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Wikipedia:Manual of Style

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Manual of Style (MoS)
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This Manual of Style has the simple purpose of making things look alike — it is a style guide. The following rules don't claim to be the last word. One way is often as good as another, but if everyone does it the same way Wikipedia will be easier to read and use, not to mention easier to write and edit. In this regard the following quote from The Chicago Manual of Style deserves notice:

Rules and regulations such as these, in the nature of the case, cannot be endowed with the fixity of rock-ribbed law. They are meant for the average case, and must be applied with a certain degree of elasticity.

Clear, informative and unbiased writing is always more important than presentation and format. Writers are not required to follow all or any of these rules: the joy of wiki editing is that perfection is not required. Copy-editing wikipedians will refer to this manual, and pages will either gradually be made to conform with this guide or this guide will itself be changed to the same effect.

Contributors: note that, because this document is considered policy, significant changes should be discussed on the talk page first or they will be removed.

Article title

See Wikipedia:Naming conventions for choosing a title for your article. It is customary for the title to be the subject of the first sentence of the article. Make article titles bold in the first sentence using '''three apostrophes''' — do not self-link to embolden the title. Avoid putting links inside the emboldened title. Use '''''bold italics''''' in the first sentence only for terms that would be italicized even if they were not set in bold, for example, book titles (this does not mean only terms that are always italicized; whether a word or phrase is italicized or not depends on context).

The use of so-called "free links" to other topics, for example, [[George W. Bush]], is encouraged. Use the links for all words and terms that are relevant to your article.

Do not make too many links. An article may be considered overlinked if any of the following is true:

  • 10% of the words are contained in links
  • it has more links than lines
  • a link is repeated within the same screen (40 lines perhaps)
  • more than 10% of the links are to articles that don't exist.

Note that linking dates like [[25 March]] [[2004]] permits the date preferences of the reader to operate. Both day-month and year must be linked for the preference to work correctly.

Do not link words in article titles; find other ways to include and then link those words.

See also Wikipedia:Make only links relevant to the context

Links that follow the Wikipedia naming conventions are much more likely to lead to existing articles, and, if there is not yet an article about that subject, good links will make the creation of a correctly-named article much easier for later writers.

It is possible to link words that are not exactly the same as the linked article title, [[English language|English]] for example. Make sure, however, that it is still clear what the link refers to without having to follow the link. When forming plurals, do so thus: [[language]]s. This is clearer to read in wiki form than [[language|languages]] — and easier to type. This syntax is also applicable to adjective constructs such as [[Asia]]n, as well as hyphenated phrases and the like.

Try to link accurately. If an article you want to link doesn't yet exist, do a quick search to find out if that is really the case; the article may have a different name than you expect.

Never use "click here" as the text for a link.

Wikipedia is not a link collection and an article with only links is actively discouraged.

See also Wikipedia:External links.

Syntax

The syntax for referencing a URL is simple. Just enclose it in single brackets:

[URL optional-text-after-space]

The URL must begin with http:// or another common protocol, such as ftp:// or news://.

In addition, putting URLs in plain text with no markup automatically produces a link, for example http://en.wikipedia.org. However, this feature may disappear in a future release. Therefore, in cases where you wish to display the URL because it is intrinsically valuable information, it is better to use the short form of the URL (host name) as the optional text: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ en.wikipedia.org] produces en.wikipedia.org.

You can add a title to an external link by supplying descriptive text after the URL separated by a space and enclosing it all in square brackets. For example, to add a title to a bare URL such as http://en.wikipedia.org (this is rendered as "http://en.wikipedia.org"), use the following syntax: [http://en.wikipedia.org an open-content encyclopedia] (this is rendered as "an open-content encyclopedia").

Some URLs are ugly and uninformative; in such cases, it is better for a meaningful title to be displayed rather than the URL itself. For example, "European Space Agency website" is much more reader-friendly than "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/index.html".

If the URL is displayed, make it as simple as possible; for example, if the index.html is superfluous, remove it (but be sure to check in preview mode first).

The "printable version" of a page displays all URLs in full, including those given a title, so no information is lost.

URLs as footnotes

Without the optional text, an external reference appears as a footnote: For example,

[http://en.wikipedia.org/]

is displayed like this:

[1]

Position in article

In most cases, it is preferable to group external links together at the bottom of the article in bullet point format under the heading:

==External links==
*[http://
*[http://

As with other top-level headers, two equal signs should be used to markup the external links header (see Headings elsewhere in the article).

It is also possible to include an inline URL reference within the body of an article. For example:

One good example of a cooperative online community is the [http://en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia, an open-content encyclopedia].

is displayed like this:

One good example of a cooperative online community is the Wikipedia, an open-content encyclopedia.

This is discouraged in most situations.

If an article has used information from an external webpage or it is to be indicated that more information regarding the article will be available, such as statistics, picture gallery, essays on a website, then such links should be part of the "External links" section at the bottom of the article. If the external reference to be cited pertains to only a paragraph or a line in the article, then the use of inline external links as footnotes serves as a proper citation. Footnote links can be used throughout the article; they are replaced by numbers in increasing order starting from 1.

Foreign-language sites

Since this is the English Wikipedia, webpages in English are highly preferred. Linking to non-English pages may still be useful for English-language readers in some cases:

  • when linking to pages with maps, diagrams, photos, tables; explain the key terms with the link, so that people who do not know the language can still interpret them
  • for example, if the subject of the article is a Spanish-language newspaper

In such cases indicate what language the site is in. For example:

File type

If the link is not to an HTML file, but to a file which must be opened in an external program, such as a PDF or Microsoft Word document, a remark about that is useful to help the user decide whether opening or first downloading is preferred.

File size

If the link is to a large file (in the case of html, including the images) a note about that is useful. Someone with a slow connection may decide not to use it.

Headings

Use the == style markup for headings, not ''' (bold). Example:

==This is a heading==

which produces

This is a heading

Note that when ==This is a heading== is used, no blank line under the headline is needed. Extra blank lines are optional, and their presence (or absence) will not affect the appearance of your article.

If you mark headings this way, then a table of contents is automatically generated from the headings in an article, sections can be automatically numbered for users with that preference set and words within properly marked headings are given greater weight in searches. Headings also help readers by breaking up the text and outlining the article.

  • Capitalize the first word and any proper nouns in headings, but leave the rest (including ordinary nouns) lower case.
  • Avoid links within headings.
  • Overuse of sub-headings should be avoided.

For more information, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (headings).

Capitalization

Headings

As discussed in the Headings section above, only the first word and proper nouns in headings should be capitalized.

Job titles

Job titles such as president, king, or emperor are capitalized when used as a title (followed by a name), thus it is "President Bush", not "president Bush". When used generically, they should be in lower case: "Bush is the American president." However if one is using the correct formal name of an office, it is treated as a proper noun. Hence: "Bush was President of the United States", in contrast to "Bush was the U.S. president". Similarly "Louis XVI was the French king" but "Louis XVI was King of France", King of France being a title in that context. The same goes for historical offices: "Maximilian was Mexican emperor from X to Y". "Maximilian was Emperor of Mexico from X to Y". (Reference: Chicago Manual of Style 14th ed., par. 7.16; The Guardian Manual of Style, "Titles" keyword.) Exceptions may apply for specific offices.

Remember in the case of a prime minister, both letters are capitalized or lower-cased together, except, obviously, when it starts a sentence. Again, when being used generically (that is, when talking generally about prime ministers) the office is lower-cased. When reference is made to a specific office, upper case is generally used. So "there are many prime ministers around the world." but "The British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said today . . . " (However to complicate matters, some style manuals, while saying "The British Prime Minister", recommend "British prime minister". A good rule of thumb is whether a definite article (the) or an indefinite article (a) is used. If the is used, capitalization often follows. If a is used, the lowercase is preferred.)

Remember also, users of American English and British English differ in their inclination to use capitals. British English uses capitals far more widely than American English does. This may apply to titles for people. If possible, as with spelling, use capitalization rules appropriate to the cultural and linguistic context. In other words, do not enforce American capitalization rules on pages to do with British topics. Neither should one rigidly enforce British capitalization rules on pages that are concerned with American topics.

Religions, deities, philosophies, doctrines and their adherents

Names of religions should be capitalized. Mormonism requires special care — see Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Mormonism). Followers of a religious faith should also be capitalized. Whenever a faith is used as an adjective it should also be capitalized.

As per The Chicago Manual of Style, deities in both monotheistic and polytheistic religions should be capitalized — such as, God, Allah, Freya. This also applies to transcendent ideas in the Platonic sense — Good and Truth. Similarly, alternative and descriptive names for deities should be capitalized — the Lord, the Supreme Being, the Messiah. Pronouns referring to deities, or in the extreme case who or whom, or nouns (other than names) referring to any material or abstract representation of any deity, human or otherwise, should not be capitalized.

However, philosophies, doctrines, and systems of economic thought should not be capitalized, unless the name is derived from a proper noun. Lowercase republican refers to a system of political thought, uppercase Republican refers to a specific Republican Party (each party name being a proper noun); similarly, lowercase fascist refers generically to the ideology, whereas uppercase Fascist refers specifically to the Mussolini's Italian Fascist Party. Capitalization of Nazi and Nazism is preferred (reflecting the etymology), but the trend is perhaps towards lower-casing.

Calendar items

Always capitalize the names of months, days, and holidays: June, Monday, Fourth of July.

Seasons
Do not capitalize the names of seasons when they are used generally. ("This summer was very hot", fall, autumn, winter, spring)
Do capitalize seasons when they are used with another noun and function as proper nouns. (Winter Solstice, Autumn Open House)
Do capitalize the names of seasons when they are personified. ("I think Spring is showing her colors", Old Man Winter)

Animals, plants, and other organisms

The capitalization on the common names of species has been hotly debated in the past and has remained unresolved. As a matter of truce both capitalized and non-capitalized (except for proper names) are acceptable, but a redirect should be created from the alternative form. See: Wikipedia:WikiProject_Tree_of_Life#Article_titles_and_common_names See: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna) See: Capitalization

Celestial bodies

Names of other planets and stars are proper nouns, and should be capitalized. For example, "The planet Mars can be seen tonight in the constellation Gemini, near the star Pollux".

The words sun, earth, and moon are to be capitalized when being used in an astronomical context as proper nouns. Hence: "The Sun is a main sequence star, with a spectral class of G2." However, in a non-scientific context, do not capitalize: "It was a lovely day and the sun was warm." Also, take care that these words are only capitalized when refering to the name of a specific body. "The Moon orbits the Earth" refers to the names of two bodies. However, "Pluto's moon Charon" uses moon as a conventional noun.

Directions and regions

Directions (north, southwest, etc.) are not capitalized. Do capitalize regions that are proper nouns, including widely known expressions such as Southern California. Follow the same conventions for their related forms, so that a person from the American South is a Southerner, but a road that leads north might be called a northern road.

Whether a region has attained proper-noun status can be a gray area. Use an appropriate reference if needed. Use lowercase when in doubt.

Italicization

Italics should be used for titles of the following:

  • books
  • films
  • magazines
  • newspapers

A generalized rule is that italics are used for longer works. It should not be used for titles of the following:

  • articles or papers — enclose in quotation marks ("") instead
  • chapters of a longer work

Contractions

In general, we prefer formal writing. Therefore, contractions — such as don't, can't, won't, and so on — are discouraged, except when you are quoting directly.

Punctuation

In most cases, simply follow the usual rules of English punctuation. A few points where the Wikipedia may differ from usual usage follow.

Quotation marks

With quotation marks, we suggest splitting the difference between American and British usage.

Although it is not a rigid rule, it is probably best to use the "double quotes" for most quotations, as they are easier to read on the screen, and use 'single quotes' for "quotations 'within' quotations". This is the American style.

Note however the following problem with single quotes: if a word appears in an article with single quotes, such as 'abcd', the Wikipedia:Searching facility will find it only if you search for the word with quotes (when trying this out with the example mentioned, remember that this article is in the Wikipedia namespace). Since this is rarely desirable, this problem is an additional reason to use double quotes, for which the difficulty does not arise. It may even be a reason to use double quotes for quotations within quotations as well.

When punctuating quoted passages, put punctuation where it belongs, inside or outside the quotation marks, depending on the meaning, and not rigidly within the quotation marks, that is, include the mark of punctuation inside the quotation marks only if the sense of the mark of punctuation is part of the quotation. This is the British style (Fowler has good guidelines for this). For example, "Stop!" has the punctuation inside the quotation marks because the word "stop" is said with emphasis. However, when using "scare quotes", the comma goes outside.

Another example:

Arthur said the situation was "deplorable". (the period is not part of the quotation)
Arthur said, "The situation is deplorable." (the full sentence is quoted; the period is part of the quotation)
Arthur said that the situation "was the most deplorable he had seen in years." (though the full sentence is not quoted, the sense of finality conveyed by the period is part of the quotation)

For longer quotations, an indented style, accomplished by prepending a colon to the first line, may be preferable. When quoting multiple paragraphs, double quotation marks belong at the beginning of each paragraph, but at the end of only the last paragraph.

Since quotations are already marked by quotation marks or indentations, they need not be italicized.

Use straight quotation marks and apostrophes

For uniformity and to avoid complications use straight quotation marks and apostrophes:

' "

not curved (smart) ones, grave accents or backticks:

‘ ’ “ ” `

If you are pasting text from Microsoft Word, remember to turn off the smart quotes feature by unmarking this feature in "AutoEdit" and "AutoEdit during typing"! Many other modern word processors have a smart quotes setting — please read the appropriate documentation for your editor.

Characters identical in appearance to left single quotation mark or right single quotation mark are used as letters in some Latin-letter transliteration systems and in some languages, for example to display the ‘okina character in Hawaiian. The characters may also be used in discussions about the quotation marks themselves. If using a left or right quotation mark for such a purpose, to assure proper display on all browsers, do not type or paste such a quotation mark directly into the Wikipedia editor. Instead, use the HTML entities ‘ or ’ or the correponding numeric forms: ‘ and &#8217 or ‘ and ’. If necessary to represent such characters as letters in article titles, the normal straight apostrophe ( ' ) should usually be used in place of the right quotation mark and the grave accent ( ` ) in place of the left quotation mark.

Spaces after periods

There are no current guidelines on whether to use one or two spaces after a period but it is not important as the difference only shows up in the edit box (unless you use   to force it otherwise). See Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (spaces after a period) for a discussion on this.

Commas

As stated by Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, the Chicago Manual of Style, Strunk and White, and other authoritative sources, when a conjunction joins the last two elements in a series of three or more elements, a comma is used before the conjunction: "The wires were brown, blue, and green." The reason for the final serial comma is to prevent the last two elements from being confused as a unit. Consider its utility in this sentence: "The author would like to thank her parents, Sinéad O'Connor and Pope John-Paul II."

Scientific style

Sections

Introduction

All articles should have the title or subject in bold in the first line and sometimes also in italic if that word or phrase is normally in italic or should be italicized for some other context-dependent reason; see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (titles). The title or subject can almost always be made part of the first sentence, but some articles simply have names.

  • The Pythagorean theorem is named for and attributed to the 6th century BC Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras
The '''Pythagorean theorem''' is named for and attributed to the [[6th century BC]] Greek philosopher and mathematician [[Pythagoras]]
  • Tom and Jerry — Pairing of names from Pierce Egan's Life in London
'''Tom and Jerry''' — Pairing of names from [[Pierce Egan]]'s ''Life in London''

If the subject of the article has more than one name, each new form of the name should be in bold on its first appearance.

  • Sodium hydroxide (NaOH), also known as caustic soda or lye
'''Sodium hydroxide''' ([[sodium|Na]][[oxygen|O]][[hydrogen|H]]), also known as '''caustic soda''' or '''lye'''

It is preferable to make the context clear in the first few words. For example,

In [[quantum physics]], the '''Heisenberg uncertainty principle'''

Lead section

The lead section is the section before the first headline. It is shown above the table of contents (for pages with more than three headlines). The appropriate lead length depends on the length of the article, but should be no longer than three paragraphs in any case. See Wikipedia:Guide to writing better articles#Lead section for more details.

"See also" and "Related topics" sections

Ideally, topics related to an article are included within the text of the article as free links.

If the article is divided into sections and See also refers to a particular section only, references to related articles that have not been linked from free links in the text may be handled by this form, placed at the bottom of the section:

''See also:'' [[Internet troll]], [[flaming]]

which produces:

See also: Internet troll, flaming.

The above form may also be used in short articles without sections.

When the See also refers to the entire article, not just a section, it should be a heading of level 2 so that it appears in the table of contents. It should be placed at the bottom of the article, but before External links. Again, do not add any links to the "See also" section that are already present in the text of the article. If you remove a redundant link from the See also section of an article, it may be an explicit cross reference (see below), so consider making the link in the main text bold instead.

example

==See also==
*[[Internet troll]]
*[[flaming]]

Which appears as:

Another equally valid form is:

Related topics

Sometimes it is useful to have an explicit cross-reference in the text, for example, when a long section of text has been moved somewhere else, or there is a major article on a subtopic. In these cases, make the link bold so that its significance is easier to recognize. Example:

The legal situation with regard to circumcision varies from country to country (see Legal status of circumcision).

or

The legal status of circumcision varies from country to country.

(See Wikipedia:Section).

Other Sections

Other common sections (in their preferable order) are:

References

Compare against

External links

Simple tabulation

Any line that starts with a blank space becomes a fixed font width and can be used for simple tabulation. See English plural for many examples. 

foo     bar     baz
alpha   beta    gamma

A line that starts with a blank space with nothing else on it forms a blank line which may be just what you want or not if you are one of those typists who put two spaces after a period. You can cause a blank line unknowingly if those blanks are wrapped to the beginning of the next line.

Usage and spelling

Cultural clashes over grammar, spelling, and capitalisation/capitalization are a common experience on Wikipedia. Remember that millions of people may have been taught to use a different form of English from yours, including different spellings, grammatical constructions or capitalization. For the English Wikipedia, there is no preference among the major national varieties of English. However, there is a certain etiquette generally accepted on Wikipedia:

  • Each article should have uniform spelling and not a haphazard mix of different spellings (it can be jarring to the reader). In particular, for individual words and word-endings. For example, do not use center (American) in one place and centre (British) in another.
  • Proper names should retain their original spellings. For example, United States Department of Defense and Australian Defence Force.
  • Articles which focus on a topic specific to a particular English-speaking country should generally aim to conform to the spelling of that country (for instance the British "Labour Party"). A reference to "the American labour movement" (with a U) or to "Anglicization" (with a Z) may be jarring. However, a reference to "the American labour movement" would be okay on New Labour.
  • When referring to the United States, please use "U.S."; that is the more common style in that country, is easier to search for automatically, and we want one uniform style on this. When referring to the United States in a long abbreviation (USA, USN, USAF), periods should not be used.
  • If the spelling appears in an article name, you should make a redirect page to accommodate the other variant, as with Aeroplane and Airplane, or if possible and reasonable, a neutral word might be chosen as with Glasses.
  • If the spelling appears within the article text, also consider a consistent synonym such as focus or middle rather than center/centre.
  • If an article is predominantly written in one type of English, aim to conform to that type rather than provoking conflict by changing to another. (Sometimes, this can happen quite innocently, so please don't be too quick to make accusations!)
  • Consult Wikipedia articles such as English plural and American and British English differences.
  • Scholarly abbreviations of Latin terms like i.e., or e.g. should be avoided and English terms such as such as and for example used instead.
  • If all else fails, consider following the spelling style preferred by the first major contributor (that is, not a stub) to the article who used a word with variant spellings in the article or the title.
  • If a word or phrase is generally regarded as correct, then prefer it to an alternative that is often regarded as incorrect. Thus "other meanings" should be used rather than "alternate meaning" or "alternative meaning". Some dictionaries discourage or do not even recognize this latter use of alternate. The American Heritage Dictionary "Usage Note" at alternative says: "Alternative should not be confused with alternate." But, alternative is also not entirely acceptable because of the very common connotations in American English of "non-traditional" or "out-of-the-mainstream". Some traditional usage experts consider alternative to be appropriate only when there are exactly two alternatives.

Words as words

Italicize words when they are being written about, rather than being used to write about what they refer to. Similarly for letters.

  • The term panning is derived from panorama, a word originally coined in 1787
The term ''panning'' is derived from ''panorama'', a word originally coined in [[1787]]
  • The letter E is the most common letter in English.

Pictures

Main article: Wikipedia:Picture tutorial

Articles with a single picture are encouraged to have that picture at the top of the article, right-aligned, but this is not a hard and fast rule. Portraits with the head looking to the right should be left-aligned (looking into the article). Please put the image at the top of the article, before the text begins.

The current image markup language is more or less this:

[[Image:picture.jpg|thumb|Blah blah caption]]

Captions

Main article: Wikipedia:Captions

Photos and other graphics should have captions unless they are "self-captioning" as in reproductions of album or book covers, or when the graphic is an unambiguous depiction of the subject of the article. For example, in a biography article, it is presumed that the portrait is that of the person in the article, thus a caption is not necessary (unless more than one person is in the picture).

Identity

This is perhaps one area where wikipedians' flexibility and plurality are an asset, and where one would not wish all pages to look exactly alike. Nevertheless, here are some guidelines:

  • When writing an article about specific people or specific groups, always use the terminology which they themselves use (self identification).
  • Use the most specific terminology available. If someone is of Ethiopian descent, one would describe him or her as Ethiopian, not African.
  • In case this is objectionable, often a more general name will prove to be more neutral or more accurate. For example, although to have a List of African-American composers would be acceptable, a List of composers of African descent, in this case, is more useful.
  • If possible, instead of using nouns directly, terms should be given in such a way that they qualify other nouns. Thus, black people, not blacks; gay people, not gays; adults with disabilities, not the disabled; and so forth.
  • Do not assume that any one term is the most inclusive or accurate.

Wikiprojects

If you can't find anything specific enough for a particular type of article, see Wikipedia:WikiProject — some of these WikiProjects set out boilerplates for certain areas of knowledge.

Miscellaneous notes

When all else fails

If you are faced with a fine point, please use other resources, such as The Chicago Manual of Style (from the University of Chicago Press) or Fowler's Modern English Usage (from the Oxford University Press). Where this page differs from the other sources, the usage on this page should be preferred, but please feel free to carry on a discussion on Wikipedia_talk:Manual of Style, especially for substantive changes.

Even simpler is simply to look at an article that you like and open it for editing to see how the writers and editors have put it together. You can then close the window without saving changes if you like, but look around while you are there. Almost every article can be improved.

Do not get fancy

It is easier for you and whoever follows you if you do not try to get too fancy with your markup. Even with markup as suggested here, you shouldn't assume that any markup you put in is guaranteed to have a certain appearance when it is displayed.

It is easier to display the Wikipedia, easier to edit or add to its articles, if we do not make the markup any more complex than is necessary to display the information in a useful and comprehensible way. A useful encyclopedia is the first goal, but ease of editing and maintaining that encyclopedia is right behind it.

Among other things, this means use HTML markup sparingly and only with good reason.

Further information

It is a good idea to read through and understand these documents:

Note to contributors to this page: We need to go over all these and make sure they're up-to-date too.

Formatting issues

Formatting issues such as font size, blank space and color are issues for the Wikipedia site-wide style sheet and should not be dealt with in articles except in special cases.

Make comments invisible

Try to avoid highlighting that the article is incomplete and in need of further work.

Similarly, there is little benefit to the reader in seeing headings and tables without content.

If you want to communicate with other potential editors, make comments invisible to the ordinary article reader. To do so, enclose the text which you intend to be read only by editors within <!-- and -->.

For example, the following:

<!-- This is a comment. -->

is displayed (or rather, is not displayed) as:

so the comment can be seen when viewing the HTML or wiki source.

minnan:Wikipedia:Siá-chok ê kui-hoān

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