The Wikipedia Library/1Lib1Ref/Participate

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#1Lib1Ref runs every January 15th to February 5th and every May 15th to June 5th. Join the Campaign! Translate the banner

Wikipedia is an invaluable part of every researcher's process. More references make Wikipedia a better reference tool. Thanks for joining us! Your goal today is to add one reference to Wikipedia!

Wikipedia articles operate on an assumption of "Verifiability". Every statement in an article should be "verifiable" in a footnoted source. By adding a footnote to a reliable source in any Wikipedia article, you help Wikipedia readers worldwide.

When adding a reference, please include the hashtag #1Lib1Ref in the edit summary so that we can track participation.

What makes a source good to add as a reference in Wikipedia?


  • Published: in a source with a reputation for editorial quality, and peer-reviewed if possible.
  • Reliable: it's a source you'd point a patron to if they wanted to know more.
  • Supports the text: the source should back up what is stated. If it doesn't, but is a good general resource for the topic (such as a specialty encyclopedia), consider adding the source to a "further reading" section.

Though Wikipedia favors open-access or publicly available sources, this is not a requirement: using appropriate offline, rare, or hard to access sources might be the best option.

Note: If you can't find any supporting source for a claim, remove the claim from the article and add a note to the article's Talk page about what you removed and your research. More information about Talk pages.

I want to edit

Why Should I Participate?

How to add a citation; 1pager

Because anyone can edit Wikipedia, the Wikipedia community has developed a core strategy to ensure the quality of information in its articles: including footnotes to reliable sources to allow Wikipedia readers to "verify" the information. The simplest way to engage with Wikipedia is to work on existing citation needs, in your preferred language. You can find these in English or 57 other languages."

Readers and editors who don't feel confident about a piece of information in an article can add a "citation needed" tag next to that statement. These tags are similar to reference questions: members of the public asking for reliable research to back up the information they are reading. English Wikipedia alone has over 509,480 citation needed statements.

Thousands of articles need more references; 173,662 articles on English Wikipedia have no references at all.[1] Imagine if every librarian in the world took 15 minutes to address one of the citation needed queries! Wikipedia would greatly reduce these gaps.

Fill a needed citation

Do you already have or have you already found a reference for a statement in an article that lacks citation? Watch the resources below to learn how to add a citation on Wikipedia.

  • How to add a citation (Video)

I don’t know how to find a citation needed tagged statement?

Are you in search for a citation needed tagged statement? Look no further, watch the resources below to learn how to find an article to add a reference to on Wikipedia using the Citation Hunt tool, a gamelike tool that will offer random citation needed statements.

Quick Steps

  1. Let the tool suggest a citation needed statements for you, or use the search menu at the bottom to choose a category (Wikipedia's version of a tag) of article that you have a special expertise in (for example, British novels or Provinces of Afghanistan).
  2. Go to the article, find the statement
  3. Click edit in the section header
  4. Add the source using the guidelines here
  5. Remove the "Citation needed" template (highlight and backspace in Visual Editor, or remove the template which adds that tag (it looks like {{citation needed}}))
  6. Add the hashtag #1lib1ref to your edit summary
  7. Save the page.
Further resources
  • How to add a citation using citation hunt (GIF)
    How to add a citation using citation hunt (GIF)
  • How to add a citation using citation hunt (Video)

Find an article with sourcing problems

Wikipedia articles are frequently tagged for not having references to support information in the article. These articles can be found in automatically generated lists on English Wikipedia and in more than 55 other languages.

If you are interested in working on articles from a particular topic area on English Wikipedia, there is an index of work for those topic areas. Here is how to use it:

  1. Visit the index of articles on Wikipedia that need cleanup
  2. Select a topic you are interested in and click on the "by cat" link.
  3. Look for the "Sources Lacking" section
  4. Click on an article that you would like to work on.
  5. Add a reference to the article (see instructions).

Want to do more?

Add an external link or further reading

Adding an external link of further reading can provide additional insight to an article. Visit our page on external links and further reading to learn more.


Creating new articles on Wikipedia

Do you have access to source material and would like to create new articles on Wikipedia based on them? If this is the first time you are creating a new article on Wikipedia, you can check out this page on Wikipedia: Help:Your first article.  Additionally, you can use the Article Wizard to help you through this process.


Creating Wikidata items related to works on Wikisource

Does your Wikisource have an existing integration with Wikidata? If not, you can reach out to an interface admin on your local wiki and ask them to import the integration modules available on MediaWiki.

All you need to do is find an index page on your local Wikisource without a Wikidata item and create a Wikidata item about the same. You might need to create two items, one for the work as an abstract entity (if it doesn’t exist already) and one for that specific edition. For example, the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare has a wikidata item for the literary work and multiple edition items for that work, be it the 1908 English edition edited by Arthur D. Innes or the 1978 Punjabi translation by Hardilbagh Singh Gill. Read more at Wikidata:WikiProject Books.

We are running this activity as a pilot. Let us know your thoughts about the same on the talk page.


Adding references to decrease gender bias

Do you want to help decrease gender bias on Wikipedia? You can contribute in two ways:

1. Adding references written by people who identify as women

The goal of this activity is to decrease the gender bias in references used on Wikipedia. Just like we have the gender gap in the content, in which articles about women or women's-related topics are less created, female authors are less cited and less used in the references of Wikipedia articles. That's a problem because the knowledge produced by women is not being seen, read, and used on Wikipedia.

You can participate in this activity just by choosing to add a reference written by a female author to a Wikipedia article or by organizing an event with your local library and Wikimedia community to add the female writers part of the institution's collection.

2. Adding references to a customized Citation Hunt list

The Citation Hunt tool allows users to create customized lists of articles to add references in the paragraphs without sources. The goal of this second activity is to help improve the quality and verifiability of content in articles related to gender discussions.

Suggested lists:

Feel free to participate by adding your own list here or converting the current lists to your language!

We are running this activity as a pilot. Let us know your thoughts about the same on the talk page.

Get Editing Help

I want to organize

Do you want to organize a #1lib1ref event in your community?

#1LIB1REF has been used by many communities to recruit new members as well as onboard new librarians into the Wikimedia space. The campaign approach is to have a big impact with little efforts by providing basic steps to add references to improve articles of your interest on Wikipedia. Leveraging the organization of the campaign can be a unique opportunity to improve thematic topics of concern from your country or region. #1LIB1REF is a powerful way to also solve the gaps that exist on Wikipedia by improving the reliability and sources to information that exist on uncovered or underrepresented communities. Below are some resources that share general guidelines as well as highlighted experiences of how the campaign has been organised in different parts of the movement.

Organizer's Guide Case Studies


I want to share

You can also participate in the campaign by extending the reach of the campaign through sharing of the campaign resources within your circles, on social media, with your institution or neighbouring institution. Let's get the word out!

Don't forget to use the hashtag #1Lib1Ref!

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