Template:One source
Template documentation[view] [edit] [history] [purge]Purpose
This template alerts people to encyclopedic content which appears to rely on a single source.
A single source is usually less than ideal, because a single source may be inaccurate or biased. Without other sources for corroboration, accuracy or neutrality may be suspect. By finding multiple independent sources, the reliability of the encyclopedia is improved. For BLP articles that cite one source and need more, use {{BLP one source}} instead.
Citing only one source is not a violation of any policy. Consider not adding this tag to stubs, articles that are being actively expanded, or articles that have no apparent problems with verifiability and neutrality.
This tag is more specific than the widely used {{More citations needed}} and {{More footnotes needed}} templates. It should be used preferentially to either of those templates when the article in question not only needs additional inline citations but when it needs more than one source.
Usage
{{One source|date=February 2025}}
{{One source|section|date=February 2025}}
{{One source|text=Alternate first sentence|date=February 2025}}
{{One source|section|find=topic search keywords|date=February 2025}}
Parameters
Subject
The first unnamed parameter replaces "This article relies" with "This PARAMETER relies".
For example, {{One source|section}} displays:
Text
You can replace the entire first sentence by specifying the text= parameter. This can be used when the standard wording is not applicable, but the general intent of the template is.
Date
As with most cleanup templates, the |date= parameter sorts the article into subcategories of Category:Articles lacking sources, allowing the oldest problems to be identified and dealt with first. You do not need to specify the date manually; a bot will add it later automatically.
Find parameters
There are two 'find' parameters available to control the presentation and operation of the {{find sources}} links optionally displayed by the template. By default, the template displays {{find sources}} with a quoted search query equivalent to the exact article title. Sometimes, especially if the article has a long, descriptive title, or if it includes parenthetical disambiguation terms, this may not give useful results. The find parameters can be used to provide the search keywords of your choice to the {{find sources}} links. Use:
|find=to specify keywords for an exact search (double-quoted query); this corresponds to {{find sources}} positional param|1=.|find2=to specify keywords for an unquoted search; this corresponds to {{find sources}} param|2=. The alias|unquoted=may be used instead.
The second param is especially useful with the 'section' version of the template. Try setting |find=Article title|find2=Section title}} for improved search results in this case.
The value "none" may be passed to 'find' (|find=none) to suppress display of find sources links. (Note that specifying |find=none and a nonempty value for |find2= is not a valid combination.)
Editorial usage
This template should only be used for encyclopedic content which has a verified, cited source, but only the one source.
A single source is not automatically a problem. Good judgment and common sense should be used.
Please consider improving the article or making a good-faith attempt to find additional citations before adding this template.
It is considered good form to provide a rationale in your edit summary or on the talk page of the article. The more specifically you describe your concerns, the less likely other editors are to misunderstand.
If you believe problems exist beyond the sources themselves, address that issue with an appropriate template (see below), rather than simply questioning the sources.
Alternatives
- Inline version
- {{Single Source-inline}} – same concept but used within the context of individual sentences or phrases.
- Sources and citations
- {{Failed verification}} – Citation does not support the article's claim(s)
- Article content
- {{POV}} – Neutrality, point-of-view, bias
Administrivia
This template will categorise tagged articles into Category:Articles needing additional references. If a date is supplied, a monthly category like Category:Articles needing additional references from February 2025 will be used instead.
Do not subst: this template.
TemplateData
TemplateData for One source
Use this maintenance template to indicate that an article relies largely or entirely on a single source.
| 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 |
| Talk page section | talk | Section name on the talk page (or talk page together with section) for further discussion
| Line | optional |
| Custom first sentence | text | Text to replace the entire first sentence of the template | Line | optional |
| Affected area | 1 | Text to replace the word "article", usually "section"
| Line | optional |
| "Find sources" verbatim search term | find | Verbatim search term for the links in the template for finding sources | Line | optional |
| "Find sources" non-verbatim search term | find2 unquoted | Non-verbatim search term for the links in the template for finding sources | Line | optional |