Template:Fact/doc

Purpose

This template is used in articles to identify sentences or short passages which are incomplete without an inline citation. It produces the following appearance:

This sentence needs an inline citation.^{[citation needed]}

Editors frequently use this template to "tag" material which they see as questionable or weak, but not obviously invalid. The tag serves as a request for a specific inline citation. Addition of such a citation will help verification of the material.

Contraindications

Material which is doubtful and harmful may be removed immediately, rather than tagged.

If you have the time and ability to find an authoritative reference, please do so. Then add the citation yourself, or correct the article text. After all, the ultimate goal is not to merely identify problems, but to fix them.

Many editors object to what they perceive as overuse of this tag, particularly in what is known as "drive-by" tagging, which is applying the tag without attempting to address the issues at all. Consider whether adding this tag in an article is the best approach before using it, and use it judiciously.

Technical details

This is an in-line template. Place the template immediately after the material in question, as one would do with a footnote. For example:

This sentence needs an inline citation.{{Fact}}

The name {{Fact}} may make more sense if you visualize a question-mark after it: Fact?

The text "citation needed" will be linked to Boobpedia:Citation needed, which explains to readers what the tag means.

This template is a self-reference, and so is part of the Wikipedia project, rather than the encyclopedic content.

Categorization

Adding this template to an article will place the article into one of a family of categories identifying "Articles with unsourced statements". To find all such articles, see Category:Articles with unsourced statements.

Date parameter

This template allows an optional date parameter that records when the tag was added. This helps with the categorization of articles requiring citations.

By entering {{subst:Fact-now}}, the page will be saved with the present date already filled in.

One can also specify the date manually. For example, to date the tag in the current month, enter {{Fact|date=December 2024}}. This markup is also what will result when a bot or {{subst:Fact-now}} add the date to the template.

See also

• Wikipedia:Citing sources
  • Especially: Unsourced material
• Wikipedia:Verifiability
• Wikipedia:Reliable sources