Help:Headings and sections

A page can and should be divided into sections. Sections and subsections are introduced by headings. These headings clarify topic pages by breaking up text, organizing content, and populating the table of contents. Very short or very long sections and subsections in a topic page look cluttered and inhibit the flow of the prose. Sections are created by creating headings. Headings are written in sentence case. Heading names of sections (including subsections) should be unique on a page; using the same heading more than once on a page causes problems when linking to heading and/or subheadings. There should be a single blank line between headings.

Possible section headings below are to be used as a guide. These headings are intended to suggest or aid in the development of headings to match specific content needs. Development of other headings is encouraged while following the stated guidelines covering heading names:

Possible Section Headings (One or all of these may apply to your topic)

• History: A historic account of the topic.
• Purpose or Objective: The reason for its existence, its intended or desired result, or the issue it resolves.
• Type, Taxonomy, or Classification: Is there a category or group for this topic?
• Functions: Actions or position this topic occupies in a particular situation or activity.
• Features: What sets this apart or makes this topic important?
• Advantages: What are the positives to this topic?
• Disadvantages: What are the negatives to this topic?
• Other considerations: What other things should the reader think about?
• Nomenclature: Is there a set or system of names or terms used for this topic?
• Gallery: Are there any images that relate to the topic to help illustrate the idea?
• Graphs: Are there any graphs that relate to the topic to help illustrate the idea?

Note: Heading 1 – This heading is a placeholder for the first section of the topic page. On all new pages created, this heading must be revised or deleted.

Standard section headings listed are automatically generated on every PetroWiki page. It is recommended that these headings stay on every page as placeholders for anticipated contributed content even if the initial page author(s) do not add content to the headings listed. These headings should be listed after topic specific headings (Possible Section Headings) placing them near the bottom portion of the topic page:

Standard Section Headings (These headings are auto generated)

• References: Use this section for citation of items referenced in the text to show your sources. [The sources should be available to the reader (i.e., not an internal company document).]
• Noteworthy papers in OnePetro: Use this section to list papers in OnePetro that a reader who wants to learn more should read.
• Noteworthy books: Use this section to list books that a reader who wants to learn more should read.
• Other noteworthy papers: Use this section to list papers not in OnePetro that a reader who wants to learn more should definitely read.
• Online multimedia: Use this section to list multimedia that a reader who wants to learn more should definitely view. [The sources should be available to the reader (i.e., not an internal company document).]
• External links: Use this section to provide links to relevant material on websites other than PetroWiki and OnePetro.
• See also: Use this section for links to related pages within PetroWiki, including a link to the original PEH text where appropriate.

Section organization

An article should begin with an introductory lead section, which should not contain section headings (see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section). The remainder may be divided into sections, each with a section heading (see below) that can be nested in a hierarchy. If there are at least four section headings in the article, a navigable table of contents is generated automatically. As explained in more detail in Standard appendices and footers, optional appendix and footer sections containing the following lists may appear after the body of the article in the following order:

• Internal links to related PetroWiki articles (section heading "See also")
• Notes and references (section heading "Notes" or "References", or a separate section for each; see Citing sources)
• Relevant books, articles, or other publications that have not been used as sources (section heading "Further reading")
• Relevant websites that have not been used as sources and do not appear in the earlier appendices (added as part of "Further reading" or in a separate section headed "External links")
• Internal links organized into navigational boxes (sometimes placed at the top in the form of sidebars)
• Categories

Read more in Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout Section headings

Equal signs are used to mark the enclosed text as a section heading: ==Title== for a primary section; ===Title=== for the next level (a subsection); and so on to the lowest-level subsection, with =====Title=====. (The highest heading level technically possible is =Title=; but do not use it in articles, because it is reserved for the automatically generated top-level heading at the top of the page containing the title of the whole article.) Spaces between the equal signs and the heading text are optional, and will not affect the way the heading is displayed. The heading must be typed on a separate line. Include one blank line above the heading, and optionally one blank line below it, for readability in the edit window (but not two or more consecutive blank lines, which will add unnecessary visible white space in the rendered page). The provisions in Article titles (above) generally apply to section headings as well (for example, headings are in sentence case, not title case). The following points apply specifically to section headings:

• Headings should not refer redundantly to the subject of the article, or to higher-level headings, unless doing so is shorter or clearer.
• Headings should normally not contain links, especially where only part of a heading is linked.
• Section and subsection headings should preferably be unique within a page; otherwise section links may lead to the wrong place, and automatic edit summaries can be ambiguous.
• Citations should not be placed within or on the same line as section and subsection headings.
• Headings should not contain images; this includes flag icons.
• Headings should not contain questions.
• Avoid starting headings with numbers (other than years), because this can be confusing for readers with the "Auto-number headings" preference selected.

See also

Creating quality topic pages

Content guide worksheet