Template:Non sequitur

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Purpose

Use this template in the body of an article as a request for other editors to clarify text that is likely to be confusing to readers because it is a non sequitur, especially the introduction of a name, term, or other reference that was not previously mentioned, and the relevance of which is unclear. This most often happens when material is moved from its original context, in which it made sense, and pasted into an earlier section or into a different page. It also often happens when a source is quoted as mentioning someone by name, and this name is not linked or explained in the context of the Wikipedia article.

It also frequently happens when new editors used to an academic style use it in Wikipedia, e.g. writing "According to Johnson and Xiang...," without the article ever mentioning these people otherwise. It is not Wikipedia-normal to "namedrop" in mid-prose in this manner, even if it's a common form of attribution in journals in some fields. In this respect, encyclopedic writing is closer to news style than academic style: The reader needs to know why a particular person (or company, or whatever) is relevant before they'll understand why it's being mentioned; by contrast, academics in a field probably already know which other researchers are being referred to, and at least understand that the references to them are a short-hand form of citation to things given in detail in the footnotes. Most of our readers do not care about the footnotes, and Wikipedia content is often reused without them, so our article prose has to stand on its own. This template is not for material that is probably irrelevant (use {{relevance inline}}), but for material that probably is relevant, but the relevance of which is confused or confusing.

Usage

This is an inline template which should be placed immediately after the material in question, as with a footnote. For example:
A reference to someone or something that needs explanation.{{non sequitur|date=December 2025}}
gives:
A reference to someone or something that needs explanation.^{[non sequitur]}
The wikilink on "non sequitur" is set to Wikipedia:Please clarify.

Parameters

Abbreviated parameter sets:: {{non sequitur|date=December 2025 |reason= }}; {{non sequitur|date=December 2025 |reason= |text= }}

Full parameter set:: {{non sequitur|date=December 2025 |reason= |text= |pre-text= |post-text= |show= }}

Parameter descriptions:

|date=

This template allows an optional date parameter that records when the tag was added. If this template is added without the date parameter, the date parameter will be added soon after by a bot. Alternatively, you may add the date automatically (without requiring bot intervention) by substituting the template. That is: {{subst:non sequitur}} is equivalent to {{non sequitur|date=December 2025}}. This technique also works if other parameters – |reason= |pre-text= |post-text= – are given.

|reason=

{{Clarify|reason=What the problem is}} (this is preferable to using a HTML  after the tag, as it is tidier to keep all of the {{non sequitur}}-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 when the mouse is hovered over the "non sequitur" link in the article. For technical reasons, this mouse-over feature does not work if the reason text contains double quotes. Use single quotes instead, or use the code " if it is essential to include a double quote.

|text= a.k.a. |1= or first, unnumbered parameter

The particular text needing clarification may be highlighted by wrapping this template around it:

Text preceding the template, {{non sequitur|text=unclear namedropping,|date=December 2025}} text following the template.
Text preceding the template, unclear namedropping,^{[non sequitur]} text following the template.

As with any template, if the material to be wrapped contains an equals character (=}, the parameter must be explicitly named or numbered.

|pre-text=

|post-text=

One can specify additional text to appear before and/or after the displayed "non sequitur" tag using the two parameters listed above:

{{non-sequitur|pre-text=irrelevant}}
will cause the words "irrelevant" to appear before "non sequitur" like this:^{[irrelevant non sequitur]}
{{non-sequitur|post-text=(complicated jargon)}}
will cause "(complicated jargon)" to appear after "non sequitur" like this:^{[non sequitur (complicated jargon)]}.
{{non-sequitur|post-text=(see [[Talk:Example#Unexplained namedropping|talk]])}}
can be used to link to a discussion on the article's talk page; this example produces:^{[non sequitur (see talk)]}

|show=: Change the displayed main wording of the template from non sequitur to something else, e.g. |show=who? (the template {{Who2}} is a shortcut wrapper for that particular case).

Style

When resolving this template, please note that the excessively news-style or "headline-ese" form of explaining a reference, as in "according to historian Jane Doe", is considered substandard by many readers and editors, especially non-North Americans. The more complete form, "according to the historian Jane Doe", is preferred and is acceptable in all dialects of English. Note also the difference between a clipped reference like "Said Oxford historian Doe, ..." versus the more informative and easier to parse version "According to the historian Jane Doe of Oxford University, ...". Shortening might be appropriate if Doe and Oxford have previously been mentioned in the article.

TemplateData

TemplateData documentation used by VisualEditor and other tools

See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Non sequitur in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Non sequitur

No description.

Template parameters[Edit template data]
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
reason	`reason`	A brief reason for the tag; do not include any double quotes.	String	optional
text	`text`	Text fragment containing concerns the tag is supposed to address. Auto value	String	optional
Month and year	`date`	The date the tag was added (this will be added automatically soon by a bot if not added manually). Example January 2019 Auto value `{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}`	String	suggested
pre-text	`pre-text`	Any string to be added before the "Clarify" tag, such as "?"	String	optional
post-text	`post-text`	Any string to be added after the "Clarify" tag, such as "complicated jargon".	String	optional

Categorization

Adding this template to an article will automatically place the article into Category:Wikipedia articles needing clarification, or a dated subcategory thereof.