Wikipedia:WikiProject Unreferenced articles
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Main page | Discussion | How to guide | Resources | Mistagged articles | Backlog drives |
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Welcome!
We are agroupof volunteers dedicated toreviewingand addingreferencesto articles that are inCategory:Articles lacking sourcesandCategory:Unreferenced BLPs.
Wikipedia'sverifiability policyrequires that:all quotations and anythingchallenged or likely to be challengedbe attributed in the form of aninline citationthat directly supports the material.Unfortunately, there are approximately 87,000 articles tagged as havingnocitations, which is one of Wikipedia'sbiggest cleanup categories.
We need your help! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them onour discussion page.
- Want to join?Click hereand add your name to the list of volunteers using the {{User|Name}} format.
- Need help adding references?See the following sections:
- Hints and tips;General starting point
- How to guide;A detailed guide for beginners
- Resources;A list of sources for finding references
Goal
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Question_book_magnify2.svg/75px-Question_book_magnify2.svg.png)
Thegoalof this project is to ensure that:
- Articles meet at least the barest minimum ofverifiabilityandnotability,by including at least one reliable published (online or offline) reference. The highest priority areBiographies of Living Persons.
- Anoptional goalof this project is to add as many reliable references to articles as you can find. While this is optional, it is recommended, particularly when dealing with Biographies of Living Persons.
Scope
- All articles which have been tagged for having inadequate or nosources.
Related projects
- TheUnreferenced BLP RescueWikiProject focuses specifically on living persons.
- TheCitation Cleanup WikiProjectaims to improve the quality and consistency of citations and footnotes in Wikipedia.
- TheFact and Reference Check WikiProjecthas a bolder purpose: "nothing less than having facts in Wikipedia verified by multiple independent sources to make it the most authoritative source of information in the world."
Progress
There are204months of unreferenced articles in the backlog (Category:Articles lacking sources) with a count of86,825articles.
To view the progress of the backlog:
- Category:Articles lacking sources from July 2024—This category holds the latest unreferenced articles. There are228new articles so far this month.
- Category:Articles lacking sources from June 2024—This category also holds the previous month articles marked as unreferenced. There are173articles tagged.
- Category:Articles lacking sources from December 2009—This category contains the largest number of articles marked as unreferenced. There are11,675articles tagged. For editors who may like a challenge.
- Category:Articles lacking sources from October 2008—This category contains early articles marked as unreferenced. There are42articles tagged as the oldest articles.
- Category:Articles lacking sources from November 2008—More early articles marked as unreferenced. There are195articles tagged here.
Tasks
Main tasks
Category:Articles lacking sources from October 2008
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540 / 582 (93%)
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Category:Articles lacking sources from November 2008
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289 / 484 (60%)
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Category:Articles lacking sources from December 2008
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296 / 594 (50%)
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Category:Articles lacking sources from January 2009
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383 / 768 (50%)
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Open tasks
BLPs needing additional references
Focusing on the oldest subcategories fromCategory:BLP articles lacking sources,currently this is:
Category:BLP articles lacking sources from January 2007
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45 / 76 (59%)
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Category:BLP articles lacking sources from February 2007
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24 / 62 (39%)
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Category:BLP articles lacking sources from March 2007
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13 / 51 (25%)
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Articles needing additional references
Focusing on the oldest subcategories fromCategory:Articles needing additional references,currently this is:
Category:Articles needing additional references from October 2006
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16 / 139 (12%)
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Category:Articles needing additional references from November 2006
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4 / 261 (2%)
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Articles lacking reliable references
Focusing on the oldest subcategories fromCategory:Articles lacking reliable references,currently this is:
Category:Articles lacking reliable references from January 2007
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22 / 76 (29%)
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Category:Articles lacking reliable references from February 2007
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3 / 49 (6%)
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Category:Articles lacking reliable references from March 2007
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1 / 43 (2%)
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Hints and tips
This is list of the main ideas to keep in mind when working on this project. For a more detailed, step-by-step guide seethis how to guide.
General
This section advises on how deal with articles that have insufficientinline citationsorgeneral references,appearing in the ==Notes== or ==References== section or both, as described in theciting sourcesguideline.
- In order to help people find this project, consider using an edit summary like the following:Wikipedia:WikiProject Unreferenced articles; [[WP:URA|you can help!]]
- If the article has no ==References== section
- Add a ==References== section adding "{{Reflist}}"below willautomaticallygenerate the list offootnotesif they are used.
- If a ==References== section already exists and it contains somegeneral referencesadd a ==Notes== section above the ==References== section and place within it a "{{Reflist}}"template.
- If an article has no inline-citations in the body of the article or general-citations in a ==References== section, then attempt to locate and add a citations to the article. See if any of the entries in the ==Further reading== or ==External links== sections can be used as references. If so then follow the guidance inciting sourcesguideline and move them to the appropriate place. Otherwise attempt to locate and addinline citationsto the article.
- Be wary ofcircular referencing.There are manyWikipedia mirrors.In particular,Alphascript Publishing's books by Frederic P. Miller et al., Betascript Publishing,Icon Group International's "Webster's Quotations, Facts and Phrases" series, andBooks, LLCall reuse Wikipedia content and appear in Google Books searches.
- If you have been unable to add any inline-citations, and you think the article needs them or the article still lacks any general-references then add the{{unreferenced}}template. Either add it at the top of the article or directly above the{{reflist}}template. However if the article is a{{stub}},there is no general consensus on whether adding an{{unreferenced}}template is appropriate, so discuss it on the talk page first to see if there is a local consensus to add it.
- If the article has one inline-citation but is inadequately cited:
- add templates{{Refimprove}},{{Primarysources}},{{Onesource}}and{{rs}}as appropriate to put the article inCategory:Articles lacking reliable references
- Templates{{Verify source}},or{{Verify credibility}}tags to put the article in toCategory:Wikipedia articles needing factual verification.
- If the reference isspamor completely unrelated, you may want to remove it and consider further action.
Check validity of articles
- Check if the article qualifies forspeedy deletion/prod/afd/merge/redirect,review therulesand nominate as appropriate.
- If suspicious, check for possiblecopyright violation.
- Consider using{{find}}to look for sources.
- Validity related templates include{{citation style}},{{OR}}and others fromCategory:Citation and verifiability maintenance templates
Resources for accessing paywalled references
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Banner
![]() | This page was provided with references by anUnreferenced articles projectvolunteer on July 19, 2024. If youedit this page,please build on the good work bycitingyour sources. |
How to use
Number of banners posted |
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2,181 |
This banneris used to signify that an article has been provided with references by a member of this project. Like traditional project banners, this banner isplaced on the talk pagebut it is only insertedafter the improvementshave been made. This will hopefully encourage others to follow suit when editing the article, and perhaps even join the project! The template should be placed in section 0 of the articles talk page, which is after any project templates and before any threaded discussions. When this template is applied the article's talk page becomes a member ofCategory:Articles improved by WikiProject Unreferenced articles.
Use the following code to place the banner on the article'stalk page:
{{Wikipedia Unreferenced articles improved|date={{subst:CURRENTDAY2}} {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}}}
Thedatefield is optional, butshouldbe included.
Volunteers
{{User Unreferenced Articles}}
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- Feel free to join, just add#and your name and the current date automatically by typing four tildes, like this:
# ~~~~
or# {{User|YOUR USER NAME}} ~~~~~
at the bottom of the list. If you'd like, you can also add a comment after your name if you volunteer for this cleanup project. - You might want to consider adding{{User Unreferenced Articles}}to your userpage, which will produce a box like the one at right.
List of active members
- ONUnicorn(Talk|Contribs)problem solving(Should we have a userbox?)16:39, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
- PhilKnight16:06, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
- Pinkadelica09:17, 23 October 2007 (UTC)
- --Esprit15d21:23, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
- LquilterLquilter(talk)14:14, 29 November 2007 (UTC)- excellent project idea. Very important.
- Excirial(Talk,Contribs)11:52, 30 May 2008 (UTC)I will be going after the oldest articles first, excluding bands and music records
- --THEFOUNDERSINTENTPRAISE22:33, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
- VejvančickýI´m trying to improve mainly Czech unreferenced stubs.
- --Hut 8.513:34, 18 July 2008 (UTC)
- Whpq(talk)20:09, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
- Bearian(talk)18:30, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
- Ricardiana(talk)05:00, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
- HJMitchellYou rang?22:50, 28 April 2009 (UTC)- might as well add my name to the list! I do a lot of this stuff for other causes!
- Ernstblumberg(talk)13:54, 8 May 2009 (UTC)
- Esowteric(talk)13:47, 2 June 2009 (UTC)
- Ϫ00:09, 2 July 2009 (UTC)
- Mattg82(talk)01:27, 23 December 2009 (UTC)- Happy to help with this project.
- Altamel(talk)22:01, 24 December 2009 (UTC)
- Leahtwosaints(talk)17:53, 28 March 2011 (UTC)- biographies ofmusicians.I supplyfree imagephotos,add missing infoboxes as well as editing, and copyediting too.
- Jezebel'sPonyoshhh17:49, 27 January 2010 (UTC)I was already working through the list on my own, I might as well do it in good company!
- RDBury(talk)21:42, 13 February 2010 (UTC)- Specializing in math articles.
- ManicSpider(talk)04:25, 9 March 2010 (UTC)Starting at the oldest articles and working my way forward! ^_^
- N2e(talk)20:59, 10 March 2010 (UTC)— improving Wikipedia tohelpensure onlyverifiablysourcedinformation has become my most important wikitask. Happy to join the team officially.
- alchemagenta00:56, 25 May 2010 (UTC)
- Kmzundel(talk)18:55, 26 May 2010 (UTC)I've been an unofficial member of this group for a while; good to be official!
- MelanieN(talk·contribs)00:50, 20 June 2010 (UTC)I've been doing this for a while; thought I was the only one; good to know there's a bunch of us!
- Kithira(talk)19:58, 21 June 2010 (UTC)Focusing on baseball-related citation work.
- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus|talk20:42, 24 August 2010 (UTC)(whatever I see, also adding refs to my older articles)
- Avicennasis@ 04:07, 16 Elul 5770 / 26 August 2010 (UTC)I'll lend a hand - lots of work to be done!:)
- --occono(talk)14:41, 1 November 2010 (UTC)
- GeorgeLouis(talk)13:55, 6 November 2010 (UTC)Starting with the oldest.
- staticshakedown(talk), 15 December 2010 (UTC)
- Peaceray(talk), 18 January 2010 (UTC) Already active in adding References section, Template:Reflist, references & citations, & changing BLP unsourced to sources or refimprove since 15 December 2010 (UTC).
- CaroleHenson(talk), 07 February 2011 (UTC)
- Chenoeh(talk), 17 March 2011 (UTC)
- Bobherry2:03, 22 May 2011 (UTC)
- Jenova20(talk)13:26, 18 August 2011 (UTC)
- Kogge(talk)10:10, 1 May 2012 (UTC)specially microorganisms (in the pastuser:Dodshe)
- Gobōnobo+c06:06, 4 June 2012 (UTC)
- Coal town guy16:05, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
- Juristicweb03:34, 26 August 2012 (UTC)
- 14GTR14GTR|14:55, 24 November 2012 (UTC)
- Ifly6(talk)02:59, 28 May 2013 (UTC)
- Ken Seh(talk)16:20, 16 June 2013 (UTC)
- kmccook(talk)13:08, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
- Miss Bono[zootalk]12:39, 21 August 2013 (UTC)
- Pageman(talk)00:45, 10 September 2013 (UTC)
- Sophus Bie(talk)03:25, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
- Acather96(talk)18:45, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
- Geraldshields11(talk)15:46, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
- Mohammed Sadat Abdulai:Masssly(talk)14:57, 25 November 2013 (UTC)
- tcxspears(talk)21:08, 3 December 2013 (UTC)
- Alynna Kasmira(talk·contribs)01:27, 27 January 2014 (UTC)
- Rsrikanth05(talk·contribs)12:26, 3 February 2014 (UTC)
- Mr. Yondris Ferguson(talk)10:59, 26 June 2014 (UTC)
- Whoisjohngalt(talk)13:31, 15 September 2014 (UTC)
- DThomsen8(talk)01:27, 2 October 2014 (UTC)
- recdep(talk·contribs)22:38, 7 November 2014 (UTC)
- AdrianGamer(talk·contribs)05:34, 23 November 2014 (UTC)
- Prof. Squirrel(talk·contribs)05:13, 1 December 2014 (UTC)
- James E. Scholz(talk·contribs) 19 March 2015
- Amockens(talk·contribs)22:45, 7 April 2015 (UTC)
- TheEditor867(talk)03:50, 6 July 2015 (UTC)Been working on this for a while, didn't actually realize there was a project for it.
- Marcus1093(talk)10:55, 16 June 2015 (UTC)
- Elise_navidad88(talk)22:30, 26 August 2015 (UTC)Librarian-in-training...happy to help!
- prashbio(talk·contribs)09:34, 23 September 2015 (UTC)
- Dig deeper(talk)02:42, 21 January 2016 (UTC)
- JJ1214(talk·contribs)04:39, 3 February 2016 (UTC)
- Yacara15(talk)21:43, 1 April 2016 (UTC)
- MBlairMartin(talk)20:29, 18 July 2016 (UTC)WiR at the LCM, working on vintage computer articles.
- Aphilli(talk·contribs)00:29, 19 August 2016 (UTC)
- Vanessamule17:51, 22 August 2016 (UTC)
- Brax292(talk·contribs)23:22, 22 August 2016 (UTC)
- Amflis1600:49, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
- Finnusertop(talk⋅contribs)22:17, 3 October 2016 (UTC)
- IazygesConsermonorOpus meum01:23, 5 November 2016 (UTC)
- Ariadne Lily(talk)18:41, 16 December 2016 (UTC)
- Sam Sailor(talk·contribs)07:27, 15 January 2017 (UTC)
- Bishal revenger(talk)05:10, 30 March 2017 (UTC)
- ProgrammingGeek(talk·contribs)
- cdjp1(talk·contribs)
- Amanouz(talk·contribs)Amanouz(talk)16:24, 25 May 2017 (UTC)
- scope_creep(talk·contribs) 22:03 26 May 2016
- StephenTS42(talk·contribs)14:49, 13 June 2017 (UTC)
- AmericanAir88(talk·contribs)AmericanAir88(talk)20:34, 9 August 2017 (UTC)
- HickoryOughtShirt?4(talk·contribs)04:21, 11 March 2018 (UTC)
- dblu9494(talk·contribs)Dblu9494(talk)17:21, 16 February 2021 (UTC)
- Sirshak9927(talk·contribs)02:38, 4 April 2018 (UTC)
- FergParkinson(talk·contribs)12:51, 13 April 2018 (UTC)
- Ashish itct(talk·contribs) 17:50, 14 April 2018 (IST)
- Nosebagbear(talk·contribs)13:38, 26 April 2018 (UTC)
- Meanderingbartender(talk·contribs)12:02, 2 May 2018 (UTC)
- Wyrm127(talk)17:54, 23 June 2018 (UTC)
- Baerentp(talk)16:59, 13 July 2018 (UTC)
- Sureshkhole(talk)05:08, 21 August 2018 (UTC)
- SkyGazer 512(talk·contribs)22:04, 3 September 2018 (UTC)
- Abhimanyu Kapur(talk·contribs)08:56, 9 September 2018 (UTC)
- KatnissMay the odds be ever in your favor♥17:10, 20 September 2018 (UTC)
- Coolabahapple(talk)07:18, 17 November 2018 (UTC)
- PMCH2(talk·contribs)23:08, 29 November 2018 (UTC)I am interested in improving references on pages about notable women.
- Aurornisxui(talk)23:45, 1 December 2018 (UTC)
- Emeraude(talk·contribs)09:52, 20 December 2018 (UTC)
- airuditious(talk)04:27, 7 February 2019 (UTC)
- LibrarianBTeam(talk)20:59, 20 February 2019 (UTC)
- --Tyt0791(talk)08:20, 3 May 2019 (UTC)
- Timur9008(talk)21:16, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
- VF9(talk·contribs)VF9(talk)23:28, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
- Marknamz8931(talk·contribs)Marknamz8931(talk)15:50, 19 November 2019 (UTC)- Would love to help unreferenced BLP's and etc.
- Pucidanuna(talk)15:32, 21 February 2020 (UTC)
- Gardo Versace(talk)18:47, 10 May 2020 (UTC)
- Thunderbotz(talk)08:14, 28 July 2020 (UTC)
- Mysteriumen•♪Ⓜ•♪talk♪• look11:00, 2 October 2020 (UTC)
- RAJIVVASUDEV(talk)10:02, 14 October 2020 (UTC)
- Kyuko(talk·contribs)13:30, 6 March 2021 (UTC)
- Riley1012(talk)22:12, 17 May 2021 (UTC)
- Jimwilliams975(talk)14:25, 11 August 2021 (UTC)
- Sakura emad(talk·contribs)12:41, 15 August 2021 (UTC)
- ArcticSeeress(talk)21:52, 31 August 2021 (UTC)
- CycoMa123:18, 9 October 2021 (UTC)
- Jamzze(talk)19:01, 21 October 2021 (UTC)
- Victuallers(talk)09:16, 27 October 2021 (UTC)unreferenced women
- FOARP(talk·contribs)14:08, 10 January 2022 (UTC)
- Kazamzam(talk)12:47, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
- Thinker78(talk)00:37, 2 May 2022 (UTC)
- TheCatalyst31(talk·contribs)18:26, 5 June 2022 (UTC)
- Dimples30(talk·contribs) (talk) 1:28, 19 May 2022 (UTC)
- CrafterNova[ TALK ][ CONT ]14:44, 16 June 2022 (UTC)Happy to contribute. Looking forward to making Wikipedia a better encyclopedia;)
- Paulpat99(talk)22:27, 16 June 2022 (UTC)Happy to help but will focus on Cycling articles until I understand more.
- Warg78(talk)16:31, 17 June 2022 (UTC)
- Merlinderhindergrinder(talk)16:48, 17 June 2022 (UTC)
- Tenaj20(talk) 27 August 2022 (UTC)
- FormalDude(talk·contribs)09:06, 1 September 2022 (UTC)
- Gnomingstuff(talk·contribs) I've been doing some of these and keeping arunning list.Gnomingstuff(talk)01:37, 23 September 2022 (UTC)
- Feralcateater000(talk·contribs)
- Amuseclio(talk·contribs)
- Demt1298(talk·contribs)16:05, 6 December 2022 (UTC)Gnoming has lead me to assisting some articles with references
- Endrabcwizart(talk)09:42, 21 February 2023 (UTC)
- Tousif.15(talk·contribs)Tousif❯❯❯Talk
- DefenderTienMinh07(talk·contribs) (☀DefenderTienMinh⛤☯☽(talk))05:59, 6 July 2023 (UTC)^-^
- DressChimera241(talk·contribs)19:44, 14 July 2023 (UTC)
- GloryRoad66(talk·contribs)GloryRoad66(talk)00:58, 28 July 2023 (UTC)
- A Random Plant Wikipedian(talk·contribs)00:53, 4 August 2023 (UTC)
- Turtlecrown(talk)20:36, 17 September 2023 (UTC)
- Jeraxmoira(talk)14:41, 13 October 2023 (UTC)
- Spida-tarbell(talk·contribs)23:36, 30 October 2023 (UTC)
- Victuallers(talk)17:04, 4 November 2023 (UTC)
- ARandomName123(talk)Ping me!23:23, 5 November 2023 (UTC)
- Waylon111(talk)21:09, 17 November 2023 (UTC)
- CactiStaccingCrane(talk)17:38, 6 January 2024 (UTC)
- Joe Roe(talk·contribs)
- Vegantics(talk)15:24, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
- Tooncool64(talk)21:40, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
- ✠ SunDawn ✠(contact)08:44, 12 January 2024 (UTC)
- Flux55(talk·contribs)
- Ingratis(talk)14:12, 13 January 2024 (UTC)
- That Tired TarantulaBurrow17:12, 20 January 2024 (UTC)
- Alansohn(talk·contribs)15:20, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
- Goldsztajn(talk)20:58, 1 February 2024 (UTC)
- IgnatiusofLondon(talk)13:45, 24 February 2024 (UTC)
- pinktoebeans(talk)21:11, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
- Liandrei(talk)14:56, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
- WikiEdits2003(Talk|Contribs)15:57, 11 March 2024 (IST)
- Jaguarnik(talk)18:14, 11 March 2024 (UTC)
- //Lollipoplollipoplollipop::talk10:47, 16 March 2024 (UTC)
- Fluorescent Jellyfish(talk·contribs)09:08, 6 April 2024 (UTC)</nowiki>
- DandelionAndBurdock(talk·contribs)
- LunaEclipse(talk·contribs)
- JeBonSer(talk·contribs)18:42, 17 April 2024 (UTC)
- -• Apollo468•00:15, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
- Cocobb8(💬talk• ✏️contribs)18:52, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
- Adam Blacktalk•contributions22:00, 5 May 2024 (UTC)
- Cielquiparle(talk)06:12, 10 May 2024 (UTC)
- Nobody(talk)07:09, 28 May 2024 (UTC)
- JTtheOG(talk)17:30, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
- MatthewDalhousie(talk·contribs)MatthewDalhousie(talk)00:08, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
- Shotgunheist 💬17:01, 8 July 2024 (UTC)
- AbhiSuryawanshi(talk)05:00, 11 July 2024 (UTC)
- Effervescent-lightbulb(talk)05:09, 19 July 2024 (UTC)
Invitation
- If you would like to invite someone to join this project just place the following template code on their talk page:
{{URA Invite}}
![]() | Please accept this invite to join theUnreferenced articles WikiProject,a WikiProject dedicated to decreasing the number of unreferenced articles on Wikipedia. As of July, 2024 there are approximately 87,000unreferenced articleson Wikipedia, we need your help! Simplyclick here and sign your usernameto accept! Thanks! ~~~~ |
Barnstar
- Awarded to any volunteer's hard work in referencing articles. Just place the following code on the volunteer's talk or award page to reward their efforts:
{{subst:The Citation Barnstar|message ~~~~}}
- or
{{subst:The Citation Barnstar|message ~~~~|alt}}
See also
Policies and guidelines
- Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources
- Wikipedia:Notability
- Wikipedia:No original research
- Wikipedia:Verifiability
- Wikipedia:Deletion policy
- Wikipedia:Before nominating an article for deletion
- Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion
- Wikipedia:Citing sources
- Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners
Related projects
Cite tools and templates
- Reftools
- Universal Reference Formatter
- WebCite-Archives a cited web page, providing a view of the page as it was at the time of citation.
Finding references
- Wikipedia:List of free online resources
- Wikipedia:Goodcharts-A list of links to verify music chart positions and certifications.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/The_Great_Backlog_Drive_Banner_1.jpg/500px-The_Great_Backlog_Drive_Banner_1.jpg)