Template:Cite web

Template documentation

This template is used to cite online sources in LIMSwiki articles. {{Cite news}} can also be used when citing a news source; for general information about citations in Wikipedia articles, see *Wikipedia:Citing sources. More information on the use of citation templates is available at Category:Citation templates.

Usage

Note: None of the parameters should be capitalised, in order to avoid the article being tagged as having a broken citation. For example, use "url", "title", etc. - not "URL", "Title", etc.

Common forms with authors in any format

Citations within a page should use consistent formats. However, there is no consensus about which format is best. The following examples are for citations where one or more authors are listed in a single |author=authors parameter, using any format. Also shown below are two separate date formats that are commonly used in Wikipedia:

Day Month Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |author= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=21 November 2024}}

Month Day, Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |author= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=November 21, 2024}}

Common forms with last1, first1; last2, first2

The examples below will suffice for up to two authors each with first and last names; for more, just create more parameters in a similar style:

Day Month Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=21 November 2024}}

Month Day, Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=November 21, 2024}}

All parameters

When copying all parameters in either the vertical or horizontal layouts, delete those which are not needed.

All parameters, horizontal layout

{{cite web |url= |title= |first= |last= |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |month= |year= |work= |publisher= |location= |page= |pages= |at= |language= |trans_title= |format= |doi= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |accessdate= |quote= |ref= |separator= |postscript=}}

All parameters, vertical layout

{{cite web
| url         = 
| title       = 
| first       = 
| last        = 
| author      = 
| authorlink  = 
| coauthors   = 
| date        = 
| month       = 
| year        = 
| work        = 
| publisher   = 
| location    = 
| page        = 
| pages       = 
| at          = 
| language    = 
| trans_title = 
| format      = 
| doi         = 
| archiveurl  = 
| archivedate = 
| accessdate  = 
| quote       = 
| ref         = 
| separator   = 
| postscript  = 
}}

Required parameters

• url: URL of online item. Start the url with the communications protocol, e.g. http://.
• title: Title of online item. This title will appear as the citation itself, hyperlinked to the URL. Certain characters must be replaced with their HTML numeric reference to be used in the title. The character "[" must be replaced with "[", "]" with "]", and "|" (vertical bar) with "|".

Optional parameters

• author parameters
  • author
  • last works with first to produce last, first
  • authorlink works either with author or with last & first to link to the appropriate wikipedia article. Does not work with URLs.
  • last1, first1, ..., last9, first9 and optionally authorlink1, ..., authorlink9 for specifying more authors (note: last1, first1 and authorlink1 are synonyms for last, first and authorlink, so use either last1 or last, not both)
  • coauthors: alternate way of specifying additional authors (to be used in conjunction with parameter(s) above in order to be visible)
• a date parameter
  • either date: Full date of publication. Should not be wikilinked.
  • or year: Year of publication, and month: Name of the month of publication. If you also have the day, use date instead. Should not be wikilinked.
• format: Format, e.g. PDF. HTML implied if not specified.
• work: If this item is part of a larger "work", such as a book, periodical or website, write the name of that work. Do not italicize; the software will do so automatically.
• publisher: Publisher, if any—for example if the website is hosted by a government service, educational institution, or company. (The publisher is not usually the name of the website, that is usually the work).
  • location: Geographical place of publication.
• a page parameter
  • either page: Page number if a multi-page web article and referencing a single page. "page=5" produces p. 5.
  • or pages: Page numbers if a multi-page web article and referencing more than one page. "pages=5–7" produces pp. 5–7. This is for listing the pages relevant to the citation, not a total number of pages.
  • or at: When the page prefix is unwanted. "at=Table 5" produces Table 5.
• language: language of publication (do not specify "English" as this is the default).
  • trans_title: A translated title of the article, in case the original title is in a foreign language. Would normally be used in conjunction with the 'language' parameter.
• doi: A digital object identifier for the document, such as 10.1038/news070508-7
  • Doilabel: If the doi contains some characters that must be escaped, use "doilabel" for the unescaped version. See {{doi}}: "id" is equivalent to "doi" and "label" is "doilabel"
• archive parameters (if used, both parameters must be used together)
  • archiveurl: The URL of an archived copy of the page, if (or in case) the url becomes unavailable. Typically used to refer to services like WebCite and Archive.org.
  • archivedate: Date when the item was archived. Should not be wikilinked.
• accessdate: Full date when item was accessed. Should not be wikilinked. This should be given if the publication date is unknown; see Citation styles.
• quote: Relevant quote from online item.
• ref: ID for anchor. By default, no anchor is generated. The ordinary nonempty value |ref=ID generates an anchor with the given ID; such a linkable reference can be made the target of wikilinks to full references, especially useful in short citations like shortened notes and parenthetical referencing. The special value |ref=harv generates an anchor suitable for the {{harv}} template; see anchors for Harvard referencing templates.
• separator: The separator to use in lists of authors, editors, etc. Defaults to ".", but "," may be useful also. If the field is present, but blank, no separator will be used.
• postscript: The closing punctuation for the citation. If specified, over-rides the default behaviour of terminating the citation with a full stop. If the field is present, but blank, no terminating punctuation will be used. This may be useful when generating an output consistent with other templates. It is preferred to manually adding ending punctuation, as the punctuation occurs within the <cite> tag, so will appear before any icons added by browser plugins. Ignored if |quote= is specified.

Duplicate periods

By default, {{cite web}} separates some fields with periods, so do not encode those fields ending with a period or a duplicate period will be added. Example: "publisher=Camelot, Inc" will correctly show as Camelot, Inc. but "publisher=Camelot, Inc." will incorrectly show as Camelot, Inc..

Examples

Some standard use cases

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |author=Doe, John |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}
  → Doe, John (30 April 2005). "My Favorite Things, Part II". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |author=Doe, John |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}
  → Doe, John (30 April 2005). "My Favorite Things, Part II". Encyclopedia of Things. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |author=Doe, John |date=30 April 2005 |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}
  → Doe, John (30 April 2005). "My Favorite Things, Part II". http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

• {{cite web ||url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |author=Doe, John |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}
  → Doe, John. "My Favorite Things, Part II". http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}
  → "My Favorite Things, Part II". http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

• {{cite web |url=http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/digestofrules |title=Digest of Rules |publisher=National Football League |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}
  → "Digest of Rules". National Football League. http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/digestofrules. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

Using format

• {{cite web |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |publisher=International Narcotics Control Board |format=PDF |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}
  → "List of psychotropic substances under international control" (PDF). International Narcotics Control Board. http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

Foreign language and translated title

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Honni soit qui mal y pense |author=Joliet, François |date=30 April 2005 |accessdate=6 July 2005 |language=French |trans_title=Shame on those who think evil }}
  → Joliet, François (30 April 2005). "Honni soit qui mal y pense" (in French). http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

coauthors

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Our Favorite Things |first=John |last=Doe |coauthors=Smith, Peter; Smythe, Jim |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=16 May 2006 }}
  → Doe, John; Smith, Peter; Smythe, Jim (30 April 2005). "Our Favorite Things". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 16 May 2006. 

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Our Favorite Things |first=John |last=Doe |coauthors=Peter Smith; Jim Smythe |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=16 May 2006 }}
  → Doe, John; Peter Smith; Jim Smythe (30 April 2005). "Our Favorite Things". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 16 May 2006. 

No author

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=16 May 2006 }}
  → "Index of Sharp Things". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. 30 April 2005. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 16 May 2006. 

No author, no publisher

This abbreviated format should only be used when the editor cannot determine the publisher and author.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=6 July 2005}}
  → "Index of Sharp Things". Encyclopedia of Things. 30 April 2005. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |date=30 April 2005 |accessdate=6 July 2005}}
  → "Index of Sharp Things". 30 April 2005. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

• {{cite web |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |date=30 April 2005 |format=PDF |accessdate=6 July 2005 |language=Greek }}
  → "List of psychotropic substances under international control" (in Greek) (PDF). 30 April 2005. http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

Using "archiveurl" and "archivedate" for webpages that have been archived

• {{cite web |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |date=30 April 2005 |format=PDF |accessdate=6 July 2005 |archiveurl=http://www.archive.org/2005-09-11/www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |archivedate=11 September 2005 }}
  → "List of psychotropic substances under international control" (PDF). 30 April 2005. Archived from the original on 11 September 2005. http://www.archive.org/2005-09-11/www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

• {{cite web |url=http://joanjettbadrep.com/cgi-bin/fullStory.cgi?archive=currnews&story=20060405-01shore.htm |title=Interview with Maggie Downs |date=31 March 2006 |publisher=The Desert Sun |archiveurl=http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:JAxf4v-pQmgJ:joanjettbadrep.com/cgi-bin/fullStory.cgi%3Farchive%3Dcurrnews%26story%3D20060405-01shore.htm |archivedate=26 April 2006 }}
  → "Interview with Maggie Downs". The Desert Sun. 31 March 2006. Archived from the original on 26 April 2006. http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:JAxf4v-pQmgJ:joanjettbadrep.com/cgi-bin/fullStory.cgi%3Farchive%3Dcurrnews%26story%3D20060405-01shore.htm. 

Using "quote"

• {{cite web |url=http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html |title=Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea |work=WebExhibits |year=2008 |accessdate=27 September 2009 |quote=... Lord Balfour came forward with a unique concern: 'Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins ...' }}
  → "Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea". WebExhibits. 2008. http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html. Retrieved 27 September 2009. "... Lord Balfour came forward with a unique concern: 'Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins ...'" 

See also

• Wikipedia:Citing sources
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite video
• Template:Cite web short

This template formats a citation to a website using the provided information such as URL and title. Used only for sources that are not correctly described by the specific citation templates for books, journals, news sources, etc.

Template parameters

This template has custom formatting.

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Last name	last author last last1	The surname of the author; don't wikilink, use 'author-link'; can suffix with a numeral to add additional authors	Line	suggested
First name	first first1	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the author; don't wikilink, use 'author-link'; can suffix with a numeral to add additional authors	Line	suggested
Author link	author-link author-link1 author1-link	Title of existing LIMSwiki article about the author; can suffix with a numeral to add additional authors	Page name	optional
Last name 2	last2 author2	The surname of the second author; don't wikilink, use 'author-link2'.	Line	optional
First name 2	first2	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the second author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 2	author-link2 author2-link	Title of existing LIMSwiki article about the second author.	Page name	optional
Last name 3	last3 author3	The surname of the third author; don't wikilink, use 'author-link3'.	Line	optional
First name 3	first3	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the third author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 3	author-link3 author3-link	Title of existing LIMSwiki article about the third author.	Page name	optional
Last name 4	last4 author4	The surname of the forth author; don't wikilink, use 'author-link4'.	Line	optional
First name 4	first4	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the forth author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 4	author-link4 author4-link	Title of existing LIMSwiki article about the forth author.	Page name	optional
Last name 5	last5 author5	The surname of the fifth author; don't wikilink, use 'author-link5'.	Line	optional
First name 5	first5	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the fifth author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 5	author-link5 author5-link	Title of existing LIMSwiki article about the fifth author.	Page name	optional
Last name 6	last6 author6	The surname of the sixth author; don't wikilink, use 'author-link6'.	Line	optional
First name 6	first6	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the sixth author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 6	author-link6 author6-link	Title of existing LIMSwiki article about the sixth author.	Page name	optional
Last name 7	last7 author7	The surname of the seventh author; don't wikilink, use 'author-link7'.	Line	optional
First name 7	first7	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the seventh author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 7	author-link7 author7-link	Title of existing LIMSwiki article about the seventh author.	Page name	optional
Last name 8	last8 author8	The surname of the eighth author; don't wikilink, use 'author-link8'.	Line	optional
First name 8	first8	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the eighth author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 8	author-link8 author8-link	Title of existing LIMSwiki article about the eighth author.	Page name	optional
Last name 9	last9 author9	The surname of the ninth author; don't wikilink, use 'author-link9'. If nine authors are defined, then only eight will show and 'et al.' will show in place of the last author.	Line	optional
First name 9	first9	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the ninth author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Author link 9	author-link9 author9-link	Title of existing LIMSwiki article about the ninth author.	Page name	optional
Last name 10	last10 author10	The surname of the tenth author; don't wikilink, use 'author-link9'. If ten authors are defined, then only eight will show and 'et al.' will show in place of the last two authors.	Line	optional
First name 10	first10	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the tenth author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Last name 11	last11 author11	The surname of the 11th author; don't wikilink, use 'author-link9'. If more than nine authors are defined, then only eight will show and 'et al.' will show in place of the remaining authors.	Line	optional
First name 11	first11	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the 11th author; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Source date	date	Date of the source; preferred format is DMY, e.g., 4 July 2015. As listed in the publication	Date	suggested
Year of publication	year	Year of the source being referenced; recommended only when date parameter format is YYYY-MM-DD and a CITEREF disambiguator is needed	Number	optional
Editor last name	editor-last editor editor1-last editors	The surname of the editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor-link'; can suffix with a numeral to add additional editors; alias of 'editor1-last', 'editor'	Line	optional
Editor first name	editor-first editor1-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor-link'; can suffix with a numeral to add additional editors; alias of 'editor1-first'	Line	optional
Editor link	editor-link editorlink editor1-link	Title of existing LIMSwiki article about the editor; can suffix with a numeral to add additional editors; alias of 'editor1-link'	Page name	optional
Editor last name 2	editor2-last editor2	The surname of the second editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor2-link'.	Line	optional
Editor first name 2	editor2-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the second editor; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Editor link 2	editor2-link editor-link2	Title of existing LIMSwiki article about the second editor.	Page name	optional
Editor last name 3	editor3-last editor3	The surname of the third editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor3-link'.	Line	optional
Editor first name 3	editor3-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the third editor; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Editor link 3	editor3-link editor-link3	Title of existing LIMSwiki article about the third editor.	Page name	optional
Editor last name 4	editor4-last editor4	The surname of the fourth editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor4-link'.	Line	optional
Editor first name 4	editor4-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the fourth editor; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Editor link 4	editor4-link editor-link4	Title of existing LIMSwiki article about the fourth editor.	Page name	optional
Editor last name 5	editor5-last editor5	The surname of the fifth editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor5-link'.	Line	optional
Editor first name 5	editor5-first	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the fifth editor; don't wikilink.	Line	optional
Editor link 5	editor5-link editor-link5	Title of existing LIMSwiki article about the fifth editor.	Page name	optional
Title	title	The title of the article; can be wikilinked to an existing LIMSwiki article or url may be used to add an external link, but not both. Displays in quotes.	Content	required
Work	work	If this item is part of a larger 'work', such as a book, periodical or website, write the name of that work; will display in italics. Having both 'publisher' and 'website' is redundant in many cases. Example [[Rotten Tomatoes]]	String	suggested
Translated title	trans-title	An English language title, if the source cited is in a foreign language; 'language' is recommended	Content	optional
URL	url URL	The URL of the online location where the text of the publication can be found. Requires schemes of the type "http://..." or maybe even the  protocol relative scheme "//..." Example https://www.nytimes.com/...	Line	required
Format	format	Format of the work referred to by 'url' ('url' is required when using 'format'); examples: PDF, DOC, XLS; do not specify HTML	String	optional
Language	language	The language in which the source is written, if not English; use the full language name; do not use icons or templates	String	optional
Publisher	publisher	Name of the publisher; displays after title Example [[University of Chicago Press]]	Content	suggested
Place of publication	publication-place place location	Publication place shows after title; if 'place' or 'location' are also given, they are displayed before the title prefixed with 'written at'	Content	optional
Publication date	publication-date	Date of publication when different from the date the work was written; preferred format is DMY, e.g., 4 July 2015	Date	optional
Page	page	Page in the source that supports the content; displays after 'p.'	Line	optional
Pages	pages	Pages in the source that support the content (not an indication of the number of pages in the source; displays after 'pp.'	Line	optional
At	at	May be used instead of 'page' or 'pages' where a page number is inappropriate or insufficient	Line	optional
arXiv identifier	arxiv	An identifier for arXive electronic preprints of scientific papers	Line	optional
ASIN	asin	Amazon Standard Identification Number; 10 characters	Line	optional
ASIN TLD	asin-tld	ASIN top-level domain for Amazon sites other than the US	Line	optional
Bibcode	bibcode	Bibliographic Reference Code (REFCODE); 19 characters	Line	optional
biorXiv	biorxiv	biorXiv identifier; full doi	Line	optional
CiteSeerX	citeseerx	CiteSeerX identifier; found after the 'doi=' query parameter	Line	optional
DOI	doi	Digital Object Identifier; begins with '10.'	String	optional
DOI broken date	doi-broken-date doi-inactive-date	The date that the DOI was determined to be broken	Date	optional
ISBN	isbn	International Standard Book Number; use the 13-digit ISBN where possible	Line	optional
ISSN	issn	International Standard Serial Number (print); 8 characters; usually split into two groups of four using a hyphen	Line	optional
jfm code	jfm	Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik classification code	Line	optional
JSTOR	jstor	JSTOR identifier	Line	optional
LCCN	lccn	Library of Congress Control Number	Line	optional
MR	mr	Mathematical Reviews identifier	Line	optional
OCLC	oclc	Online Computer Library Center number	Number	optional
OL	ol	Open Library identifier	Line	optional
OSTI	osti	Office of Scientific and Technical Information identifier	Line	optional
PMC	pmc	PubMed Center article number	Number	optional
PMID	pmid	PubMed Unique Identifier	Line	optional
RFC	rfc	Request for Comments number	Number	optional
SSRN	ssrn	Social Science Research Network	Line	optional
Zbl	zbl	Zentralblatt MATH journal identifier	Line	optional
id	id	A unique identifier used where none of the specialized ones are applicable	Line	optional
Archive URL	archiveurl	The URL of an archived copy of a web page, if or in case the URL becomes unavailable; requires 'archive-date'	Line	suggested
Archive date	archivedate	Date when the original URL was archived; preferred format is DMY, e.g., 4 July 2015	Date	suggested
URL access date	accessdate	The full date when the original URL was accessed; preferred format is DMY, e.g., 4 July 2015	Date	suggested
Quote	quote	Relevant text quoted from the source; displays last, enclosed in quotes; must include terminating punctuation	Content	optional
Postscript	postscript	The closing punctuation for the citation; ignored if 'quote' is defined; to suppress use reserved keyword 'none' Default .	Line	optional
Ref	ref	An anchor identifier; can be made the target of wikilinks to full references; special value 'harv' generates an anchor suitable for the harv and sfn templates	Line	optional