Help:Style guide

This Style guide offers help and suggestions for how to write articles that are clear, easy to read, and concise. It helps to ensure that articles appear as portions of a cohesive whole. And a professional presentation improves a reader's perception of credibility.

When you write for the wiki, please try to follow these suggestions. However, you do not have to slavishly follow all of them. Information is more important than style. Sometimes it may simply be inappropriate to use a particular style. In other cases, you can change or fix any style problems later and after the article is complete (or someone else can do this for you). Put the relevant information down first, and consider style afterwards.

Wikipedia style
This section summarises a few some key elements from the Wikipedia:Manual of Style that apply to the wiki. (Also, a few in the next section that you are encouraged not to follow!)

Article titles
Use "sentence case", not "title case". Capitalize the initial letter of a title (except in rare cases, such as eBay). Otherwise, use capital letters only where you would use them in a normal sentence (Cash equivalents for EU investors, not Cash Equivalents For EU Investors).

Do not create articles with titles that are acronyms. Always use the full expansion. To let users search using the acronym, create a redirect as an alternative title to the article. is an example. Redirects help to organize a wiki by making articles findable under different names. See Wikipedia:Redirect for guidelines and a more detailed explanation.

Redirect
A redirect page takes the reader directly to another page. This lets an article have multiple names. Create a redirect using the syntax:



where target is the name of the target page. Example:
 * (redirects to the Bogleheads® investment philosophy article)

Section organization
Begin an article with an introductory lead (or lede) section. This does not contain section headings (see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section). The remainder divides into sections, each with a section heading (see below), and with sub-headings if needed, to form a nested hierarchy.

If the article has at least four section headings, a navigable Table of contents appears between the lead and the first heading. In some articles a table of contents may be undesirable. Adding  anywhere within the article suppresses the table of contents. Conversely, adding  places the table of contents where this appears.

Section headings
You type multiple equal signs to create headings. Write  for a primary section heading,   for a subsection below it, and so on, up to a maximum of five levels. Spaces between the equal signs and the heading text are optional, and will not affect how the heading is displayed. The heading must be on a separate line. Include one blank line above the heading, and optionally one blank line below it, for readability in the edit window. (Only two or more consecutive blank lines will add more white space in the public appearance of the page.)

The guidelines for Article titles (above) apply to section headings as well. Headings are in sentence case, not title case.

Table headings
As above for Article titles and Section headings. Table titles and table column names should all use sentence case, and not title case.

Pronouns
Never use the pronoun "I". See: Wikipedia:Manual of Style § First-person pronouns. ("We" is acceptable in some specific contexts.)

Wikipedia's style for second-person pronouns avoids addressing the reader. However many articles give instructions on how to do something, and addressing the reader or using a second person pronoun is clearer. Compare: None of these is wrong, but Check your tax position before acting is much clearer, even though it directly addresses the reader. You can use this style freely where appropriate.
 * "Investors must check their tax position before acting"
 * "One must check one's tax position before acting"
 * "The tax position must be checked before acting"

Use gender-neutral pronouns when referring to generic persons (The investor receives their dividends regularly, not The investor receives his dividends regularly).

Cultural sensitivity
Avoid using words or phrases that other cultures may find impolite or offensive (campaign, not crusade).

Also, avoid idioms that may not be universally understood (Your results may be different, not Your mileage may vary). One of the main principles, Stay the course, is mildly problematic for readers whose first language is not English.

Contractions
Avoid don't, won't, can't, and so on; use do not, will not, cannot instead. Similarly, avoid you're and you've; use you are and you have instead. For more, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Abbreviations § Contractions.

"It's" and "its" can be especially confusing, particularly to readers whose first language is not English. Avoid it's and use it is (It is advisable to wait, not It's advisable to wait). "Its" is a possessive that does not require an apostrophe, for example Vanguard is well known for its unique corporate structure.

Similarly, for example and that is can be clearer in most contexts than e.g. and i.e..

Abbreviations
Abbreviations and acronyms are so common in finance that an article written without them might be unwieldy to the point of unreadability. When using one, give the expansion on its first use (Exchange-traded fund (ETF) (preferred) or ETF (Exchange-traded fund)). After that you can usually use it unexpanded for the remainder of the article.

Dates
Wikipedia style allows for several date formats. It also discourages others, including dd-mm-yyyy (or dd/mm/yyyy) and mm-dd-yyyy (or mm/dd/yyyy). The problem is that these are ambiguous. In some regions of the world, 3/4/2022 is March 4; in others it is April 3.

Use any of the allowable date formats, and avoid using any of the formats that are ambiguous. If unsure, or to save lookup effort, formatting as 3 April 2022 is a decent default choice. Or 3 Apr 2022 if space is an issue, such as in a table.

Ampersand
Use and in normal sentence text and headings (first and second, not first & second). Reserve ampersands for trademarks, titles of works or organisations, and quotations,

tags
Place these directly after the sentence, clause, or word to which they apply. Do not prefix  with a space. This causes odd rendering where the browser decides to insert a newline before the superscript.

Where the reference follows a clause, place  directly after the terminating comma, period, or colon, and not between the final word of the clause and the terminating punctuation.

Mobile
The wiki uses skins to tailor its appearance. An article viewed using the Mobile skin, typically on a mobile phone, could look quite different to the same article viewed in Desktop on a personal computer. To switch between skins, use the "Mobile view" and "Desktop" links at the very bottom of a wiki page.

Mobile does not support collapsible tables, and can also reposition images, the table of contents, and many other page elements to try to fit a small screen. As a result, a carefully laid out page on Desktop can become difficult or even impossible to read in Mobile.

Remember to view any extensive or complex new pages or page edits in Mobile, ideally with a narrow screen width, to ensure that they remain clear and readable on mobile devices. For some guidelines on ways to avoid problems with Mobile, see: Recommendations for mobile friendly articles on Wikimedia wikis, from MediaWiki.

Exceptions to Wikipedia style
There are some areas where it makes sense not to follow the Wikipedia:Manual of Style.

Instructions
Already mentioned in Pronouns above. Wikipedia style frowns on an instructional tone. However, Wikipedia does not contain How-to articles, whereas the wiki does. Writing these types of article without using "you" or otherwise referring to the reader creates a forced tone that is difficult read.

Where appropriate, an instructional tone, using a second-person pronoun, and so on, is not just okay, but is encouraged. (Imagine how difficult it would be to read this guide if it avoided an instructional tone!)

Rhetorical questions
Wikipedia style discourages phrasing article titles and section headings as questions. In practice, several wiki articles do this, an obvious example being Investing FAQ for the Bogleheads® forum. Provided they appear either sparingly or where obviously needed, they do not detract from the wiki's effectiveness or appearance, and are fine to use.

General style
Not all of these sections are specific to writing for the wiki. Some are just useful for good writing in general.

Verb forms
Prefer the active voice to the passive voice. Active is clearer and more direct (The fund pays dividends, not Dividends are paid by the fund).

You can be a passive investor but still write actively! A passive voice makes your writing look weak, and can also cover up who or what is acting (You are required to file, but by whom?). Be assertive (The IRS requires you to file ... although in some circumstances, forces may be more accurate).

Sentence length
Prefer short sentences to long ones. Once a sentence exceeds three or four clauses, consider breaking it into separate smaller sentences.

Word choice
Eschew magniloquence. Simpler words give your writing more impact than complicated ones (use, not utilize; need, not necessitate; often, not frequently).

Also, avoid, not eschew, and pompous phrases, not magniloquence.

White space
Wikitext uses space and newline characters inconsistently. Sometimes whitespace is important; other times it is not. A blank line indicates a new paragraph, but avoid leaving two or more blank lines together. This separates paragraphs beyond their normal spacing and creates an off-balance appearance.

Aside from some special cases, such as template Blockquote, you do not need to end lines with  tags.

For space characters where a line break would be detrimental, use  (non-breaking space). For example,, displays as $1 million.

Numbers
Small numbers are usually best written out in full (There are two ways ahead, not There are 2 ways ahead). Similarly for hundred, thousand and million. Aside from these, for numbers above twenty, digits are generally clearer. For fractions, prefer half and quarter to 1/2 and 1/4, and consider if "one third", "one fifth" and so on might be clearer than "1/3" and "1/5".

Avoid starting a sentence with a digit. Group numbers with five or more digits into threes using commas. For numbers with four digits, either group or not is fine, but remain consistent within the article.

For currencies, readers will usually assume that amounts such as $100 are US dollars unless qualified, for example Can$100 or A$100.

Plurals
Do not use apostrophes to form plurals (Two ETFs exist, not Two ETF's exist). These ETFs' TERs are low refers to multiple TERs related to multiple ETFs. (An exception is single letters, such as Mind your P's and Q's.)

Clunky phrases
Note that is superfluous. Also, it is important to note that; replace with notably if it really is important or surprising.

Due to the fact that or because of the fact that can become because. For in order to, use simply to. In the process of is nearly always superfluous. You can reword sentences containing in terms of to use about instead.

The word issue is overused. A bond issue is fine, but if something becomes an issue then becomes a problem is clearer.

Lists
It is usually best not to state how many items a list contains. For example, There are three benefits: gains, dividends, and diversification. The problem here is that you, or somebody else, is liable to add a fourth, but not change the introductory text, creating There are three benefits: gains, dividends, diversification, and tax efficiency.

The easiest way to avoid this trap is not to count them. Instead use The benefits are: or There are several benefits:. This applies to both wikitext lists and to items enumerated in sentences.

Do not leave blank lines between consecutive entries in a list. A blank line between entries ends the first list and begins a second new one, and this disrupts the way the browser spaces elements.

Tables
A plain wikitable created with  is usually good enough for most purposes (also, see template Table). While some styling can improve its appearance, resist the urge to create something ornate.

When you want to specify column or table widths, prefer measures in either percentages or characters; that is,  or. This allows the browser some freedom to display items appropriately. Specifying widths in pixels is inflexible, and can be particularly problematic on Mobile.

For columns of currency or percentages with decimal places, consider using template 0 to align the decimal points.

Consider if a table is the appropriate display. Not all data that can be shown in a table should be shown in a table. A list might be more suitable.

For more on table formatting, see Help:Table.

Empty sections
The standard article format has these sections following the main article text: Notes; See also; References; and External links. After writing your article text, if any of these sections is empty, remove it. Empty sections give the impression that the article accidentally omitted something.