Wikipedia : Lead dos and don'ts

This is an information page .

It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines ; rather, its purpose is to explain certain aspects of Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section . It may reflect differing levels of consensus and vetting .

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WP:LEADDD

The lead, or introduction, is the most important text in any article.

To get the lead right, generally:

DO:
Identify the subject and why it's notable early .
Summarize the most important points of the article.
Provide context if necessary.
Bold the subject's full and alternate names on first use.
Use discretion when putting citations in the lead .
See style guidance for leads for more guidance.

DON'T:
Don't promote the subject or use peacock terms .
Don't clutter the first sentence with parenthetical material .
Don't include significant info that is not covered later .
Don't reiterate descriptive article titles awkwardly.
Don't put links in a bolded reiteration of the title.
Don't use teasers .

v t e Wikipedia dos and don'ts
Encyclopedia content	Accessibility Biographies Living Categorization Disambiguation Long dabs Images Leads Links Lists References Tables Titles of articles
Collaboration	Consensus Talk
Simple rule set - Simple style manual - Style tips - Wikitext cheatsheet

See also