Shirt a Phobia

Template documentation[view] [edit] [history] [purge]

{{fcnTemplate:Fcn}}

This template is an alternative to {{Citation needed}}, for the cases where a reference is alluded to, or given in part, but not specified in enough detail. The factuality may or may not be in question; this template is just about the completeness of the citation.

For an article with numerous partial citations, consider instead the banner template {{Full citations needed}}.

How to use

{{Full citation needed|date=June 2026}}

The template should be placed outside <ref>...</ref> tags.

Nixon resigned August 9, 1974.<ref>''The New York Times''</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=June 2026}}
Result: Nixon resigned August 9, 1974.^[1]^{[full citation needed]}

References

^ The New York Times

When to use

Use this when you find citations that are hopelessly incomplete, such as:

The Daily News (but no date or article title)
Smith 2000 (and no indication of the title, or which of the many authors named “Smith” wrote it)
According to a press release from the company… (they might send out hundreds every year)

Do not use this when there is enough of a bibliographic citation that you can find the source (e.g., the book or the article), but you want a page number, quotation, or other detail. Instead, use {{page needed}}, {{request quotation}}, or other specific template.

Other information

This template places the article into Category:Articles needing more detailed references or a dated subcategory thereof.

This template is a self-reference and so is part of the Wikipedia project rather than the encyclopædic content.

Template data

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Full citation needed in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Full citation needed

This inline template is used where a reference is alluded to, or given in part, but not specified in enough detail to identify it.

Template parameters[]
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Month and year	`date`	Provides the month and year; e.g., ‘January 2013’, but not ‘jan13’ Auto value `{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}`	String	suggested

Redirects

{{Ref expand}} – banner version of this template, for when an article needs many citations to be completed
{{Incomplete short citation}} – variant of this inline template for when a short citation is too incomplete to identify which long citation it references
{{Citation needed}} – for when no source is indicated at all
{{Ref improve}} – banner template for when an article needs more than one citation to be added
{{Author missing}} – inline template for a specific issue
{{Year missing}} – inline template for a specific issue
{{Page missing}} – inline template for a specific issue
Wikipedia:Citing sources, especially Unsourced material
Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources
Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup/Verifiability and sources
Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles
Wikipedia:Verifiability
Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check

Inline cleanup tags

Attribution

Clarity

Miscellaneous

Neutrality

Precision

{{By how much}} {{Definition}} {{Definition span}} {{Definition needed}} {{Example needed}} {{Example needed span}} {{Explain}} {{Explain-wrap}} {{From where}} {{How}} {{How often}} {{Misquoted}} {{More detail needed}} {{Of what}} {{Quantify}} {{Specify}} {{Vague}} {{When}} {{Where}} {{Where-geo}} {{Which}} {{Who else}} {{Why}} {{Year needed}}
Excessive	{{Duplication span}} {{Globalize inline}} {{Importance example}} {{Importance inline}} {{Infobox clutter}} {{List entry too long}} {{Long quote}} {{Off topic paragraph}} {{Off topic sentence}} {{Overly detailed inline}} {{Over-explained}} {{Relevance inline}} {{Undue weight inline}}

Time-sensitivity

Verifiability

Dubious	{{Contradictory inline}} {{Discuss}} {{Disputed inline}} {{Dubious}} {{Dubious span}} {{Inconsistent}} {{Needs independent confirmation}} {{Speculation inline}}
Bare URLs	{{Bare URL inline}} {{Bare URL AV media}} {{Bare URL DOC}} {{Bare URL image}} {{Bare URL non-HTML}} {{Bare URL PDF}} {{Bare URL plain text}} {{Bare URL spreadsheet}}
Incomplete or broken citation	{{Author incomplete}} {{Author missing}} {{Broken footnote}} {{Date missing}} {{Dead link}} {{Dead YouTube link}} {{Deep link needed}} {{Edition needed}} {{Episode needed}} {{Full citation needed}} {{Incomplete short citation}} {{ISBN missing}} {{Missing long citation}} {{Moved resource}} {{Page needed}} {{Pages needed}} {{Permanent dead link}} {{Place missing}} {{Publisher missing}} {{Season needed}} {{Time needed}} {{Title incomplete}} {{Title missing}} {{Unused source}} {{Volume needed}} {{Year missing}}
Missing or problematic reference	{{Additional citation needed}} {{AI-generated inline}} {{AI-generated source?}} {{AI-retrieved source}} {{Better source needed}} {{Better source needed example}} {{Check quotation}} {{Chronology citation needed}} {{Circular reference}} {{Circular reporting}} {{Citation needed}} {{Citation needed span}} {{Citation needed paragraph}} {{Citation not found}} {{Close paraphrasing inline}} {{COI source}} {{Deprecated inline}} {{Excessive citations inline}} {{Failed verification}} {{Failed verification span}} {{Image reference needed}} {{Independent source inline}} {{Irrelevant citation}} {{Marketing material}} {{Medical citation needed}} {{Medical citation needed span}} {{Misplaced footnote}} {{Nonspecific}} {{Not verified in body}} {{Not verified in body span}} {{Obsolete source}} {{Page range too broad}} {{Primary source inline}} {{Promotional source}} {{Quote without source}} {{Request quotation}} {{Request quotation span}} {{Retracted}} {{Scientific citation needed}} {{Self-published inline}} {{Self-published source}} {{Shallow reference inline}} {{Tertiary source inline}} {{Text-source inline}} {{Unreliable source?}} {{Unreliable fringe source}} {{Unreliable medical source}} {{Unreliable scientific source}} {{User-generated inline}} {{User-generated source}} {{Verify quote}} {{Verify source}} {{Whose quote}}

Wording

General advice

Citation and verifiability article maintenance templates
Sourcing	{{Circular}} {{Dubious}} {{Excessive citations}} {{Further reading cleanup}} {{Independent sources}} {{More citations needed}} {{More citations needed section}} {{More footnotes needed}} {{No footnotes}} {{No reliable sources}} {{No significant coverage}} {{One source}} {{One source section}} {{Only primary sources}} {{NRIS only}} {{Primary sources}} {{Primary sources section}} {{Religious text primary}} {{Self-published}} {{Self-reference cleanup}} {{Self-sourcing examples}} {{Refexample section}} {{Sources exist}} {{Text-source}} {{Unreferenced}} {{Unreferenced section}} {{Unreferenced category}} {{Unreliable sources}} {{Unreliable sources section}} {{User-generated}}
BLP-specific	{{BLP unreferenced}} {{BLP unreferenced section}} {{BLP primary sources}} {{BLP self-published}} {{BLP sources}} {{BLP sources section}} {{BLP no footnotes}} {{BLP more footnotes needed}} {{BLP one source}}
Topic specific	{{Localist}} {{Media IMDb refimprove}} {{More medical citations needed}} {{More science citations needed}} {{Neologism}} {{Science review}} {{Unreferenced law}} {{Unreferenced medical section}}
Dispute-related	{{Cite check}} {{Cite check section}} {{Content}} {{Disputed}} {{Dispute about}} {{Disputed section}} {{Disputed chem}} {{Disputed list}} {{Disputed map}} {{Expert needed}} {{Hoax}} {{Original research}} {{Original research section}} {{Speculation}} {{Speculation section}} {{Synthesis}} {{Verifiability}} {{Verify sources}}
Citation improvements	{{Citation style}} {{Citations broken}} {{Cleanup bare URLs}} {{Format footnotes}} {{Full citations needed}} {{Ibid}} {{Page numbers improve}} {{Page numbers needed}} {{Parenthetical referencing}} {{Shallow references}}
General advice	Citing sources Reliable sources Maintenance template removal Citation needed Find sources Combining sources Referencing styles

Sample Page

How to use

When to use

Other information

Template data

Redirects

See also