When it comes to citations, you should always use a citation template. But guides and documentation just tell them how to use the template, which template should you use, though? Well, here are some nifty flowcharts to use.

Before we start, here's some "always use these" before we start to pick and choose which is the best.

A journal here is specifically an academic journal. Most of them have a DOI, which, if you are using auto cite in the visual editor, formats everything for you just by pasting it in. It almost always uses Cite journal for you and includes everything for you.

Cite journal typically has different outputs, here is what a Cite journal versus Cite web looks like for this DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering10111254

Cite journal: Štuhec, Stanislav; Planjšek, Peter; Čoh, Milan; Mackala, Krzysztof (2023-10-26). "Multicomponent Velocity Measurement for Linear Sprinting: Usain Bolt's 100 m World-Record Analysis". Bioengineering. 10 (11): 1254. doi:10.3390/bioengineering10111254. ISSN 2306-5354. PMC 10669785. PMID 38002378.

Cite web: Štuhec, Stanislav; Planjšek, Peter; Čoh, Milan; Mackala, Krzysztof (2023-10-26). "Multicomponent Velocity Measurement for Linear Sprinting: Usain Bolt's 100 m World-Record Analysis". Bioengineering. p. 1254. doi:10.3390/bioengineering10111254. ISSN 2306-5354. PMC 10669785. PMID 38002378.

The important thing is how the volume and issue are formatted. They typically render as bold volume (issue in parenthesis): page number. No other templates format these values like this, and it's how it's usually formatted academically.

You never need to cite journal otherwise, it has specific functions necessary only for it.

When I say newspaper here, I am specifically referring to a physical newspaper. It can be digitally rendered, such as viewing it through Newspapers.com, but what you are viewing is a digital version of a physical newspaper.

Why should you cite news with newspapers? Unlike cite web, cite news does not require a URL. If you want to cite a newspaper, but have no way to access it digitally, you can simply fill out the entire citation like you would cite web, with the newspaper, page, title, date, author, etc, but not include a URL. This is fine, and it won't give an error like Cite web would without a URL.

Cite book does not properly handle how magazines are formatted. Cite book fully expects the title of the book, and no more. The "work" parameter is ignored, causing a CS1 error. You should always use cite magazine with a magazine.

It should come without saying, if you are citing something you do not have a URL for, even if that URL is paywalled, do not use Cite web. There are many other templates, try them!

A very common question is whether or not you should use Cite web or Cite news. If you are asking this question, you very likely have a web URL you want to use.

If you have a URL to a website, you can very often just use Cite web. It ultimately does not matter, as both end up rendered the same way when the page is saved. For most cite web usages, it's personal preference.

There are a few exceptions though.

If what you are citing comes from something physical, prefer the citation template for that physical item.

Say a news website, commonly archives of The New York Times, says "this article comes from our paper on this date and this page number." You should use a Cite news template filled out with all the information provided, and then set the URL parameter to the digital article.

You might also find old archives of magazines or books on the internet archive. In these cases, use the respective Cite magazine or Cite book templates, fill those out, and set the URL param for those to the internet archive's link.

Often a website might be just a press release. This is often seen on sports websites. Usually, the URL might contain press-release or it would otherwise be noted. You should use Cite press release because it explicitly states it's a press release, see example:

"Clippard named Eastern League Pitcher of the Week" (Press release). Trenton Thunder. August 21, 2006. Retrieved March 17, 2025 – via OurSports Central.

Keep in mind the parameter differences. Like cite book, there is no useful work param. You must enter whoever is writing the press release as the publisher param, and if the website it's available on isn't their own website, set the |via param to that website. Using only a publisher param and no work param is antithetical to what is usually recommended, but it's okay here!

Cite web is always fine (if you have a URL)! Ultimately, what matters the most is that your sources follow policy, and that they actually back up what you are claiming in the article. It's alright to be unsure, someone who is more experienced might come in and reformat the citation for you. You're always free to reach out and ask them what made them choose a specific template. Be open to when someone updates or formats or expands your citation, they aren't being malicious!

• Category:Citation Style 1 templates