# Wikipedia Like Writing > Helps an AI assistant write, structure, and edit articles in the encyclopedic style of Wikipedia — neutral tone, lead section, summary style, inline citations, no peacock/weasel/persuasive language, and the stub→FA quality ladder. Also covers Simple English Wikipedia rules. MADE BY SQERSTERS - Skill: `bouclem/wikipedia-like-writing` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add bouclem/wikipedia-like-writing` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/bouclem/wikipedia-like-writing/raw - Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS) - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - License: MIT - Author: bouclem (https://skillmd.com/u/bouclem) - Updated: 2026-09-08 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/bouclem/wikipedia-like-writing --- # Wikipedia-like Writing ## Purpose This skill teaches an AI assistant how to write and edit articles in the style of Wikipedia. It is **not** a skill for writing actual Wikipedia articles — Wikipedia explicitly forbids LLMs from generating article content. It is for writing **encyclopedia-style content elsewhere** (a Miraheze wiki, a personal knowledge base, a project wiki, a fan wiki, internal docs) using the conventions Wikipedia has refined over two decades. When this skill is active, the assistant must: - Write in a **formal, impersonal, neutral** tone. - Build articles around the **lead → body → appendices** structure. - Treat every claim as if it needed an **inline citation** to a reliable source. - Refuse purple prose, hype, hedging, and rhetorical questions. --- ## Core Rule Before writing, ask in this order: 1. **What is the topic?** Is it a thing, a person, a concept, a fictional entity, an event? 2. **Is it notable?** Is there enough material from independent, reliable sources to justify a standalone article? If not, fold it into a parent topic. 3. **Who is the reader?** A non-specialist who arrived from a random link. The article must make sense to them. 4. **What quality tier am I targeting?** Stub, Start, C, B, Good, A, or Featured (see the quality ladder below). If any of these is unclear, ask the user before writing. --- ## Article Structure Every article (above stub size) follows this layout: ``` 1. Lead section (no heading — appears above the first ==Heading==) 2. Body (level-2 sections, level-3 subsections) 3. Standard appendices (in this exact order): - Works (for biographies/creators) - See also (related internal links) - Notes / References (citations, footnotes) - Further reading (recommended sources NOT cited) - External links (relevant websites NOT cited) ``` ### Lead section rules - **Stands alone** as a complete summary of the topic. - **No more than ~400 words.** - First sentence: short, declarative. Answers *"What is the subject?"* and *"Why is it notable?"* - The article title appears in **bold** the first time it appears (and only the first time). - Italicise the title if it would normally be italicised (books, films, ships, paintings). - Avoid links inside the bolded title. Link surrounding words instead. - Cover every major section of the body in proportion to its importance. - The lead **summarises the body, never introduces new material.** Body first, lead second. ### First-sentence patterns Good: > **Amalie Emmy Noether** (23 March 1882 – 14 April 1935) was a German mathematician known for her contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics. > An **electron** is a subatomic particle that carries a negative electric charge. Bad: - *"Computer architecture refers to the theory behind…"* — uses-vs-mentions error. The article is about the theory, not the words. - *"A nuchal cord is when the umbilical cord becomes wrapped around the fetus's neck."* — `is when` is vague. Use `is a condition in which…`. --- ## Tone The tone is **formal, impersonal, dispassionate.** Always. ### Forbidden | Category | Examples | |---|---| | **First-person** | I, me, we, us, our | | **Second-person** | you, your | | **Peacock terms** | one of the most important, prestigious, influential, significant | | **Weasel words** | some say, many believe, it is widely regarded as, critics say | | **Persuasive style** | appeals to emotion, calls to action, advocacy | | **News style** | bombast, pull quotes, headlinese, recentism | | **Colloquial / poetic** | hyperbole, jargon (without explanation), unnecessary acronyms, contractions | | **Punctuation** | exclamation marks, rhetorical questions (both only inside direct quotations) | ### Style examples | News style | Persuasive style | Encyclopedic style | |---|---|---| | At a press conference on Monday evening, Sue Speaker announced that the investigation would officially be closed the next day. | The recently closed investigation demonstrates again why everyone should support restrictions on social media… | The investigation was closed. | ### Show, don't tell Replace *"The Yankees are one of the greatest baseball teams in history"* with *"The New York Yankees have won 27 World Series championships — almost three times as many as any other team."* The facts carry the weight. Adjectives don't. --- ## Two compatible style frames Wikipedia articles tend to use one of two structures (often both): 1. **Summary style** — Broad topic with subsections that summarise sub-articles. Good for large, hierarchical subjects (`Association football`, `World War II`). 2. **Inverted pyramid** — Most important info first, decreasing in importance. Good for short biographies, single events, stub articles. The lead is **always** inverted-pyramid. The body may follow either. --- ## Citations and verifiability Every substantive statement needs a source. - **Inline citations** required for: direct quotations, statistics, contentious claims about living people, and anything likely to be challenged. - **Reliable sources**: books from reputable publishers, peer-reviewed journals, respected newspapers, sources with a fact-checking reputation. - **Not reliable**: blogs, social media, user-generated content, personal websites, and Wikipedia/the wiki itself. - **Primary sources** allowed sparingly, only for basic facts. They do not establish notability. - **Three independent reliable sources** is the rough floor for notability. When in doubt, cite. *"Be careful about deleting material that may be factual."* --- ## Provide context Wikipedia readers come from anywhere and arrive via random links. Test every article with these questions: - Does this make sense if the reader landed here from a random page? - Could a layperson in another English-speaking country tell what this is about? - If you printed page 1 only, would the reader know the topic? State the obvious in the first one or two sentences. *"The Ford Thunderbird was a car…"* not *"The Ford Thunderbird was conceived as a response to the Chevrolet Corvette…"* Avoid jargon. When jargon is needed, explain it inline or link to an article that does. --- ## The quality ladder When asked to write an article or improve one, target a specific tier: | Tier | Bar | What it means | |---|---|---| | **Stub** | A few sentences. Has a stub template, a category, at least one wikilink. | Enough context for someone else to expand it. | | **Start** | Sectioned. Some sources (even questionable ones). Meets core content policies. | Past speedy-deletion danger. | | **C** | Average. Some content gaps, some irrelevant material. | Workable but uneven. | | **B** | Suitably referenced with inline citations. Reasonable coverage. Defined structure. Reasonably well-written. Supporting media. Understandable to a broad audience. | Comprehensive to a casual reader. | | **Good** (GA) | All B-class criteria, plus: clear and concise prose, no original research, no copyvio/plagiarism, neutral, stable, illustrated where possible with proper licensing and captions. | Reviewed by an impartial editor. | | **A** | Between GA and FA. | Rarely used outside large WikiProjects. | | **Featured** (FA) | Professional standards of writing, presentation, sourcing. | Wikipedia's best work. | When the user says "write a Wikipedia-style article", default to **B-class** unless they specify otherwise. --- ## Concrete writing checklist Before finalising any article-style output, verify: - [ ] First sentence defines the topic and answers *what* and *why notable*. - [ ] Title appears in **bold** on first mention. - [ ] Lead is ≤ 400 words and summarises every major section of the body. - [ ] Body uses level-2 headings (`==`), no links in headings. - [ ] Tone is formal, no first/second person, no peacock/weasel/persuasive language. - [ ] No exclamation marks or rhetorical questions outside quotations. - [ ] Inline citations for quotations, statistics, contentious claims, and BLP-sensitive content. - [ ] Jargon is explained or linked. - [ ] Major viewpoints represented fairly; fringe views not given undue weight. - [ ] Standard appendices in the right order. - [ ] Spelling and grammar are correct. - [ ] Article is **on topic** — no irrelevant tangents. --- ## Common mistakes to refuse When asked to do any of these, push back and offer the encyclopedic alternative instead: - Promotional copy disguised as an article (*"a leading provider of…"*, *"trusted by thousands"*) - Articles that exist only to define a single word (that's a dictionary, not an encyclopedia) - Original research, personal essays, opinion pieces in article form - Future speculation framed as fact - Articles about non-notable subjects (your band, your project, your site) without independent coverage - Copying source text verbatim — always paraphrase and cite If the user asks for something Wikipedia-style for a real Wikipedia article, remind them that Wikipedia's policies forbid LLM-generated article content. Help them draft notes, find sources, or critique their own draft instead. --- ## Simple English mode When the user asks for **Simple English** style (for the Simple English Wikipedia, ESL audiences, accessibility, or plain-language docs), apply these extra rules on top of everything above. ### Audience Readers may have English as a second language, be young, or have learning difficulties. The **language** is simple. The **ideas** do not have to be. ### Vocabulary order When picking a word, try in this order: 1. **Basic English (BE) 850** — the simplest tier. 2. **Basic English (BE) 1500** — slightly broader. 3. **VOA Special English Word Book** — broader still. 4. Anything else — only if the simpler word is unclear or wrong, and link or explain it inline. ### Method 1. Write the sentence as you'd say it to an ordinary person. 2. Check your words against the lists above. 3. Convert **passive → active voice**: *"The bird was eaten by the cat"* → *"The cat ate the bird."* 4. Use **past or present tense only**. Avoid future, conditional, perfect. 5. Use **subject-verb-object** sentences. One idea per sentence. 6. Avoid compound and compound-complex sentences. Split them. 7. No idioms, no contractions, no slang. ### Sentence-splitting recipes - See `and / or / but / for / so / yet`? Split into two sentences. - Missing subject in the second clause? Add the pronoun. - Semicolon? Split. - Multiple subordinate clauses? Reorder so the most important info comes first, start follow-up sentences with `This is…` / `This was…`. - Mid-sentence dependent clause? Move it to its own sentence with the right pronoun. ### What not to do (Simple English) - Don't use poor grammar — Simple English ≠ broken English. - Don't use contractions (*can't*, *I've*, *hasn't*). Use the long form. - Don't use the second person. - Don't put links in headings. - Don't copy the regular Wikipedia article verbatim and call it Simple. Rewrite it. ### Length expectation A Simple English article is often **25–50% longer** than the equivalent regular article — short sentences need filler words to stay readable. Simple English is **not shorter English**. --- ## Sources This skill is distilled from these Wikipedia guidance pages: - [Help:Your first article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Your_first_article) - [Wikipedia:Writing better articles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Writing_better_articles) - [Wikipedia:How to write a featured article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_write_a_featured_article) - [Wikipedia:How to write Simple English pages (Simple Wiki)](https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_write_Simple_English_pages) Content was rephrased and condensed for compliance with licensing restrictions. Source pages are CC BY-SA 4.0.