Template:Album ratings/doc

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
IGN	[3]
Jesus Freak Hideout	[2]

Only add a rating if you cite it with a reference. For further information on sources, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Albums.

The template is not to be a substitute for a section in paragraph form, since a review can not be accurately boiled down to a simple rating out of five stars, or a phrase like "unfavorable". If an article is lacking a reception section in prose, but the information is presented in table format, the {{Arprose}} maintenance template can be used to tag the section for expansion.

Professional reviews may include only reviews written by professional music journalists or DJs, or found within any online or print publication having a (paid or volunteer) editorial and writing staff (which excludes personal blogs). The standard for inclusion always is that the review meet Wikipedia's guideline for reliable sources and that the source be independent of the artist, record company, etc. A list of some sources of professional reviews is available at WP:ALBUM/REVSIT. Due to their proliferation and dubious value, lists (e.g. Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Punk Rock Albums of the Early 1980s) may not be included. When choosing which reviews to include, consider the notability of the review source and keeping a neutral point of view. For older albums, try to include not just contemporary but also some more recent reviews.

The reviews should be listed alphabetically in the Reviews field. The information in the reviewer field should be the name of the source (most commonly an online music service like Allmusic, or a music magazine like Rolling Stone—note that magazines are italicized). Don't forget to wikilink to the relevant article.

The information in the score field should be the rating given in the review (e.g. 4/5). The rating should use the same format as in the review, to accurately portray the score of the review. For star ratings you should use the star rating template; for example, entering {{Rating|4.5|5}}, will render: . Numerical ratings, letter grades and other non-symbol ratings should be shown using plain text in parentheses, like (3.5/10), (B) or (90%). For reviews by Robert Christgau you may use the Christgau rating template. For example, entering {{Rating-Christgau|dud}} will render: . If no rating is given in the review you should use one of the words (favorable) or (unfavorable) to describe the review, possibly allowing for (ambivalent), (mixed), (extremely favorable) and more, but keep it short and simple. If you cannot summarize the review, don't include it in the template.

After the rating should be the citation of the source of the review. Per Wikipedia:Citing sources do not add reviews without a citation. This means a properly formatted footnote, in most cases providing the author, date, and source, along with an external link if available. Do not use an embedded link with no information (e.g. link) as this promotes link rot and is inconsistent with Wikipedia's policy on embedded links. If you must use an embedded link, be sure to manually provide a full citation in the article's References section per Wikipedia:Citing sources.

For example, entering

{{Album ratings
| type = studio
| rev1 = [[Allmusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="AM">{{cite web |first=Steve|last=Huey |title=Alice in Chains: ''Dirt'' > Review |url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dbfyxq95ldse~T1 |publisher=[[Allmusic]] |accessdate=31 January 2010}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Alternative Press (music magazine)|Alternative Press]]''
| rev2Score = (favorable)<ref name="AP">{{cite journal |last=Doe |first=John |title=Review: ''Dirt'' |journal=[[Alternative Press (music magazine)|Alternative Press]] |year=1993 |month=March |page=40}}</ref>
| rev3 = [[Robert Christgau]]
| rev3Score = (B)<ref name="RC">{{cite web |first=Robert |last=Christgau |title=Review: ''Dirt'' |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Alice+in+Chains |publisher=[[Robert Christgau]] |accessdate=31 January 2010}}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev4Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Q">{{cite journal |last=Doe |first=Jane |title=Review: ''Dirt'' |journal=[[Q (magazine)|Q]] |issue=65 |year=2002 |month=February |page=120}}</ref>
}}

will render

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Alternative Press	(favorable)
Robert Christgau	(B)
Q

and generate the following footnotes with the sources:

Syntax

Required fields:

rev#

the name of the reviewer, goes from rev1 to rev12

rev#Score

the rating given by the reviewer, goes from rev1Score to rev12Score

Code

Complete Blank Template

{{Album ratings
| type = See [[Template:Infobox album#Type]]
<!-- Reviewers -->
| rev1 =
| rev1Score =
| rev2 =
| rev2Score =
| rev3 =
| rev3Score =
| rev4 =
| rev4Score =
| rev5 =
| rev5Score =
| rev6 =
| rev6Score =
| rev7 =
| rev7Score =
| rev8 =
| rev8Score =
| rev9 =
| rev9Score =
| rev10 =
| rev10Score =
| rev11 =
| rev11Score =
| rev12 =
| rev12Score =
}}