Wikipedia

User:Mgkrupa/Wikipedia Info and Help

< User:Mgkrupa
See also: User:Mgkrupa/Code and Symbols
See also: User:Mgkrupa/Bibliography
See also: Category:Wikipedia how-to

Wikipedia policy

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Reverting/Content removal

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Main pages: Wikipedia:Content removal, WP:INAPPROPRIATE, and Wikipedia:Essay directory § Deletion of content
Main pages: Wikipedia:Revert only when necessary, Wikipedia:Reverting, and Help:Reverting
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When and when not to add links.

MOS:LINK: "Do not unnecessarily make a reader chase links: if a highly technical term can be simply explained with very few words, do so."
WP:NOTTEXTBOOK: "While wikilinks should be provided for advanced terms and concepts in that field, articles should be written on the assumption that the reader will not or cannot follow these links, instead attempting to infer their meaning from the text."
MOS:NOFORCELINK: "Do use a link wherever appropriate, but as far as possible do not force a reader to use that link to understand the sentence. The text needs to make sense to readers who cannot follow links. Users may print articles or read offline, and Wikipedia content may be encountered in republished form, often without links."
MOS:Internal links: "Articles on technical subjects might demand a higher density of links than general-interest articles, because they are likely to contain more technical terms that general dictionaries are unlikely to explain in context."
MOS:LEADLINK: "In technical articles that use uncommon terms, a higher-than-usual link density in the lead section may be necessary. In such cases, try to provide an informal explanation in the lead, avoiding using too many technical terms until later in the article"
MOS:REPEATLINK: "Generally, a link should appear only once in an article, but if helpful for readers, a link may be repeated in infoboxes, tables, image captions, footnotes, hatnotes, and at the first occurrence after the lead."
"Duplicate links in an article can be found using the duplinks-alt sidebar tool."
MOS:LINK: "Do not be afraid to create links to potential articles that do not yet exist (see § Red links)." See also MOS:REDLINKS

Wikipedia manual of style

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See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style and Wikipedia:Simplified Manual of Style
See also: Wikipedia:Template index/Cleanup

Technical

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See also: WP:TECHNICAL, WP:NOTTEXTBOOK, and MOS:JARGON
  1. WP:OBVIOUS: "State facts that may be obvious to you, but are not necessarily obvious to the reader."
  2. WP:NOTTEXTBOOK: "Academic language. Texts should be written for everyday readers, not just for academics. [...] Academic language in the text should be explained in lay terms."
  3. MOS:JARGON:
    • "Avoid excessive wikilinking (linking within Wikipedia) as a substitute for parenthetic explanations such as the one in this sentence."
    • "When the notions named by jargon are too complex to explain concisely in a few parenthetical words, write one level down. For example, consider adding a brief background section with {{main}} tags pointing to the full treatment article(s) of the prerequisite notions; this approach is practical only when the prerequisite concepts are central to the exposition of the article's main topic and when such prerequisites are not too numerous."

Related templates

See also: Category:Coherency templates
See also: Category:Inline cleanup templates

Assumptions about the reader

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  1. It is safe to assume that a reader is familiar with the subjects of arithmetic, algebra, geometry"
    • For articles that are on these subjects, or on simpler subjects, it can be assumed that the reader is not familiar with the aforementioned subjects."
    • "Any topics outside of that scope or more advanced than them a reader can be assumed to be ignorant of."
  2. the reader "may have heard of calculus, but are likely unfamiliar with it."
  3. "'Write one level down": "consider the typical level where the topic is studied (for example, secondary, undergraduate, or postgraduate) and write the article for readers who are at the previous level.
    • Thus articles on undergraduate topics can be aimed at a reader with a secondary school background, and articles on postgraduate topics can be aimed at readers with some undergraduate background.
    • Writing one level down also supports our goal to provide a tertiary source on the topic, which readers can use before they begin to read other sources about it."
    • The lead section should be particularly understandable, but the advice to write one level down can be applied to the entire article, increasing the overall accessibility.


Writing guidelines

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Main page: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Mathematics § Writing style in mathematics
  1. "authors should generally strike a balance between bare lists of facts and formulae, and relying too much on addressing the reader directly and referring to "we""

Layout/Organization

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Main page: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout
See also: Wikipedia:Writing better articles § Structure of the article

Lead of article

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Main pages: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Mathematics § Article introduction
See also: Wikipedia:Make technical articles understandable
See also: Wikipedia:Writing better articles § Lead section

See MOS:LEADELEMENTS for the structure/order of the lead.

  • In particular, {{Short description}} is always at the very top of the article's source code.
Lead of article
  2. "The lead should stand on its own as a concise overview of the article's topic."
  3. "It [the lead] should identify the topic, establish context, explain why the topic is notable, and summarize the most important points, including any prominent controversies."
  4. WP:BETTER/GRAF1 (i.e. Opening Paragraph):"Normally, the opening paragraph summarizes the most important points of the article. It should clearly explain the subject so that the reader is prepared for the greater level of detail that follows."
  5. "Editors should avoid lengthy paragraphs and overly specific descriptions – greater detail is saved for the body of the article."
  6. "In general, introduce useful abbreviations, but avoid difficult-to-understand terminology and symbols. Mathematical equations and formulas should be avoided when they conflict with the goal of making the lead section accessible to as broad an audience as possible. Where uncommon terms are essential, they should be placed in context, linked and briefly defined."
  1. "the lead contains a quick summary of the topic's most important points, and each major subtopic is detailed in its own section of the article."
  2. "A fuller treatment of any major subtopic should go in a separate article of its own."

"The lead section should include, when appropriate:

  • Historical motivation, including names and dates, especially if the article does not have a "History" section. The origin of the subject's name should be explained if it is not self-evident.
  • An informal introduction to the topic, without rigor, suitable for a general audience. The appropriate audience for the overview will vary by article, but it should be as basic as reasonable. The informal introduction should clearly state that it is informal, and that it is only stated to introduce the formal approach. Include a physical or geometric analogy or diagram if it can help introduce the topic.
  • Motivation or applications, which can illuminate the use of the topic and its connections to other areas of mathematics or other non-mathematical subjects."


First/Lead sentence

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Lead sentence of article
Main pages: MOS:LEADSENTENCE and Wikipedia:Summary style
See also: Wikipedia:Lead section TT first sentence content
See also: Wikipedia:Writing better articles § First sentence content
See also: Wikipedia:Writing better articles § First sentence format
  1. "The first sentence should tell the nonspecialist reader what, or who, the subject is. It should be in plain English."
  2. "The lead should, as much as possible, be accessible to a general reader, so specialized terminology and symbols should be avoided."
  3. "the lead sentence should include the article title [...] in bold along with any alternate names, also in bold."
  4. "The lead sentence should state that the article is about a topic in mathematics"
  5. "The lead sentence should informally define or describe the subject."
  6. "Be wary of cluttering the first sentence with a long parenthesis containing alternative spellings, pronunciations, etc., which can make the sentence difficult to actually read; this information can be placed elsewhere."
  7. "If its subject is definable, then the first sentence should give a concise definition: where possible, one that puts the article in context for the nonspecialist. Similarly, if the title is a specialized term, provide the context as early as possible."

Related templates

See also: Category:Introduction cleanup maintenance templates

Math guidelines

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Proofs

Main page: Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/Proofs

Notation, definitions, and symbols

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See also: Help:Displaying a formula, MOS:MATH § Mathematical conventions, and Wikipedia:WikiProject Logic/Standards for notation

Writing sentences'

  1. "generalization. [...] can be put under a "Generalizations" section"
  2. "Articles should be as accessible as possible to readers not already familiar with the subject matter."
  3. "sentences should not begin with a symbol."
  4. "Add a concrete example"
  5. Explain formulae in English
  6. "avoid [...] abbreviations such as wrt (with respect to), wlog (without loss of generality), and iff (if and only if)"
    • "avoid [...] quantifier symbols ∀ and ∃ instead of for all and there exists."
  7. "avoid contentless clichés as Note that, It should be noted that, It must be mentioned that, It must be emphasized that, Consider that, and We see that."
  8. MOS:MATH#TONE: "Avoid, as far as possible, useless phrases such as: "The reader might not find what you write obvious. Instead, try to hint why something must hold, such as:
    • It follows directly from this definition that ...
    • By a straightforward, if lengthy, algebraic calculation, ..."
  9. MOS:PRESUME: "phrases such as of course, naturally, obviously, clearly, and actually make presumptions about readers' knowledge"


Italics/Boldface/Emphasis

Main pages: MOS:ITALICS and MOS:BOLD
  • MOS:EMPHASIS - "Other, non-emphasis, uses of italics on Wikipedia should use ''...'' markup, not <em> or {{em}} markup." Footnote reads: "In particular, words as words, including introduced terms of art, and foreign words and phrases, use normal typographic italics (''...'' or <i>...</i> markup, when necessary). Do not use emphasis markup as an "escape" for italic markup. If you have a situation that would result in something like ''War and Peace'''s plot (in which the '' followed by a possessive apostrophe is apt to be parsed as turning on boldfacing instead of ending the italics), you can rewrite to avoid the possessive, or use a proper escape in various forms, including: ''War and Peace''<nowiki />'s plot, <i>War and Peace</i>'s plot, or ''War and Peace''{{'}}s plot."

Definitions/Notation

  1. "When in doubt, articles should define the notation they use."
  2. "An article about a mathematical object should provide an exact definition of the object, perhaps in a "Definition" section after section(s) of motivation."
    • "When the topic is a theorem, the article should provide a precise statement of the theorem."
    • "it may be better to separate the statement into its own section"
  3. Definition section should come after motivation section(s).
  4. "definitions should be highlighted with words such as "is defined by" in the text."
  5. "In definitions, the symbol "=" is preferred over "≡" or ":="."
  6. "If an article requires extensive notation, consider introducing the notation as a bulleted list or separating it into a "Notation" section."
  7. "When defining a term, do not use the phrase "if and only if""
    • "If it is reasonable to do so, rephrase the sentence to avoid the use of the word "if" entirely. For example, An even function is a function f such that f(−x) = f(x) for all x.      instead of      A function f is even if f(−x) = f(x) for all x."
  8. "Whenever a variable or other symbol is defined by a formula, make sure to say this is a definition introducing a notation, not an equation involving a previously known object."
    • Ex: "Write: Multiplying M by the vector u defined by u = v − v0, ... and do not write Multiplying M by u = v − v0, ..."
  9. MOS:NOITALIC: "A technical or other jargon term being introduced is often being mentioned as a word rather than (or in addition to) playing its normal grammatical role; if so, it should be italicized or quoted, usually the former."
  10. MOS:NOBOLD: "Avoid using boldface for introducing new terms. Instead, italics are preferred (see § Words as words)."

Displaying formulas and symbols

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Main pages: Wikipedia:Rendering math, Help:Displaying a formula, and MOS:MATH § Typesetting of mathematical formulae

Symbols

  1. the English words "for all", "exists", and "in" should be preferred to the corresponding symbols ∀, ∃, and ∈.
  2. "In definitions, the symbol "=" is preferred over "≡" or ":="."
  3. "Sets are usually written in upper case italic"
  4. "Italicize lower-case Greek letters when they are variables or constants (in line with the general advice to italicize variables):"
  5. "do not italicize capital Greek letters"
  6. "An article may use either boldface type or blackboard bold for objects traditionally printed in boldface. As with all such choices, the article should be consistent with itself, and editors should not change articles from one choice of typeface to another except for consistency. Again, when there is dispute, follow MOS:STYLERET."
  7. "it is ideal to use < when writing the less-than sign"


LaTeX/HTML

  1. "For a formula on its own line the preferred formatting is the LaTeX markup,
    • with a possible exception for simple strings of Latin letters, digits, common punctuation marks, and arithmetical operators."
  2. "section headings, which should use HTML only"
    • Can use either LaTeX or HTML for formulas.
  3. "If an inline formula needs to be typeset in LaTeX, often better formatting can be achieved with the \textstyle LaTeX command. By default, LaTeX code is rendered as if it were a displayed equation (not inline), and this can frequently be too big. For example, the formula <math>\sum_{n=1}^\infty 1/n^2 = \pi^2/6</math>, which displays as  , is too large to be used inline. \textstyle generates a smaller summation sign and moves the limits on the sum to the right side of the summation sign. The code for this is <math>\textstyle\sum_{n=1}^\infty 1/n^2 = \pi^2/6</math>, and it renders as the much more aesthetic  . However, the default font for \textstyle is larger than the surrounding text on many browsers."
  4. "an article should be internally consistent. In an already consistent article, editors should refrain from changing one style to another."
  5. "use the {{math}} template to display your HTML formula in serif [font] as well. Doing so will also ensure that the text within a formula will not line-wrap"

Accessibility

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Main page: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility
Accessibility and Unicode characters

This is about changing LaTeX code (i.e. <math></math>) into Unicode. This is discouraged in Wikipedia for WP:ACCESSIBILITY reasons. Specifically, some readers may be using browsers that either don't render certain Unicode (such as arrows → or ∈ ) or don't render it correctly. In addition, some Unicode characters might not be interpreted correctly by some screen readers. Here are some relevant quotes:

Other issues with Unicode characters are mentioned here: Wikipedia:Rendering math.

Here are some guidelines from Help:Displaying a formula#LaTeX vs. math template:

The disadvantages of {{math}} are the following: not all formulas can be displayed. While it is possible to render a complicated formula with {{math}}, it is often poorly rendered. Except for the most common ones, the rendering of non-alphanumeric Unicode symbols is often very poor and may depend on the browser configuration (misalignment, wrong size, ...). The spaces inside formulas are not managed automatically, and thus need some expertise for being rendered correctly. Except for short formulas, there are much more characters to type for entering a formula, and the source is more difficult to read.

Therefore, the common practice of most members of WikiProject mathematics is the following:

  • Use of {{mvar}} and {{math}} for isolated variables and very simple inline formulas
  • Use of LaTeX for displayed formulas and more complicated inline formulas
  • Use of LaTeX for formulas involving symbols that are not regularly rendered in Unicode (see MOS:BBB)
  • Avoid formulas in section headings, and when this is a problem, use raw HTML (see Finite field for an example)

And some more guidelines

  • MOS:FORMULA - "For a formula on its own line the preferred formatting is the LaTeX markup, with a possible exception for simple strings of Latin letters, digits, common punctuation marks, and arithmetical operators."
  • MOS:FORMULA - "Even for simple formulae the LaTeX markup might be preferred if required for uniformity within an article. For readability, it is also strongly preferred not to mix HTML and LaTeX markup in the same expression."
  • MOS:MATH#PUNC - "If the formula is written in LaTeX, that is, surrounded by the <math> and </math> tags, then the punctuation should also be inside the tags, because otherwise the punctuation could wrap to a new line if the formula is at the edge of the browser window."
  • MOS:NOTED - "avoid contentless clichés as Note that, It should be noted that, It must be mentioned that, It must be emphasized that, Consider that, and We see that." "Avoid, as far as possible, useless phrases such as: It is easily seen that ..., Clearly ..., Obviously ..."
  • MOS:MATH#TONE - "Articles should avoid common blackboard abbreviations such as wrt (with respect to), wlog (without loss of generality), and iff (if and only if), as well as quantifier symbols ∀ and ∃ instead of for all and there exists." Also avoid abbreviations like "iff", "i.e.", "e.g.", "resp." (spell them out instead: "if and only if", "that is", "for example", "respectively").

Wikipedia help

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See also section

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Main page: MOS:SEEALSO
  1. "Editors should provide a brief annotation when a link's relevance is not immediately apparent, when the meaning of the term may not be generally known, or when the term is ambiguous."
  2. "The links in the "See also" section should be relevant, should reflect the links that would be present in a comprehensive article on the topic, and should be limited to a reasonable number."
  3. "As a general rule, the "See also" section should not repeat links that appear in the article's body. (The community has rejected past proposals to do away with this "rule". See, for example, this RfC.)"
  4. "Consider using {{Columns-list}} or {{Div col}} if the list is lengthy."
  5. "The list should be sorted either logically (for example, by subject matter), chronologically, or alphabetically."
  6. "{{Wikipedia books}} links are usually placed in this section."

References

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Main pages: Wikipedia:Citing sources and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Mathematics § Including literature and references
  • Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Perennial sources − "This is a non-exhaustive list of sources whose reliability and use on Wikipedia are frequently discussed. This list summarizes prior consensus and consolidates links to the most in-depth and recent discussions from the reliable sources noticeboard and elsewhere on Wikipedia."
  • For notation used in the article, "Articles should contain some references that support the given usage."

Footnotes

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Main pages: Help:Footnotes and Help:Shortened footnotes § Explanatory notes
{{Notelist}} and {{efn}}
  • {{notelist}} can be used in place of {{reflist|group=note}}.
  • {{efn}} can be used in place of <ref group=note>.
Sentence.{{efn|Footnote 1}} Sentence.{{efn|Footnote 2}} 
Sentence.{{efn|Footnote 3}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

Images/Galleries

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Main pages: Help:Pictures and Wikipedia:Extended image syntax
See also: Wikipedia:Extended image syntax § Examples
Galleries
Main pages: Template:Gallery, Help:Gallery tag, WP:GALLERY, and Help:Pictures § Galleries
<gallery>
File:Wiki.png|Caption 1
File:Wiki.png|Caption 2
</gallery>
Manual of Style for Images
Main page: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Images

Tools for finding images/videos

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Misc

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