This help page is ahow-to guide. It explains concepts or processes used by the Wikipedia community. It is not one ofWikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels ofconsensus.

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Whenciting sources in Wikipedia articles, thecitation must clearly support the material as presented in the article, per theverifiability policy. It helps to give a page number or page range—or a section, chapter, or other division of the source—because then the reader does not have to carefully review the whole cited source to find the relevant supporting evidence, which promotes efficient source checking. This page shows examples of various ways to include a page number or page range in citations as well as various ways to cite the same source multiple times with different page numbers. It also summarizes ways to includeother in-source locations.

The following examples useCitation Style 1 templates, but these are not required (see the sectionInline citations in the guidelineCiting sources for alternatives). For a basic introduction to citation templates, seeHelp:Referencing for beginners with citation templates.

This example usesFootnotes.

This example is the most basic and includes unique references for each citation, showing the page numbers in the reference list. This repeats the citation, changing the page number. A disadvantage is that this can create a lot of redundant text in the reference listwhen a source is cited many times.So consider using one of the alternatives listed in the sections below this one.

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.<ref>{{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972 |page=5}}</ref> Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.<ref>{{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972 |pages=6–7}}</ref>==References=={{reflist}}

The following two examples useShortened footnotes, showing the author(s) and date and page number(s) in the notes list and a separate list for the full reference. An advantage is that the list of full references can be sorted arbitrarily—for example, by author last name or by publication date. A disadvantage is that it is necessary to have two separate sections for short and full references.

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.<ref>{{harvtxt|Elk|1972|p=5}}</ref> Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.<ref>{{harvnb|Elk|1972|p=6–7}}</ref>==Notes=={{reflist}}==References=={{refbegin}}* {{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972}}{{refend}}

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.{{sfn|Elk|1972a|p=5}} Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.{{sfn|Elk|1972a|p=6–7}}==Notes=={{reflist}}==References=={{refbegin}}* {{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972a}}{{refend}}

The next example shows that it is possible to mixFootnotes andShortened footnotes with the full reference in the first footnote and shortened footnotes for subsequent references. An advantage is that it is not necessary to have two separate sections for short and full references. A disadvantage is that the full references cannot be sorted arbitrarily—for example, by author last name or by publication date—as in the previous two examples.

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.<ref>{{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972b |page=5}}</ref> Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.{{sfn|Elk|1972b|p=6–7}}==References=={{reflist}}

This example usesFootnotes with the addition of adjacent page numbers in the text by using{{rp}}. This allowsnamed references to be used, combining multiple references to the same citation in a single footnote.

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.<ref name=elk1972>{{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972}}</ref>{{rp|5}} Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.<ref name=elk1972 />{{rp|6–7}}==References=={{reflist}}

The following two examples use{{r}}. Whether usingList-defined references or inlinenamed references,{{r}} compactly combines the functions of<ref /> and{{rp}}.

In this first example,{{rp}} must be used in tandem with the initial complete inline-citation, whereas{{r}} is used to duplicate the citation elsewhere with different page numbers:

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.<ref name=elk1972>{{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972}}</ref>{{rp|5}} Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.{{r|elk1972|p=6–7}}==References=={{reflist}}

In this second example,{{r}} is used for all inline citations whilst the complete citation—rather than being written inline—is stored within the reference list itself.{{rp}} isn't used at all:

The brontosaurus is thin at one end.{{r|elk1972|p=5}} Then it becomes much thicker in the middle.{{r|elk1972|p=6–7}}==References=={{reflist|refs=<ref name=elk1972>{{cite book |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972}}</ref>}}

Often, a page number is not appropriate such as when citing an audio or video source or a book that has no page numbers. TheCitation Style 1 templates have an|at= parameter that can be used to include non-page locators. TheAuthor-date citation templates use|loc=.

Some example locators: section (sec.), column (col.), paragraph (para.); track; hours, minutes and seconds; act, scene, canto, book, part, folio, stanza, back cover, liner notes, indicia, colophon, dust jacket, verse

• Wikipedia:Citing sources § Citing multiple pages of the same source

• Wikipedia how-to

• Wikipedia citation administration