The Wikiquote Guide to Layout is an annotated, working example of some of the basics of laying out an entry.

This article is not about wiki markup; see Wikiquote:How to edit a page for that, nor is this article about style; see Wikiquote:Manual of Style for that. This article is just a summary of what some fairly clean, simple Wikiquote entries look like. For more complicated entries, you may want to copy the markup of an existing entry you like the looks of.

For an explanation by example, see Wikiquote:Templates.

All Wikiquote pages should start with a brief introduction in which significant terms are linked to Wikipedia. Most Wikiquote pages should end with an External links section containing a "Wikipedia box", which is created using the {{wikipedia}} or {{wikipedia|Article name}} templates. If such a box does appear, it should be the first thing in the section. Last in that section should be a category. To place a page in a category, use [[Category:Category name]]. All Wikiquote articles should have a category.

Many Wikiquote entries are quotes said or written by a person.

A person article should begin with a short biographical note (1-4 sentences is usual). This note should have the person's name in bold, and should link the name to the Wikipedia article, if there is one. If known, it should have date of birth and date of death. It is popular to link words in the introduction to other Wikiquote or Wikipedia pages.

All the sections described here are level-2 sections (==). The following sections might not all appear, but when they do, they appear in the order specified, and containing the content specified:

• Quotes: Quotations with a definite, verifiable source (speech, book, interview or similar).
  • If there are several quotations from the same source, it is possible to make a level-3 subsection and group the quotes from that source into this subsection. It is possible, though not generally recommended, to go even deeper: one might open a level-3 subsection for "Fiction books", and put specific books under that header.
  • When sourcing, be as accurate as possible: specify the source, the place within the source (if reasonable) and if the source is online, link to it. ISBNs, chapter numbers, editions and page numbers all ease the work of future accuracy checking.
• Attributed: Quotations sourced to a reputable secondary source but not to the author or work. More information here.
• Misattributed: Quotations which are popularly, or notably, attributed to the person but sourced to another person or work. More information here.
• Criticisms or About: Quotations about the person.
• See also: Other wikiquote pages which relate to the person. Note that in some cases, this section can come first (especially when a literary work has been broken out from the page, and the person is well known for that work).
• External links: Links about the person, with a special emphasis on places where more of their words can be found. Add {{wikisource author}} if the author has a page at Wikisource. Relevant blogs, links to archives of columns and the like are also appropriate.

Quotes popularly, or notably, attributed to a person, but for which the editor cannot find an adequate source appear on the article's discussion page. More information here.

In the past, some articles had two major sections: "Sourced" and "Unsourced" (sometimes called "Attributed" in older pages). Transfer unsourced quotes on these pages to the article's discussion page. Pages consisting solely of unsourced quotes will be nominated for deletion or given a PROD tag.

Quotes should be formatted as a bulleted list, each quote on its own bullet, with no quotation marks. Citations and any notes, such as translation or context, should follow in a sub-bullet. If a quote is not in English, it should be italicized. In that case, especially for non-Latin scripts, a transliteration is often useful.

The introduction to quotes from a literary work should contain the year it was made in, and the author (or authors). In case the author has no Wikiquote page, consider quoting from that work in a new page about the author and making a redirect from the work's name to the author's page. If appropriate, a link to Gutenberg or the {{wikisource}} template should be put in the External links section.

Quotes are formatted like a sourced person's quotes. In the Sourced section, give chapter (section, part) numbers and names.

For pages for quotes from a film, the introduction should link to the entry in Wikipedia, specify the year the movie was made in, provide a brief summary of the film, and list the director and the writer. Next should follow the tagline, centered and bolded, followed by a small internal link to the "Tagline" section, if there is one.

All sections here are level-2 sections (==). Not all must appear, but when they appear, they must do so in the order specified.

• Character: Each major character should have a section, under which those things said by the character alone should be grouped.
• Others: Minor characters can be grouped into one section.
• Dialogues: Those quotes which are in the form of a dialogue belong here.
• Taglines: If there is more than one tagline for the movie, then all taglines belong in this section.
• Cast: A bulleted list with for the major cast. Usually, the character's name is not a link. The actor's name might be a link to wikiquote (if such a page exists) or a link to wikipedia.
• External links: This should almost always contain the {{imdb title|number_in_URL|film_title}} template.

Quotes in Character sections should be formatted like people quotes. Quotes in the Others section are bulleted. There are two styles for the Others quotes: either theme style, or like this:

* '''Character''': Text

The latter seems more popular. Quotes in Dialogues should be formatted like TV quotes. Taglines should be formatted exactly as they appear, with capitalisation intact and no added quotation marks.

See also Wikiquote:Guide to layout/Television formatting.

The introduction for a television show should contain the year it started (and, if appropriate, the year it ended).

Level-2 headers should be used for seasons: ==Season n==. For non-American TV shows, often the term "series" is used instead. Level-3 headers should be used for individual episodes: ===''Italicized Name'' [n.m]===, where n is the season and m the episode number. A separate section at the top of the page can be used for "recurring quotes" or "catch-phrases" (this is where quotes from the theme song belong, too—if there are only theme song quotes, the section can be called "Theme song").

All TV quotes are considered to be a dialog (even when containing just one character). Dialog segments within each episode are separated by so-called "half-width rules": <hr width="50%"/>. Each dialog quote is formatted as:

: '''Character Name''': Text

For characters with Wikipedia pages, the first time a character appears in an episode it should be linked to the Wikipedia page. Context lines should be formatted as:

: ''[The characters are doing something.]''

while stage direction should be formatted in-line:

: '''Character''': ''[silently]'' No.

In general, the use of too much context or stage direction is discouraged. Quotes should be ordered as they appear in the episode. For names which are not given explicitly, describe the character using "Title Case":

: '''Little Girl''': Why?

Unless there is a good reason, the introduction for a theme page may be nothing more than "Quotes about/related to Theme", where "Theme" is made a link to Wikipedia.

There are two styles for theme sections: all themes with no section, or a division into Sourced/Attributed quotes.

Quotes should appear sorted alphabetically by author, except where historical development of the subject makes chronological order particularly appropriate.

Quotes should be formatted as a bulleted list like people quotes: in a bulleted list with no quotation marks. Citations and notes, such as translation, should follow in a sub-bullet, begining with the author. If a quote is not in English, it should be italicized. It is highly recommended to add the quotation to the source's page, link to that page, and keep comments and context there instead of on theme pages.

Proverbs are formatted like people quotes: no quotation marks, in the original language, transliteration/translation, and any other information. A common sub-bullet here is "Possible interpretation". Proverbs should also be sorted alphabetically—and because there are many of them, it is common to disable the regular Table of Contents mechanism by using __NOTOC__ (those are two underscores on either side) and writing a custom TOC based on a letter.

There are several practices which were once popular. The Wikiquote community has since rejected them, but still they remain in old pages which have not been properly updated. You are encouraged to reformat such articles to conform to the new guidelines, and strongly discouraged from continuing to follow them:

• Quotation marks around quotations in non-Theme articles.
• TV show quotes organized by character.
• The title of the page used as the first header (usually level-1 or level-2 header): this was especially popular in people pages.
• "Verified" heading. Use "Sourced" instead, and only include quotations from verifiable sources.
• "Unsourced" section. Don't add unsourced quotations to Wikiquote. If you are sure the quotation is valid, but cannot find a legitimate source, ask for help on the article's talk page or on Wikiquote:Reference desk. Unsourced quotations are subject to deletion without warning.
• "Almost certainly spurious" and other such distinctions. Add such a quote to "Misattributed", and add notes documenting research about the quote's authenticity.

There is no consensus on the use of boldface in quotes. Some use it to emphasize well known quotes within a more complete context, but there is no consensus for this.