Your First Article
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Writing an article
Learn how you can create a Wikipedia article.
This page in a nutshell:
* The topic of the article must be notable: it must have in-depth coverage in
reliable sources A source text is a text (sometimes oral) from which information or ideas are derived. In translation, a source text is the original text that is to be translated into another language. More generally, source material or symbolic sources are ob ...
that are
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
of the topic. * If you are connected to the topic, follow the
Conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...
guidelines. * Make sure there isn't already an article about the topic. * The article you write must include
citations A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose o ...
to the sources you used. * Use your own words to write the article; don't copy from sources word-for-word.
Welcome to Wikipedia! Creating a new article is one of many ways to contribute to the
encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...
, but can be difficult for new editors. Please take the time to read through this guide. Also consider looking at our introductory tutorials or contributing to Wikipedia to learn the basics about editing. Working on existing articles is a great way to learn Wikipedia's protocols and style conventions; see the Task Center or your homepage for articles that need your assistance and tasks you can help out with. Once you are familiar with the basics of Wikipedia editing, this page will guide you through the process of creating your first article! Specifically, you will learn how to: *Determine whether Wikipedia should have a new article on the given subject *Identify and use reliable sources to support assertions in the article *Create a draft of the article *Submit the draft for publication into the encyclopedia itself


The basics

All new articles start by researching a topic using high-quality, published sources. Even an expert on a topic cannot directly use their knowledge; published sources are needed. High-quality sources include books by reputable publishers, respected newspapers, peer-reviewed scientific and academic journals, and other sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy. This may include some high-quality websites, but excludes personal and company websites,
blogs A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
,
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
, and any site where the public can contribute, like forums and even Wikipedia itself. We summarize such high-quality, published sources in Wikipedia articles. That is all we do! Please make sure that everything you write on Wikipedia is based on such sources, and be sure to include inline citations along with the content you write. While
primary sources In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...
can be used, they should be used sparingly and carefully, usually only to support basic facts. Primary sources do not contribute to establishing notability.


Before you start writing


Are you connected to the article topic?

If you have a personal or professional relationship with what you want to write about, it is best if you do not create the new article yourself. Editing with a
conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...
, regardless of whether you feel you can do so neutrally, gives the appearance of bias and undermines public confidence in Wikipedia. If you create an article despite your conflict of interest, you should disclose your relationship and make sure that it is reviewed by another editor. If you have a ''financial'' conflict of interest in the topic (for example if you have been paid to edit it) you ''must'' make the required paid-contribution disclosure and abide by the community's restrictions on paid editing.


Search for an existing article

The English Wikipedia already has million articles. Before creating a new one, try to make sure there is not already an article (or a Draft in development) on the same topic, perhaps under a different spelling, or even a different name. If you're sure that there is no article or draft available for your topic, then there is just one big task to do before you start writing your first article: you have to gather sources about the topic in order to establish its notability.


Gather sources

As described above in § The basics, Wikipedia articles are written based on published sources. If you need some help finding sources, see this helpful guide. For some common sources, you may find these assessments by the Wikipedia community helpful. Please note these assessments certainly do not list all possible sources: if a source is not listed, that only means it has not met the criteria for listing. If a source meets the
reliable source A source text is a text (sometimes oral) from which information or ideas are derived. In translation, a source text is the original text that is to be translated into another language. More generally, source material or symbolic sources are ob ...
criteria, you are welcome to use it. If you have questions, please do ask at the
Teahouse A teahouse or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel, especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment that only ser ...
.


Notability – should this topic have an article?

Your topic must be notable, as Wikipedia uses the term, in order to warrant an article. Wikipedia has articles on many topics, but not every topic. Notability is tricky to define, but in a nutshell, if there are multiple published
reliable sources A source text is a text (sometimes oral) from which information or ideas are derived. In translation, a source text is the original text that is to be translated into another language. More generally, source material or symbolic sources are ob ...
about a topic, then it may be notable. A topic is not notable if there aren't sufficient reliable sources about it. (Important: unreliable ones like
blogs A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
,
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
, and websites anyone can edit don't count!) The General notability guideline gives more details on how to tell if a topic is notable or not. If you're not sure if your topic is notable, ask for help at the
Teahouse A teahouse or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel, especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment that only ser ...
. A notable topic is one that has reliable sources that each meet all three of the following criteria: *Secondary. A
secondary source In Scholarly method, scholarship, a secondary sourcePrimary, secondary and tertiar ...
provides thought and reflection based on primary sources, generally at least one step removed from a topic. It contains ''analysis, evaluation, interpretation, or synthesis'' of the facts, evidence, concepts, and ideas taken from
primary sources In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...
. *Independent of the subject. This means that nobody involved in writing or publishing the source has a financial or other connection to the subject. A source is not
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
of the subject if any of the following are true: **if the subject paid for it, including all forms of
sponsored content Native advertising, also called sponsored content, partner content, and branded journalism, is a type of paid advertising that appears in the style and format of the content near the advertisement's placement. It manifests as a post, image, vide ...
, **if the content within the source originates from the subject, including most
interviews An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" re ...
and all
press releases A press release (also known as a media release) is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing new information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public releas ...
, even if published by a third-party (sometimes called "
churnalism Churnalism is a low-quality form of journalism in which press releases and other forms of pre-packaged material are used to create articles in newspapers and other news media in order to meet increasing pressures of time and cost without undert ...
"), or **it was published by the subject itself, on behalf of the subject, or by someone related to the subject. *Significant coverage. The sources must discuss your subject in depth, in multiple paragraphs. A mention in one or two sentences or the appearance of your subject in a table or list is not enough to help establish notability. The special notability guideline for businesses has lots of good examples of what is considered significant. If you discover the topic is not notable, stop here. Non-notable topics do not qualify for a separate article. Consider expanding a relevant existing article related to the topic or select a new topic. If you are stuck, ask for guidance at the
Teahouse A teahouse or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel, especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment that only ser ...
.


Look at similar articles

It's a good idea to look at several existing Wikipedia articles on subjects similar to yours to see how such articles are formatted. The quality of our existing articles varies and lower quality articles should not be used as a model. The
Talk page MediaWiki is free and open-source wiki software originally developed by Magnus Manske for use on Wikipedia on January 25, 2002, and further improved by Lee Daniel Crocker, Magnus Manske's announcement of "PHP Wikipedia", wikipedia-l, August 24 ...
of the article may have a quality rating in the shaded box at the top. If an article has been assessed as B-class, or as a Good Article or Featured Article, it is safe to use as an organizational template for your article. You can also consult Wikipedia's
Manual of Style A style guide is a set of standards for the writing, Typesetting, formatting, and design of documents. A book-length style guide is often called a style manual or a manual of style. A short style guide, typically ranging from several to severa ...
for guidance on how to structure an article.


Writing your draft

Once you've verified that there § isn't already an article out there about your topic, § gathered your sources, and § established notability, you're ready to start writing!


What editing tool to use

Wikipedia provides various editing tools, and you have a choice of what tool best suits your needs: * Source editor – edits the wikitext of the article, which uses some special characters, like adding [[brackets]] to create a link to another page, or asterisks to make bullet points. *
Visual Editor A visual editor is computer software for editing ASCII, text files using a text user interface, textual or graphical user interface, graphical user interface that normally renders the content (text) in accordance with embedded markup code, e.g., H ...
– a tool similar to a word processor, for editing articles without the need to understand any special codes or markup.
Visual Editor A visual editor is computer software for editing ASCII, text files using a text user interface, textual or graphical user interface, graphical user interface that normally renders the content (text) in accordance with embedded markup code, e.g., H ...
is the default. To switch your default editing interface, select an option from the "Editing mode" menu in your preferences. Users of
mobile devices A mobile device or handheld device is a computer small enough to hold and operate in hand. Mobile devices are typically battery-powered and possess a flat-panel display and one or more built-in input devices, such as a touchscreen or keypad. Mod ...
are automatically redirected to the official mobile version of Wikipedia a
en.m.wikipedia.org.
If you don't want to use the mobile version, tap the
Desktop A desktop traditionally refers to: * The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor) Desktop may refer to various compu ...
link at the bottom of any page to switch to the desktop version at


Where to start writing

Where will you develop your draft? You have several options: * in " Draftspace"this is a special area of Wikipedia dedicated to creating new articles, and is a good choice because other editors can find your draft here and help out. * in your sandboxthis is a page you can always easily find, . Downside: you can only create one article at a time there, and it's not so easy for other editors to find. * in a user subpage. You can find more information about subpages
here Here may refer to: Music * ''Here'' (Adrian Belew album), 1994 * ''Here'' (Alicia Keys album), 2016 * ''Here'' (Cal Tjader album), 1979 * ''Here'' (Edward Sharpe album), 2012 * ''Here'' (Idina Menzel album), 2004 * ''Here'' (Merzbow album), ...
. The easiest way is with the Article Wizard, which will create your article in Draft space and guide you through the steps of creating a draft.


How to create content

Writing a Wikipedia article: *Summarize the most important things your sources say. **Don't copy/paste wording from your sources; instead, summarize the ideas in the source using your own words. Summarization is more than just changing a few words around here and there. **Only add information supported by your sources. Don't add from your own knowledge or expertise. *Make sure you show all major viewpoints fairly. Do not cover
fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts and music * "The Fringe", or Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * Purple fri ...
views or those held only by a tiny minority. *Don't take sides or use promotional language. *Write in a professional tone; avoid loaded language. *Add
citations A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose o ...
as you go. This is much easier than writing first and trying to remember later where you found each piece of information. *You don't have to write the article all at once! Save your progress frequently, with an appropriate edit summary. The button saves your progress. *You can add images, templates like an
infobox An infobox is a digital or physical Table (information), table used to collect and present a subset of information about its subject, such as a document. It is a structured document containing a set of attribute–value pairs, and in Wikipedia r ...
at the top, or a
stub Stub or Stubb may refer to: Shortened objects and entities * Stub, a tree cut and allowed to regrow from the trunk; see pollarding * Pay stub, a receipt or record that the employer has paid an employee * Stub period, period of time over which i ...
at the bottom, and
categories Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy *Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) *Category (Kant) *Categories (Peirce) *Category (Vais ...
to your article.


Citing sources

Sources are the published books, academic articles, reputable magazines and newspapers, and other locations where you find the information you will be writing about. You will need to find sources before you start writing, because all content in articles at Wikipedia must be verifiable—that is, backed up by
reliable sources A source text is a text (sometimes oral) from which information or ideas are derived. In translation, a source text is the original text that is to be translated into another language. More generally, source material or symbolic sources are ob ...
. The best way to demonstrate verifiability, is by creating a
citation A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose o ...
to a reliable source that you found, and embedding it in-line as you write your article. The best sources tend to have some form of editorial oversight and a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy. Some websites are reliable; many are not. If you're not sure about the reliability of a website, you can read what editors think about them. It's okay to use non-English sources, offline sources, and subscription-only or fee-based sources, as long as they are reliable.


Dos and don'ts

Here are some "Do"s and "Don't"s, to highlight some of the most important points about writing your first article:


Publish your draft

When your draft is ready, you have two options for publishing it: you can do so directly yourself, or ask another editor to review it first. If you don't have an account, if your account is not yet confirmed, or if you have a
conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...
with the article topic, you will have to ask for a review. Otherwise, the choice is up to you. In either case, you should take some time to double check that the draft is ready first.


Pre-publication checks

Take another look at your draft to see if it meets the criteria required for a Wikipedia article. Make sure that: *The first sentence defines the article topic, and tells the reader who or what the subject is in plain English. *There are citations to
reliable sources A source text is a text (sometimes oral) from which information or ideas are derived. In translation, a source text is the original text that is to be translated into another language. More generally, source material or symbolic sources are ob ...
in the article (most reviewers look for at least three sources). **Some specific types of information require inline citations, namely: direct quotations, and any contentious material about living persons (negative, positive, or neutral). *The article is written from a
neutral point of view Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...
. *Any controversial claims about
living people Purpose: Because living persons may suffer personal harm from inappropriate information, we should watch their articles carefully. By adding an article to this category, it marks them with a notice about sources whenever someone tries to edit ...
are impeccably sourced.


Publish directly

If you are sure your draft is ready, and you do not have a § conflict of interest with the topic, you can publish it directly by moving the page from the draft namespace to the main article namespace. To do so, follow the instructions in how to move a page. Articles published directly take longer to appear in external search engines, up to a maximum of 90 days.


Ask for a review

you think your article is ready, you can submit it for review by an experienced editor by clicking the button at the top of your draft. If the button isn't there, you can instead add to the top of the draft. A reviewer will then look at your draft and either publish it or give you feedback on how to improve it. You may continue to edit the page, even while waiting for a review. This may take some time (maybe weeks); please have patience, we are all volunteers.


Congratulations!

Congratulations, you've created your first article! We have some suggested next steps at Help:After your first article, but do pat yourself on the back. Not many people have successfully created an article on Wikipedia!


Help is available!

* The best place to ask for assistance is at the
Teahouse A teahouse or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel, especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment that only ser ...
, which is dedicated to answering newer editors' questions. * For a list of informative, instructional and supportive pages, see the Help directory. More can be found at the request directory. * . A volunteer will visit you there shortly! * Alternatively, you can ask a question via
IRC IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called '' channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages as well as chat ...
chat at the channel. * Via the #help channel at Wikipedia:Discord. * Wiki Education offers a library of training modules for new Wikipedia editors and students. {{Basic information, state=collapsed Wikipedia basic information Wikipedia how-to Wikipedia page help Wikipedia tips Wikipedia new articles Wikipedia newcomers