Template:Refimprove/doc

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

This template indicates that the article needs additional inline citations. There is currently no consensus on where to place this template. Many editors understand this template to be redundant when it is used on articles clearly marked as stubs.

For articles about living persons, the more specific template {{BLP sources}} should be used instead.

This template should be used only for articles where there are some, but insufficient, inline citations. For articles that have no inline citations at all currently, use Template:Unreferenced.

Usage

A |talk= parameter is allowed; setting this to any value will result in the message "See talk page for details." being included in the tag.

This template also includes support for using the |date= parameter. Adding this parameter sorts the article into subcategories of Category:Articles needing additional references and out of the parent category, allowing the oldest problems to be identified and dealt with first. Be careful not to abbreviate the date, because then it will automatically add a redlinked category instead of the correct category. The simplest way to use this parameter manually is {{Refimprove|{{subst:DATE}}}} but it can be done more explicitly as {{Refimprove|date=December 2024}} (both result in the same output).

Listed below are three options for usage.

{{Refimprove}}

{{Refimprove|date=December 2024}}

{{Refimprove|article|{{subst:DATE}}|talk=y}}

A user warning template, {{Uw-refimprove}}, is available to notify contributors that an article they created needs its referencing improved.

Differences from related templates

General advantage

The naming scheme of Refimprove parallels that used for {{Refbegin}}, {{Refend}}, and {{Reflist}}, thereby reducing confusion, in compliance with the KISS principle.
Refimprove is easy to use.

Differences from {{Unreferenced}} and {{Citation needed}}

Use Unreferenced when there are no inline citations in an article. If there are one or more, but insufficient inline citations in an article, then use refimprove.
However if an article has sufficient inline citations, but the article lacks citations to cover specific information (such as no citation on a quotation) then use the inline citation template {{citation needed}} to indicate more precisely where additional citations are needed. Unlike citation needed, refimprove places a very conspicuous banner in the article.
There is also a {{refimprove section}} and the normal variations.

Differences from {{Primary sources}}

If an article has sufficient inline citations, but if the citations in an article are from primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, then use {{Primary sources}}.

Differences from {{Citation style}}

The refimprove template is intended for use in articles that need additional citations, while citation style template is used to request consistency within the citations present in an article. For example when there is a mixture of footnotes or parenthetical references.