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It is located at the beginning of the article, before the table of contents and the first heading. It is not a news-style lead or "lede" paragraph. The average Wikipedia visit is a few minutes long. [1] The lead is the first thing most people read upon arriving at an article, and may be the only portion of the article that they read.
The main headings in the article are second level headings, defined with two equals signs in the wikitext. You never need to use the top-level heading style, defined with one equals sign, as it is reserved for article titles.
Instead, the first paragraph of the section should mention—and link to—that article. (Links in headings also cause accessibility problems for visually impaired readers using special software to read Wikipedia articles.) Don't put a footnote into a section heading. It looks ugly, and since a heading should be a noun clause, not a sentence ...
The lead is then created by placing those summaries in one large paragraph in the order they are found in the table. Then divide it into several smaller paragraphs, usually one to four, depending on the size and type of article. Then make appropriate changes so it flows as brilliant prose.
Articles start with a lead section (WP:CREATELEAD) summarising the most important points of the topic.The lead section is the first part of the article; it comes above the first header, and may contain a lead image which is representative of the topic, and/or an infobox that provides a few key facts, often statistical, such as dates and measurements.
Please do not use a "level one" heading (only one equals sign on each side, i.e.: =Heading=). This would cause a section heading as large as the page title at the top of the page. The maximum level number is six. Heading names of sections (including subsections) should be unique on a page.
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Rule of thumb: If a topic deserves a heading or subheading, then it deserves short mention in the lead. The lead section should contain up to four paragraphs, depending on the length of the article, and should provide a preview of the main points the article will make, summarizing the primary reasons the subject matter is interesting or notable.