This template is used to cite non-news sources in Wikipedia articles. (See cite sources for general information about citations in Wikipedia articles and see {{cite news}} to learn about citing a news source). This template replaces deprecated template:web reference. It provides lower case parameters only.
A general discussion of the use of templates for adding citation of open-source web content to Wikipedia articles is available at citation templates.
accessdate: Full date when item was accessed, in ISO 8601 YYYY-MM-DD format, for example "accessdate = 2008-05-09". Must not be wikilinked
For producing a non-wikilinked date of retrieval:
accessmonthday and accessyear: Month and day when item was accessed, for example "accessmonthday = May 10", and year when item was accessed, for example "accessyear = 2006". Produces: Retrieved on May 10, 2006.
accessdaymonth and accessyear: Month and day when item was accessed, for example "accessdaymonth= 10 May", and year when item was accessed, for example "accessyear = 2006". Produces: Retrieved on 10 May 2006.
Optional parameters
author: 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.
coauthors: allows additional authors
date: Full date of publication, preferably in ISO 8601 YYYY-MM-DD format, e.g. 2006-02-17. Must 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. Must 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.
publisher: Publisher, if any—for example if the website is hosted by a government service, educational institution, or company
pages: pp. 5–7: first page and optional last page. This is for listing the pages relevant to the citation, not the total number of pages in the book.
language: language of publication (don't specify "English" as this is the default).
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"
archiveurl: Significant webpages can be archived, in which case this parameter is the URL of the archived copy (requires archivedate).
archivedate: Date when the item was archived (requires archiveurl), in ISO 8601 YYYY-MM-DD format, e.g. 2006-02-17. Must not be wikilinked; it will be linked automatically.
quote: Relevant quote from online item.
Examples
Some standard use cases
{{cite web |author=Doe, John |title=My favorite things part II |publisher=Open Publishing |date=2005-04-30 |work=Encyclopedia of things |url=http://www.example.org/ |accessdate=2005-07-06 }}
→ Doe, John (2005-04-30). My favorite things part II. Encyclopedia of things. Open Publishing. Retrieved on 2005-07-06.
{{cite web |author=Doe, John |title=My favorite things part II |date=2005-04-30 |work=Encyclopedia of things |url=http://www.example.org/ |accessdate=2005-07-06 }}
→ Doe, John (2005-04-30). My favorite things part II. Encyclopedia of things. Retrieved on 2005-07-06.
{{cite web |author=Doe, John |title=My favorite things part II |date=2005-04-30 |url=http://www.example.org/ |accessdate=2005-07-06 }}
→ Doe, John (2005-04-30). My favorite things part II. Retrieved on 2005-07-06.
{{cite web |author=Doe, John |title=My favorite things part II |url=http://www.example.org/ |accessdate=2005-07-06 }}
→ Doe, John. My favorite things part II. Retrieved on 2005-07-06.
{{cite web |title=My favorite things part II |url=http://www.example.org/ |accessdate=2005-07-06 }}
→ My favorite things part II. Retrieved on 2005-07-06.
{{cite web |url=http://www.nfl.com/fans/ |title=Digest of rules |publisher= National Football League |accessdate=2005-07-06 }}
→ Digest of rules. National Football League. Retrieved on 2005-07-06.
Non-linking date of retrieval (using accessmonthday and accessyear)
{{cite web |title=My favorite things part II |work=Encyclopedia of things |url=http://www.example.org/ |accessmonthday=July 6 |accessyear=2005 }}
→ My favorite things part II. Encyclopedia of things. Retrieved on July 6, 2005.
Using format
{{cite web |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |publisher=International Narcotics Control Board |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |format=PDF |accessdate=2005-07-06 }}
→ List of psychotropic substances under international control (PDF). International Narcotics Control Board. Retrieved on 2005-07-06.
language
{{cite web |author=Joliet, François |title=Honnit soit qui mal y pense |date=2005-04-30 |url=http://www.example.org/ |accessdate=2005-07-06 |language=French }}
→ Joliet, François (2005-04-30). Honnit soit qui mal y pense(French). Retrieved on 2005-07-06.
coauthors
{{cite web |first=John |last=Doe |coauthors=Smith, Peter; Smythe, Jim |title=My favorite things part II |publisher=Open Publishing |date=2005-04-30 |work=Encyclopedia of things |url=http://www.example.org/ |accessdate=2006-05-16 }}
→ Doe, John; Smith, Peter; Smythe, Jim (2005-04-30). My favorite things part II. Encyclopedia of things. Open Publishing. Retrieved on 2006-05-16.
No author
{{cite web |title=My favorite things part II |publisher=Open Publishing |date=2005-04-30 |work=Encyclopedia of things |url=http://www.example.org/ | accessdate=2006-05-16 }}
→ My favorite things part II. Encyclopedia of things. Open Publishing (2005-04-30). Retrieved on 2006-05-16.
No author, no publisher
{{cite web |title=My favorite things part II |date=2005-04-30 |work=Encyclopedia of things |url=http://www.example.org/ |accessdate=2005-07-06 }}
→ My favorite things part II. Encyclopedia of things (2005-04-30). Retrieved on 2005-07-06.
{{cite web |title=My favorite things part II |date=2005-04-30 |url=http://www.example.org/ |accessdate=2005-07-06}}
→ My favorite things part II (2005-04-30). Retrieved on 2005-07-06.
{{cite web |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |date=2005-04-30 |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |format=PDF |accessdate=2005-07-06 |language=Greek }}
→ List of psychotropic substances under international control (PDF) (Greek) (2005-04-30). Retrieved on 2005-07-06.
Using archiveurl and archivedate to refer to items that went away but are available from an archive site
{{cite web |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |date=2005-04-30 |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |format=PDF |accessdate=2005-07-06 |archiveurl=http://www.archive.org/2005-09-11/www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |archivedate=2005-09-11 }}
→ List of psychotropic substances under international control (PDF) (2005-04-30). Archived from the original on 2005-09-11. Retrieved on 2005-07-06.
{{cite web |url=http://joanjettbadrep.com/cgi-bin/fullStory.cgi?archive=currnews&story=20060405-01shore.htm |title=Interview with Maggie Downs |date=2006-03-31 |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=2006-04-26 }}
→ Interview with Maggie Downs. The Desert Sun (2006-03-31). Archived from the original on 2006-04-26.
Using quote
{{cite web |title=My favorite things part II |work=Encyclopedia of things |url=http://www.example.org/ |accessdate=2005-07-06 |quote=Lorem ipsum dolor. }}
→ My favorite things part II. Encyclopedia of things. Retrieved on 2005-07-06. “Lorem ipsum dolor.”
Omitting the title in error
{{cite web |work=Encyclopedia of things |url=http://www.example.org/ |accessdate=2005-07-06 |quote=Lorem ipsum dolor. }}
→ You must specify title = and url = when using {{cite web}}.. Encyclopedia of things. Retrieved on 2005-07-06. “Lorem ipsum dolor.”