PiCo

Policies and guidelines

Toolbox

T
O
O
L
B
O
X

Laying out a typical basic article • Writing better articles • Use English • Lead • Standard appendices and footers • Citing sources • Avoid peacock terms • Avoid weasel words

Style Guidelines: Wikipedia Manual of Style • Lists • Tables • Capital letters •

Template help • Wikipedia:Template messages • Sources • Cleanup - Verifiability - Inline

Article tags: {{abbreviations}} • {{cleanup}} • {{external links}} • {{No footnotes}} • {{Citations missing}} • {{Citation needed}} • {{Cleanup}} • {{copy edit}} • {{copypaste}} • {{Confusing}} • {{Inappropriate tone}} • {{incoherent}} • {{multiple issues}} • {{Notability}} • {{Not verified}} • {{original research}} • {{overlinked}} • {{peacock}} • {{POV}} • {{primary sources}} • {{puffery}} • {{refimprove}} • {{tone}} • {{Unreferenced}} • {{inline citations}} • {{unreferenced}} • {{verify}} • {{weasel}} • {{Wikify}}

Section tags: {{Disputed-section}} • {{POV-section}} • {{copy edit-section}} • {{expand section}} • {{fictionrefs}} • {{off-topic}} • {{in popular culture}} • {{ref improve section}} • {{unreferenced section}} • {{trivia}}

Inline tags: Category:Inline citation and verifiability dispute templates • {{citation needed}} • {{clarify}} • {{failed verification}} • {{or}} • {{request quotation}} • {{syn}} • {{verify credibility}} • {{who}} • {{whom?}}

By subject

Delete: {{delete}} • {{db-bio}} • {{db-attack}} • {{db|...}} • {{afd}} • {{cfd}} • {{ifd}} • {{tfd}} • {{rfd}} • {{mfd}}

Dispute: {{POV}} • {{disputed}} • {{Disputed-section}}

Bible references

Category:Template-Class Bible articles

Bibleref2 : {{bibleref2|Hebrews|12:24}}

Superscript : {{bibleref2c|Mt|28:19}}

MOS:Blockquote

Spelling Style: {{Varieties of English templates}} • {{American English}} • {{British English}}

Citing sources • {{Cite web}} • {{Cite journal}} • {{Cite book}} • CITET

<ref>{{Cite news | first=John | last=Doe | title=News | url=| work= | newspaper=[[Florida Today]] | location=Melbourne, Florida | pages= 1A | date=April 1, 2011 | id= | accessdate=}}</ref>

<ref>{{Cite web |url= |title=News |accessdate= |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date=2010-05-01 |year= |month= |work= Florida Today |publisher=Florida Today |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= }}</ref>

<ref>{{Cite book |first = George |last = Weigel |authorlink = George Weigel |coauthors = |title = The Truth of Catholicism |publisher = [[Harper Collins]] |date = 2001 |location = New York City |pages = |url = |doi = |id = |isbn = 0-06-621330-4 }}</ref>

<ref>{{Cite journal |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= |month= |title= |journal=Vermont's Northland Journal |volume= |issue= |pages= |id= |url= |accessdate= |quote= }}</ref>

<ref name="shortname">reference.</ref>

Useful links: Prefix • GSearch • Common misspellings • New pages • Editor warnings • Browse categories • Find All pages with titles beginning with xxx • Formatting columns: {{Div col|cols=2}}...{{Div col end}}

External links: Alexa • Google • IMDB • Dictionary • OneLook • World Maps • Music • MetaTable • Unlinkspam

Requests: adminship • arbitration • checkuser • comment • de-adminship • deletion • expansion • investigation • mediation • move • protection • translation • undeletion • Block • FAC • CSurvey • PLib

WikiChecker

Categorization

Order of sections

Shortcuts

A simple article should have at least a lead section and references. As editors add complexity where required, the elements (such as sections and templates) that are used typically appear in the following order, although they would not all appear in the same article at the same time:

Before the lead section
1. Hatnotes
2. Deletion/Protection tags (CSD, PROD, AFD, PP notices)
3. Maintenance / dispute tags
4. Infoboxes
5. Foreign character warning boxes
6. Images
7. Navigational boxes (header navboxes)
Body
1. Lead section (also called the introduction)
2. Table of contents
3. Content
Appendices^[1]
1. Works or publications (for biographies only)
2. See also
3. Notes and references (this can be two sections in some citation systems)
4. Further reading
5. External links^[2]
Bottom matter
1. Succession boxes and geography boxes
2. Other navigation templates (footer navboxes)^[3] (navbars above {{Portal bar}})
3. Geographical coordinates (if not in Infobox) or {{coord missing}}
4. Authority control templates (taxonbar above Authority control)
5. {{Featured list}}, {{Featured article}} and {{Good article}} (where appropriate for article status)
6. Defaultsort
7. Categories^[4]
8. Stub template

References

^ This sequence has been in place since at least December 2003 (when "See also" was called "Related topics"). See, for example, Wikipedia:Perennial proposals § Changes to standard appendices. The original rationale for this ordering is that, with the exception of "Works", sections which contain material outside Wikipedia (including "Further reading" and "External links") should come after sections that contain Wikipedia material (including "See also") to help keep the distinction clear. The sections containing notes and references often contain both kinds of material and, consequently, appear after the "See also" section (if any) and before the "Further reading" section (if any). Whatever the validity of the original rationale, there is now the additional factor that readers have come to expect the appendices to appear in this order.
^ There are several reasons why this section should appear as the last appendix section. So many articles have the "External links" section at the end that many people expect that. Some "External links" and "References" (or "Footnotes", etc.) sections are quite long, and when the name of the section is not visible on the screen, it could cause problems if someone meant to delete an external link, and deleted a reference citation instead. Keeping the "External links" last is also helpful to editors who patrol external links.
^ Rationale for placing navboxes at the end of the article.
^ While categories are entered on the editing page ahead of stub templates, they appear on the visual page in a separate box after the stub templates. One of the reasons this happens is that every stub template generates a stub category, and those stub categories appear after the "main" categories. Another is that certain bots and scripts are set up to expect the categories, stubs and interlanguage links to appear in that order, and will reposition them if they don't. Therefore, any manual attempt to change the order is futile unless the bots and scripts are also altered.

First section

Disambiguation links should be the first 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.
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.
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 boxes let readers know that foreign characters which may not be supported by their platform or browser appear in the article. If required, they should come adjacent to, or near, any text that has the foreign characters in question, such that scrolling is not required to see the box. 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 sometimes placed in the lead, especially when no infobox is present. If an infobox is present, the navigation sidebar may be moved to either the top or bottom of any other section in the article.
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.

Order of article elements

Shortcuts

A simple article should have at least a lead section and references. As editors add complexity where required, the elements (such as sections and templates) that are used typically appear in the following order, although they would not all appear in the same article at the same time: