Template:Source/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Source (see that page for the template itself).
It contains usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

This template is used on over 21,000 pages.
Changes to this template may cause some server load, and mistakes will be visible on many pages. Please carefully test any edits before making them, and avoid making unnecessary edits.

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See Wikinews:Style guide for more information on citing your sources.

Usage

*{{source
 |url        = 
 |title      = 
 |author     = 
 |pub        = 
 |date       = 
 |archiveurl = 
}}

Example

*{{source
 |url        = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-58223231
 |title      = Afghanistan conflict: Taliban push into Kabul as Ghani flees
 |author     =
 |pub        = BBC News Online
 |date       = August 15, 2021
 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20210815165730/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58223231
}}

This will display as follows:

"Afghanistan conflict: Taliban push into Kabul as Ghani flees" — BBC News Online, August 15, 2021

If you cannot find the author of a source, leave that field blank. Do not use 'staff reporter' or similar. List syndicate in the author field. Wikilink people and syndicates in this field when there's a target, local or non-local.
Put in a (second level) section labeled Sources (==Sources==).
Format date as shown above.
Always try to cite multiple independent sources.
Articles that don't provide a URL are listed at Category:Articles with broken source templates.
Category:Citation templates lists templates for offline news sources.
For unsupported URL schemas (like mms:) use brokenURL=true.
For publications (the 'pub=' or 'publisher=' parameter) please specify the exact same name under which the publication appears on Wikipedia.
On those rare occasions when publication name should differ from publication link target, use additional parameter 'pubtarget='. You can also use this to specify a target project other than English Wikipedia.
For an unavailable source (brokenURL=true) of an archived article, you may provide information about archival copies of the source using 'archiveurl=' and 'archivedescription='.
For an author field in ALL CAPS, that cannot be remediated by means such as described under subtemplate {{source/ucauthor}}, and necessarily should be in ALL CAPS for reasons idiosyncratic to this particular citation rather than a general exception better addressed by {{source/ucauthor}}, specify the precise acceptable value for the field as a 'cased author=' parameter.
For a non-English source, use the 'lang=' parameter, naming the language or its language code as supported by Category:Language templates or corresponding language-code redirects.
For a video, use medium=video. Also available, medium=audio (but as of this writing, not used anywhere), medium=pdf, medium=word.
For a source also available as a file on Wikimedia Commons, use the 'commons=' parameter, naming the file (without the File: prefix).

Note: you should always cite more than one source. Do not list multiple publications with the same wire report; instead try to list the originating location.

Usage

See also