Citation needed#Usage outside Wikipedia
{{short description|Wikipedia tag added to unsourced statements}}
{{About|the history and effects of the Wikipedia tag|the template that generates the tag|Template:Citation needed|proper usage of the tag|Wikipedia:Citation needed|the comedy video series|The Technical Difficulties|selfref=yes}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
File:Citation needed example.png as seen in an article on the English Wikipedia]]
The tag "[citation needed]" is added by Wikipedia editors to unsourced statements in articles requesting citations to be added.{{cite book |last1=Redi |first1=Miriam |url=https://doi.org/10.1145/3308558.3313618 |last2=Fetahu |first2=Besnik |last3=Morgan |first3=Jonathan |last4=Taraborelli |first4=Dario |title=The World Wide Web Conference |chapter=Citation Needed: A Taxonomy and Algorithmic Assessment of Wikipedia's Verifiability |date=May 13, 2019 |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery |isbn=978-1-4503-6674-8 |series=WWW '19 |location=San Francisco, CA, USA |pages=1567–1578 |doi=10.1145/3308558.3313618 |s2cid=67856117}} The phrase is reflective of the policies of verifiability and original research on Wikipedia and has become a general Internet meme.{{Cite book |last1=McDowell |first1=Zachary J. |title=Wikipedia and the Representation of Reality |last2=Vetter |first2=Matthew A. |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge, Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-47427-5 |pages=34 |language=English |chapter=What Counts as Information: The Construction of Reliability and Verifability |doi=10.4324/9781003094081 |doi-access=free|hdl=20.500.12657/50520 }}
Usage on Wikipedia
The tag was first used on Wikipedia in 2006, and its template created by user Ta bu shi da yu.{{Cite web |last=Ta bu shi da yu |date=June 15, 2005 |title=Template:Citation needed |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Citation_needed&oldid=17662960 |access-date=March 23, 2025 |website=English Wikipedia |language=en}} According to Wikipedia's policy, editors should add citations for content, to ensure accuracy and neutrality, and to avoid original research.{{cite journal|author1=栗岡 幹英 [Masahide Kurioka]|date=March 1, 2010|title=インターネットは言論の公共圏たりうるか：ブログとウィキペディアの内容分析|trans-title=Can the Internet be the Public Sphere of Discourse? : Contents Analysis of Blog and Wikipedia|url=https://opac2.lib.nara-wu.ac.jp/webopac/TD00001512|journal=奈良女子大学社会学論集 [Nara Women's University Sociological Studies]|language=ja|publisher=奈良女子大学社会学研究会 [Nara Women's University Sociological Study Group]|issue=17|pages=133–151|issn=1340-4032}} The {{not a typo|citati}}on needed tag is used to mark statements that lack such citations. {{as of| June 2023}}, there were more than 539,000 pages on Wikipedia (or roughly 1% of all pages) containing at least one instance of the tag. Users who click the tag will be directed to pages about Wikipedia's verifiability policy and its application using the tag.{{Cite journal |last1=McDowell |first1=Zachary J. |last2=Vetter |first2=Matthew A. |date=July 2020 |title=It Takes a Village to Combat a Fake News Army: Wikipedia's Community and Policies for Information Literacy |journal=Social Media + Society |language=en |volume=6 |issue=3 |doi=10.1177/2056305120937309 |s2cid=222110748 |issn=2056-3051|doi-access=free }}
Usage outside Wikipedia
File:Webcomic xkcd - Wikipedian protester.png comic by Randall Munroe featuring a protester with a "[{{not a typo|citati}}on needed]" placard]]
File:Citation needed - March for Science (cropped).jpg]]
In 2008, Matt Mechtley created stickers with "[{{not a typo|citati}}on needed]", encouraging people to stick them on advertisements.{{Cite web|url=http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2008/01/citation_needed.html|title=[citation needed]|first=Joshua|last=Glenn|date=January 2, 2008|website=The Boston Globe|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727132135/http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2008/01/citation_needed.html|archive-date=July 27, 2018|url-status=live|access-date=July 27, 2018}}
In 2010, American television hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert led the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where some participants held placards with "[{{not a typo|citati}}on needed]".{{Cite news|url=https://variety.com/2010/tv/news/satirical-rally-calls-for-sanity-and-or-fear-1118026656/|title=Satirical rally calls for sanity and/or fear|first=Ted|last=Johnson|date=November 1, 2010|work=Variety|access-date=July 27, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101116073656/https://variety.com/article/VR1118026656|archive-date=November 16, 2010}}
Randall Munroe has frequently used "[{{not a typo|citati}}on needed]" tags for humorous commentary in his writings, including in his 2014 book What If?.{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iXoOAwAAQBAJ|title = What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions|first=Randall|last=Munroe|publisher = Hachette UK|year = 2014|isbn = 9780544272644|accessdate = June 15, 2021}}{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Kyle |date=September 2, 2014 |title=Review: XKCD's What If? |url=https://archive.nerdist.com/review-xkcds-what-if/ |access-date=July 12, 2021 |website=Nerdist |archive-date=July 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210713014128/https://archive.nerdist.com/review-xkcds-what-if/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Poole |first=Steven |date=September 19, 2019 |title=Book Review: 'What If' by Randall Munroe |url=https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/book-review-what-if-by-randall-munroe-1411160673 |access-date=July 12, 2021 |website=The Wall Street Journal |archive-date=May 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240508123105/https://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-what-if-by-randall-munroe-1411160673 |url-status=live }}
The podcast "Citations Needed" is a Webby nominated{{Cite web |title=Podcast {{!}} Citations Needed |url=https://www.nimashirazi.com/pod |access-date=November 8, 2024 |website=Nima Shirazi |language=en-US}} media criticism podcast, hosted by journalists Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson to explore the intersection of media, PR, and power.{{Cite web |last=Groundwater |first=Colin |date=April 29, 2020 |title=The Best Podcasts to Listen to in Self-Isolation |url=https://www.gq.com/story/the-best-podcasts-to-listen-to-during-self-isolation |access-date=November 8, 2024 |website=GQ |language=en-US |archive-date=April 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200430204710/https://www.gq.com/story/the-best-podcasts-to-listen-to-during-self-isolation |url-status=live }}
YouTuber Tom Scott and The Technical Difficulties used "[citation needed]" as the title for a Wikipedia-based gameshow that ran from 2014 to 2018.{{Cite web |last=Scott |first=Tom |last2=Brannan |first2=Gary |last3=Joel |first3=Chris |date=March 19, 2014 |title=Citation Needed, from the Technical Difficulties |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8590476/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308080319/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8590476/ |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |access-date=August 19, 2024 |publisher=The Technical Difficulties}}
Wikipedian Molly White publishes a newsletter covering the cryptocurrency and technology industries called Citation Needed.{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Molly |author1-link=Molly White (writer) |title=Laser eyes |url=https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-43-laser-eyes/ |access-date=4 June 2025 |work=Citation Needed |issue=43 |date=10 November 2023 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Cohn |first1=Cindy |last2=Kelly |first2=Jason |author1-link=Cindy Cohn |title=Love the Internet Before You Hate On It |url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/05/podcast-episode-love-internet-you-hate-it |access-date=4 June 2025 |work=How to Fix the Internet |publisher=Electronic Frontier Foundation |date=21 May 2025 |language=en}}
References
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External links
- {{Wiktionary-inline}}
- {{Know Your Meme|citation-needed}}
{{Wikipedia|state=collapsed}}