Editing Encyclopedia:Manual of Style (section)

===Section organization===
{{Shortcut|MOS:SO}}
{{Main|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout}}

An article's content should begin with an introductory {{em|lead<!-- Do not add the word "lede" here. See footnotes at WP:LEAD for details. --> section}}{{snd}}a concise summary of the article{{snd}}which is never divided into sections {{crossref|pw=y|(see [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section]])}}. The remainder of the article is typically divided into [[Help:Section|sections]].

[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Infoboxes|Infoboxes]], images, and related content in the lead section must be right-aligned.

Certain standardized [[Help:Template|templates]] and [[Help:Wikitext|wikicode]] that are not sections go at the very top of the article, before the content of the lead section, and in the following order:
*A [[Wikipedia:Short description|short description]], with the {{tlx|Short description}} template
*A [[Wikipedia:Hatnote|disambiguation hatnote]], most of the time with the {{tlx|Hatnote}} template {{crossref|pw=y|(see also {{section link|Wikipedia:Hatnote#Hatnote templates}})}}
*No-output templates that indicate the article's established date format and English-language variety, if any (e.g., {{tlx|Use dmy dates}}, {{tlx|Use Canadian English}})
*Banner-type maintenance templates, [[Wikipedia:Template index/Disputes|Dispute]] and [[Wikipedia:Template index/Cleanup|Cleanup templates]] for article-wide issues that have been flagged (otherwise used at the top of a specific section, after any sectional hatnote such as {{tlx|main}})
*An [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Infoboxes|infobox]], which is optional (except in special cases like {{tlx|Taxobox}} and {{tlx|Chembox}}, or a variant thereof, at applicable articles); usually also includes the first image
*An introductory image, when an infobox is not used, or an additional image is desired for the lead section (for unusually long leads, a second image can be placed midway through the lead text)

In the [[Vector 2022]] skin, the [[Wikipedia:Table of contents|table of contents]] is separate from the article content. In some older skins, a navigable table of contents appears automatically just after the lead if an article has at least four section headings.

If the topic of a section is covered in more detail in a dedicated article {{crossref|pw=y|(see [[Wikipedia:Summary style]])}}, insert {{tlx|main|{{var|Article name}}}} or {{tlx|further|{{var|Article name}}}} immediately under the section heading.

As explained in detail in {{slink|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout|Standard appendices and footers}}, several kinds of material (mostly optional) may appear after the main body of the article, in the following order:
*Books or other works created by the subject of the article, under a section heading "Works", "Publications", "Discography", "Filmography", etc. as appropriate (avoid "Bibliography", confusable with reference citations)
*Internal links to related English Wikipedia articles, with section heading "See also"
*Notes and references, with a section heading "Notes" or "References" (usually the latter), or a separate section for each in this order {{crossref|pw=y|(see [[Wikipedia:Citing sources]])}}; avoid "Bibliography", confusable with the subject's works
*Relevant books, articles, or other publications that have not been used as sources; use the section heading "Further reading"; be highly selective, as [[Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia is not a directory|Wikipedia is not a bibliographic directory]]
*Relevant [[Wikipedia:External links|and appropriate]] websites that have not been used as sources and do not appear in the earlier appendices, using the heading "External links", which may be made a subsection of "Further reading" (or such links can be integrated directly into the "Further reading" list instead); [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout#Links to sister projects|link templates for sister-project content]] also usually go at the top of this section when it is present (otherwise in the last section on the page)
*The following final items never take section headings:
**Internal links organized into [[Wikipedia:Categories,_lists,_and_navigation_templates#Navigation_templates|navigational boxes]]
**[[Wikipedia:Authority control|Authority control]] metadata, if needed, using {{tlx|Authority control}} (distinguishes uses of the same name for two subjects, or multiple names for one subject)
**[[Wikipedia:Categorization|Categories]], which should be the very last material in the article's source code if there are no stub templates
**[[Wikipedia:Stub sorting|Stub templates]], if needed, which should follow the categories

[[Wikipedia:Stand-alone lists|Stand-alone list articles]] have some additional layout considerations.