Template:UN document
Usage
[edit]This Citation Template Structure is to be used for referring to UN documents from a Wikipedia article. Detailed instructions are available on w:WP:CITE#HOW. But for a very brief introduction by way of an example, see the Water for Life Decade page and click on "edit" to see the source text.
Example
[edit]
<ref>{{UN document |docid=A-RES-58-217 |body=A |session=58 |type=R |resolution_number=217 |title=International Decade for Action, “Water for Life”, 2005-2015 |page=2 |accessdate=13 November 2007 |date=23 December 2003}}</ref>
This is a generic representation of the document containing its official symbol, and several parameters, such as body, session number, type, resolution number, title, and a page number. The <ref> and </ref> tags cause it to appear as a footnote.
In the References section, this appears as:
- United Nations General Assembly Session 58 Resolution 217. International Decade for Action, “Water for Life”, 2005-2015 A/RES/58/217 page 2. Retrieved 13 November 2007.
Note that the page number is not part of the link; it is not possible to link directly to a specific page or section of a document hosted at the United Nations.
For an explanation of the format of the docid (known as the document symbol), see United Nations Document Codes.
Parameters
[edit]Some of these values are mutually redundant, but alternatives are necessary.
| Parameter name | Description / usage |
|---|---|
| docid | Document code (e.g. A/58/PV.12). This format must match what is on the UN website. |
| body | Source of the document at the U.N. Shortcuts: A=General Assembly; S=Security Council; T=Secretariat; E=Economic and Social Council; H=Human Rights Campaign. |
| type | Shortcuts: A=Agenda item; D=Document; M=Meeting; R=Resolution; S=Summary Report; V=Verbatim Report. Entries are not limited to these options. |
| session | session number (e.g. 58). |
| resolution_number | when type=Resolution. |
| document_number | when type=Agenda item or other value. |
| title | title of section or document being referenced. |
| page | page number. |
| pages | page numbers—use for a range of pages, not for total number of pages. |
| date | date of publication (the one on the document). |
| year | include only if date is unavailable. |
| meeting | meeting number (e.g. 12) (when type=Verbatim Report or Meeting). |
| meetingtime | time of meeting (sometimes several happen on one day). |
| speakername | name of the speaker who gave the speech. |
| speakernation | nation of the speaker who gave the speech. |
| language | language of the speaker; all documents on the website are in English. |
| accessdate | date you viewed the document. |
A page of codes is at http://www.library.yorku.ca/ccm/ScottReference/govpubs/guides/unindex.htm
For reasons best known to itself, the UN site does not support links on their website that go directly to these documents. For now everything is factored through http://www.undemocracy.com
It's possible to decode it into english without reference to all the fields, but it will require http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/StringFunctions to be installed.
You can get to the documents through http://documents.un.org/simple.asp or through http://www.undemocracy.org
Best practice
[edit]If you are viewing a document on the undemocracy.com site and you want to reference it in a wikipedia article, it is recommended that you find the line at the top of a holding page which says:
- wiki [(some greyed text here)]
and cut and paste from the text box. This will give provide a citation to the document in a correct form for use by this template.
If you are reading transcripts of a speech, then you can click on the
- [link to here]
box to the side of the text and be presented with a similar text box as above from which to cut and paste the fully formed template citation.
Every official United Nations document has a unique ID. An outline of the coding system is at United Nations Document Codes.