Help:How to Add Citations

Contributors may add citations to the FamilySearch Research Wiki. In order to add citations, the user needs to be registered and signed on. Citations may be added individually, or multiple references may be made to the same source without re-typing it. The first set of instructions (below) discusses how to add individual sources. The next section shows how to add multiple references to a single source.

Watch a video demonstrationof how to add citations.

Adding individual sources

 * 1) Log in to the FamilySearch Research Wiki
 * 2) Go to the article where you want to add a source. This may be done by searching for the article by name in the search box.
 * 3) Click Edit under the page options. This should open the editing window. If it does not, make sure you are registered and logged in first.
 * 4) In the edit window, position the cursor next to the text where you want the numeric reference to the source to appear. (When finished, it will appear similar to a footnote.)
 * 5) Next, locate and click on the &lt;R&gt; on the editing toolbar (shown in red below): [[Image:ToolbarRef.png|thumb|center|400px]]
 * 6) After clicking &lt;R&gt; on the toolbar, the "Reference Properties" window will appear (shown below):[[Image:Reference properties.jpg|frame|center]]
 * 7) In the "Reference text" box, type the source or reference information you wish to appear at the bottom of the article (similar to a footnote).
 * 8) Click OK to close the "Reference text" box. This will return you to the editing window.
 * 9) At the bottom of the article (in the editing window), type the following characters:                   NOTE: This step needs to take place only one time in each article.
 * 10) Use the outer scroll bar to scroll down until you can see the Save page button, and click Save page.
 * 11) You will see a small number next to the text in the body of the article, and the source or reference information will appear at the bottom of the page with the corresponding number.

Adding multiple references to one citation
In a single article or page, the author may use the same citation more than once without re-typing that source each time. The author may create a name for that citation in order to use it more than once. The first time it appears on the page, the author will type the entire citation. Thereafter, the “name” of the citation will cite the same source at the bottom of the article. The “name” allows an author to create several references to the same source in the same article.


 * 1) Log in to the FamilySearch Research Wiki
 * 2) Go to the article where you want to add a source. This may be done by searching for the article by name in the search box.
 * 3) Click Edit under the page options.
 * 4) In the edit window, position the cursor next to the text where you want the numeric reference to the source to appear. When finished, it will appear similar to a footnote.
 * 5) Locate and click on the &lt;R&gt; on the editing toolbar (shown in red below):[[Image:ToolbarRef.png|thumb|center|400px]]
 * 6) After clicking &lt;R&gt; on the toolbar, the "Reference Properties" window will appear (shown below):[[Image:Reference properties.jpg|frame|center]]
 * 7) In the "Reference text" box, type the source or reference information you wish to appear at the bottom of the page (similar to a footnote). Type a name in the "Reference name" box, highlighted in red below. This name will be used to call the entire source or reference information if this source will be used more than once:[[Image:Reference properties with citation.jpg|frame|center|481x302px]]
 * 8) Click OK. This will return you to the editing window.
 * 9) If you have not done so before, in the editing window, type at the bottom of the page.
 * 10) The next time the source needs to be cited, follow steps 4-6. Instead of re-typing the citation, however, simply type the "Reference name" used in the previous citation in the "Reference name" box, (shown below) and then click OK. This may be repeated as often as needed. NOTE: The reference name is case sensitive. [[Image:Reference properties with ref. name.jpg|frame|center|482x301px]]
 * 11) Remember to save your changes by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking the Save page button.

Training Video

 * Watch the citations training video by clicking here.