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=ਮਈ 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)[lower-alpha 1]
|talksection=Section name – (link with NO brackets, "[[]]"; displays only if small=no)
|date=ਮਈ 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.
|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.[lower-alpha 1]
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=ਮਈ 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:
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:
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=ਮਈ 2025|small=no|talksection=Template talk:Expand section#When should this template be used?}}
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.
This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.
ਮਾਪਦੰਡ
ਵੇਰਵਾ
ਕਿਸਮ
ਦਰਜਾ
Reason
1withfor
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
periodpunctuation
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.
Suggested values
yesno
ਮੂਲ ਰੂਪ
yes
Example
no
Line
optional
Talk section
talksectiondiscusstalk
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.
Example
July 2017
Auto value
{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}
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.
Suggested values
no
Line
optional
Find
find
Search keywords for double-quoted search to pass to 'find sources'.
Example
Article title
Line
optional
Find2
find2
Search keywords for unquoted search to pass to 'find sources'.
↑ 1.01.1Note that any value for |small= results in a wide box, so, |small=yes and |small=no produce the same results: a wide box. This is due to the operation of Ambox.