Wikipedia:Manual of Style

(Redirected from Wikipedia:ENGVAR)

This Manual of Style is to help make the encyclopedia easier to read by having rules for its format. It is a style guide. The rules on this page are not the final word on Wikipedia style. One way is often as good as another, but if everyone does things the same way, Wikipedia will be easier to read and use, and easier to write and edit. These are not laws: they are rules that many editors have found to work well in most cases. Editors should try to have their articles follow these guidelines, but remember, often there is an exception to every rule, so also use common sense above all.

One of the great things about changing a wiki is that changes do not have to be perfect—they can always be changed, improved or corrected later on. Wikipedia does not require writers to follow all or any of these rules, but their efforts will be more appreciated when they use this guide.

Article titlesEdit

In picking the best article title, remember these guidelines:

  • Use the singular. For example, if you added a new article about cars, you would name it "Car", not "Cars". (This rule is different for making categories, though.)
  • Use English. If you make a new article about the capital of Russia, you would name it "Moscow", not "Moskva". See Wikipedia:Naming conventions for more examples.
  • Do not use abbreviations. An article on the World Health Organization should not be titled "WHO".

Do not worry if the wrong name is chosen for an article – it can always be moved, and this automatically creates a redirect from the older entry. Redirects should also be made from all other entries someone might type when looking for your article.


  • Countries should usually be listed under their simple name, not their full name, for example Ethiopia, not Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
  • For places inside countries or states, the name of the country or state can appear after a comma and space, especially if there is more than one place of that name. Example: Scottsdale, Arizona.


  • If the name of a movie is the same as something else, add (movie), and not (film), to the title to disambiguate it from other articles. Otherwise, this is not needed. Example: Jaws (movie).

First sentenceEdit


If the article's title is an important word, use it as early as possible in the article. Bold the article title the first (and only the first) time it is used. Also, bold any important synonyms – other names for the same thing, or older names. Use three apostrophes to make the bold: '''article title''' will appear as article title.

This example shows how bold words are used in an article on the Byzantine Empire:

The Byzantine Empire (or Eastern Roman Empire) is the name given to the Roman Empire that existed during the Middle Ages.


It is usually better not to link any of the bold title words and synonyms. For example, do not write "The Byzantine Empire is..."

Things like foreign words, and names of books or movies, are usually put in italics, and can be combined with the bold text, for example:

Citizen Kane is a movie from 1941, starring Orson Welles in his first full-length movie.

If the article is about a foreign person or place, the name in the original language(s) should be given in parentheses immediately after the title is first mentioned. Link the name of the language, followed by a colon (:), just before the native name. A transliteration into the Latin alphabet should also be included if a different writing system is used. A pronunciation guide or a sound file can also be included here. Example:

Beijing (Chinese: 北京 /Běijīng/) is the capital of China.

Sections and headingsEdit



This section’s heading was created by writing:

== Sections and headings ==

This subsection’s heading was created by writing:

=== Markup ===



Creating and using sectionsEdit



Capital lettersEdit



Titles such as president, king, or emperor start with a capital letter when used as a title (followed by a name): "President Nixon", not "president Nixon". When used in a general way, they should be in lower case: "De Gaulle was the French president." The correct formal name of an office is a proper noun and should be capitalized. So: "Hirohito was Emperor of Japan." Similarly, "Louis XVI was the French king" but "Louis XVI was King of France", because King of France is a specific title. Royal titles should also be capitalized: "Her Majesty" or "His Highness".

In the case of "prime minister", either both words begin with a capital letter or neither, except when the term begins a sentence. When using the term in a general way, do not capitalize it: "There are many prime ministers around the world." When referring to a specific office, generally use uppercase: "The British Prime Minister is Tony Blair." (A good rule for this is: when it is the "Prime Minister", it should be capitalized; when it is a "prime minister", do not capitalize it.)

Religions, deities/gods, philosophies, doctrines, and their followersEdit

Names of religions, whether as a noun or an adjective, and their followers start with a capital letter. For example, Roman Catholics are followers of Roman Catholicism.

Names of deities/gods begin with a capital letter: God, Allah, Freya, the Lord, the Supreme Being, the Messiah. (Note that "the" is not capitalized.) The titles of important religious figures should be capitalized, such as Muhammad, who is known as the Prophet. Transcendent ideas also begin with a capital letter, as in Good and Truth. Pronouns referring to deities, or nouns (other than names) referring to any deity, do not begin with a capital letter. One would say "He prayed to the god Wotan", not "He prayed to the God Wotan". The following sentence would be correct usage: "It was thought that he prayed to God, but he actually prayed to one of the Norse gods."

Do not capitalize the names of types of mythical or fictional creatures, such as elves, fairies, nymphs and genies. However, in some fantasy stories, such as those by J. R. R. Tolkien, capital letters are used to show that the different categories of mythical creatures are being treated as ethnic groups or races. It is okay to use capitals in this specific case.

Philosophies, theories, doctrines, and systems of thought do not begin with a capital letter, unless the name comes 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).

Calendar itemsEdit

The names of months, days, and holidays always begin with a capital letter: June, Monday, Fourth of July (when referring to the U.S. Independence Day, otherwise July 4 or 4 July).

Seasons, in almost all cases, are not capitalized: "this summer was very hot"; "the winter solstice occurs on December 22"; "I’ve got spring fever". When personified, season names may be used as proper nouns: "I think Spring is showing her colors"; "Old Man Winter".

Dates normally should be followed by commas: "In 2001, Bob married Lisa"; "On April 10, I will have a party". An exception is when they are used to describe other words: "The 1993 edition was very long".

Animals, plants, and other organismsEdit

Capitalize the name of a genus, but not the name of a species (and italicize both names): for example, the tulip tree is Liriodendron tulipifera.

Higher categories (e.g. order; (family etc.) are not italicized. If the Latin form is used it should be capitalized; if used as a common word, then not. So Dinosauria, but dinosaurs.

Celestial bodiesEdit

Names of other planets and stars are proper nouns and begin with a capital letter: "The planet Mars can be seen tonight in the constellation Gemini, near the star Pollux." In cases where the name has multiple words, it is treated like other proper nouns where each leading letter is capitalized: "Alpha Centauri" and not "Alpha centauri".

The words sun, earth, and moon are proper nouns when the sentence uses them in an astronomical sense, but not elsewhere: so "The Sun is a main sequence star, with a spectral class of G2"; but "It was a lovely day and the sun was warm". Note that these terms are proper nouns only when they refer to specific celestial bodies (our Sun, Earth and Moon): so "The Moon orbits the Earth", but "Pluto’s moon Charon".

Directions and regionsEdit

Regions that are proper nouns, including well known phrases such as Southern California, start with a capital letter. This is also true for related words, so a person from the Southern United States is a Southerner.

Directions (north, southwest, etc.) are not proper nouns and do not start with a capital letter. The same is true for their related forms: someone might call a road that leads north a northern road, compared to the Great North Road.


Proper names of specific institutions (for example, Harvard University, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Hampshire College, etc.) are proper nouns and need capitalization.

However, the words for types of institutions (university, college, hospital, high school, etc.) should not be capitalized if they do not appear in a proper name:

The University offers programs in arts and sciences.
The university offers… or The University of Ottawa offers…



''This is italic.''

will give:

This is italic.

Effect on nearby punctuation and linksEdit


  • What are we to make of that?





They are also used in these other cases:



Music: songs are in quotes ("Love Song", "Rainy Days and Mondays"), but albums are italicized (Dark Side of the Moon, A Night at the Opera, Abbey Road)

Words as wordsEdit


  • Deuce means “two”.
  • The word liqueur comes from the Latin word liquifacere.
  • The most common letter in the English language is e.
  • In English class I received an A.

Foreign termsEdit

Wikipedia prefers italics for phrases in other languages and for foreign words that do not yet have common use in the English language. Use the native spellings if they use the Latin alphabet. If a word or phrase is used from a language that uses another writing system, do not italicize it, but put it in parentheses, and give a Romanized transliteration in italics right after the word.

Foreign words or phrases that have common use in English — such as Gestapo and samurai — do not need to be italicized.

Quotations in italicsEdit


Italics within quotationsEdit

Use italics inside quotations if the source material does, or if you want to add emphasis. If you are adding emphasis, write "[emphasis added]" at the end of the quotation. For example: "Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince: And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. [emphasis added]"

If the source uses italics for emphasis, and you want to show that the emphasis is the source's and not yours, you can add "[emphasis in original]" after the quote.

Acronyms and abbreviationsEdit






  • More than one CD-ROM are CD-ROMs
  • More than one NGO are NGOs

Style books today do not use as many periods and spaces with acronyms and abbreviations for personal titles, as were traditionally used in the past. For example, PhD is more common than Ph.D. or Ph. D., and is preferred here. If an abbreviation is not clear without periods, the periods should not be removed.


In most cases, follow the usual rules of English punctuation. A few points where Wikipedia may be different from usual rules are listed below.

Quotations and quote marksEdit

Whenever possible, faithfully use the same style that was used in the original quotation; do not change it to follow Wikipedia's rules on punctuation. If there is a spelling or other mistake in the original quote, it can be noted with [sic].



When punctuating quoted passages, put the punctuation mark inside the quotation marks only if the sense of the punctuation mark is part of the quotation (logical quotation style).




Here are two examples that show how to handle commas and capital letters at the beginning of a quote within a sentence:

He said that "to have is to hold".

She said, "Go now."




"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll.

Longer quotesEdit


are created equal.



Look of quotation marks and apostrophesEdit


  • text, text, foos
  • "text", 'text', foo's



If only part of a sentence is in brackets, the punctuation goes outside the brackets (as shown here). (If the entire sentence is inside brackets, the punctuation should also be inside the brackets.) These rules are true for square "[ ]" as well as round "( )" brackets (parentheses). There should be a space before an opening bracket in most cases. In certain rare cases, there will not be a space before the first bracket. This is the case when the bracket has one of these in front of it:

  • an opening quotation mark
He said to the group, "(Ahem...) Ladies and gentlemen, welcome!"
  • another opening bracket
Several companies ([ten omitted for brevity –ed.] GMH, Ford, and Mazda) resisted.
  • an ellipsis (...) not followed by a space, or an unspaced em dash (—)
Well...(how could I continue?).
  • a part of a word, or a hyphen, etc., where the brackets surround only a part of a word
We went on the Inter[continental].

There should be a space after a closing bracket, except where another punctuation mark (other than an apostrophe or a hyphen) follows, and except in cases similar to those listed for opening brackets.

If a set of brackets must be put inside another, use the contrasting type (normally square brackets are put inside round brackets [parentheses]).

Try not to put two sets of brackets next to each other. For example, this sentence:


would be better written as either of these:


Serial commasEdit



If the presence of the final serial comma does not affect the clarity of the sentence (which is the case most of the time), there is no Wikipedia consensus on whether it should be used.

The names of railroads and railways do not generally use the serial comma (for example, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad). This is also the standard for law firms (for example, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom).


Colons ( : ) should not have spaces before them:

He attempted it in two years: 1941 and 1943
He attempted it in two years : 1941 and 1943

Colons should have complete sentences before them:

He attempted it in two years: 1941 and 1943
The years he attempted it included: 1941 and 1943


The hyphen (-) is used to form some compound words, e.g. free-electron, well-known, etc. The hyphen is used for compound adjectives, but there is a space before the noun, e.g. run-of-the-mill Wikipedian. It is also used to show when separate words run together, e.g. man-of-war. As well as these uses, the hyphen is also used to split words that will not fit on one line.

The en dash (–) used to show sequences and ranges, e.g. A–Z, 1999–2003. The en dash is also used in compounds when the connection might otherwise be expressed with to, versus, and, or between. (Here the relationship is thought of as parallel, symmetric, equal, oppositional, or at least involving separate or independent elements.) For example, boyfriend–girlfriend problems; the Paris–Montpellier route; a New York – Los Angeles flight or iron–cobalt interactions. In these cases, there are no spaces around the dash if it is separating single words. Spaces are added on both sides of the dash if the thing you are dashing has more than one word, e.g. north pole – south pole.

The em dash (—) is used to link clauses and to show breaks in sentences, e.g. Put frankly, he was an accomplice—in fact, a conspirator—to the murder of these people. e.g. I saw it—the large blue flag. Note that there are no spaces around the dash. However, an en dash with spaces can do the same job: I saw it – the large blue flag.

The minus sign (−) is a different symbol to the hyphen or any other dash.

Other dashes, such as the double-hyphen (--), should not be used unless in plain text documents.

Spaces after the end of a sentenceEdit



Do not use contractions – such as don’t, can’t, won’t, would’ve, they’d, and so on – unless they are in a quotation. Contractions can be difficult for people who do not know English well. Because this is Simple English Wikipedia, each word should be written out in its full form. The contraction o’clock is an exception, as it is mandatory.










An ellipsis is a series of three dots (periods) that shows that words have been left out.

Examples: in the middle of your sentence … or after your comma, … or before one…, or at the end of your sentence…. In your question…? Or even your exclamation…!

Note that square brackets indicate editorial replacements as well as editorial insertions. For example, suppose that a source says, "X contains Y. Under certain circumstances, X may contain Z as well." Then it is correct to quote this work as saying "X contains Y [and sometimes] Z" (without ellipsis).

Question marks and exclamation marksEdit

The question mark is used in the normal English way: any direct question ahould have a question mark. There should never be a space just before the question mark in a sentence. They will normally be used in quotations, since it is rare for an encyclopedia article to pose direct questions.

The question mark and the exclamation point go within quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence.

The exclamation mark should not be used as punctuation, unless it is in a quotation. This is because exclamation marks are an expression of surprise or emotion that is not appropriate for a 'neutral' encyclopedia.

More than one question mark (?? or ???), or exclamation mark (!! or !!!), or some combination of these (such as !?) are never appropriate for use in Wikipedia articles, unless reproducing actual quotes that use them in this way.

Date and timeEdit

Writing preciselyEdit

Avoid words and statements that indicate vague time or will quickly go out of date (unless their meaning is made clear by the rest of the sentence or paragraph). These include:

  • at the moment
  • currently
  • in modern times
  • is now considered
  • lately
  • nowadays
  • presently
  • recently
  • soon
  • to date
  • today
  • years ago

Instead of these, use either:

  • more precise terms ("in January 2005"; "since the start of 2005"; "during the 1990s"); or
  • an as of phrase ("as of August 2008"), which tells readers that the statement was correct as of a certain date, and reminds editors that the statement may need to be updated.

It may not be necessary to follow the above rules on pages that are regularly updated, such as those that cover current events.


Whether the 12- or 24-hour clock should be used to show a time depends on the article. In both cases, hours, minutes and seconds should be separated by colons ("1:38:09 pm" and "13:38:09").

  • 12-hour clock times end with dotted or undotted lower-case a.m. or p.m., or am or pm. Put a non-breaking space between the time and the a.m. or p.m. ("2:30 p.m." or "2:30 pm", not "2:30p.m." or "2:30pm"). To create a non-breaking space, type "&nbsp;", like this: "2:30&nbsp;p.m." Instead of using 12 pm and 12 am, use noon or 12 noon and midnight or 12 midnight.
  • 24-hour clock times do not have a.m., p.m., noon or midnight after the time. If the hour only has one digit, you can choose either to add a zero or not ("08:15" or "8:15"). 00:00 refers to midnight at the start of a date, 12:00 to noon, and 24:00 to midnight at the end of a date.


  • In dates, Wikipedia does not use ordinal suffixes (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th), the word the, or put a comma between the month and year.
Incorrect:    February 14th, 14th February, the 14th of February
Correct: 14 February, February 14
Incorrect: October, 1976
Correct: October 1976
  • Formats: In general, you can use either of the following formats:
    • International format: "14 February" and "14 February 1990" (common in most countries);
    • US format: "February 14" and "February 14, 1990" (mostly used in the US; note the comma between the day and the year).
  • To decide which format is best for an article, use the following guidelines:
    1. Consistent format
      • Dates in the body text and in the references or footnotes of an article should all have the same format.
      • However, if dates are in a different format in titles of books and articles, or in quotations, do not change the format of those dates.
    2. Strong national ties to a topic: An article on a topic with strong ties to a particular English-speaking country should generally use the more common date format for that nation. For example, it may be more suitable to use the "14 February 1990" format in an article about a person from the United Kingdom, and "February 14, 1990" in one about an event that happened in the United States.
    3. Keeping the format already used:
      • If one format is already used in most parts of an article, the whole article should use that format unless there are reasons for changing it because of strong national ties to the topic.
      • If an article is fairly new, the date format chosen by the first editor who makes big changes to the article should be used, unless there is reason to change it because of strong national ties to the topic. Where an article that is not a stub shows no clear sign of which format is used, the first person to insert a date is considered to be the first editor who makes a big change to the article.
  • Wikilinks: It is not necessary to add wikilinks to all dates, like this: "[[25 March]] [[2004]]" or "[[February 10]]"). Only add a wikilink if you think the reader will find useful information at the date-related article you have linked to.
  • Date ranges. When a range of dates involves only numbers, type an en dash between the numbers with no spaces around it ("5–7 January 1979"; "January 5–7, 2002"). When the opening and/or closing dates have internal spaces, type an en dash with a space before and after it ("5 January – 18 February 1979"; "January 5 – February 18, 1979").
  • In rare cases, a night may be indicated using a slash, like this: "the bombing raids of the night of 30/31 May 1942".
  • Yearless dates: Do not use dates without years ("5 March", "March 5") unless the reader can tell what the year is from the rest of the sentence or paragraph. It is all right to use yearless dates when talking about events that happen every year, like this: "January 1 is New Year's Day".
  • ISO 8601 dates: Dates in ISO 8601 format (like "1976-05-13") are not common in English writing and are generally not used in Wikipedia.

Longer time periodsEdit

  • Months are expressed as whole words ("February", not "2"). Abbreviations (short versions) such as Feb are used only where there is very little space, such as in tables and infoboxes. Do not insert of between a month and a year ("April 2000", not "April of 2000").
  • Seasons as dates: Because the seasons are reversed in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres – and parts of the world near the Equator tend to have just wet and dry seasons – it is better to use wording like "in early 1990" and "in the second quarter of 2003" and "around September" rather than refer to seasons ("Summer 1918", "in the spring of 1995"). However, words referring to seasons can be used when there is a logical connection ("the autumn harvest"), and when they refer to a time of the year in certain parts of the world ("the birds usually start moving to higher latitudes in the middle of spring"). In these cases, the season names should be spelled with a lower-case initial ("spring", not "Spring").
  • Years
    • Years are normally expressed in digits ("1988", not "Nineteen eighty-eight"); a comma is not used in four-digit years (not "1,988").
    • Avoid inserting the words the year before the digits ("in 1995", not "in the year 1995"), unless the meaning would otherwise be unclear.
      • Either CE and BCE or AD and BC can be used — spaced, undotted (without periods) and upper case. Choose either the BC–AD or the BCE–CE system, but not both in the same article. AD appears before or after a year ("AD 1066", "1066 AD"); the other abbreviations appear after ("1066 CE", "3700 BCE", "3700 BC"). If an article already uses one style, do not change to the other style unless there is a good reason for the change.
      • Year ranges, like other date ranges, are separated by an en dash (do not use a hyphen or slash ("2005–08" or "2005–2008", not "2005-2008" or "2005/08"). A closing CE–AD year may be written with two digits ("1881–86") or four digits ("1881–1886"); if it is in a different century from that of the opening year then four digits must be used ("1881–1986"). Do not shorten the closing year to a single digit ("1881–6") or type three digits ("1881–886"). A closing BCE–BC year must be given in full ("2590–2550 BCE"). If CE, BCE, AD and/or BC are used after both the opening and closing dates, one space must be typed before and after the en dash ("5 BC – 29 AD").
      • A slash may be used to indicate regular defined yearly periods that are not the same as calendar years ("academic year 2008/2009", "the financial year 1993/4").
      • To indicate around, approximately, or about, type c. (which stands for the Latin word circa) before the year with a non-breaking space in between ("c. 1291"). If the date is not approximate but uncertain, use a question mark instead ("1291?"). (The question mark may mistakenly be thought to be a sign that editors have simply not checked the date.)
  • Decades contain no apostrophe ("the 1980s", not "the 1980's"). The two-digit form is used only where the century is clear ("the '80s" or "the 80s").
  • Centuries and millennia are written using ordinal numbers, without superscripts and without Roman numerals: "the second millennium", "the 19th century", "a 19th-century book".

Grouping of digitsEdit

  • Exception: never group four-digit page numbers or four-digit calendar years' (not sailed in 1,492, though 10,400 BC).
  • In scientific/engineering articles, long strings left of the point may be grouped into triples: 8274527
  • Right of the decimal point: Five or more digits may be grouped into triples separated by spaces: 99.123456.

Style should be consistent throughout a given article.


When a word is pronounced (said) differently from the way it is spelled, a guide to the pronunciation of the word may be set out. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) may be used, with or without a respelled pronunciation.

Scientific styleEdit

  • For science articles, use SI units as the main units of measure, unless there is a good reason not to (for example, Hubble's constant should be written in its most common unit of (km/s)/Mpc instead of its SI unit of s−1). For other articles, Imperial, U.S. customary, or metric units may be used as the main units of measurement. The Wikipedia rule for commas and periods in numbers is, for example, 12,345,678.901 — not the Continental way.
  • In articles about chemicals and chemistry, use the style of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) for chemical names. In article titles, the common name should be used if it is different from the IUPAC name. The common name should then be followed in the article by the IUPAC name.
  • In periodic table groups, use the IUPAC names (these use Arabic numerals, not Roman numerals or letters).
  • For mathematics and mathematical formulas, see en:Wikipedia:Manual of Style (mathematics).

Simple tablesEdit


A line with a blank space in front of it.


line 1
line 2
line 3


line 1

line 2

For a complete guide to more complex tables see Meta:Help:Table.

Usage and spellingEdit

See also: Wikipedia:Spelling


Singular nouns that already end in s can sometimes be made possessive either by adding simply an apostrophe, or an apostrophe with another s, depending on the writer's choice. When a particular word or phrase is much more common without the s after the apostrophe, do not use it, such as with "Achilles' heel" and "Jesus' tears".

  • Abbreviations of Latin words like i.e., e.g., or n.b., or use of the Latin words in full, such as "nota bene" or "vide infra", should only be in an article if it is used in a quotation. Instead, the words should be written in Simple English such as: "in other words", "for example", "such as" or "note".
  • Try to use words that have only one meaning, instead of words that can have many meanings. Remember that the person who is reading the article may not know all the possible meanings of a word.
  • See also Wikipedia:Examples of simpler English for many more usage tips.

Avoid second-person pronounsEdit

Do not write in the second person (you), addressing or referring to the reader. It does not give the tone that an encyclopedia should have. There are many ways to write a sentence without using the word you, for example:

When you move past "Go", you collect $200.
When a player moves past "Go", that player collects $200.
Players passing "Go" collect $200.

This guideline does not apply to quoted text. It should be quoted exactly, even if it uses you.

This guideline also does not apply to pages in the "Wikipedia:" namespace, or Templates, etc. As with all of these guidelines, it is for the main encyclopedia articles themselves.

Avoid first-person pronouns and oneEdit

Wikipedia articles must not be based on one person’s opinions or experiences. Do not use the word I unless it appears in a quotation. For similar reasons, avoid using we and one. A sentence such as "We should note that some critics have argued in favor of it" sounds more personal than a modern encyclopedia should sound.

However, it is sometimes okay to use we or one when referring to an experience that anyone, any reader, would be expected to have. For example, although it is probably best to write, "When most people open their eyes, they see something", it is not wrong to write, "When we open our eyes, we see something". Using we in this case is much better than using the passive voice: "When the eyes are opened, something is seen."

It is also okay to use we in mathematical derivations; for example: "To solve this equation, we need to find the value of A."

National varieties of EnglishEdit

Remember that millions of people have learned a form of English different from yours, including different spellings, grammar, and punctuation. For the Simple English Wikipedia, there is no preference for one variety of English over another; none is more "correct" than any other. However, there are rules that are generally accepted on Wikipedia as to how to choose which variety to use. These guidelines are given in order of importance; those earlier in the list are generally more important than those later in the list:

  • The same spelling system and grammar rules should be used throughout an article.
    • Each article should have the same spelling within it and not a mix of different spellings. Different spellings can be confusing to the reader. For example, do not use center and centre in the same article (except in quotations or to make a comparison).
    • If an article is mostly written in one type of English, try to use that type instead of changing to another. (Sometimes, this can happen quite innocently, so please do not assume too quickly that the editor is trying to cause problems!)
  • If there is a strong relationship to a specific region or dialect, use that dialect.
  • Try to find words that are common to all.
    • In choosing words or expressions (especially article titles) it is a good idea to select ones that do not have many different spellings if there are synonyms that can be chosen.
    • If the spelling appears in an article name, you should make redirect pages for the other spellings, as with Color and Colour.
  • Stay with established spelling
    • If an article has been in a dialect for a long time, and there is no clear reason to change it, leave it alone. Editors should not change the spelling used in an article from one dialect to another unless there is a very good reason to do so (this is rarely the case). Other editors can revert such changes. Fixing any inconsistencies in the spelling is always appreciated.
  • Follow the dialect of the first contributor.
    • If all else fails, consider following the spelling style preferred by the first major contributor (that is, not a stub) to the article.

For pages on the different varieties of English, see Category:Dialects of English.

Finally, if there are disagreements about this, please remember that there are much better and more enjoyable ways to take part in Simple English Wikipedia than fighting about which version of English to use on a page.

Big, little, long, shortEdit

Try to use accurate measurements and specific information wherever possible, instead of simple (but vague) size descriptors like "big", "little" etc.

Okay Better
The wallaby is small. The average male wallaby is 1.6 metres from head to tail.
Prochlorococcus marinus is a tiny cyanobacterium. The cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus marinus is 0.5 to 0.8 micrometres across.
The large herd of dugong stretched a long way down the coast. The dugong swam down the coast in a herd five kilometres long and 300 metres wide.


For general help on how to use images see en:Wikipedia:Picture tutorial
For rules on using images on Simple English Wikipedia see Wikipedia:Image use policy


  • Generally, right-alignment is preferred to left- or center-alignment. It is okay for all the pictures in an article to be on the right side of the page. (Example: en:Twisted Metal 2)
    • Exception: Pictures of people with the head looking to the right can be left-aligned (looking into the text of the article). In such cases it may be appropriate to move the Table of Contents to the right by using {{TOCright}}.
  • If there are very many images in a given article, consider using a gallery. (Example: Valentine's Day)
  • If there are many more images about the article subject on Commons, you can use a template ({{Commons category}} or {{Commons}}) to link to them. See WP:MOSSIS for information on where to put these templates.

Bulleted lists and numbered listsEdit





  • This is a complete sentence.
  • This is also a complete sentence.


  • Part of a sentence
  • Also a sentence fragment

The rules for bulleted lists are the same as for numbered lists. You can start every section with the pound (#) sign and wikipedia will number the section on its own.

Use numbered lists instead of bulleted lists only if you will be talking about the items by number, or if the order of the items is important (for example, you are explaining step 1, step 2, etc. of a process).


There are some rules to follow when talking about identity. Wikipedia’s neutral point of view and no original research policies always should be followed first, but these guidelines may help:

  • If possible, use English words that subjects would use for themselves, to avoid using terms that may be pejorative (insulting). For example: The French people call themselves "les Français", but this term is not used in English, so they are called "the French".
  • Use more specific wording, where possible: People from Ghana (a country in Africa) should be described as "Ghanaian", not just "African".
  • Do not assume that any one term is the best or most accurate.
  • Adjectives used to describe people should not be used as nouns, but as describing nouns. For example: black people, not blacks.
  • Also note: The term Arab refers to people and things of ethnic Arab origin. The term Arabic refers to the Arabic language or writing system (and related concepts). For example, "Not all Arab people write or speak in Arabic, but nearly all are familiar with Arabic numerals."
  • In a direct quotation, use the original text, even if it does not follow the above guidelines.

Gender identityEdit

Main biographical article on a person whose gender might be questioned
Give precedence to self-designation as reported in the most up-to-date reliable sources, even when it doesn't match what is most common in reliable sources. When a person's gender self-designation may come as a surprise to readers, explain it without overemphasis on first occurrence in an article.
Any person whose gender might be questioned should be referred to by the pronouns, possessive adjectives, and gendered nouns (for example "man/woman", "waiter/waitress", "chairman/chairwoman") that reflect that person's latest expressed gender self-identification. This applies in references to any phase of that person's life, unless the subject has indicated a preference otherwise. Avoid confusing constructions (Jane Doe fathered a child) by rewriting (e.g., Jane Doe became a parent). Direct quotations may need to be handled as exceptions (in some cases adjusting the portion used may reduce apparent contradictions, and "[sic]" may be used where necessary). Where there are two names, mention the earlier name of a transgender person if they were notable under that name. In other respects, the MoS does not specify when and how to mention former names, or whether to give the former or current name first.
Referring to the person in other articles
Use context to decide which name or names to provide on a case-by-case basis. Generally, do not go into detail over changes in name or gender unless they are relevant to the text in which the person is mentioned.



Only link the things and ideas that are important to understanding the article. It is not helpful to mark all possible words as hyperlinks. A large number of links can draw attention away from the most important links on a page. Generally, verbs and adjectives should not be linked, since most encyclopedia articles are about nouns - things or ideas, or the names of people or places.

Only link a word the first time it is used in the article, but do not link the same word more than once in an article. If there is an infobox, the word can be linked in the box and also the first time it's in the text.

Check links after they are wikified, to make sure they lead to the correct page. If a link leads to a disambiguation page, it is better to change it to the correct article, if one exists. If there is no article, perhaps you can create one.

When including a wikilink in an article to a page name that starts with a capital letter, there is no need to capitalize the first word of the link. Also, you don't need to use underscores ( _ ). Write the exact name of the page, but as it fits in your sentence. For example, it is not necessary to write it double with a "pipe" like this: [[Unidentified_flying_object|unidentified flying object]]. Wikilinks that begin sentences or are proper nouns should be capitalized as normal.

It is not necessary to make a piped link when adding a suffix - like the letters "s" or "es" for a plural, to a wikilink to a page name in single form when you want plural. Simply place the suffix after the closing pair of brackets, with no space. The suffix will still appear as part of the link, but will not be included in the link's target when actually clicked. For example, the markup [[apple]]s will be in the article text as apples, but it links to the article Apple.

Miscellaneous notesEdit

Keep markup simpleEdit



Formatting issuesEdit


Color codingEdit


If it is necessary to use colors, try to choose colors that will not be confusing to a person with red-green color blindness (the most common type). In general, this means that shades of red and green should not both be used as color codes in the same image. Colors that are okay to use include orange and violet. Viewing the page with Toptal Color Blind Filter can help with deciding if the colors should be changed.


Invisible commentsEdit




For example, the following:


is shown as:

Hello world.



Linking to other websitesEdit

Links to websites outside of Wikipedia can be listed at the end of an article or in the text of an article as an "embedded link".

List of links at the end of an articleEdit

A list of links should have a header named == Other websites ==, followed by a bulleted list of links. It is good if a link on the list summarizes the website's contents, and tells why the website is important to the article. For example:

*[ AIDS treatment news]

(Note that the "pipes" used with wiki-links to separate the text that appears, are not used with links to other websites.) On the article page, the link will look like this:

By adding the code <span class="plainlinks"></span> around the link, it will look cleaner:

Embedded linksEdit


Sample text [].

will show the link as:

Sample text [1].

An embedded link to other websites should have a full citation in the article's References section.

References or NotesEdit

The References or Notes section can have a code that will copy your embedded link (with its link to another website, description and/or quote) into the References or Notes section, and make it a functioning link there. Do not use this code with an embedded link alone. Use it only if you're adding a citation or description of the link.

Here is an example:

The embedded link format would look like this:

<ref name="test1">[ The name of the other website goes here.] More information can go here.</ref>

It will produce this: [1]

Then in the "References" or "Notes" section, the code would look like this:

<references />


  1. The name of the other website goes here. More information can go here.

You can also use the template {{reflist}} to give the same as above, but with a smaller font size. For a two-column layout, use {{reflist|2}}.

Other page sectionsEdit

Related pagesEdit

A list of related pages should have a header named == Related pages ==, followed by a bulleted list of pages. These are pages that are on a similar topic. This section should be at the bottom of the article. For example this page could have a related page link to this one:

Related topics should be grouped by subject area to make them easier to find. Please also give a brief sentence to explain if it is not clear how it is related. For example:


See also: Main page, Recent changes

Related pagesEdit