Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lists: Difference between revisions

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"WP:LIST" redirects here; for Wikipedia's mailing lists, see Wikipedia:Mailing lists; for the WikiProject, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Lists; and for technical information on how to format lists, see Help:List.

This page documents an English Wikipedia style guideline.

Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcut

[[:|WP:L
WP:LIST
WP:LISTS]]

Purpose of lists

Lists have three main purposes:

Information: The list may be a valuable information source. This is particularly the case for a structured list. Examples would include lists organized chronologically, grouped by theme, or annotated lists.
Navigation: Lists can be used as a table of contents, or if the user is browsing without a specific research goal in mind, they would likely use the See also lists. If the user has a specific research goal in mind, and there is only one or two words that are used to describe the research topic, and they know exactly how to spell the word, they would probably use the search engine box. If the user has some general idea of what they are looking for but does not know the specific terminology, they would tend to use the lists of related topics (also called list of links to related articles).
Development: Some lists are useful for Wikipedia development purposes. The lists of related topics give an indication of the state of Wikipedia, the articles that have been written, and the articles that have yet to be written. However, as Wikipedia is optimized for readers over editors, any lists which exist primarily for development or maintenance purposes (such as a list of red link articles needed) should be in project or user space not the main space, if the list is not otherwise encyclopedic.

Like categories, lists can be used for keeping track of changes in the listed pages, using the Related Changes feature. Unlike a category, a list also allows detection of deletion of pages from it, and, more generally, a history of its contents is available. Lists and categories have different properties, and having both a list and a similar category is not necessarily redundant.

List naming and list contents

The contents of a list should be obvious. If the title does not already clarify what the list includes, then the list's lead section should do so. Don't leave editors guessing what can be added to the list.

Review Wikipedia:Lists (stand-alone lists) for further clarification. (See also WP:NOT#DIR). For technical advice on how to format lists, see Help:List.

List title

For a stand-alone list the list's title is the page name. For an embedded list, the list's title is usually a section title (for instance Latin Empire#Latin Emperors of Constantinople, 1204–1261), but it can be shorter, see for example Streamlined style or horizontal style below.

A list's title should be as clear and unambiguous as possible, as it reports the contents of the list. But sometimes this is not possible, as when the name of the subject is itself misleading or ambiguous. In such a case, the lead section should remedy this problem (see below).

For a navigational template used as an embedded list (often called "series box", see for example {{IsaacNewtonSegments}}, {{Princess Royal}},...):

Make the title section stand out with an appropriate background color (see {{Navbox}}).
Make the title link to the "main" or summary style article of the series.

Lead section

Stand-alone lists are a type of article. All articles should include a lead section, and stand-alone lists are no exception. Even when the meaning of the page's title seems obvious, a lead section should be provided which briefly and clearly describes the list, as well as the criteria for inclusion in the list.

If the meaning of the list's title seems obvious, e.g. List of dog breeds, the article may open with a simple statement using wikilinks, e.g. "This is a list of dog breeds." If the list's title does not seem obvious, e.g. List of scholastic philosophers, the lead section should clarify the meaning of the title, e.g. "This is a list of philosophers working in the Christian tradition in Western Europe during the medieval period. See also scholasticism."

However short or schematic a list description, Wikipedia:Neutral point of view applies, including:

It should not be asserted that the most popular view or some sort of intermediate view among the different views is the correct one.

Non-obvious characteristics of the list, for instance regarding the list structure, should also be explained in the lead section. For example, the lead section of the list enclosed in {{Princess Royal}} explains "dates they were Princess Royal in brackets".

Embedded lists don't always have a lead section, but should in cases where the title is ambiguous or when the list has non-obvious characteristics.

Organization

Although lists may be organized in different ways, they must always be organized. The most basic form of organization is alphabetical or numerical (such as List of minor Star Wars characters), though if items have specific dates a chronological format is sometimes preferable (List of Belarusian Prime Ministers). When using a more complex form of organization, (by origin, by use, by type, etc.), the criteria for categorization must be clear and consistent. Just as a reader or editor could easily assume that the headings A, B, C would be followed by D (rather than 1903), more complex systems should be just as explicit. If a list of Australians in international prisons contains the headings Argentina and Cambodia (organization by country), it would be inappropriate for an editor to add the heading Drug trafficking (organization by offense). If a list entry logically belongs in two or more categories (e.g., an Australian in an Argentine prison for drug trafficking), this suggests that the list categorization might be flawed, and should be re-examined.

Lists should never contain Unsorted or Miscellaneous headings, as all items worthy of inclusion in the list can be sorted by some criteria, although it is entirely possible that the formatting of the list would need to be revamped to include all appropriate items. Not-yet-sorted items may be included on the list's talk page while their categorization is determined.

Lists content

The principle of Neutral Point of View requires that we describe competing views without endorsing any one in particular. Wikipedia:No original research applies equally to a list of like things as it does for the content article on each individual thing listed.

The verifiability policy states that "articles should contain only material that has been published by reputable sources. Editors should therefore provide references." The responsibility for providing a citation rests "with the editors who have made an edit or wish an edit to remain." Inclusion on the list should be based on what reliable sources say, not on what the editor interprets the source to be saying. In the case of edits lacking citations, according to Wikipedia:Verifiability:

Any edit lacking a source may be removed, but some editors may object if you remove material without giving people a chance to provide references. If you want to request a source for an unsourced statement, a good idea is to move it to the talk page. Alternatively, you may tag the sentence by adding the {{fact}} template, or tag the article by adding {{not verified}} or {{unsourced}}. Leave an invisible HTML comment, a note on the talk page, or an edit summary explaining what you have done.

However, in lists that involve living persons, the following from the Biographies of living persons policy applies:

Be very firm about high quality references, particularly about details of personal lives. Unsourced or poorly sourced negative material about living persons should be removed immediately from both the article and the talk page. These principles also apply to biographical material about living persons in other articles.

Types of lists

A list can stand alone as a self contained page, or it can be embedded in an article.

Stand-alone lists, or "lists of links" are articles consisting of a list of links to articles in a particular subject area, such as people or places or a timeline of events. The titles of these articles always begin with List of or Timeline of. The title and bullet style or vertical style is common for this type of list. These Wikipedia articles follow the Wikipedia:Lists (stand-alone lists).
Embedded lists are either included in the article or appended to the end of articles. They present information or aid in navigation to related articles. Some examples include: See also lists, Compare lists, Related topics lists, and Reference lists (also called External links). To see how to include a list in an article, go to Wikipedia:Lists (embedded lists)

Boilerplate text

Before or after an incomplete list, insert the following text which will be automatically substituted:

{{expand list}}

which produces:

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 The contents of a list should be obvious. If the title does not already clarify what the list includes, then the list's [[Wikipedia:lead section|lead section]] should do so.  Don't leave editors guessing what can be added to the list.
+Review [[Wikipedia:Lists (stand-alone lists)]] for further clarification. (See also [[WP:NOT#DIR]]).
 For technical advice on how to format lists, see [[Help:List]].
@@ Line 47: / Line 48: @@
 Lists should never contain '''Unsorted''' or '''Miscellaneous''' headings, as all items worthy of inclusion in the list can be sorted by ''some'' criteria, although it is entirely possible that the formatting of the list would need to be revamped to include all appropriate items. Not-yet-sorted items may be included on the list's talk page while their categorization is determined.
-===Criteria for inclusion in lists ===
-Lists should ''always'' include unambiguous statements of membership criteria based on definitions made by reputable sources. This is particularly important in the case of difficult or contentious topics. Beware of those cases in which the definitions themselves are disputed. Many lists on Wikipedia have been created without any membership criteria, and editors are left to guess about what or who should be included only from the name of the list.  Even if it might "seem obvious" what qualifies for membership in a list, ''explicit is better than implicit.''
-Some lists are not appropriate, either because it's impossible to specify clear, [[WP:NPOV|neutral point-of-view]] inclusion criteria, or for other reasons; see [[Wikipedia:Overcategorization]].
-Review [[Wikipedia:Lists (stand-alone lists)]] for further clarification. (See also [[WP:NOT#DIR]]).
 === Lists content ===