Wikipedia:WikiProject Introductions

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Welcome to WikiProject Introductions. WikiProject introductions was set up to bring the lead sections of Wikipedia's articles up to the standards of the lead section guidelines.

It was set up on November 8, 2005 by Tox but became inactive. It has since been revived by Pheonix15.

1 Goal
2 Help writing a good introduction
3 Work
4 Members
5 Useful Reading

[edit] Goal

The lead section should be capable of standing alone as a concise overview of the article, summarizing the most important points, explaining why the subject is interesting or notable and briefly describing its notable controversies if there are any. The emphasis given to material in the lead section should roughly reflect its importance to the topic.

Unfortunately, there are many articles with introductions that don't even come close to these guidelines. They may have one line intros or intros that tease the reader, forcing him/her to read on. Some articles don't even have a lead section.

The goal of WikiProject Introductions is to bring these articles up to the standard of the lead section guidelines.

[edit] Help writing a good introduction

A good introduction should introduce the topic, telling readers unfamiliar with the topic exactly what it is. Write a line or two about who or what the subject is (State the obvious). A good intro should also contain a concise overview of the article, summarizing the most important points. That means writing a bit about each of the sections in the article, expanding slightly on the more important points. For longer intros an "Overview" section separated from the lead may be appropriate. The emphasis given to material in the lead section should roughly reflect its importance. Don't write two paragraphs on what a famous actor's first car looked like.

See this sample introduction.

[edit] Work

You can find intros that need work in Category:Wikipedia introduction cleanup . If you see an intro needing work you can tag it with one of these (or you could be bold and do it yourself). You can also become "casually active", Improving lead sections you come across in the course of your other work

If you find an article with an exceptional intro, you may place {{Template:IntroTalk}} on the talk page which displays;

This article has been selected as an article with a good introduction by WikiProject Introductions, an attempt at improving and standardizing the introductions to all Wikipedia articles. Please take care when editing the introduction to this article.