Help:Footnotes

This page explains very briefly how to create numbered footnotes and references using the <ref> ... </ref> and <references/> syntax, which is the current best-practice method in most circumstances. See Wikipedia:Footnotes for more detail.

Single citation of a reference or footnote

At the point of citation in the main text, enter the reference or footnote like this:

<ref>Excel For Dummies, First Edition, Hungry Minds, Inc., 1980.</ref>

You can include formatting and links in the footnote or reference text in the usual way.

Multiple citations of the same reference or footnote

To cite the same reference or footnote several times, identify it using the name parameter of the <ref> tag.

At one of the citation points (it makes sense to choose the first, but is not required), enter the reference like this:

<ref name="Perry">Perry's Handbook, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill Co., 1984.</ref>

Then, at all the other citation points just enter:

<ref name="Perry"/>

Producing the reference or footnote list

At the point where you want the text of the footnotes or references to appear (usually at the end of the article in a "Notes" or "References" section), insert the tag:

<references/>

What it looks like

The <ref> tags in the main text are converted to auto-numbered superscripts, like this:

The only reference to Excel For Dummies.[1] The first reference to Perry's Handbook.[2] The second reference to Perry's Handbook.[2]    The third reference to Perry's Handbook and references another related book.[2][3] The only reference to Linux in a Nutshell[4]

Clicking on a numbered superscript takes you straight to the text of the corresponding footnote or reference.

The <references/> tag is expanded to show the text of the footnotes or references against their corresponding numbers, like this:

↑ Excel For Dummies, First Edition, Hungry Minds, Inc., 1980. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Perry's Handbook, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill Co., 1984. ↑ Nuclear Chemical Engineering (2nd Edition), McGraw-Hill Co., 1981. ↑ Linux in a Nutshell, O'Reily Co., 2003.

For single citations, clicking on the up-arrow (↑) takes you to the point of citation in the main text.

For multiple citations, the links back to the main text are distinguished by letter superscripts (#.1, #.2, #.3 etc.). Clicking on a numbered superscript takes you to the corresponding citation in the main text.

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Slightly adapted from Wikipedia:Help:Footnotes