Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section

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This guideline is a part of the English Wikipedia's Manual of Shortcuts
Style.
It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow,  MOS:L
though it is best treated with common sense, and occasional exceptions may EAD
apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in  WP:MO
doubt, discuss first on the talk page. SLEAD

This page in a nutshell: The lead should identify the topic and summarize the body of
the article with appropriate weight.

Manual of Style (MoS)

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 Overview
 Contents
  Tips

 v
 t
 e

The lead section (also known as the lead or introduction) of a Wikipedia article is

the section before the table of contents and the first heading. The lead serves as an
introduction to the article and a summary of its most important contents. It is not a news-
style lead or "lede" paragraph.
The average Wikipedia visit is a few minutes long. [1] The lead is the first thing most
people will read upon arriving at an article, and may be the only portion of the article
that they read. It gives the basics in a nutshell and cultivates interest in reading on—
though not by teasing the reader or hinting at what follows. It should be written in a
clear, accessible style with a neutral point of view.
The lead should stand on its own as a concise overview of the article's topic. It should
identify the topic, establish context, explain why the topic is notable, and summarize the
most important points, including any prominent controversies. [2] The notability of the
article's subject is usually established in the first few sentences. As in the body of the
article itself, the emphasis given to material in the lead should roughly reflect its
importance to the topic, according to reliable, published sources. Apart from basic facts,
significant information should not appear in the lead if it is not covered in the remainder
of the article.
As a general rule of thumb, a lead section should contain no more than four well-
composed paragraphs and be carefully sourced as appropriate.

Contents

 1Elements
 2Citations
 3Content
o 3.1Provide an accessible overview
o 3.2Relative emphasis
o 3.3Opening paragraph
 3.3.1First sentence
 3.3.2Format of the first sentence
 3.3.2.1Avoid redundancy
 3.3.2.2Avoid these other common mistakes
 3.3.2.3Proper names and titles
 3.3.2.4Foreign language
 3.3.2.5Pronunciation
 3.3.2.6Contextual links
 3.3.2.7Biographies
 3.3.2.8Organisms
 o 3.4Scope of article
 4In biographies of living persons
 5Alternative names
o 5.1Non-English titles
o 5.2Usage in first sentence
 5.2.1Biographical
o 5.3Separate section usage
 6Stubs
 7Length
 8Editing the lead section
 9Comparison to the news-style lead
o 9.1No teasers
 10Cleanup
 11See also
 12Notes

Elements
Shortcuts

 MOS:LEADELEMENTS
 MOS:LEADORDER
See also: WP:Manual of Style/Layout §  Order of article elements
The lead section may contain optional elements presented in the following order: short
description, disambiguation links (dablinks/hatnotes), maintenance tags, infoboxes,
foreign character warning boxes, images, navigational boxes (navigational templates),
introductory text, and table of contents, moving to the heading of the first section.
Structure of lead section:

{{Short description}}
{{Hatnote}}

{{Article for deletion}}

{{Copy edit}}

{{Use American English}}

{{Use mdy dates}}

{{Infobox rocket|name=...}}

{{Contains special characters}}

[[File:TypicalRocket.gif|...|A typical rocket]]

{{Rocket Navigation}}

A '''rocket''' is a ...

<!--Unless suppressed or modified via special syntax, or the article has

fewer than four section headings, the table of contents is automatically
generated at this point.-->
==First section==

 Short description is a concise explanation of the scope of the page.

See Wikipedia:Short description and Wikipedia:WikiProject Short descriptions for
more information.
 Disambiguation links should be the first visible elements of the page, before any
maintenance tags, infobox, or image; if a reader has reached the wrong page, they
will want to know that first. Text-only browsers and screen readers present the page
sequentially. A "for topics of the same name ..." disambiguation link is sometimes
put at the beginning of an article to link to another article discussing another
meaning of the article title. In such cases, the line should be italicized and indented
using hatnote templates. Do not make this initial link a section. See
also WP:Hatnote.
 Deletion tags (speedy deletion, proposed deletion, and articles for
deletion notices).
 Maintenance tags should be below the disambiguation links. These tags inform
the reader about the general quality of the article and should be presented to the
user before the article itself.
 English variety and date style tags help editors maintain consistency in articles
as they are developed.
 Infoboxes contain summary information or an overview relating to the subject of
the article, and therefore should be put before any text (though, in actuality, they will
generally appear to the side of the text of the lead). The primary difference between
an infobox and a navigational box is the presence of parameters: a navigational box
is exactly the same in all articles of the same topic, while an infobox has different
contents in each article.
 {{Foreign character warning box}} alert readers that the article contains foreign
characters which may not be supported by their platform. If required, the warning
should be sufficiently near any text using the foreign characters that scrolling is not
required to see the warning. This is generally after short infoboxes, but before long
ones.
 Images. As with all images, but particularly the lead, the image used should be
relevant and technically well-produced. It is also common for the lead image to be
representative because it provides a visual association for the topic, and allow
readers to quickly assess if they have arrived at the right page. Image captions are
part of the article text. If the article has disambiguation links (dablinks), then the
introductory image should appear just before the introductory text. Otherwise a
screen reader would first read the image's caption, which is part of the article's
contents, then "jump" outside the article to read the dablink, and then return to the
lead section, which is an illogical sequence.
 Sidebars are a collection of links used in multiple related articles to facilitate
navigation between those articles. Sidebars are often placed at the top or bottom of
any section of an article. The placement of a sidebar in the lead is generally
 discouraged, especially if placed above the lead image or infobox, but it may be
included on a case-by-case basis.[3]
 All but the shortest articles should start with introductory text (the "lead"), which
establishes significance, includes mention of significant criticism or controversies,
and make readers want to learn more. The lead has no heading; its length should be
commensurate with that of the article, but is normally no more than four
paragraphs. See also Wikipedia:Writing better articles § Lead section.
 The table of contents (ToC) automatically appears on pages with at least four
headings. Avoid floating the ToC if possible, as it breaks the standard look of pages.
If you must use a floated TOC, put it below the lead section in the wiki markup for
consistency. Users of screen readers expect the table of contents to follow the
introductory text; they will also miss any text placed between the TOC and the first
heading.