This page documents an English Wikipedia style guideline. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though it is best treated with common sense and the occasional exception. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcuts: WP:LEAD WP:LS

The lead section, lead, or introduction of a Wikipedia article is the section before the table of contents and first heading. The lead serves both as an introduction to the article below and as a short, independent summary of the important aspects of the article's topic.

The lead should be able to stand alone as a concise overview of the article. It should establish context, explain why the subject is interesting or notable, and summarize the most important points—including any notable controversies that may exist. The emphasis given to material in the lead should roughly reflect its importance to the topic according to reliable, published sources. While consideration should be given to creating interest in reading more of the article, the lead nonetheless should not "tease" the reader by hinting at—but not explaining—important facts that will appear later in the article. The lead should contain no more than four paragraphs, should be carefully sourced as appropriate, and should be written in a clear, accessible style to invite a reading of the full article.

[edit] Editing the lead section

Editing the lead section can be cumbersome in long articles, because by default there is no edit link. Registered users can override this default via a checkbox on Special:Preferences > Gadgets > User interface gadgets called "Add an [edit] link for the lead section of a page". Another way to work around this is by clicking "edit" for any section, and in the resulting URL, replace the trailing &section=n with &section=0. A more cumbersome alternative is to open the entire article in the editing window by clicking on "edit this page". However, this method introduces the risk of edit conflicts in popular articles, and may cause problems in some web browsers if the page being edited is too large. There are also some user-written scripts that enable you to edit section 0.

[edit] Elements of the lead

Although the lead section is considered a section, it has no section heading; an "Introduction" heading should not be added at the beginning of an article.

The lead section may contain optional elements presented in the following order: disambiguation links (dablinks), maintenance tags, infoboxes, images, navigational boxes (navigational templates), introductory text, and table of contents, moving to the heading of the first section.

[edit] Introductory text

[edit] Provide an accessible overview

The lead section should briefly summarize the most important points covered in an article in such a way that it can stand on its own as a concise version of the article. It is even more important here than for the rest of the article that the text be accessible. Consideration should be given to creating interest in reading the whole article. (See news style and summary style.)

In general, specialized terminology should be avoided in an introduction. Where uncommon terms are essential to describing the subject, they should be placed in context, briefly defined, and linked. The subject should be placed in a context with which many readers could be expected to be familiar. For example, rather than giving the latitude and longitude of a town, it is better to state that it is the suburb of some city, or perhaps that it provides services for the farm country of xyz county. Readers should not be dropped into the middle of the subject from the first word; they should be eased into it.

[edit] Relative emphasis

In general, the relative emphasis given to material in the lead should reflect its relative importance to the subject according to reliable sources. Significant information should not appear in the lead if it is not covered in the remainder of the article, although specific facts, such as birthdates, titles, or scientific designations will often appear in the lead only, as may certain quotations. This should not be taken to exclude information from the lead, but to include it in both the lead and body: in a well-constructed article, the relative emphasis given to information in the lead will be reflected in the rest of the text. Do not tease the reader by hinting at startling facts without describing them. Avoid lengthy paragraphs and over-specific descriptions, especially if they are not central to the article as a whole.

[edit] Link to sub-article

In the event that the article is a sub-article (or similarly linked article), that relationship should be clearly outlined just before the opening sentence. For example, Meccan boycott of the Hashemites begins with an indented line stating:

This is a sub-article to Muhammad before Medina.

[edit] Opening paragraph

The first paragraph of the introductory text needs to unambiguously define the topic for the reader. It should establish the context in which the topic is being considered, by supplying the set of circumstances or facts that surround it. If appropriate, give the location and time context. Also, establish the boundaries of the content of the article (for example List of environmental issues is only about the effects of human activity).

[edit] First sentence content

The article should begin with a straightforward, declarative sentence that, as briefly as possible, provides the reader who knows nothing at all about the article's subject with the answer to two questions: "What (or who) is it?" and "Why is this subject notable?".^[1]

• If possible, the page title should be the subject of the first sentence.^[2] However, if the article title is merely descriptive — such as Electrical characteristics of a dynamic loudspeaker — the title does not need to appear verbatim in the main text. Similarly, where an article title is of the type "List of ...", the verbatim repetition of the title in the first line should generally be avoided in favor of providing readers with a clearer and more informative introduction to the list.
• When the page title is used as the subject of the first sentence the page title may appear in a slightly different form from that used as the title, and it may include variations.^[3] Similarly, if an article's title has a parenthetical disambiguator, the disambiguator should not be included in the text.^[4]
• If the subject of the first sentence is amenable to definition then the first sentence should give a concise definition that puts the article in context and is as clear to the nonspecialist as the subject matter allows. Similarly, if the subject is a term of art, provide the context as early as possible.^[5]
• If the article is about a fictional character or place, say so ("Homer Simpson is a fictional character in the television series...").

[edit] First sentence format

As a general rule, the first (and only the first) appearance of the page title should be as early as possible in the first sentence and should be in boldface.^[6] However, if the title of a page is descriptive and does not appear verbatim in the main text, then it should not be in boldface.^[7]

• If the subject of the page is normally italicized (for example, a work of art, literature, album or ship) then its first mention should be both bold and italic text ("The 1656 painting Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez ...").
• If the subject of the page has a common abbreviation or more than one name, the abbreviation (in parenthesis) and each additional name should be in boldface on its first appearance.^[8]
• Use as few links as possible before and in the bolded title. Thereafter, words used in a title may be linked to provide more detail.^[9]

[edit] Biographies

When writing about controversies in the lead of the biography of a living person, notable material should neither be suppressed nor allowed to overwhelm: always pay scrupulous attention to reliable sources. Write clinically, and let the facts speak for themselves.

Well-publicized recent events affecting an article subject, whether controversial or not, should be kept in historical perspective. What is most recent is not necessarily what is most notable: new information should be carefully balanced against old, with due weight accorded to each. When an article subject dies, the lead does not need to be radically reworked. Unless the cause of death is itself a reason for notability, a single sentence describing it is usually sufficient.

[edit] Citations

Further information: Wikipedia:Verifiability and Wikipedia:Citing sources

The lead must conform to verifiability and other policies. The verifiability policy advises that material that is challenged or likely to be challenged, and quotations, should be cited. Because the lead will usually repeat information also in the body, editors should balance the desire to avoid redundant citations in the lead with the desire to aid readers in locating sources for challengeable material. Leads are usually written at a greater level of generality than the body, and information in the lead section of non-controversial subjects is less likely to be challenged and less likely to require a source; there is not, however, an exception to citation requirements specific to leads. The necessity for citations in a lead should be determined on a case-by-case basis by editorial consensus. Complex, current, or controversial subjects may require many citations; others, few or none. Contentious material about living persons must be cited every time, regardless of the level of generality.

[edit] Stubs

Where the article is a stub, a lead may not be necessary at all. Wikipedia encourages expanding stubs, but if reliably sourced information is not available, this may not be possible. Once an article has been sufficiently expanded, generally to around 400 or 500 words, editors should consider introducing section headings.

[edit] Length

The appropriate length of the lead section depends on the total length of the article. As a general guideline, the lead should be no longer than four paragraphs. The following suggestion may be useful:

Lead sections that reflect or expand on sections in other articles are discussed at Summary style. Journalistic conventions for lead sections are discussed at News style.

[edit] Cleanup

For a list of template messages related to the clean-up of lead sections, see Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup#Introduction. Editors are encouraged to improve leads rather than simply tagging them.

[edit] See also

• Wikipedia:Accessibility
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Introductions
• Wikipedia:Writing better articles
• Wikipedia's Good definition policy

[edit] Notes