Template:Excessive citations
Template documentation[view] [edit] [history] [purge]Usage
When to use
This template should be used only on articles that have sources.
It may be used with {{More citations needed}} or other check references templates. This template should not be used with stubs.
This template should be used to indicate that there are an excessive number of citations in an article or section of an article. Such a large number of citations can be aesthetically unappealing and may make the article unreadable or may lead to confusion about what exactly each citation is used in support of.
This template may be removed by anyone who fixes the problem with the excessive number of citations.
How to use
To use this template, place {{Excessive citations|date=January 2025}} on the article page or talk page in a location that may aid in conveying the message of the template. This template may be used within {{Multiple issues}} and placement of this template on the article page is guided by Template messages/Cleanup. The following parameters may be specified for this template:
|date=should preferably be used to categorize the article in a subcategory of Category:Wikipedia references cleanup. This helps with addressing aged cleanup messages. (e.g.,{{Excessive citations|date=January 2025}}.)|details=may be used to provide more details on some of the aspects that should be addressed for the given article. (e.g.,{{Excessive citations|date=January 2025|details=In particular, citation titles should be specified}})|A first unnamed parameter may be used to specify whether the template applies to the entire article or a section of the article (e.g.,{{Excessive citations|section|date=January 2025}}. If not specified, the first unnamed parameter defaults to "article."
Operation
This template will categorise tagged articles into Category:Wikipedia references cleanup and Category:Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify.
This template is a self-reference.
This template should not be substituted.
In-line use
If inline usage is desired, please use {{Excessive citations inline}}, which also has the shortcut {{overcite}}.
TemplateData
TemplateData for Excessive citations
Use this cleanup template to indicate that an article may contain an excessive number of citations.
| Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month and year | date | The month and year that the template was placed (in full). "{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}" inserts the current month and year automatically.
| Line | suggested |
| Details | details | Text providing details on the problem | String | optional |
| Affected area | 1 | Text to replace the word "article", usually "section"
| String | optional |
| Make template small | small | Enter "left" here to make the template box small and aligned to the left.
| Line | optional |