{{Wikicite}} makes a simple reference, for use in a "References" section for books, journals, web references, etc. The reference text is formatted manually, and the template merely adds an anchor for linking from in-text citations.

This template is only needed for handwritten citations that are linked to by a shortened footnote or a parenthetical reference. If you don't mind using a citation template, it is more standard to use {{sfn}} or {{harv}} with a template such as {{citation}}, {{cite book}}, {{cite web}}, etc.

This template is not necessary if the citation uses a citation template (such as {{cite book}}). Use the |ref= parameter of the citation template to create the anchor. This template is also not necessary if the article does not contain a shortened footnote or parenthetical reference that creates a link (e.g. (Smith 2009)). The anchor serves no purpose if nothing links to it.

Cut-'n'-paste.

{{Wikicite | id= | reference= }}

or, alternatively

{{Wikicite | ref= | reference= }}

The |id= or |ref= parameters are alternative unique identifiers used for the reference link on the page, compatible with some other reference templates. If both |id= and |ref= are provided, |id= is ignored. There are two differences between these:

  • |id= automatically prefixes the link anchor with "Reference-", whereas |ref= does not
  • |id= encloses the link anchor in double quotes, so these must not be provided by the editor; but if using |ref=, the specified content for this parameter must be enclosed in quotes unless it consists entirely of letters, figures, hyphens and periods. If it contains any other character - such as a blank or underscore - it must be quoted. (e.g., a ref anchor of Von Autor-2006 must be specified as |ref="Von Autor-2006")

Thus, these two forms

{{Wikicite | id=Anchor 1 | reference=Reference text }}
{{Wikicite | ref="Reference-Anchor 1" | reference=Reference text }}

produce identical results.

The |reference= parameter is the actual reference text. It may be plain text, formatted text, or one of the citation templates.

Recommended format (using the |id= parameter and a shortened footnote for illustration):

In the article body:

According to Atwood, blah blah.<ref>[[#Reference-Atwood-2003|Atwood (2003)]], p. 29.</ref>

In the references section:

* {{Wikicite | id= Atwood-2003 | reference= Atwood, Margaret (2003). ''Oryx and Crake'', Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-0868-6. }}

Result:

According to Atwood, blah blah.[]

Notes
References
  • Atwood, Margaret (2003). Oryx and Crake, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-0868-6.

This can also be linked to from {{sfn}} or the {{Harv}} family templates if the |ref= parameter is used in combination with the {{Harvid}} template, as in the following example:

According to Atwood, blah blah.{{sfn|Atwood|2003|p=29}}
* {{Wikicite | ref= {{Harvid|Atwood|2003}} | reference= Atwood, Margaret (2003). ''Oryx and Crake'', Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-0868-6. }}
  • Compatible with any reference style: editor has 100% control of the format through a technology called editing wikitext

Technical features:

  • Produces well-formed, accessible, semantically-correct HTML code
  • Compatible many other templates' in-text citation links (any id which starts with "Reference-")
  • Complies with WP:AUM
  • No conditionals
  • No CSS hacks

Note that the identical behavior can be achieved using the more standard {{Harvnb}} (or {{sfn}}) and {{Citation}}

In article body: {{Harv|Atwood|2003}}

In references section: *{{Citation| last=Atwood | first=Margaret | year=2003 | title=Oryx and Crake | location=Toronto | publisher=McClelland & Stewart | isbn=0771008686}}