Wikipedia:Guide to layout
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Wikipedia Guide to Layout is an annotated, working example of some of the basics of laying out an article. It is a summary of what some articles look like. For more complicated articles, you may wish to copy the markup of an existing article that appears to have an appropriate structure.
This guide is not about how to use wiki markup (see Wikipedia:How to edit a page for that); nor is it about style (see Wikipedia:Manual of Style for that).
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Introductory material
Unless an article is very short, it should start with a 'lead' comprising one or more introductory paragraphs. The lead should not be explicitly entitled ==Introduction==.
The subject of the article should be mentioned in bold text ('''subject''') at a natural place, preferably in the first sentence, or elsewhere in the first paragraph. The name of the subject is normally identical to the page title, although it may appear in a slightly different form from that used as the title, and may include variations, e.g., 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (usually shortened to the United Kingdom or the UK) is a country off the north-western ...'.
Normally, the first paragraph clearly explains the subject so that the reader is prepared for the greater level of detail to follow. If further introductory material is needed before the first section, this can be covered in subsequent paragraphs. Introductions to biographical articles commonly double as summaries, listing the best-known achievements of the subject.
The lead is automatically followed by a table of contents, unless a user has selected the option of not viewing tables of contents. The first section follows the table of contents.
Links
Wikified articles link significant words to the corresponding article, provided that the corresponding article contains information that will help the reader to understand the original article. For example, an article might mention 'pancakes' without explaining what they are, although a brief phrase explaining the term might be more appropriate in many instances. An article about laser beams might provide helpful background material when mentioned in passing. For advice about what to link and what not to link, see Wikipedia:Make only links relevant to the context, Wikipedia:Manual of Style (links)#Internal links and Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers)#Date formatting. Useful links that are not mentioned in the prose paragraphs can be added to the "see also" section near the end. (See below.)
Structure of the article
The number of single-sentence paragraphs should be minimized, since these can inhibit the flow of the text; by the same token, paragraphs become hard to read once they exceed a certain length.
Articles generally comprise prose paragraphs, not bullet points; however, sometimes a bulleted list can break up what would otherwise be an overly large, grey mass of text, particularly if the topic requires significant effort on the part of readers. Bulleted lists should not be overused in the main text, but are typical in the reference and reading sections at the bottom.
Headings help to make an article clearer, and comprise the table of contents; see Wikipedia:Section, which users can choose under 'Preferences' to view (the default) or not to view. Headings are hierarchical, so you should start with ==Header== and follow it with ===Subheader===, ====Subsubheader====, and so forth. The 'second-level' ==Header== is overly large in some browsers, but that can later be fixed in the future with a style sheet more easily than a nonhierarchical article structure can be fixed.
Just as for paragraphs, sections and subsections that are very short will make the article look cluttered and inhibit the flow. Short paragraphs and single sentences generally do not warrant their own subheading, and in these circumstances, it may be preferable to use bullet points.
The degree to which subtopics should appear in a single article or be given their own pages is a matter of judgment and of controlling the total length of the article.
Images
If the article can be illustrated with pictures, find an appropriate place to position these images and get them from Wikimedia Commons. For more information, see Wikipedia:Picture tutorial and Wikipedia:Images
Templates
You can use the template messages.
Standardized appendices
Certain optional standardized sections go at the bottom of the article, as you see below.
Quotations
Under this header, list any memorable quotations that are appropriate to the subject.
- "Misquotations are the only quotations that are never misquoted." — Hesketh Pearson, Common Misquotations (1934)
This header is somewhat deprecated. Usually, the most relevant quotes can be placed directly into the article text in order to illustrate the topic. Lists of quotes are generally moved to Wikiquote and the Quotations section as a whole is replaced with a {{wikiquote}} badge, usually placed at the top of the external links section.
See also
Put here, in a bulleted list, other articles in the Wikipedia that are related to this one.
Related topics ought to be grouped by subject area for ease of navigation. Please also provide a brief explanatory sentence, when the relevance of the added links is not immediately apparent - like so:
- Related person made a similar achievement in 2005.
Or for a less formal feel you can simply use this:
See also: Main page, Recent changes
References
Put under this header, again in a bulleted list, any books, articles, web pages, et cetera that you used in constructing the article and/or recommend as sources of further information to readers.
- Pooh, W. T. & Robin, C. (1926). "How to catch a heffalump" in A. A. Milne (Ed.), The Karma of Kanga, pp. 23–47. Hundred Acre Wood: Wol Press. ISBN 999999999
The most important thing is to include the complete citation information, just as you would for any other bibliography; the precise formatting is still debatable and can be fixed later. See also: Wikipedia:Cite sources and Wikipedia:ISBN.
External links
Put here, in list form, any web sites that you have used or recommend for readers of the article. Describe it if possible (see Wikipedia:Guide to writing better articles#Standard appendices)
(Some editors prefer to list external links under "References"; there is currently no consensus on the desirability of a separate section for on-line citations.)