Wikipedia:How to structure the content
Part of the Style and How-to Series
This article explains how to structure the content of articles, with the purpose of ensuring completeness and improving readability. It is based on the principle that similar articles (e.g. on chemical elements) should be structured in a similar fashion.
In general, the structure of an article should follow the following principles:
- Follow the chronological order of events when possible. People remembers pieces of information better when they are connected, and the chronological order is universally understood. For each event, explain "who did what when why", with possible explanations on special challenges, techniques, resources or consequences.
- If the chronological order is not adequate, use the logical order. Make sure that all the steps in the logic are stated in the correct order. To test this, pretend to be ignorant, and challenge every steps.
- Each paragraph should convey only one main idea. Connect them together by paragraph leaders (e.g. "Because of this unexpected result, ...")
The following sections describe proposed structure for different types of articles, including proposed headings.
Biographies
- Summary
- Environment: brief description of where and when she lived
- Achievements: in chronological order, with explanations on special challenges, techniques, resources or consequences.
- After her life
Scientific topics
Scientific discoveries, theories, instruments, ...:
- Summary
- Origin: what existed before it; limitations; perception of the challenges or opportunities; critical event that started it
- Discovery, Theory,...: describe the progress that was made, and how it overcame the previous limitations and met the challenge or opportunity.
- Applications: what's the impact on everyday life
- Later evolutions: describe the limitations, challenges, opportunities of the discovery, theory, ...