diff --git a/pandas/core/frame.py b/pandas/core/frame.py
index 2aae4dffbeaaf7..b802d8d2da5f11 100644
--- a/pandas/core/frame.py
+++ b/pandas/core/frame.py
@@ -1254,12 +1254,14 @@ def to_records(self, index=True, convert_datetime64=True):
 
     @classmethod
     def from_items(cls, items, columns=None, orient='columns'):
-        """
+        """DEPRECATED: Use from_dict instead.
+
         .. deprecated:: 0.23.0
-            from_items is deprecated and will be removed in a
-            future version. Use :meth:`DataFrame.from_dict(dict())`
-            instead. :meth:`DataFrame.from_dict(OrderedDict(...))` may be used
-            to preserve the key order.
+          `from_items` is deprecated and will be removed in a future version.
+          Use :meth:`DataFrame.from_dict(dict(items)) <DataFrame.from_dict>`
+          instead. 
+          :meth:`DataFrame.from_dict(OrderedDict(items)) <DataFrame.from_dict>`
+          may be used to preserve the key order.
 
         Convert (key, value) pairs to DataFrame. The keys will be the axis
         index (usually the columns, but depends on the specified
@@ -1283,8 +1285,8 @@ def from_items(cls, items, columns=None, orient='columns'):
         """
 
         warnings.warn("from_items is deprecated. Please use "
-                      "DataFrame.from_dict(dict()) instead. "
-                      "DataFrame.from_dict(OrderedDict()) may be used to "
+                      "DataFrame.from_dict(dict(items), ...) instead. "
+                      "DataFrame.from_dict(OrderedDict(items)) may be used to "
                       "preserve the key order.",
                       FutureWarning, stacklevel=2)