Template:Expand section
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![[icon]](File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2025) |
 | This template is used on approximately 38,000 pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them. |
This template may be used at the beginning of article sections that need expansion.
Usage
Place this template at the beginning of article sections that need expansion, after that section's title. You can use this template in the Main/Article or Wikipedia namespaces.
{{Expand section}}{{Expand section|date=June 2025}}{{Expand section|small=no}}{{Expand section|with=more details about early life|talk=Early life|small=no}}{{Expand section|small=no|find=search keywords}}
Long form:
{{Expand section | 1 = (or with= or for=) | section = (section number) | small = no (default is "yes") | talksection = (link with NO brackets, "[[]]"; displays only if small=no) | date = Month YYYY | period = <!--no--> (included after the input for "1=" from above by default - use this only in instances where terminal punctuation should be placed before a reference) }} Parameters
Overview
This template may be used without parameters, and a BOT will add the date when necessary.
|1=what and why– (or with= or for=) add a few words about what needs expansion and why|small=no– (default when omitted: a small message box flush left)[a]|talksection=Section name– (link with NO brackets, "[[]]"; displays only if small=no)|date=June 2025|find=your search keywords– search terms for {{find sources}} param 1 (double-quoted search). This optional parameter adds a set of links produced by the {{find sources}} template to the output. If omitted, no "find sources" links are displayed. Details below.|find2=additional search terms– search keywords for {{find sources}} param 2 (unquoted search).|section=– (section number)|period=– <!--no--> (included after the input for "1=" from above by default - use this
Details
- small
When the |small= parameter is omitted, a small, left-justified message box is displayed. This can be overridden: use |small= with any value (such as no) to result in a wider message box.[a]
Use of the wider box with |small=no also enables display of the |talksection= parameter. (|talk= or |discuss= may also be used). In most cases, display of "find sources" results will be easier to read in a wide box, but are permitted in the default, smaller box.
- date
The |date= parameter sorts the article into subcategories of Category:Articles to be expanded, allowing the oldest ones to be identified and dealt with first. You do not need to specify the date manually; a bot will add it later automatically.
- find parameters
There are two 'find' parameters available to control the presentation and operation of the {{find sources}} links optionally displayed by the template. The find parameters can be used to provide the search keywords of your choice to the {{find sources}} links. Use:
|find=to specify keywords for an exact search (double-quoted query); this corresponds to {{find sources}} positional param one.|find2=to specify keywords for an unquoted search; this corresponds to {{find sources}} param two.
If you want to display {{find sources}} links in the box, but are not sure of what search keywords to use, try setting |find=Article title and |find2=Section title. If the article title is a long, descriptive title unlikely to generate good results as a long, double-quoted search query, try swapping the values of the two params.
Examples
or inline short form
{{Expand section|1=what and why|small=no|talk=Talk_section find=Article title or search terms|find2=Section title or more terms|section=n|date=June 2025}}
- date=
- The current month and year can be used in the
|date=parameter. This will add the page to a sub-category sorted by date used (see the Categorisation section of this page for more information:
{{Expand section|date=June 2025}}
- or
{{Expand section|{{subst:DATE}}}}
- results in:
| This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2025) |
- section=
- The
|section=parameter is used to link to the edit screen of the article's section in which this template is placed. If this template is placed in the second section after the TOC, then use|section=2:
{{Expand section|section=2|{{subst:DATE}}}}
- results in:
| This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2025) |
- and links to the edit screen for the second section of the page after the TOC.
- 1=, with=, or for=
- An unnamed parameter,
|1=(or one of the named parameters,|with=or|for=), may be used to explain what expansion is needed in the section:
{{Expand section|1=examples and additional citations|section=1|date=June 2025}}
- results in:
| This section needs expansion with: examples and additional citations. You can help by adding to it. (June 2025) |
- When multiple expansion issues need to be raised, explain them in a new section on the article's discussion page, and use the next two parameters for reader convenience.
- small=
Specify |small=no to generate a wide box, and enable param |talksection=.
- talksection=
Prerequisite: requires |small=no, otherwise presence and values of |talksection= are ignored.
{{Expand section|1=examples and additional citations|section=1|date=June 2025|small=no|talksection=Template talk:Expand section#When should this template be used?}}
- results in:
![[icon]](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/44px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png)
This section needs expansion with: examples and additional citations. You can help by adding to it. (June 2025)
Categorisation
When {{Expand section}} is used without a |date= parameter in an article in the main article namespace, the article is sorted to Category:Articles to be expanded. A bot or an editor will then add the date parameter, and the article will be sorted to a category with a name that reflects the date given. For example, if the |date=June 2025 is used, the article will be added to Category:Articles to be expanded from June 2025.
No matter what parameters are used with this template, it also adds the article to Category:All articles to be expanded.
Choosing the right template
For an empty section
If the section is completely empty, the {{Empty section}} template should be used instead of this template.
The exception would be an empty section used for references as explained in the following subsection.
For a References or Notes section
When the section that needs expansion is used to list cited sources, then either {{No footnotes}} or {{More footnotes needed}} should be used instead of {{Empty section}} or {{Expand section}}.
Note: Unlike the other templates mentioned, those "footnotes" templates should go at the beginning/TOP of the page, just under any hatnotes, rather than at the beginning of a section.
In the main article namespace, citing sources is an important part of the article, performed by using the tags, <ref></ref>, which in turn are collected and formatted into text in the section containing the {{Reflist}} template or the <references /> tag. This section (or sub-section, as might be the case if the sources are listed separately) is often titled "References", and can have other names.
If the article has a section that contains either {{Reflist}} or <references />, the section can still appear blank on the saved, rendered page if the article has no text within <ref></ref> tags. Such a section is still considered blank, even though the template or tag wikitext can be seen in Edit mode. In that case the {{No footnotes}} template should be used at the TOP of the page just beneath any hatnotes.
TemplateData
TemplateData for Expand section
Can be placed at the beginning of article sections that need expansion, after the section title.
| Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reason | 1 with for | Reason the template was added, an explanation of what expansion the section needs. A bulleted list with lines beginning '*' can be given. | Content | optional |
| Terminal punctuation | period punctuation | If set to 'no', this parameter omits the terminal punctuation after the input for the 'with'/'for' parameter (i.e., the reason the template was added); this is normally only used if references are included after terminal punctuation.
| Line | optional |
| Talk section | talksection discuss talk | A section heading in the talk page where the issue is discussed. Note: The talksection parameter only displays if the parameter small is set to 'no'. | Line | optional |
| Month and year | date | The month and year the template was added.
| Line | suggested |
| Small | small | By default the template will be displayed in a small size. This can be changed by setting small to 'no'. Not recommended in articles.
| Line | optional |
| Find | find | Search keywords for double-quoted search to pass to 'find sources'.
| Line | optional |
| Find2 | find2 | Search keywords for unquoted search to pass to 'find sources'.
| Line | optional |
| section | section | Section number of the section with the template | Number | optional |
See also
{{Clarify}}and{{Explain}}(both inline){{Incomplete list}}{{Empty section}}{{Missing information}}