting a simple {{Citation needed}} tag, or a more comprehensive {{Citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=November 2020}}. Alternatively, {{fact}} and {{cn}} will produce the same result. These all display as:
Example: 87% of statistics are made up on the spot.[citation needed]
For information on adding citations in articles, see Help:Referencing for beginners. For information on when to remove this template messages, see Help:Maintenance template removal.
When to use this tag
A "citation needed" tag is a request for another editor to verify a statement: a form of communication between members of a collaborative editing community. It is never, in itself, an "improvement" of an article. Though readers may be alerted by a "citation needed" that a particular statemen
You can add a citation by selecting from the drop-down menu at the top of the editing box. In markup, you can add a citation manually using ref tags. There are also more elaborate ways to cite sources.
In wiki markup, you can question an uncited claim by inserting a simple {{Citation needed}} tag, or a more comprehensive {{Citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=November 2020}}. Alternatively, {{fact}} and {{cn}} will produce the same result. These all display as:
Example: 87% of statistics are made up on the spot.[citation needed]
For information on adding citations in articles, see Help:Referencing for beginners. For information on when to remove this template messages, see Help:Referencing for beginners. For information on when to remove this template messages, see Help:Maintenance template removal.
- Tag thoughtfully. Avoid "hit-and-run" or pointed tagging. Try to be courteous and consider the hypothetical fellow-editor who will, we hope, notice your tag and try to find the citation you have requested. When adding a tag, ask yourself: Is it clear just what information you want cited? Is the information probably factual? (If it is not, then it needs deletion or correction rather than citation!) Is the knowledge so self-evident that it really does not need to be cited at all? (Some things do not.)
- Some tags are inserted by people well placed to find a suitable citation themselves. If this is the case, consider adding these articles to your watchlist or a worklist so that you can revisit the article when you have the opportunity to fix any verifiability problems yourself.
When not to use this tag
Before adding a tag, at least consider the following alternatives, one of which may prove much more constructive:
- Do not use this tag because you don't understand a statement, or feel that "non-expert" readers are likely to be confused. Use {{Clarify}}, {{Explain}}, {{Confusing}}, {{Examples}}, {{Why}} or {{Non sequitur}}, as appropriate, instead.
- If the content is nonsense or is unlikely to be true, be bold and delete it!
- Do not tag controversial material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced. Category:All articles with unsourced statements.
Frequently the authors of statements do not return to Wikipedia to support the statement with citations, so other Wikipedia editors have to do work checking those statements. With 412,736 statements that need WP:Verification, sometimes it's hard to choose which article to work on. The tool Citation Hunt makes that easier by suggesting random articles, which you can sort by topical category membership.
See also
- Template:Citation needed
- Template:Citation needed span
- Template:Verify source
- Template:Unreferenced for an article (rather than an individual statement) which does not cite any references or sources.
- Template:More citations needed for an article (rather than an individual statement) that has some citations, but not enough.
- Template messages – Sources of articles
- Inline verifiability and sources cleanup templates
- Wikipedia:Verification methods – listing examples of the most common ways that citations are used in Wikipedia articles
- Wikipedia:Citing sources/Example edits for different methods – showing comparative edit mode representations for different citation methods and techniques.
- Wikipedia:Citation templates – a full listing of various styles for citing all sorts of materials
- Category:All articles with unsourced statements – list of all pages with {{citation needed}}
External links
Media related to Citation needed at Wikimedia Commons
