Template:Cite check/doc

Place this template at the top of the article or section tagged.

The simplest way to add this template to an article is to copy and paste at the top of the article.

This template will categorise tagged articles into Category:All articles lacking sources and either Category:Articles lacking sources or a monthly category like Category:Articles lacking sources from August 2024, if a date is supplied.


 * This template is a self-reference.
 * Please do not subst: this template.

Usage
This template alerts readers that citations in an article or section may be inappropriate or misinterpreted. Examples include quotations taken out of context and false assertions about a source's facts or conclusions.

When using this template the text should have:
 * Citations in footnote, Harvard referencing, or some other standard format.
 * Multiple citations (or one key citation) that an editor tried to verify and found that the article passage misstated or misconstrued the original source's content.

Please try to improve the article or make a good faith attempt to verify the citations in question before adding this template, and discuss the matter on the talk page. If only one citation is problematic, or there is a desire to tag particular citations, consider using failed verification instead.

Articles that merely lack references or have POV problems should be flagged with some other template.

Technical details
This template has three optional fields.

The first permits the user to specify what needs to be cited. For instance, if the entire article needs to be cited, a user would enter ; but should the user wish to be more specific on which section of the article needs to be cited, then the user could enter. Leaving the parameter undefined is acceptable, as it will print out the default text "article or section."

The second field is a date parameter, entered as. Adding this sorts the article into subcategories of Category:Articles lacking sources, allowing the oldest problems to be identified and dealt with first. If the date parameter is omitted, a bot will add it later.

Note that order does not matter with respect to the above optional parameters. Both and  will produce the same result.

To specify a talk page section, use, ie:.

Redirects

 * 1) Cite-check