Help:Manual of Style: Difference between revisions

## [[Wikipedia:Hatnote|Hatnotes]]

## Deletion / protection tags ([[:Category:Candidates_for_deletion|deletion]] notices)

## [[Wikipedia:Infoboxes|Infoboxes]] (It is important that hatnotes and maintenance/dispute tags appear on the first page of the article. On the mobile site, the first paragraph of the lead section is moved above the infobox for the sake of readability. Since the infobox is generally more than one page long, putting hatnotes, etc., after it will result in them being placed after the first page, making them less effective.)

## [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Lead section|Lead section]] (also called the introduction) ('''Boldface''' is often applied to the first occurrence of the article's title word or phrase in the lead. This is also done at the first occurrence of a term, commonly a synonym in the lead, that redirects to the article or one of its subsections, whether the term appears in the lead or not.)

* [[Wikipedia:How to edit a page]]

* [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style]]

* [[Wikipedia:How to edit a page]]

* [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style]]

## [[MediaWikiWiki:Help:Categories|Categories]]{{efn|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 [[Help:Interlanguage links|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.}}

Use [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_case#Sentence_case sentence case] for article titles and section headings{{spaced ndash}}{{xt|Tips and pointers}}, not {{!xt|Tips and Pointers}}.  

Avoid capitalizing the names of plants and animals. Among the exceptions are scientific names ({{xt|''Felis catus''}}) and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proper_noun proper noun]s occurring as part of a name ({{xt|Norway rat}}).  

Place a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_stop full stop] (a period) or a comma ''before'' a closing quotation mark if it belongs as part of the quoted material; otherwise put it after: {{xt|The word ''carefree'' means "happy"<span style{{=}}"background:#bfb">.</span>}} But {{xt|She said, "I'm feeling carefree<span style{{=}}"background:#bfb">.</span>"}} (Please do so irrespective of any rules associated with the variety of English in use.)  

An [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis ellipsis] should be written as three separate dots ({{xt|...}}): not spaced ({{!xt|.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.}}), and not using the single-character option ({{!xt|…}}).  

The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma serial comma] (for example the comma before ''and'' in "ham, chips, and eggs") is optional; be sensitive to possible ambiguity from thoughtless use or thoughtless avoidance.  

Avoid [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_splice comma splice]s.  

Picture captions should not end in a full stop (a period) unless they are complete sentences.  

Avoid using a hyphen after a standard -ly adverb ({{xt|a newly available home}}).  

A hyphen is not a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash dash]. Hyphens are used within words or to join words, but not in punctuating the parts of a sentence. Use an en dash (–) with <code>&amp;nbsp;</code> before and a space after; or use an em dash (—) without spaces. See Wikipedia's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_make_dashes How to make dashes]. Avoid using two hyphens {{nowrap|(--)}} to make a dash; and avoid using a hyphen for a minus sign.

Use an en dash, not a hyphen, between numbers: {{xt|pp.&nbsp;14–21}}; {{xt|1953–2008}}. An en dash is also to connect parallel terms: {{xt|red–green colorblind}}; {{xt|a New York–London flight}}. Use spaces around the en dash only if the connected terms are multi-unit dates: {{xt|January 1999{{spaced ndash}}December 2000}}.  

Write {{xt|number&nbsp;1}} or {{xt|No.&nbsp;1}}, but not {{!xt|#1}}. Comic books are an exception. Do not use the symbol {{!xt|№}}.  

Write {{xt|12,000}} for twelve thousand, not {{!xt|12.000}}.  

Both {{xt|10&nbsp;June 1921}} and {{xt|June&nbsp;10, 1921,}} are correct, but should be consistent within an article. A comma is not used if only the month is given, such as {{xt|June 1921}}.  

{{xt|400&nbsp;AD}} (or {{xt|AD&nbsp;400}}) and {{xt|400&nbsp;BC}} are correct; but so are {{xt|400&nbsp;CE}} and {{xt|400&nbsp;BCE}}. As always, use one style consistently in an article.  

Use {{xt|one, two, three,&nbsp;..., eight, nine}} in most cases, not {{!xt|1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}} (exceptions include times and dates, equations, sport scores, most measurements, and data in tables). Use digits for {{xt|10}} and higher (though some such numbers also may be written as words, when it helps clarity).  

Instead of an ordinary space, use <code>&amp;nbsp;</code> (a ''non-breaking space'') to prevent a line from ending in the middle of expressions like {{xt|17&nbsp;kg}}, {{xt|565&nbsp;BCE}}, {{xt|2:50&nbsp;pm}}, {{xt|£11&nbsp;billion}}, {{xt|129&nbsp;million}}, {{xt|{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}}&nbsp;{{CURRENTYEAR}}}}, {{xt|5°&nbsp;24′&nbsp;21.12″&nbsp;N}}, or {{xt|Boeing&nbsp;747}}; also after the number in {{xt|123&nbsp;Fake Street}}, and before [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals Roman numerals] in {{xt|World War&nbsp;II}} and {{xt|Pope Benedict&nbsp;XVI}}. Use <code>&amp;nbsp;</code> in the same way inside a wikilink. (An alternative: enclose the whole expression using the template {{tl|nowrap}}.)  

It does not matter how many spaces come after a period because extra spaces will not show, although blank lines will create one extra line.  

Use [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperlink#Wikis wikilinks], but only for words and phrases that are most likely to be helpful if clicked. Make sure each link goes to an article on the intended subject, and not to a disambiguation page or incorrect destination.  

There are multiple [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources citation] styles. The most common uses {{tag|ref}} (''ref tags'') to create footnotes (sometimes called endnotes or notes), which will appear in the reference or endnote section. This citation should immediately follow the text to which it applies, including any punctuation (with some exceptions).  

Due to OWOT having an international user base, this Wiki prefers no major national variety of the language over any other. These varieties (e.g. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English U.S. English], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English British English]) differ in vocabulary (''soccer'' vs. ''football''), spelling (''center'' vs. ''centre''), and occasionally grammar.  

Avoid words like ''I'', ''we'', and ''you'', except in quotations and names of works.  

Avoid phrases like {{!xt|note that}} and {{!xt|remember that}} (which assume "you" for the reader); and avoid such expressions as {{!xt|of course}} and {{!xt|obviously}}.  

* [[Help:Editing_guide]]&nbsp;– an overview page that will answer all your editing-related questions

* Wikipedia's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Cheatsheet Cheatsheet]&nbsp;– a page that provides the most commonly used wiki markup