Help:Shortened footnotes

Shortened footnotes are one method of citing sources for a Wikipedia article. They are a hybrid of standard footnotes and Harvard-style parenthetical referencing. Shortened footnotes, often with page numbers, appear in the reference section (wherever the reference list markup {{reflist}} is placed) and usually link (by {{Sfn}}) to the full citation for a source. These full citations usually appear in another list separate from the footnotes. See rationale below.

Please read Help:Footnotes first, as this guide builds upon the methods described there.

Rationale

Shortened footnotes are used for several reasons:

Multiple references

(a) They allow the editor to cite many different parts of the same source without having to repeat the entire citation.

Easier source-editing

(b) When full citations are gathered in a separate section the article text is uncluttered and easier to work with.

Single place for citations

(c) It is easier to edit all the full citations at once.

Other

(d) The full citations can be sorted or alphabetized.

Overview

The most common method of using shortened footnotes is with the {{sfn}} template for the short notes, and {{cite xxx}} templates for the full citation. The Citation Style 1 and Citation Style 2 templates automatically create an anchor for an {{sfn}} link, using the author last name and the year. An "anchor" is a landing place for a link to jump to. In the following example, an inline citation such as links to the shortened footnote under "Notes", which in turn links to the full citation in the References list:

Markup	Renders as
The brontosaurus is thin at one end.{{sfn|Elk|1972|p=5}} Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.{{sfn|Elk|1972|p=6}} The Norwegian Blue Parrot will not move if its feet are nailed to the perch.{{sfn|Praline|1969|p=12}} Its metabolic processes are a matter of interest only to historians.{{sfn|Praline|1969|p=16}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972}} * {{cite book |last=Praline |first=Eric |title=[[Dead Parrot sketch]] |date=December 7, 1969}} {{refend}}	The brontosaurus is thin at one end. Then it becomes much thicker in the middle. The Norwegian Blue Parrot will not move if its feet are nailed to the perch. Its metabolic processes are a matter of interest only to historians. Notes References Elk, Anne (November 16, 1972). Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses. Praline, Eric (December 7, 1969). Dead Parrot sketch.

How to create shortened footnotes

Using {{sfn}}

There are several ways to create the shortened footnote. Most often, the {{sfn}} template is used to link to a full citation with simple markup:

Markup	Renders as
{{sfn|Elk|1972|p=5}} {{reflist}}

The link is normally created from the authors' last names and the year of publication. For sources with multiple authors, pass their last names (to a maximum of four) as multiple parameters to the template:

Markup	Renders as
{{sfn|Jones|Smith|Hawthorne|1980|p=1}} {{reflist}} * {{cite book |last1=Jones |last2=Smith |last3=Hawthorne |title=Some Book |date=1980}}	Jones; Smith; Hawthorne (1980). Some Book.
{{sfn|Jones|Smith|Hawthorne|McDowell|1980|p=1}} {{reflist}} * {{cite book |last1=Jones |last2=Smith |last3=Hawthorne |last4=McDowell |last5=Dangerfield |title=Some Other Book |date=1980}}	Jones; Smith; Hawthorne; McDowell; Dangerfield (1980). Some Other Book.

The {{sfnp}} template works the same as the above example, except it places the date in parentheses:

Markup	Renders as
{{sfnp|Elk|1972|p=5}} {{reflist}}

Using {{harvnb}}

The {{sfn}} template was developed to automate the older process of placing {{harvnb}} within <ref> tags. This method is still available and used in many existing articles:

Markup	Renders as
<ref>{{harvnb|Elk|1972|p=5}}.</ref> {{reflist}}

The above method will also work with other "harv" templates like: {{harv}}, {{harvtxt}}, {{harvcoltxt}}, {{harvcol}}, {{harvs}}, and {{harvcolnb}}, for example:

Markup	Renders as
<ref>{{harvcolnb|Elk|1972|p=5}}</ref> {{reflist}}

Manual creation

See also: Wikipedia:Citation templates and reference anchors

You can manually create a link to the long citation by creating a custom reference anchor or concatenating #CITEREF, the author's last name, and the publication year. This is rarely used:

Markup	Renders as
<ref>[[#CITEREFElk1972|Elk 1972]], p. 5.</ref> {{reflist}}

You can also place an unlinked shortened footnote within <ref> tags:

Markup	Renders as
<ref>Elk 1972, p. 5.</ref> {{reflist}}

Bundling citations

Further information: Wikipedia:Citing sources § Bundling citations

The {{sfnm}} template supports the inclusion of multiple sources in a single footnote. The {{harvnb}} template or other similar templates can be manually bundled in a single footnote, separated either with semicolons or the {{multiref}} template:

Markup	Renders as
{{sfnm |1a1=Elk |1y=1972 |1p=5 |2a1=Praline |2y=1969 |2p=12}} {{reflist}}
<ref>{{harvnb|Elk|1972|p=5}}; {{harvnb|Praline|1969|p=12}}.</ref> {{reflist}}
<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Elk|1972|p=5}} | {{harvnb|Praline|1969|p=12}} }}</ref> {{reflist}}

List of footnotes

The list of footnotes is created by using the {{reflist}} template or the <references /> tag. Some articles that use only shortened footnotes manually define narrower columns at {{reflist|20em}}. References created via {{sfn}}, {{sfnp}}, {{sfnm}}, the standard <ref /> tags, and list-defined references will all be included in the same list.

Linking

The full citations are usually created with Citation Style 1 (CS1) and Citation Style 2 (CS2) templates. These templates automatically create a linkable anchor from the authors' last names and the year of publication. For example:

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

allows a "short" citation template, like {{sfn|Elk|1972}} in the article.

The anchor can be created manually with {{sfnref}} or {{harvid}} in situations where the automatic anchors would create issues including:

• Multiple authors with the same last name
• No known last name for the author
• Unusual characters in the author field
• Multiple works in the same year by the same author
• Year of publication unknown

For example, an article might cite psychoanalysts Anna Freud and Sigmund Freud. If there are two full citations with the same last name and the same year of publication, as below, then the full citations would need to set custom anchors in the |ref= parameter. The short inline citation can then be created using the same structure. Note the identical parameters for {{sfnref}} and {{sfn}}:

Markup	Renders as
In 1928, [[Sigmund Freud]] wrote that "religious influence" was one of the primary goals of education.{{sfn|S. Freud|1928|pp=47-48}} In her first published book, [[Anna Freud]] proposed that the education of a child is never independent of the adults they depend upon.{{sfn|A. Freud|1928}} ===Notes=== {{reflist}} ===References=== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Freud |first=Anna |date=1928 |title=Introduction to the Technique of Child Analysis |ref={{sfnref|A. Freud|1928}}}} * {{cite book |last=Freud |first=Sigmund |date=1928 |title=The Future of an Illusion |ref={{sfnref|S. Freud|1928}}}} {{refend}}	In 1928, Sigmund Freud wrote that "religious influence" was one of the primary goals of education. In her first published book, Anna Freud proposed that the education of a child is never independent of the adults they depend upon. Notes References Freud, Anna (1928). Introduction to the Technique of Child Analysis. Freud, Sigmund (1928). The Future of an Illusion.

Citations templates outside of CS1 and CS2, like vcite templates, {{Cite court}}, and {{cite comic}}, may require the |ref= parameter. In rare cases, {{wikicite}} can be used to manually create the anchors for full citations written without templates. In the following example from the Bengal famine of 1943, an unpublished but publicly available manuscript by the Indian Government’s Regional Food Commissioner, is used as a primary source. As there are few acceptable places on Wikipedia to use unpublished memoirs as a source, no citation template directly matches the document:

{{wikicite | ref = "{{sfnref|Braund |1944}}" | reference = Braund, H. B. L. (1944). ''Famine in Bengal'', typescript. British Library Doc D792.}}

References list

Full citations in the references list may be formatted manually or with citation templates. The reference list is formatted by placing the citations in an unordered list using the * markup. Entries may be sorted by the author's last name. The text size may be formatted with {{refbegin}} and {{refend}}. The references list is normally displayed in one column with no indenting.

Markup	Renders as
{{refbegin}} *{{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses |date=November 16, 1972}} *{{cite book |last=Praline |first=Eric |title=[[Dead Parrot sketch]] |date=December 7, 1969}} {{refend}}	Elk, Anne (November 16, 1972). Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses. Praline, Eric (December 7, 1969). Dead Parrot sketch.

Date

The inline citation should include only the year. The full citation may include the year only or the full date in the |date= parameter. Most citation templates will extract the year from a full date to form the anchor.

If an author has multiple works in the same year, regardless of whether it is a full date or only a year, then duplicate anchors will be generated. To resolve this, you can suffix the year with a lowercase letter. For example:

• {{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses |date=November 16, 1972a}}
• {{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=Anne Elk's Further Theory on Brontosauruses |date=December 20, 1972b}}

If the date is written in YYYY-MM-DD format, you can suffix a lowercase letter in the |year= parameter:

• {{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses |date=1972-11-16 |year=1972a}}
• {{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=Anne Elk's Further Theory on Brontosauruses |date=1972-12-20 |year=1972b}}

No author

Some sources do not have a single author with a last name, such as a magazine article or a report from a government institution. There is no consensus (in Wikipedia or among citation styles) about how to format author–date citations for works that do not have a specific author. Several choices are:

1. The title of the article, or a shortened form of the title, is recommended by some style guides.
2. For a newspaper or periodical, you may use the name of the paper and the date.
3. For a publication by an institution, use either:
   1. The initials of the institution
   2. The name of the institution
4. Other style guides recommend using "Anonymous" or "Anon."

An article should adopt one of these styles consistently. Using |ref={{harvid}} in the citation template can handle these cases.

Markup	Renders as
In the 1980s, [[Madonna]] was named "Artist of the Decade" by ''Billboard'' magazine.{{sfn|Dayton Daily News|1990|p=23}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite news |title=Michael, Madonna Top 'Billboard' Poll |newspaper=[[Dayton Daily News]] |date=May 25, 1990 |ref={{sfnref|Dayton Daily News|1990}} }}	In the 1980s, Madonna was named "Artist of the Decade" by Billboard magazine. Notes References "Michael, Madonna Top 'Billboard' Poll". Dayton Daily News. May 25, 1990.
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is located in New York.{{sfn|MoMA|2023}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite web |date=2023 |website=MoMA.org |ref={{sfnref|MoMA|2023}} |title=Locations, Hours, and Admission |url= https://www.moma.org/visit/ }}	The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is located in New York. Notes References "Locations, Hours, and Admission". MoMA.org. 2023.

Explanatory notes

Explanatory or content notes are used to add explanations, comments or other additional information relating to the main content. One of the reasons they may be used is to avoid making the text too long or awkward to read. Such notes may include supporting references.

Because of a technical limitation, some of the standard Wikipedia markup elements that are often used in the article prose do not work within a set of <ref>...</ref> tags, including a second "nested" set of <ref>...</ref> tags. For example, <ref>Explanatory footnote<ref>Citation</ref></ref> will not work as expected. It generates, "Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). </ref>" There are several methods to combine shortened footnotes and explanatory notes:

Shortened footnotes with separate explanatory notes

This example creates a separate notes section using the {{sfn}} and {{efn}} templates. Because the explanatory footnotes do not contain footnote references, there are no technical hurdles.

Markup	Renders as
The Sun is pretty big.{{sfn|Miller|2005|p=23}}{{efn|But Miller points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars.}} But the Moon{{efn|The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena – see, for example Jones, ''The Solar System'', MacMillan, 2005, p. 623.}} is not so big.{{sfn|Brown|2001|p=46}}{{efn|Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large, see, for example, Peterson, ''Astronomy'', MacMillan, 2005, p. 623.}} The Sun is also quite hot.{{sfn|Smith|2005|p=334}} ==Notes== {{notelist}} ==Citations== {{reflist}} ==References== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Brown |title=The Moon |publisher=Penguin |date=2001}} * {{cite book |last=Miller |title=The Sun |publisher=Oxford |date=2005}} * {{cite book |last=Smith |title=The Universe |publisher=Random House |date=2005}} {{refend}}	The Sun is pretty big. But the Moon is not so big. The Sun is also quite hot. Notes Citations References Brown (2001). The Moon. Penguin. Miller (2005). The Sun. Oxford. Smith (2005). The Universe. Random House.

Shortened footnotes with separate explanatory notes (using groups)

This example creates a separate notes section by using <ref> and <ref group=>. Because the explanatory footnotes do not contain footnote references, there are no technical hurdles.

Markup	Renders as
The Sun is pretty big.<ref name=Foot01/><ref group=Note name=Note01/> But the Moon<ref group=Note name=Note02/> is not so big.<ref name=Foot02/><ref group=Note name=Note03/> The Sun is also quite hot.<ref name=Foot03/> ==Notes== {{reflist|group=Note|refs= <ref name=Note01>But Miller points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars.</ref> <ref name=Note02>The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena – see, for example Jones, ''The Solar System'', MacMillan, 2005, p. 623.</ref> <ref name=Note03>Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large, see, for example, Peterson, ''Astronomy'', MacMillan, 2005, p. 623.</ref> }} ==Citations== {{reflist|refs= <ref name=Foot01>Miller, p. 23</ref> <ref name=Foot02>Brown, p. 46</ref> <ref name=Foot03>Smith, p. 334</ref> }} ==References== {{refbegin}} * Brown, ''The Moon'', Penguin. 2001. * Miller, ''The Sun'', Oxford, 2005. * Smith, ''The Universe'', Random House, 2005. {{refend}}	The Sun is pretty big. But the Moon is not so big. The Sun is also quite hot. Notes Citations References Brown, The Moon, Penguin. 2001. Miller, The Sun, Oxford, 2005. Smith, The Universe, Random House, 2005.

Shortened footnotes mixed with explanatory notes

The section uses basic wikitext syntax. Because the explanatory footnotes do not contain footnote references, there are no technical hurdles.

Markup	Renders as
The Sun is pretty big.<ref>Miller, p. 23. But Miller points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars.</ref> But the Moon<ref>The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena - see, for example Jones, ''The Solar System'', MacMillan, 2005, p 623.</ref> is not so big.<ref>Brown, p. 46. Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large, see, for example Peterson, ''Astronomy'', MacMillan, 2005, p 623.</ref> The Sun is also quite hot. <ref>Smith, p. 334.</ref> ==Notes== <references /> ==References== * Brown, ''The Moon'', Penguin. 2001. * Miller, ''The Sun'', Oxford, 2005. * Smith, ''The Universe'', Random House, 2005.	The Sun is pretty big. But the Moon is not so big. The Sun is also quite hot. Notes References Brown, The Moon, Penguin. 2001. Miller, The Sun, Oxford, 2005. Smith, The Universe, Random House, 2005.

Separate explanatory notes with shortened footnotes and their references

The methods in this section can nest footnotes because the explanatory notes use templates designed to support nesting.

This method uses {{sfn}} to create the main footnotes, {{refn}} to create the explanatory notes and {{sfn}} to create footnotes in the explanatory notes.

Markup	Renders as
The Sun is pretty big.{{sfn|Millerd|2005|p=23}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|But Millerd points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars.{{sfn|Millerd|2005|p=23}}}} But the Moon{{refn|group=lower-alpha|The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena.{{sfn|Browne|2001|p=63}}}} is not so big.{{sfn|Browne|2001|p=46}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large.}} The Sun is also quite hot.{{sfn|Smithe|2005|p=334}} ==Notes== {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} ==Citations== {{reflist}} ==References== {{refbegin}} * {{citation |last=Browne |title=The Moon |publisher=Penguin |year=2001}} * {{citation |last=Millerd |title=The Sun |publisher=Oxford |year=2005}} * {{citation |last=Smithe |title=The Universe |publisher=Random House |year=2005}} {{refend}}	The Sun is pretty big. But the Moon is not so big. The Sun is also quite hot. Notes Citations References Browne (2001), The Moon, Penguin Millerd (2005), The Sun, Oxford Smithe (2005), The Universe, Random House

This method uses {{sfn}} to create the main footnotes, {{efn}} to create the explanatory notes, {{sfn}} to create footnotes in the explanatory notes and {{notelist}} to create the notes list.

Markup	Renders as
The Sun is pretty big.{{sfn|Muller|2005|p=23}}{{efn|But Muller points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars.{{sfn|Muller|2005|p=23}}}} But the Moon{{efn|The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena.{{sfn|Braun|2001|p=63}}}} is not so big.{{sfn|Braun|2001|p=46}}{{efn|Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large.}} The Sun is also quite hot.{{sfn|Schmidt|2005|p=334}} ==Notes== {{notelist}} ==Citations== {{reflist}} ==References== {{refbegin}} * {{citation |last=Braun |title=The Moon |publisher=Penguin |year=2001}} * {{citation |last=Muller |title=The Sun |publisher=Oxford |year=2005}} * {{citation |last=Schmidt |title=The Universe |publisher=Random House |year=2005}} {{refend}}	The Sun is pretty big. But the Moon is not so big. The Sun is also quite hot. Notes Citations References Braun (2001), The Moon, Penguin Muller (2005), The Sun, Oxford Schmidt (2005), The Universe, Random House

Explanatory notes containing parenthetical references

This method uses {{sfn}} to create the main footnotes, {{efn}} to create the explanatory notes and {{harv}} to create the parenthentical references in the explanatory notes. The use of inline parenthetical referencing has been deprecated for an article's body text.

Markup	Renders as
The Sun is pretty big.{{sfn|Mahler|2005|p=23}}{{efn|But Mahler points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars {{harv|Mahler|2005|p=23}}.}} But the Moon{{efn|The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena {{harv|Brauner|2001|p=63}}.}} is not so big.{{sfn|Brauner|2001|p=46}}{{efn|Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large.}} The Sun is also quite hot.{{sfn|Ferrero|2005|p=334}} ==Notes== {{notelist}} ==Citations== {{reflist}} ==References== {{refbegin}} * {{citation |last=Brauner |title=The Moon |publisher=Penguin |year=2001}} * {{citation |last=Mahler |title=The Sun |publisher=Oxford |year=2005}} * {{citation |last=Ferrero |title=The Universe |publisher=Random House |year=2005}} {{refend}}	The Sun is pretty big. But the Moon is not so big. The Sun is also quite hot. Notes Citations References Brauner (2001), The Moon, Penguin Mahler (2005), The Sun, Oxford Ferrero (2005), The Universe, Random House

List-defined explanatory notes with nested links to full citations

This method uses {{sfn}} to create the main footnotes, {{efn}} to create list-defined explanatory notes using {{notelist}} in the "Notes" appendix, and {{harv}} to create links nested within the explanatory notes:

Markup	Renders as
The Sun is pretty big.{{sfn|Mailer|2005|p=23}}{{efn|name="sun size"}} But the Moon{{efn|name="Selena"}} is not so big.{{sfn|Brawn|2001|p=46}}{{efn|name="moon size"}} The Sun is also quite hot.{{sfn|Smythe|2005|p=334}} ===Notes=== {{notelist |refs= {{efn|name="sun size"|But Mailer points out that the Sun is not as large as some other stars. {{harv|Mailer|2005|p=23}}}} {{efn|name="Selena"|The Moon goes by other names, such as Selena. {{harv|Brawn|2001|p=63}}}} {{efn|name="moon size"|Historically the Moon was not always considered to be large.}} }} {{notelist}} ===Citations=== {{reflist}} ===References=== {{refbegin}} * {{citation |last=Brawn |title=The Moon |publisher=Penguin |year=2001}} * {{citation |last=Mailer |title=The Sun |publisher=Oxford |year=2005}} * {{citation |last=Smythe |title=The Universe |publisher=Random House |year=2005}} {{refend}}	The Sun is pretty big. But the Moon is not so big. The Sun is also quite hot. Notes Citations References Brawn (2001), The Moon, Penguin Mailer (2005), The Sun, Oxford Smythe (2005), The Universe, Random House

Errors

Errors involving <ref> tags will be automatically displayed in article, user, template, category, help and file pages. To show error messages on talk and other pages, see Help:Reference display customization.

It is very possible to create an inline citation that does not link to the full citation and to create full citations that do not have a matching inline citation. Often the link and anchor may not match for some reason. To catch these errors, use the User:Trappist the monk/HarvErrors script. When an inline citation does not have a matching full citation and cannot be readily resolved, then it can be tagged with {{Citation not found}}.

It is also possible to create duplicate IDs for the inline citation, resulting in invalid HTML. See Help:Markup validation for help in validating and resolving issues.

Examples

These featured articles exemplify the use of shortened footnotes:

Method	Example
{{sfn}} for linked short notes	Actuary (2023)
{{harvnb}} for linked short notes	Hoxne Hoard (2023)
Manually created links	Rosetta Stone (2023)
Manually created anchors	Battle of the Nile (2023)
Un-linked short notes	The Raven (2023)

This article illustrates improperly implemented shortened footnotes:

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (14:53, February 22, 2012)

The article uses {{sfn}} (#10, 11, 12) to point to Rothenburg1976, which is a manually defined citation with no anchor (#9); the footnotes and shortened footnotes are mixed.

See also

• Wikipedia:Citation templates and reference anchors
• Help:References and page numbers