Tutorial:Drafting the article

Write a new article

With your article structure ready, enter the text in Statistics Explained using the link provided by the team (see tutorial Creating the structure). To edit, log in as follows

'login' - Click 'Log in' at the top right
authentication - enter your EU-Login credentials on the Secure Authentication Service page and click 'Login'
access features - once logged in, more buttons appear; if logged out, only 'Page' is visible
start editing - click 'Edit Draft' to open the editing window
content entry - add content by pasting existing text or writing directly in the template. Use editing icons on the ribbon tool for bold or italic formatting without removing mandatory tags and titles (see Wikitext editing buttons)
data update - update 'Month Year' with the actual data extraction date

Stable page versus draft

After entering text, be sure to save it. The saved content is a draft, visible only to logged-in users. Non-logged-in users will see a stable "Under construction" page. Do not display unreleased or confidential data in Statistics Explained, even in drafts. See: Tutorial:Stable page versus draft.

Update an article

Follow the same procedure as above, but the model page will not appear, just the existing article. Instead of inserting a new text, you change the existing text and save it in draft.

Follow the same procedure, but only the existing article will appear without the model page. Edit the existing text and save it as a draft.

To track changes in your article, log in and click History at the bottom. Each saved change creates a record showing who made it and when. The history page also lets you compare different versions to view changes over time.

Note: Make sure to limit yourself to AI tools approved only by the Commission, such as WebText and GPT@EC. However, always double-check to ensure that the results produced by these AI tools are correct.

How to present text

Introduction section should not contain detailed methodology information
Include relevant glossary items
Use short, descriptive section headings to make the table of contents easier to scan, avoiding long, journalistic headings (if needed, these can be added as a bold sub-heading, but should not be included in the table of contents)
Put main findings before supporting detail; the first line under a section heading should ideally present the statistic that corresponds to the heading
Break up dense text, especially by using bullet points; a list of 3 items or more is a great candidate for bullet points, especially when listing top/bottom countries for example.
Put main findings before supporting detail: the first line under a section heading would ideally present the statistic that answers the heading.
Definition boxes should not be used in any part of the article, neither for methodological information nor for statistical data or examples.
Check all links and update or delete any that are broken

Glossary items

After finalising your text, identify terms that might need further explanation. Use links to existing glossary items where possible, and create new ones for terms not yet covered.
The Statistics Explained glossary is for the general public, not technical specialists.

Insert an existing glossary item

Open the editing mode by clicking Edit draft in the article in which you want to insert the glossary term. Highlight the word or term and then click on the G icon on the ribbon tool

If the required word or term exists, a window will open where you can choose the appropriate word:

Choose the word or term, and then click insert to insert an automatic link to the glossary.

If it does not exist, an empty window appears, which means that you have to create a glossary item (see instructions below).

Introduce a new glossary item

To introduce a new glossary item, first check the existing glossary items to avoid overlaps and repetition.

Glossary pages should be short and should be aimed at the general public. This does not exclude that a glossary page explains more than one term. Sometimes it makes sense to group a limited number of connected definitions (see Marriage for an example).

A separate Glossary page can be linked to from any statistical article where the term is used, thus avoiding duplication and differences in definition

To create a new glossary page in Statistics Explained please contact the SE team: ESTAT-STATISTICS-EXPLAINED@ec.europa.eu

Inserting links

Links in a publication can be internal or external:

Internal Links connect your article to other pages within Statistics Explained, directing readers to additional articles or glossary items.

Use following tags for internal links:
[[International trade in goods|International trade in goods]]

External Links lead to pages outside of Statistics Explained, including the Eurostat website, and external information sources such as other Directorates-General, other EU Institutions or international bodies (OECD, ILO, UN, etc).

Use following tags for external links:
[https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ Eurostat website]

Excel files containing source data for tables and graphs should be uploaded and linked within the article under the 'Source data for tables and graphs' section.

For detailed sections under "Explore further", various templates link to internal or external resources, such as:

other articles: linking related articles
detailed datasets and database: connecting to relevant data sections
thematic sections: highlighting specific focused areas
publications and methodology: referring to additional documentation and guidelines

Tags for internal links and external links can also be used (see above).

Learn how to place each type of link by referring to the Wikitext editing buttons tutorial.