Help:Footnotes
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This page explains how to create numbered footnotes and references using
the <ref> ... </ref> and <references/> format, which is the recommended footnote format on Ballotpedia.
If there's a single citation in an article to a reference source
At the point in the main text where you want your footnote to be inserted, type this:
- <ref>Sacramento Bee, March 24, 2008</ref>
That lets the reader know that the fact you just asserted is based on something published in the Sacramento Bee (a California newspaper) on March 24, 2008. However, you'll usually want to be more specific, and include a link in your footnote to the specific article in the Sacramento Bee upon which you are relying.
The text included between the ref tags does not need to refer the reader to an outside source.[1]
Including a link in your footnote to a specific URL
In order to include a link in your footnote to a specific URL, type this:
- <ref>[http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/806578.html <i>Sacramento Bee</i>: "Low turnout expected in California's June primary," March 24, 2008]</ref>
Here's what that looks like as an actual footnote.[2]
Multiple citations of the same reference or footnote
To cite the same reference or footnote several times in the same article, identify it the first time you type it with a short name, using the <ref> tag.
Enter the name of the reference like this:
- <ref name="Sacramento Bee">[http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/806578.html <i>Sacramento Bee</i>: "Low turnout expected in California's June primary," March 24, 2008]</ref>
Then, at all the other places in the article where you wish to cite that particular reference again, just enter:
- <ref name="Sacramento Bee"/>
How does that look in practice?[2]
Producing the reference or footnote list
At the place in the article where you wish the footnotes themselves to appear (usually at the end of the article in a "Notes" or "References" section), insert the tag:
- <references/>
If you don't insert this tag, none of the references you have so carefully included in your article will be visible to the article's readers.
Citation conventions on Ballotpedia
See Help:Citation conventions for discussion of the preferred citation formats on Ballotpedia.
References
- ↑ You can use your footnote to elaborate on a point in the text, like this. For example, you could do this if the point you are making would be cumbersome in the text itself.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sacramento Bee: "Low turnout expected in California's June primary," March 24, 2008
