wp lists lead section or paragraph no longer says if the meaning of the list's title seems obvious e g list of dog breeds the article may open with a simple statement using wikilinks e g 'this is a list of dog breeds ' note also that that section and wikipedia stand alone lists lead and selection criteria both link to wp lead as does wp fl which says he lead section should briefly summarize the most important points covered in an article in such a way that it can stand on its own as a concise version of the article it is even more important here than for the rest of the article that the text be accessible consideration should be given to creating interest in reading the whole article in general specialized terminology should be avoided in an introduction where uncommon terms are essential to describing the subject they should be placed in context briefly defined and linked the subject should be placed in a context with which many readers could be expected to be familiar for example rather than giving the latitude and longitude of a town it is better to state that it is the suburb of some city or perhaps that it provides services for the farm country of xyz county readers should not be dropped into the middle of the subject from the first word they should be eased into it it doesn't matter which list guideline you look at they all refer back to wp lead remember also that list namespace pages differ in no way from article namespace pages except that one contains a list and the other contains prose the rules policies and guidelines apply to both in equal amounts talk contribs email