Footnotes are a standard feature of wikipedia. They help readers know the source of information if they need to look it up, and can help add credibility to an article.
Getting started with a footnote
Creating a footnote is easy on wiki. First, make sure you have a wikipedia account and are logged in. Then, follow the instructions below to create a footnote.
The footnote markup reflist is used to style the reference list, which can include references, notes and other items such as tables or image captions. A footnote label is placed in a reflist template within the text of the page, and its numbering is automatically generated.
A footnote marker label is displayed in the main text of an article as a bracketed, superscripted character, such as [1] or [a]. The footnote marker link jumps the reader to the footnote. Hovering over the footnote marker shows a pop-up box showing the full citation of the footnote.
If you are using a desktop browser, a footnote marker may appear on the top of your screen or in a pop-up box that shows when you hover over your cursor. Clicking on the marker jumps to the footnote and highlights it.
You can create a footnote by editing the wikipedia page itself or in a wikitext editor like Microsoft Word or Google Docs. The citation must be entered within the ref> tag and the content of the ref> tag must be included; if there is no content, a cite error will show up.
In most cases, you will use the refn template to style your footnote. There are several variants of this template. They all have a styled group and have a matching styled reference list template.
The refn and r templates have predefined groups that can style the note and citation markup so that the label of an explanatory note or a citation matches and links to the note marker label located in the main text and the label in front of the note’s text in the appropriate group’s list. These predefined groups also have a matching styled reference list template that makes the wikitext markup easier.
A note or citation can be nested within the note marker text, or in another reference label in the group’s list. The nested label will be positioned next to the corresponding note marker text and will have a clickable alpha character that toggles the note’s display, allowing you to toggle between displaying the footnote in its original state and showing it with the notes label.
