This "explanatory essay" template was originally intended as a separate "supplement" template used for essays like Wikipedia:The difference between policies, guidelines and essays. In discussions about how to improve and explain policies and guidelines, many editors thought that it would be easier to handle significant, yet overly detailed or instructional material on separate pages, instead of trying to shoehorn them directly into the official policy or guideline pages causing instructional creep. See also Criticism of Wikipedia § Excessive rule-making and Wikipedia:Content forking/Internal § Policy forks.

Use this template carefully, only when there is a well-established consensus at the relevant policy or guideline page to use this template on an essay that links from the relevant policy or guideline.

The noun supplement does not mean "an interpretation" nor just "something added". It means precisely "something added, especially to make up for a deficiency", in this case a lack or gap in an official Wikipedia's policy or guideline. The intent is to further elaborate on Wikipedia's policies or guidelines in an impartial and informative manner.

Note: this template does not indicate a "higher status" within the community for an essay, but is used to denote that the essay in question has wide acceptance to be linked from said policy or guideline page. If consensus changes or content is outdated and the essay is no longer referenced in a policy or guideline, change the tag to the more common {{Essay|interprets=}} or {{Information page}} template, as appropriate.

This template has an |interprets= a.k.a. |pages= parameter that must be used. Replaces "such guidance" with "the foo" where "foo" is a link to one or more policies or guidelines and label(s) for what they are, e.g.:

• |interprets=[[Wikipedia:No original research]] policy
• |interprets=[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style]] guideline
• |interprets=[[Wikipedia:No original research]] and [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view]] policies
• |interprets=[[Wikipedia:Verifiability]] policy and [[Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources]] guideline
• |interprets=Wikipedia:Reliable sources – this simpler syntax will automatically link to the page if it exists.

You can also use {{section link}} to produce better-looking links to page sections, e.g.: |interprets=the {{section link|Wikipedia:Article titles#Deciding on an article title}} policy, which renders as "the Wikipedia:Article titles § Deciding on an article title policy".

The template also has optional |shortcut=, |shortcut2=, |shortcut3=, and |shortcut4= parameters that can be used to add a Shortcut: box to the right-side, with up to four shortcuts.

No description.

Template parameters[Edit template data]

This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
1	1 shortcut1	first shortcut Example WP:PGE	String	suggested
2	2	no description	Unknown	optional
3	3	no description	Unknown	optional
4	4	no description	Unknown	optional
Interprets	interprets pages	Parameter that must be used. Replaces "such guidance" with "the foo" where "foo" is a link to one or more policies or guidelines and label(s) for what they are Example [[Wikipedia:Verifiability]] policy	String	required
Shortcut	shortcut	Parameters that can be used to add a "Shortcut:" box to the right-side Example WP:DRAFT	Unknown	optional
shortcut1	shortcut1	no description	Unknown	optional
Shortcut2	shortcut2	no description	Unknown	optional
Shortcut3	shortcut3	no description	Unknown	optional
Shortcut4	shortcut4	no description	Unknown	optional
category	category	no description	Unknown	optional

by itself {{supplement}} causes an error because the template is meaningless without an |interprets= parameter as seen below:

This is an explanatory essay about Error: No page specified. This page provides additional information about concepts in the page(s) it supplements. This page is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

Explanatory essay

• {{supplement|interprets=[[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view]] policy}}

becomes:

This is an explanatory essay about the Wikipedia:Neutral point of view policy. This page provides additional information about concepts in the page(s) it supplements. This page is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

• {{supplement|interprets=[[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view]] policy|shortcut=WP:SHORTCUT|shortcut2=WP:SHORTCUT2}}

becomes:

This is an explanatory essay about the Wikipedia:Neutral point of view policy. This page provides additional information about concepts in the page(s) it supplements. This page is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

Shortcuts WP:SHORTCUT WP:SHORTCUT2

• {{supplement|interprets=[[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view]] and [[Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons]] policies}}

becomes:

This is an explanatory essay about the Wikipedia:Neutral point of view and Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons policies. This page provides additional information about concepts in the page(s) it supplements. This page is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

This template adds a page to Category:Wikipedia supplemental pages, by default. If the page is in userspace (e.g. is a draft of a supplement, or is a mistaken use of the template for something intended to remain a user essay), it will instead be put into Category:User essays.

If there is a need to put the page in an eventual more-specific subcategory, this can be accomplished with |category=, using a fully wikilinked category as input. E.g.:
     {{Supplement|interprets=[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style]] guideline |category=}}

This feature should not be used to add an additional category (as this would remove inclusion in Category:Wikipedia supplemental pages or any subcategory thereof). To add additional categories, simply put them at page-bottom, as usual.

• {{Information page}} – the banner template for pages that are more just informational and non-opinionated like WP:GOV
• {{Wikipedia how-to}} – the banner template for pages that are more directly instructional and non-opinionated like H:EDIT.
• {{Essay|interprets=}} – the banner template for pages that are more opinionated then instructional or technical; there are several parameters and variations.
• Wikipedia:Template messages/Wikipedia namespace – for more "Wikipedia:"-namespace header templates.