Template:Page range too broad

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Usage

The {{page range too broad}} template functions as an in-line request for when a citation cites a page range of a book or similar work, that is very broad, which makes it difficult for readers to verify the fact in question. In general, page number ranges should be specific, although circumstances may warrant a larger range, such as a whole chapter.

{{Page range too broad|date=December 2025}}

These tags will categorise tagged articles into Category:Wikipedia articles needing more precise page number citations or a dated subcategory thereof.

These templates are self-references and so are part of the Wikipedia project rather than the encyclopædic content.

Note: This template is primarily useful for citations to books. In external style guides, the standard citation method for academic journal articles is to list the full page range for the whole article, although editors are free to voluntarily establish a different citation style in an individual Wikipedia article.

Parameters

reason (optional): Although usually the template is self-explanatory, there are times when it is helpful to provide an extra reason or note to explain the request like so: {{Page range too broad|reason=What the problem is}} This is preferable to using an HTML <!-- comment --> after the tag, as it is tidier to keep all of the {{page range too broad}}-related code inside the template. If the explanation would be lengthy, use the article's talk page.

As well as being visible in the source code for editors' benefit, the reason parameter is, if provided, displayed in many browsers as a tooltip when the mouse is hovered over the "page needed" link in the article, although the tooltip tends not to be displayed on mobile devices.

Position

Put the template directly after the associated <ref> tag.

Example

Markup	Renders as
Some text here.<ref name=Smith2009>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Jane |date=2009 |title=The Unbearable Beingness of Light |publisher=Fnord Pubs |location=New York}}</ref>{{Page range too broad|date=December 2025}} ... {{Reflist}}	Some text here. ...

Tracking categories

• Category:Pages using page range too broad template with unknown parameters (0)
• Category:Wikipedia articles needing page number citations (0)

Redirects

• {{Too many pages}}

Template data

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Page range too broad in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Page range too broad

<templatedata> { "description": "The template functions as in-line request for the page number, or numbers, in a cited work such as a book or journal.", "params": { "date": { "label": "Month and year", "description": "Provides the month and year; e.g., 'January 2013', but not 'jan13'", "type": "string", "autovalue": "{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}", "suggested": true }, "reason ": { "label": "Reason", "description": "Additional reason(s) for placing the template", "type": "string", "required": false } } } </templatedata>

See also

• {{Page numbers improve}} (non-inline version for when the problem is article- or section-wide)
• {{Page needed}} – The opposite of {{Page range too broad}}, when there are no page numbers

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