View source for Help:Citation Style 2

{{Short description|Help page for citation templates}}
{{Wikipedia how to|WP:CS2|H:CS2|H:CITE2}}
'''Citation Style 2 (CS2)''' is a style applied to citations on Wikipedia. It is used by default in the general purpose citation template {{tl|Citation}}, and available as an option in many other templates. The commonly-used [[Wikipedia:Citation templates|citation templates]] have two style modes.<ref>This covers all templates that directly invoke [[Module:Citation/CS1]], including the general purpose CS2 template {{tl|Citation}}. It also includes the [[Help:Citation Style 1|Citation Style 1 (CS1)]] templates {{tl|cite web}}, {{tl|cite news}}, {{tl|cite book}}, {{tl|cite journal}}, {{tl|cite magazine}}, and templates that are wrappers for these templates like {{tl|cite CE1913}}, {{tl|cite Google Maps}}, {{tl|cite tweet}}, or {{tl|cite ADB}}. There are some templates with "cite xxx" names, like {{tl|cite patent}}, that are technically unrelated, do not invoke Module:Citation/CS1, and cannot use the CS2 style mode.</ref> These modes change how the citation is punctuated when it's rendered. CS2 primarily uses the comma as a separator, and it does not have a punctuation mark at the end of the citation. [[Help:Citation Style 1|Citation Style 1 (CS1)]] uses the full stop as a separator and for terminal punctuation.<ref>There are various benefits to using a template, most notably that doing so produces a consistent look. You are not required to use CS2 or any other citation [[Wikipedia:Templates|template]]. {{as of|2016|October}}, [[Wikipedia:Citing sources#Variation in citation methods|Wikipedia:Citing sources § Variation in citation methods (WP:CITEVAR)]] states:

<blockquote>Editors should not attempt to change an article's established citation style merely on the grounds of personal preference, to make it match other articles, or without first seeking [[WP:Consensus|consensus]] for the change. </blockquote></ref> For example:

;CS2
: {{citation |last=Carroll |first=Lewis |title=Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |date=1866 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland_(1866) |publisher=Macmillan |location=London}}
;CS1
:{{citation |mode=cs1 |last=Carroll |first=Lewis |title=Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |date=1866 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland_(1866) |publisher=Macmillan |location=London}}

When you use any template, please consider reviewing its documentation. You can find it at the template's page in the [[Wikipedia:Template namespace|template namespace]] by searching for <code>Template:</code> plus the name of the template; for example, to find the documentation for <code><nowiki>{{Citation}}</nowiki></code>, enter <code>Template:Citation</code> in the [[Help:Searching from a web browser|Search box]].

==Style==
;With author
:{{citation |last=Elk |first=Anne |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972 |publisher=Monty Python's Flying Circus }}
;Without author
:{{citation |title=[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] |date=November 16, 1972 |publisher=Monty Python's Flying Circus}}

Citation Style 2 differs from [[Help:Citation Style 1|Citation Style 1]] in these specific style characteristics:
*uses a comma to separate individual elements of a rendered citation (CS1 is a fullstop)
*terminal punctuation is omitted from the rendered citation unless overridden by {{para|postscript}} (CS1 is a fullstop) 

==Apply CS2 to a single citation==
By default, the {{tl|Citation}} template uses CS2 formatting. To apply CS2 formatting to other citation templates, add <syntaxhighlight inline lang=wikitext>|mode=cs2</syntaxhighlight> to the template's parameters. For example, {{tl|cite web}} uses CS1 formatting, but <syntaxhighlight inline lang=wikitext>{{cite web |mode=cs2}}</syntaxhighlight> uses CS2 formatting.

==Apply CS2 to all citations in an article==
Add <code><nowiki>{{cs1</nowiki><nowiki> config |mode=cs2}}</nowiki></code> to the article, preferably near the top of the page,<ref>See [[MOS:ORDER]].</ref> to apply CS2 formatting to all citations on a page using [[Module:Citation/CS1]].

==Citation template==
The general purpose {{tl|Citation}} template uses CS2 by default. It determines the citation type by examining which parameters are used. As with other citation templates, it can be used either in a footnote (between {{tag|ref}} tags) or in a section that lists sources. For example:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{tj|Citation
  | last: Turner
  | first: Orsamus
  | title: History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve
  | publisher: William Alling
  | place: Rochester, New York
  | year: 1851
  | ol: 7120924W
}}
| {{Citation
| last      = Turner
| first     = Orsamus
| title     = History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve
| publisher = William Alling
| place     = Rochester, New York
| year      = 1851
| ol        = 7120924W
}}
|}

==Notes==
<references/>

==Tools==
* [[User:Trappist the monk/HarvErrors]] is a script that may be enabled to display errors when using [[WP:CITESHORT|shortened footnotes]]. (See [[Help:Shortened footnotes]] for details on links and anchors.)
* [[User:Nardog/RefRenamer]] will replace the [[Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Named references|names that the VisualEditor auto-generates]] for named references (":0") with names using the parameters from the citation template ("Smith-2015").
* [[Wikipedia:ProveIt]] is a gadget that offers a visual interface for editing and generating citation templates.
* [[User:Mesidast/Tidy citations.js]] normalizes spacing in all citations on a given page.
* [[User:Lingzhi2/reviewsourcecheck-sb.js]] is a script that will note which citations on a given page are inconsistent.

{{Wikipedia referencing}}
{{Wikipedia help pages}}

[[Category:Wikipedia citation administration]]