diff --git a/docs/topics/db/examples/many_to_many.txt b/docs/topics/db/examples/many_to_many.txt
index 922dc977a4e..752abe9f721 100644
--- a/docs/topics/db/examples/many_to_many.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/db/examples/many_to_many.txt
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ objects, and a ``Publication`` has multiple ``Article`` objects:
         title = models.CharField(max_length=30)
 
         class Meta:
-            ordering = ('title',)
+            ordering = ['title']
 
         def __str__(self):
             return self.title
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ objects, and a ``Publication`` has multiple ``Article`` objects:
         publications = models.ManyToManyField(Publication)
 
         class Meta:
-            ordering = ('headline',)
+            ordering = ['headline']
 
         def __str__(self):
             return self.headline
diff --git a/docs/topics/db/examples/many_to_one.txt b/docs/topics/db/examples/many_to_one.txt
index 8a77d89d6df..6c07b5a45d6 100644
--- a/docs/topics/db/examples/many_to_one.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/db/examples/many_to_one.txt
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ To define a many-to-one relationship, use :class:`~django.db.models.ForeignKey`:
             return self.headline
 
         class Meta:
-            ordering = ('headline',)
+            ordering = ['headline']
 
 What follows are examples of operations that can be performed using the Python
 API facilities.