diff --git a/docs/faq.rst b/docs/faq.rst
index a8043e07..2cd363d8 100644
--- a/docs/faq.rst
+++ b/docs/faq.rst
@@ -90,12 +90,16 @@ For reStructuredText, this metadata should of course be prefixed with a colon::
 
     :Modified: 2012-08-08
 
-This metadata can then be accessed in the template::
+This metadata can then be accessed in templates such as ``article.html`` via::
 
     {% if article.modified %}
     Last modified: {{ article.modified }}
     {% endif %}
 
+If you want to include metadata in templates outside the article context (e.g., ``base.html``), the ``if`` statement should instead be:
+
+    {% if article and article.modified %}
+
 How do I assign custom templates on a per-page basis?
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