{{Wikicite}} creates an anchor, for use in a "References" section for books, journals, web references, etc. The anchor should be linked-to in the body of the article.

The reference text may be formatted manually, and the template merely adds an anchor for linking from in-text citations. This template is also useful when using a citation template that does not support the |ref= parameter (for example, {{ws}}).

This template is only needed for handwritten citations, or citations using non-standard citation templates, 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. (Atwood 2003)). The anchor serves no purpose if nothing links to it.

Cut-'n'-paste.

{{wikicite | id = | reference = }}

or, alternatively (but not equivalently – see below)

{{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 formats.

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

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* {{wikicite | ref = Atwood-2003 | reference = Atwood, Margaret (2003). ''Oryx and Crake'', Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. {{ISBN|978-0-7710-0868-9}}. }}

According to Atwood, blah blah.[]

Notes
  1. Atwood (2003), p. 29.
References
  • Atwood, Margaret (2003). Oryx and Crake, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 978-0-7710-0868-9.
According to Atwood, blah blah.<ref>[[#Reference-Atwood-2003|Atwood (2003)]], p. 29.</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* {{wikicite | id = Atwood-2003 | reference = Atwood, Margaret (2003). ''Oryx and Crake'', Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. {{ISBN|978-0-7710-0868-9}}. }}

According to Atwood, blah blah.[]

Notes
  1. Atwood (2003), p. 29.
References
According to Atwood, blah blah.{{sfn|Atwood|2003|p=29}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* {{wikicite | ref = {{sfnRef|Atwood|2003}} | reference = Atwood, Margaret (2003). ''Oryx and Crake'', Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. {{ISBN|978-0-7710-0868-9}}. }}

According to Atwood, blah blah.[]

Notes
  1. Atwood 2003, p. 29.
References

The parameter reference can be assigned templates as well as text. So if there is a template that is used for citations that does not support the usual {{Harvnb}} templates (see Help:CS1 and Help:CS2) the template can be passed into this template via the reference parameter. There is a template called {{ws}} that "places a wikisource icon before text". For example:

{{ws|[[s:Wellingon's Waterloo dispatch to Lord Bathurst, 19 June 1815|''The Waterloo dispatch'']]}} by the [[Duke of Wellington]] (19 June 1815)

would look like:

The Waterloo dispatch. by the Duke of Wellington (19 June 1815)
Markup Renders as
According to the ''[[Duke of Wellington]]'', blah blah.{{sfn|Wellington|1815}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* {{wikicite
   | ref = {{sfnRef|Wellington|1815}}
   | reference ={{ws|[[s:Wellingon's Waterloo dispatch to Lord Bathurst, 19 June 1815|''The Waterloo dispatch'']]}} by the [[Duke of Wellington]] (19 June 1815)
  }}

According to the Duke of Wellington, blah blah.[]

Notes
References

However this is only one of several ways this particular text could be cited (see § Alternatives for more details):

  • {{ws}} can take a template as a parameter itself, and then the citation can be linked using the standard ref=harv as described in help:CS1:
  • {{ws| {{citation |last=Wellington |first=Duke of |date=19 June 1815 |title=[[s:Wellingon's Waterloo dispatch to Lord Bathurst, 19 June 1815|''The Waterloo dispatch'']] |ref=harv}} }}
  • Wellington, Duke of (19 June 1815), 'The Waterloo dispatch'  {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) .
  • {{ws}} can be passed into the template {{citation}} as part of the title:
  • {{citation |last=Wellington |first=Duke of |date=19 June 1815 |title={{ws|[[s:Wellingon's Waterloo dispatch to Lord Bathurst, 19 June 1815|''The Waterloo dispatch'']]}} |ref=harv}}
  • Wellington, Duke of (19 June 1815), The Waterloo dispatch. {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • 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 with 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 = 978-0-7710-0868-9 }}