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This template is an alternative to {{Citation needed}}, for the cases where a reference is alluded to, or given in part, but not specified in enough detail. The factuality may or may not be in question; this template is just about the completeness of the citation.
For an article with numerous partial citations, consider instead the banner template {{Full citations needed}}.
How to use
{{Full citation needed|date=October 2026}}
The template should be placed outside <ref>...</ref> tags.
Nixon resigned August 9, 1974.<ref>''The New York Times''</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=October 2026}}- Result: Nixon resigned August 9, 1974.[1][full citation needed]
References
- ↑ The New York Times
When to use
Use this when you find citations that are hopelessly incomplete, such as:
- The Daily News (but no date or article title)
- Smith 2000 (and no indication of the title, or which of the many authors named "Smith" wrote it)
- According to a press release from the company... (they might send out hundreds every year)
Do not use this when there is enough of a bibliographic citation that you can find the source (e.g., the book or the article), but you want a page number, quotation, or other detail. Instead, use {{page needed}}, {{request quotation}}, or other specific template.
Other information
This template places the article into Category:Articles needing more detailed references or a dated subcategory thereof.
This template is a self-reference and so is part of the Wikipedia project rather than the encyclopædic content.
TemplateData
TemplateData for Full citation needed
<templatedata> { "description": "This inline template is used where a reference is alluded to, or given in part, but not specified in enough detail to identify it.", "params": { "date": { "label": "Month and year", "description": "Provides the month and year; e.g., 'January 2013', but not 'jan13'", "type": "string", "autovalue": "{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}", "suggested": true }, "reason": { "label": "More details", "description": "A reason as to why more details are needed, or which details exactly are needed. Appended to the default hovertext, \"A complete citation is needed.\"", "type": "string" } } } </templatedata>
Redirects
- {{fcn}}
- {{full}}
- {{Citation broken}}
- {{Vague citation}}
See also
{{Ref expand}}– banner version of this template, for when an article needs many citations to be completed{{Incomplete short citation}}– variant of this inline template for when a short citation is too incomplete to identify which long citation it references{{Citation needed}}– for when no source is indicated at all{{Ref improve}}– banner template for when an article needs more than one citation to be added{{Author missing}}– inline template for a specific issue{{Year missing}}– inline template for a specific issue{{Page missing}}– inline template for a specific issue- Wikipedia:Citing sources, especially Unsourced material
- Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources
- Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup/Verifiability and sources
- Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles
- Wikipedia:Verifiability
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check
