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The lead section, lead paragraph, lede, or introduction of a Wikipedia article is the section before the first headline. The table of contents, if displayed, appears between the lead section and the first headline. The lead should be capable of standing alone as a concise overview of the article, establishing context, explaining why the subject is interesting or notable, and briefly describing its notable controversies, if there are any. Many users read only the lead, so it should be self-contained and cover the main points. It should not "tease" the reader by hinting at important information that will appear later in the article. It should be between one and four paragraphs long, should be carefully sourced as appropriate, and should be written in a clear and accessible style so that the reader is encouraged to read the rest of the article.
Bold titleThe subject of the article should be mentioned at the first natural place that it occurs in the prose, preferably in the first sentence, and should appear in bold face. The name of the subject is usually identical to the page title, although it may appear in a slightly different form from that used as the title, and it may include variations. For example, in the article "United Kingdom": The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (usually shortened to the United Kingdom or UK) occupies part of the British Isles in northwestern Europe ...
Sections and table of contents
Because editing the lead section can be cumbersome in huge articles, (because there's no edit link for this section), a trick allows editing the lead section separate from the rest of the article: Click "edit" for any section and , in the resulting URL, replace the trailing §ion=n with §ion=0. There are also some user-written scripts that enable you to edit section 0, such as Edit Top. Establish contextThe first paragraph needs to establish the context in which the topic of the article is being considered. For example:
It is preferable to keep the number of links preceding the bolded title as small as possible, in order not to overwhelm the reader. Provide an accessible overviewThe 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 (e.g. when a related article gives a brief overview of the topic in question). It is even more important here than for the rest of the article that the text be accessible, and consideration should be given to creating interest in reading the whole article (see news style and summary style). The first sentence in the lead section should be a concise definition of the topic unless that definition is implied by the title (such as 'History of …' and similar titles). 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. According to the perfect article guideline, a lead "begins with a clear description of the subject at hand. This is made as absolutely clear to the nonspecialist as the subject matter itself will allow. The purpose of an encyclopedia is to codify human knowledge in a way that is most accessible to the most people, and this demands clear descriptions of what the subject matter is about. So we aren't just dropped into the middle of the subject from the first word—we are eased into it." Writing about conceptsWhen writing a lead section about ideas and concepts (such as "truth"), it can be helpful to introduce the topic as follows:
SuggestionsThe lead section should concisely reflect the content of the article as a whole. For many articles, these suggestions can be helpful in writing an appropriate lead:
LengthThe 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 three to four paragraphs. Very long articles on important topics may, of course, call for longer leads. The following specific suggestions have been proposed:
For the planned Wikipedia 1.0 (a static version of Wikipedia distributed on CD, DVD, or paper) one recommendation (not currently implemented) is that the articles will consist of just the lead section of the web version. Summary style and news style can help create a concise intro that works as a stand-alone article. See also
it:Wikipedia:Sezione iniziale hu:Wikipédia:Bevezető ja:Wikipedia:スタイルマニュアル (導入部) tr:Vikipedi:Giriş Bölümü
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