Template:Cite news

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This template contains one or more optional parameters: see the talk page for details. This template employs some extremely complicated and esoteric features of template syntax. Please do not attempt to alter it unless you are certain that you understand the setup and are prepared to repair any consequent collateral damage if the results are unexpected. Any experiments should be conducted in the template sandbox or your user space.

This template is used to cite sources in Wikipedia. It is intended specifically for news sources. For citing journals/magazines and websites, see {{Cite journal}} and {{Cite web}}, respectively.

Usage

All parameter names must be lower case.

Copy a blank version to use. Remember to use the "|" (pipe) character between each field. Please delete any unused fields to avoid clutter in the edit window.

Citations within a page should use consistent formats. However, there is no consensus about which format is best.

Common form with author(s) in a single parameter

Day Month Year

{{cite news |title= |author= |url= |newspaper= |date= |accessdate=2 December 2024}}

Month Day, Year

{{cite news |title= |author= |url= |newspaper= |date= |accessdate=December 2, 2024}}

Common form with first and last

Day Month Year

{{cite news |title= |first= |last= |url= |newspaper= |date= |accessdate=2 December 2024}}

Month Day, Year

{{cite news |title= |first= |last= |url= |newspaper= |date= |accessdate=December 2, 2024}}

All parameters

All parameters, horizontal format (delete parameters you don't need)

{{cite news |title= |author= |first= |last= |authorlink= |authorlink2= |author2= |author3= |author4= |author5= |author6= |author7= |url= |format= |agency= |newspaper= |publisher= |location= |isbn= |issn= |oclc= |pmid= |pmd= |bibcode= |doi= |id= |date= |page= |pages= |at= |accessdate= |language= |trans_title= |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |ref=}}

All parameters, vertical format

{{cite news
| title       = 
| author      = 
| first       = 
| last        = 
| authorlink  = 
| authorlink2 = 
| author2     = 
| author3     = 
| author4     = 
| author5     = 
| author6     = 
| author7     = 
| url         = 
| format      = 
| agency      = 
| newspaper   = 
| publisher   = 
| location    = 
| isbn        = 
| issn        = 
| oclc        = 
| pmid        = 
| pmd         = 
| bibcode     = 
| doi         = 
| id          = 
| date        = 
| page        = 
| pages       = 
| at          = 
| accessdate  = 
| language    = 
| trans_title = 
| quote       = 
| archiveurl  = 
| archivedate = 
| ref         = 
}}

Essential parameters

• title: Title of the article. Note that title must be on one line in order for the hyperlink (if there is one) to display properly. Do not enclose it in quotations marks, italics or other formatting, though it may be wikilinked. Reduce "all capitals" to some other title case.
• newspaper: Name of the publication that ran the item, e.g., The Miami Herald or The Scotsman. Can also be used for the name of a column or subpart of an issue. Do not italicize; the software will do so automatically. (You may also use journal, magazine, periodical, or work, but do not use publisher for this.)
• date: Date of publication. To avoid ambiguity, write out the month in words, using the same date format as in the main text of the article. When this information is absent for an online source consider using {{cite web}} instead.

Optional parameters

• author: Author.
  • last works with first to produce last, first as name of author.
  • authorlink works either with author or with last & first to link to the appropriate Wikipedia article. Does not work with URLs.
  • author2, author3, ... author9: Allows additional authors. Numbers must be used consecutively. author9 is not actually displayed, but causes et al. to appear. Can also use lastn, firstn, and authorlinkn.
  • coauthors: Equivalent to author2.
• url: Link to the news item if available online (note this is not for a link to the main web page of the work of publisher, but only to a copy of the item specified in title). Start the url with the communications protocol e.g., http://. Do not post urls of Google hosted AP content, that content is transient. Use MSNBC, Yahoo, or another provider that keeps AP archives.
• accessdate: Date when the news item was accessed, if it was found online. Should be in the same format as the rest of the article. Must not be wikilinked.
• format: Format, e.g. PDF. Don't specify for HTML (implied as default). This parameter is sometimes used for completely different purposes, with values such as "fee required" and "reprint", but its original intent was to warn readers of file formats that their browsers might have trouble with.
• agency: The news agency (wire service) that provided the content, if any, e.g. Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, etc.
• location: Place of publication, e.g., Toronto for The Globe and Mail. Should be included if the city of publication is not part of the name of the newspaper. For student newspapers, include the name of the school.
• publisher: The company or organization that publishes the news source (not to be used for the name of the news source itself; see the newspaper parameter). Can be (but need not be) omitted for major publications like The New York Times, but may add credibility for local papers that are part of a family of publications like The McClatchy Company.
• isbn, issn, oclc, pmid, pmd, bibcode, doi Unique object identifiers, if applicable. Will automatically generate an appropriately wikilinked link to the object in question. Most ordinary newspaper articles will not have one of these.
• id: Identifier of a type not listed above. Remember, if you use this parameter, you must specify the kind of identifier, not just give a number.
• page or pages: The page(s) on which the article is found. page inserts the abbreviation "p." before the number; pages inserts "pp." Use only one of these parameters. If numbers are entered for both, pages overrides page.
• at: Position within the newspaper when page/pages is unsuitable, e.g. |at=p. 2, col. 3, |at=p. 2, para. 4 (when the page number is not sufficiently specific), |at=section C, p. 2 (when the newspaper has several sections, each starting their page numbering at 1), or |at=no. 456 (something in a numbered list). This parameter is ignored if either page/pages is specified.
• language: The language in which the source is written. If English (the default) do not use this parameter. See also the 'trans_title' parameter.
  • trans_title: A translated title of the article, if the original title is in a foreign language. Would normally be used in conjunction with the 'language' parameter.
• quote: Relevant quotation. Adding a quotation can help locate online copies of the item using a text search, especially if the original link goes dead.
• archive parameters (if used, must be used both of them together)
  • archiveurl: The URL of an archived copy of a web page, if (or in case) the URL becomes unavailable. Typically used to refer to services like WebCite and Archive.org.
  • archivedate: Date when the item was archived. Should not be wikilinked. If not given, one might look up all available archive versions from URL http://web.archive.org/web/*/ (append the full original URL) to determine an appropriate date.
• ref: ID for anchor. By default, no anchor is generated. The ordinary nonempty value |ref=ID generates an anchor with the given ID; such a linkable reference can be made the target of wikilinks to full references, especially useful in short citations like shortened notes and parenthetical referencing. The special value |ref=harv generates an anchor suitable for the {{harv}} template; see anchors for Harvard referencing templates.
• postscript: if specified, over-rides the default behaviour of terminating the citation with a full stop. Leave blank to suppress the full stop. This may be useful when using a quote which ends in punctuation, or when generating an output consistent with other templates. It is preferred to manually adding ending punctuation, as the punctuation occurs within the <cite> tag, so will appear before any icons added by browser plugins.

Examples

Using first and last for author's name

• {{cite news | first=Cassandra | last=Jardine | title=The return of the secondary modern | url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3621779/The-return-of-the-secondary-modern.html | location = London | agency= | newspaper=The Daily Telegraph | date=5 August 2004 }}
  
  → Jardine, Cassandra (5 August 2004). "The return of the secondary modern". The Daily Telegraph. London.

No author but sourced to a news agency

• {{cite news | first= | last= | title=Drugs: Chips trader gets 15 years, 10 strokes | url=http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=48660 | newspaper=Daily Express | location=Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia | date=29 March 2007 | agency=Bernama }}
  
  → "Drugs: Chips trader gets 15 years, 10 strokes". Daily Express. Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Bernama. 29 March 2007.

Using authorlink to link to article about the author on Wikipedia

• {{cite news | first=George | last=Monbiot | authorlink=George Monbiot | title=From toxic waste to toxic assets, the same people always get dumped on | url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/sep/21/global-fly-tipping-toxic-waste | newspaper=The Guardian | location=London | date=22 September 2009 }}
  
  → Monbiot, George (22 September 2009). "From toxic waste to toxic assets, the same people always get dumped on". The Guardian. London.

Using "format" parameter when not HTML. No need to use "location" parameter because "New York" is already in name of paper.

• {{cite news | newspaper=The New York Times | title=State Prison Treatment | date=4 February 1883 | url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9503E3D71631E433A25757C0A9649C94629FD7CF | format=PDF }}
  
  → "State Prison Treatment" (PDF). The New York Times. 4 February 1883.

Using page to identify the reference by page; news item in library but not on line

• {{cite news | first=Arthur | last=Reed | title=Four-rate plan in air-fare 'jungle' | page=3 | date=9 December 1976 | newspaper=The Times | location = London }}
  
  → Reed, Arthur (9 December 1976). "Four-rate plan in air-fare 'jungle'". The Times. London. p. 3.

A foreign-language news article

• {{cite news |author=Joliet, François |title=Honni soit qui mal y pense |date=30 April 2005 |language=French |newspaper=Le Figaro |location=Paris |trans_title=Shame on those who think evil }}
  
  → Joliet, François (30 April 2005). "Honni soit qui mal y pense". Le Figaro (in French). Paris. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (help)

Using archiveurl and archivedate to refer to items that disappeared from newspaper's own website but are now available from an archive site

• {{cite news | author=Achenbaum, Emily S. | title=Freedom lost, without a trial | newspaper=The Charlotte Observer | url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/109/story/47573.html | date=11 March 2007 | archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070419112159/www.charlotteobserver.com/109/story/47573.html | archivedate=19 April 2007 }}
  
  → Achenbaum, Emily S. (11 March 2007). "Freedom lost, without a trial". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on 19 April 2007.

COinS

This template produces COinS metadata; see COinS in Wikipedia for background information.

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools.

TemplateData for Cite news

This template formats a citation to a news article in print, video, audio or web using the provided source information (e.g. author, publication, date) and various formatting options.

Template parameters[Edit template data]

This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
URL	url URL	The URL of the online location where the text of the publication can be found. Requires schemes of the type "http://..." or maybe even the protocol relative scheme "//..." Example https://www.nytimes.com/...	String	suggested
Source title	title	The title of the article as it appears in the source; displays in quotes	String	required
Last name	last last1 author author1 authors	The surname of the author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink'.	Unknown	suggested
First name	first first1	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink'.	Unknown	suggested
Source date	date	Full date of the source; do not wikilink	String	suggested
Name of publication	work journal magazine periodical newspaper	Name of the newspaper, magazine or periodical; displays after title Example The Wall Street Journal	String	suggested
URL access date	access-date accessdate	The full date when the original URL was accessed; do not wikilink	String	suggested
Archive URL	archive-url archiveurl	The URL of an archived copy of a web page, if or in case the URL becomes unavailable; requires 'archivedate'	String	suggested
Archive date	archive-date archivedate	Date when the original URL was archived; do not wikilink	String	suggested
Dead URL	dead-url deadurl	If set to 'no', the title display is adjusted; useful for when the URL is archived preemptively but still live	String	suggested
Publisher	publisher distributor institution	Name of the parent institution or company that publishes the newspaper, magazine, or periodical; displays after name of the publication Example News Corp	String	optional
Agency	agency	The news agency (wire service) that provided the content; examples: Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse	String	optional
Last name 2	last2 author2	The surname of the second author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink2'.	Unknown	optional
First name 2	first2	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the second author; don't wikilink.	Unknown	optional
Others	others	Used to record other contributions to the work, such as 'Illustrated by John Smith' or 'Translated by John Smith'	String	optional
Month of publication	month	Name of the month of publication; do not wikilink; use 'date' instead, if day of month is also known	String	optional
Year of publication	year	Year of the source being referenced; use 'date' instead, if month and day are also known	String	optional
Editor last name	editor-last editor-last1 editor1-last editor-surname editor-surname1 editor1-surname editor editor1	The surname of the editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor-link'; can suffix with a numeral to add additional editors; alias of 'editor1-last', 'editor', and 'editors'	Unknown	optional
Editor first name	editor-first editor-first1 editor1-first editor-given editor-given1 editor1-given	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the editor; don't wikilink, use 'editor-link'; can suffix with a numeral to add additional editors; alias of 'editor1-first'	Unknown	optional
Editor link	editor-link editor-link1	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the editor; can suffix with a numeral to add additional editors; alias of 'editor1-link'	Page name	optional
Issue	issue number	Issue identifier when the source is part of a series that is published periodically	String	optional
Department	department	Department within the periodical	String	optional
Location of publication	location place	Geographical place of publication; usually not wikilinked; omit when the publication name includes place; alias of 'place'	String	optional
Place of publication	publication-place	Publication place shows after title; if 'place' or 'location' are also given, they are displayed before the title prefixed with 'written at'	String	optional
Publication date	publication-date	Date of publication when different from the date the work was written; do not wikilink	String	optional
Edition	edition	When the publication has more than one edition; for example: '2nd', 'Revised' etc.; suffixed with ' ed.'	String	optional
Volume	volume	For one publication published in several volumes	String	optional
Page	page	Page in the source that supports the content; displays after 'p.'	String	optional
Pages	pages	Pages in the source that support the content (not an indication of the number of pages in the source; displays after 'pp.'	String	optional
No pp	nopp	Set to 'y' to suppress the 'p.' or 'pp.' display with 'page' or 'pages' when inappropriate (such as 'Front cover')	String	optional
At	at	May be used instead of 'page' or 'pages' where a page number is inappropriate or insufficient	String	optional
Language	language	The language in which the source is written, if not English; use the full language name; do not use icons or templates	String	optional
Script title	script-title	For titles in languages that do not use a Latin-based alphabet (Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc). Prefix with two-character ISO639-1 language code followed by a colon. For Japanese use: |script-title=ja:...	String	optional
Translated title	trans-title trans_title	An English language title, if the source cited is in a foreign language; 'language' is recommended	String	optional
Type	type	Additional information about the media type of the source; format in sentence case	String	optional
Format	format	Format of the work referred to by 'url'; examples: PDF, DOC, XLS; do not specify HTML	String	optional
arXiv identifier	arxiv	An identifier for arXive electronic preprints of scientific papers	String	optional
ASIN	asin	Amazon Standard Identification Number; 10 characters	String	optional
ASIN TLD	asin-tld	ASIN top-level domain for Amazon sites other than the US	String	optional
Bibcode	bibcode	Bibliographic Reference Code (REFCODE); 19 characters	String	optional
DOI	doi	Digital Object Identifier; begins with '10.'	String	optional
DOI broken date	doi-broken-date doi_brokendate doi-inactive-date	The date that the DOI was determined to be broken	String	optional
ISBN	isbn ISBN	International Standard Book Number; use the 13-digit ISBN where possible	String	optional
ISSN	issn ISSN	International Standard Serial Number; 8 characters; may be split into two groups of four using a hyphen	String	optional
jfm code	jfm	Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik classification code	String	optional
JSTOR	jstor	JSTOR identifier	String	optional
LCCN	lccn	Library of Congress Control Number	String	optional
MR	mr	Mathematical Reviews identifier	String	optional
OCLC	oclc	Online Computer Library Center number	String	optional
OL	ol	Open Library identifier	String	optional
OSTI	osti	Office of Scientific and Technical Information identifier	String	optional
PMC	pmc	PubMed Center article number	String	optional
PMID	pmid	PubMed Unique Identifier	String	optional
RFC	rfc	Request for Comments number	String	optional
SSRN	ssrn	Social Science Research Network	String	optional
Zbl	zbl	Zentralblatt MATH journal identifier	String	optional
id	id	A unique identifier used where none of the specialized ones are applicable	String	optional
Quote	quote	Relevant text quoted from the source; displays last, enclosed in quotes; needs to include terminating punctuation	String	optional
Ref	ref	An anchor identifier; can be made the target of wikilinks to full references; special value 'harv' generates an anchor suitable for the harv and sfn templates	String	optional
Postscript	postscript	The closing punctuation for the citation; ignored if 'quote' is defined; to suppress use reserved keyword 'none' Default .	String	optional
Registration	registration	For online sources that require registration, set to 'yes' (or 'y', or 'true'); superseded by subscription if both are set	String	optional
Subscription	subscription	For online sources that require subscription, set to 'yes' (or 'y', or 'true'); supersedes registration if both are set	String	optional
Last name 3	last3 author3	The surname of the third author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink3'.	Unknown	optional
First name 3	first3	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the third author; don't wikilink.	Unknown	optional
Last name 4	last4 author4	The surname of the fourth author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink4'.	Unknown	optional
First name 4	first4	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the fourth author; don't wikilink.	Unknown	optional
Last name 5	last5 author5	The surname of the fifth author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink5'.	Unknown	optional
First name 5	first5	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the fifth author; don't wikilink.	Unknown	optional
Last name 6	last6 author6	The surname of the sixth author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink6'.	Unknown	optional
First name 6	first6	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the sixth author; don't wikilink.	Unknown	optional
Last name 7	last7 author7	The surname of the seventh author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink7'.	Unknown	optional
First name 7	first7	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the seventh author; don't wikilink.	Unknown	optional
Last name 8	last8 author8	The surname of the eighth author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink8'.	Unknown	optional
First name 8	first8	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the eighth author; don't wikilink.	Unknown	optional
Last name 9	last9 author9	The surname of the ninth author; don't wikilink, use 'authorlink9'. If nine authors are defined, then only eight will show and 'et al.' will show in place of the last author.	Unknown	optional
First name 9	first9	Given or first name, middle names, or initials of the ninth author; don't wikilink.	Unknown	optional
Author mask	author-mask	Replaces the name of the first author with em dashes or text; set to a numeric value 'n' to set the dash 'n' em spaces wide; set to a text value to display the text without a trailing author separator; for example, 'with' instead	String	optional
Author name separator	author-name-separator	Changes the separator between last and first names; defaults to a comma and space; a space must be encoded as   Default ,	String	optional
Author separator	author-separator	Changes the separator between authors; defaults to a semicolon and space; a space must be encoded as   Default ;	String	optional
Display authors	display-authors displayauthors	number of authors to display before 'et al.' is used;	Number	optional
Author link	author-link authorlink authorlink1 author-link1 author1-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the author; can suffix with a numeral to add additional authors	Page name	optional
Author link 2	author-link2 authorlink2	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the second author. (Up to nine authors can be listed, 3-9 are toward the end of the parameter list)	Page name	optional
Lay URL	lay-url layurl	URL link to a non-technical summary or review of the source; alias of 'laysummary'	String	optional
Lay source	lay-source laysource	Name of the source of the laysummary; displays in italics, preceded by an en dash	String	optional
Lay date	lay-date laydate	Date of the summary; displays in parentheses	String	optional
Author link 3	author-link3 authorlink3 author3-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the third author.	Page name	optional
Author link 4	author-link4 authorlink4 author4-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the fourth author.	Page name	optional
Author link 5	author-link5 authorlink5 author5-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the fifth author.	Page name	optional
Author link 6	author-link6 authorlink6 author6-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the sixth author.	Page name	optional
Author link 7	author-link7 authorlink7 author7-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the seventh author.	Page name	optional
Author link 8	author-link8 authorlink8 author8-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the eighth author.	Page name	optional
Author link 9	author-link9 authorlink9 author9-link	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the ninth author.	Page name	optional
Last author ampersand	last-author-amp lastauthoramp	When set to any value, changes the separator between the last two names of the author list to 'space ampersand space'	String	optional
Original year	orig-year origyear	Original year of publication; provide specifics	String	optional
via	via	Identify the aggregator of the resource that provided the digital version (usually a database provider), when it differs from the publisher (e.g., for The Wikipedia Library) Example EBSCOHost , Proquest, Newspapers.com	Unknown	optional

See also

• Wikipedia:Citing sources, style guideline
• Wikipedia:Citation templates, examples of template usage
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikicite
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite journal

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Cite news/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (create | mirror) and testcases (create) pages.
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