Wikipedia:Make technical articles understandable: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
→Lead section: fix link |
→Lead section: improve linkages to manual of style |
||
Line 38:
{{shortcut|WP:EXPLAINLEAD}}
It is particularly important for the [[WP:LEAD|first section]] (the "lead" section, above the first heading) to be understandable to a broad readership. Readers need to be able to tell what an article is about and whether they are reading the correct article, even if they don't already know the topic in detail. Those who are only looking for a summary or general definition may stop reading at the end of the lead. An understandable lead encourages readers to continue reading into the body of the article.
For these reasons, the lead should provide an understandable overview of the article. While the lead is intended to mention all key aspects of the topic in some way, accessibility can be improved by only summarizing the topic in the lead and placing the technical details in the body of the article. The lead of the article should tell a general reader the field of study of the topic, the place the topic holds in its field of study, what (if anything) the topic is good for, and what needs to be learned first in order to understand the article.
In general, the lead should not assume that the reader is well acquainted with the subject of the article. Terminology in the lead section should be [[WP:JARGON|understandable on sight]] to general readers whenever this can be done in a way that still adequately summarizes the article, and should not depend on a [[WP:wikilink|link]] to another article. Any link to another article should be a supplement to provide more information, and preferably should not be required for understanding text in the lead. For highly specialized topics where it is difficult to give an overview in terms with which a general audience will be familiar, it may be reasonable to assume some background knowledge in the lead while linking to the prerequisites required to understand it. For reference, the lead for a typical [[Wikipedia:Featured articles|Featured Article]] includes about 20 links to other articles (with a mean lead length around 300 words).
==Rules of thumb==
| |||