Template:Unreferenced

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[edit] [purge] Template documentation

When to use

You may add this template only to articles that contain zero sources of any kind.

Do not add this template
  • In articles that have some citations, but not enough, the {{Refimprove}} template should be used instead as a general template, or the {{Unreferenced section}} template for specific unsourced sections.
  • In articles containing a list of sources at the end, but no inline citations, including parenthetical references or in-text attributions, consider {{no footnotes}} when the article would be significantly improved by detailed attribution of sources to specific claims.
  • Watch out for lists of general references that someone has incorrectly listed under "External links." If the link leads to a reliable source that supports some article content, then that website is a reference, not an external link.
  • Other templates, listed below, should be used when the sources are inadequate for other reasons.
Alternatives
  • Consider searching for references and adding them to the article instead of this template.
  • In articles about people and businesses, consider using the more specific {{third-party sources}} template, to encourage citation of independent sources rather than the subject's own website.
  • See LIMSWiki:Biographies of living people for guidance on dealing with unreferenced biographies of living people.

How to use

{{Unreferenced|date=March 2024}}

or

{{subst:Unreferenced}}

Substitution of this template will automatically fill the date parameter.


Date parameter
The date parameter is (generally[1]) used to indicate when the template was added to a page. An example of its usage is {{Unreferenced|date=March 2024}}. Adding this parameter sorts the article into monthly subcategories of Category:Articles lacking sources, rather than adding it to Category:Articles lacking sources itself, allowing the oldest problems to be identified and dealt with first.

General information

This template can either be placed at the top of an article, at the bottom of the article page (in an empty "References" or "Notes" section—usually just before a {{Reflist}} template), or on the article's talk page.

Categorization

This template adds articles to Category:Articles lacking sources, a hidden category.

Differences from related templates

The similar template {{Refimprove}} adds an article to Category:Articles needing additional references.

See also

The following templates are useful in cases where there are some sources, but these are in some way inadequate or insufficient:

  • {{BLP unsourced}} — Variant of this template for biographies of living people
  • {{Unreferenced section}} — Variant of this template for a specific section
  • {{Citation needed}} — For marking a particular claim as needing a source
  • {{Refimprove}} — Has some sources (or at least one source), but would benefit from more
  • {{Primary sources}} — Dependence on primary sources without reliable published interpretation
  • {{Unreliable sources}} — Dependence on unreliable sources
  • {{One source}} — Dependence on a single source
  • Citation method and style

Footnotes

  1. Because of the nature of the workflow using the current date makes sense, it is simpler to add; it means that older dated categories do not have to be constantly created and deleted, and it enables some measure of progress. Moreover it is "good enough" to get the articles into the workflow and the intention is to ensure they are cleaned up eventually. Occasionally however it may be useful to bulk add items, to older categories, for example when the system was initially set up, when merging two schemes or when adding to the current month would swamp it disproportionately.