Usage

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This template creates citations to websites in a modified Bluebook citation style. If you are citing a periodical (like a newspaper or magazine) that is also published online you should use {{Bluebook journal}}. The general way to use this template is: {{Bluebook website|first= |last= |title= |publisher= |url= |pin= |date= }}

Authorship

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  • For institutional authors use |last= alone
  • For named authors, use both |first= and |last=
    • Additional authors (up to 3) can be added using |firstn= and |lastn=. Do not use |first1= or |last1=

Work information

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Basic info

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  • Use |title= for the name of the webpage or web resource
  • Use |publisher= for the publisher of the resource. This is usually the institution who created the resource or the name of the larger site the resource is found on.
  • If the resource has page numbers, and you wish to cite a specific page, use |pin= to specify the page.
  • Date information can be specified in three ways in descending precedence:
    • |date= will always be displayed if specified.
    • |updated= should be used to specify a specific version with a known update date. If specified, access-date will not display.
    • |access-date= should be the date when the resource was last accessed. It will only display if no other date parameter is specified.
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  • |url= should contain a bare link to the original location of the resource.
    • |url-access= Citations of online sources that require registration or a subscription are acceptable in Wikipedia as documented in Verifiability § Access to sources. As a courtesy to readers and other editors, editors can signal restrictions on access to material provided via the external links included in a citation. Four access levels can be used:
      • Freely accessible free: the source is free to read for anyone (from the viewpoint of the provider of the source – could still be blocked by client-side filtering or safeguarding, or distributor-based geoblocking)
      • Free registration required registration: a free registration with the provider of the source is required to access the source, even if a limited preview, abstract or review may still be available without registration
      • Free access subject to limited trial, subscription normally required limited: there are other constraints (such as a cap on daily views, a restriction to certain day or night times, or providing the contents only to certain IP ranges/locales on behalf of the provider of the source) to freely access this source as a whole
      • Paid subscription required subscription: the source as a whole is only accessible via a paid subscription with the provider of the source ("paywall"), even if a limited preview, abstract or review may still be available without subscription
    • |url-status= This optional parameter is ignored if archive-url is not set. If omitted, or with null value, the default value is |url-status=dead. When the URL is still live, but pre-emptively archived, then set |url-status=live; this changes the display order, with the title retaining the original link and the archive linked at the end. When the original URL is 'live' but no longer supports the article text, set |url-status=deviated. When the original URL has been usurped for the purposes of spam, advertising, or is otherwise unsuitable, setting |url-status=unfit or |url-status=usurped suppresses display of the original URL (but |url= and |archive-url= are still required).
  • |archive-url= may contain a link to an archived version of the web resoruce.
    • |archive-date= the date or archival for the linked archival resource.

Other

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  • |punct= a punctuation mark to follow the citation. Defaults to a period.

Deviations from the Bluebook

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  • The main deviation from the Bluebook is the omission of a plain text link. As an online encyclopedia the inclusion of a plain text link is not as useful as simply linking the title. This change also maintains consistency with other citation styles used on Wikipedia.
  • If |url-access= is set, the linked text includes a following icon symbolizing whether the resource is free-to-access, registration-restricted, or paywalled.
  • If an archival url is included via |archive-url=, the Bluebook style is augmented with a parenthetical explanation of the archival information.

Template Data

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No description.

Template parameters

This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.

ParameterDescriptionTypeStatus
Last name or institutional authorlast

no description

Stringrequired
First name of first authorfirst

no description

Stringsuggested
Last name of second authorlast2

no description

Stringoptional
First name of second authorfirst2

no description

Unknownoptional
Last name of third authorlast3

no description

Stringoptional
Titletitle

no description

Stringrequired
Linkurl

no description

URLsuggested
Publisherpublisher

no description

Stringrequired
Datedate

no description

Datesuggested
Date website updatedupdated

no description

Datesuggested
Date accessedaccess-date

no description

Datesuggested
Archive linkarchive-url

no description

URLsuggested
Archive datearchive-date

no description

Dateoptional
Website access limitsurl-access

no description

Suggested values
free limited registration subscription
Stringsuggested
Website statusurl-status

no description

Suggested values
live dead deviated usurped unfit
Stringoptional
Page number citedpin

no description

Numberoptional
Following punctuationpunct

no description

Stringoptional

See also

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