If possible, make the title the subject of the first sentence of the article. It should be between one or two paragraphs long, and should be written in a clear and accessible style so that the reader is encouraged to read the rest of the article. The lead should be capable of standing alone as a concise overview of the article, establishing context, and explaining why the subject is interesting or notable. The lead should not be explicitly entitled = Introduction = or any equivalent header. Unless an article is very short, it should start with an introductory lead section, before the first subheading. The following sections will offer some good advice on keeping your articles clean, consistent, and clear. Don't throw your reader a curve ball too often. Too many nested sections usually leads to a confusing or unreadable article.Ībove all, keep your layout consistent. Try using a shallow structure rather than a deep one. Just like the article as a whole, the section should start with an introduction and then have its subsections below it. Wherever possible, try to have an introduction for each section.
Keep it logical, but feel free to forsake strict logic for readability. Organize sections in an article in a hierarchical structure like you would an outline. Keep a well structured article, and you're more likely to have a high quality one. Structure has the power to inform or confuse the same way good or bad writing does.
It can influence what people contribute, where it goes, and how it might be written. The structure is a powerful thing: it dictates what information the reader reads and when he or she reads it.
One of the most important parts of wiki editing is how to structure an article. Editors have been working on this wiki for years and to not give reason for editing at this stage is simply rude. This is not a requirement but a call to common courtesy. 2.8 See also, references, external links, and navigational tablesĪny edit to a mainspace article without a summary may be rolled back (or undone by non rollbackers with an "MoS" summary).2.5.2 Without row headings, with alt rows.2.5.1 With row headings, table caption, sortable.