Template:Format footnotes/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Format footnotes.
It contains usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

When to use

This template indicates that the article uses many improperly formatted or non-formatted inline citations that require large-scale conversion to an accepted form of inline citation.

How to use

To add this template to an article, copy and paste:

{{Format footnotes/doc|{{subst:DATE}}}}

or

{{Format footnotes/doc|date=December 2024}}

Both options result in the same output.

This template will add the page to Category:Articles needing footnote reformatting and Category:Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify.
A bot will add the date for you at a later time if you forgot.

Examples

A standard, correct way of formatting the following citations (with some acceptable variations as described at Wikipedia:Citing sources) would be:

Correct: Australia has a government.^[1]

References

↑ Australian Government Press Agency (25 November 2009). "Australian Government". Retrieved 25 November 2009.

The following are examples of improperly formatted or non-formatted inline citations. This template is appropriate for articles that contain many such citations, therefore requiring large-scale conversion.

Embedded link

Incorrect: Australia has a government Australian Government.

or:

Incorrect: Australia has a government.[1]

Manual number

Incorrect: Australia has a government^{see footnote 1}

Parenthetical reference

Inline parenthetical referencing was a previously accepted citation system that is now deprecated per WP:PARREF. The recommendation is to convert inline parenthetical references to shortened footnotes (as depicted below) or regular footnotes (as depicted in the first example above) or footnotes with list-defined references.

Incorrect: Australia has a government (Australian Government Press Agency, 2009).

Correct: Australia has a government.^[1]

References

↑ Davidson & Court 2011, p. 1.

Sources

Davidson, Hazel; Court, Dorothy (2011). Australian Government. Chapel Hill, Qld: Sugarbag on Damper. ISBN 9780975759387. OCLC 697121237.

v t e Citation and verifiability article maintenance templates
Sourcing	{{Circular}} {{Excessive citations}} {{Expand with relevant sources}} {{Further reading cleanup}} {{More citations needed}} {{More citations needed section}} {{More footnotes needed}} {{No footnotes}} {{One source}} {{One source section}} {{Only primary sources}} {{NRIS-only}} {{Partisan sources}} {{Primary sources}} {{Refexample}} {{Refexample section}} {{Religious text primary}} {{Self-published}} {{Self reference cleanup}} {{Sources exist}} {{Text-source}} {{Third-party}} {{Unreferenced}} {{Unreferenced section}} {{Unreliable sources}} {{Uncited category}} {{User-generated}}
BLP-specific	{{BLP unsourced}} {{BLP unsourced section}} {{BLP primary sources}} {{BLP self-published}} {{BLP sources}} {{BLP sources section}} {{BLP IMDb-only refimprove}} {{BLP IMDb refimprove}} {{BLP no footnotes}} {{BLP more footnotes needed}} {{BLP one source}}
Topic specific	{{Localist}} {{Media IMDb refimprove}} {{More medical citations needed}} {{More science citations needed}} {{Neologism}} {{Science review}} {{Unreferenced-law}} {{Unreferenced-law section}} {{Unreferenced-medical section}}
Dispute-related	{{Cite check}} {{Cite check section}} {{Content}} {{Disputed}} {{Dispute about}} {{Disputed section}} {{Expert needed}} {{Hoax}} {{Original research}} {{Original research section}} {{Speculation}} {{Speculation section}} {{Synthesis}} {{Verifiability}} {{Verify sources}}
Citation improvements	{{Bad linked references}} {{Citation style}} {{Citations broken}} {{Cleanup bare URLs}} {{Format footnotes}} {{Full citations needed}} {{Ibid}} {{Page numbers improve}} {{Page numbers needed}}
General advice	Citing sources Reliable sources Maintenance template removal Citation needed Find sources Combining sources Referencing styles