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Plain and simple overview of creating a new article
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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
that are
independent
of the topic.
If you are
connected to the topic
, don't write about it. Find another topic instead.
Make sure there
isn't already an article
about the topic.
The article you write
must
include
citations
to the sources you used.
Use your own words to write the article; you
must not
copy from sources
word-for-word.
Don't use
large language models
(LLMs) or
generative AI
New here?
Creating an article is
one of the more difficult tasks
on Wikipedia, and you'll have a higher chance of success if you
help out with other tasks
first to learn more about how Wikipedia works. You can always come back to create an article later; there is
no rush
Article creation
Introductory
Getting started with Wikipedia
Article wizard
Your first article
Suggested articles
Most-wanted articles
Requested articles
Images needing articles
Concepts and guidelines
Standard layout
Lead section
Sections
Stub articles
Categorization
Development processes
Article development
Moving a page
Merging articles
Featured article criteria
The perfect article
Meta tools and groups
WikiProject: Articles for creation
Special:NewPages
Special:NewPagesFeed
New pages patrol
New articles by topic
Recent additions
DYK
Welcome to Wikipedia!
Creating a new article is one of many ways to contribute to the
encyclopedia
, but can be difficult for new editors. We recommend looking at our
introductory tutorials
or
contributing to Wikipedia
to learn the basics about editing first. 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.
Before creating your first article, it's highly recommended to practice in
your sandbox
. Choose a topic supported by
reliable
independent
sources. Write in a
neutral tone
, avoid
promotional language
, and make sure all the information in the article is
supported by your sources
. If you're unsure, the
Article Wizard
can help guide you step-by-step through the process. Don't worry if it's not perfect—every experienced editor started with their first try!
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
Further information:
Wikipedia:Simplified ruleset
Wikipedia:Reliable sources
Wikipedia:Verifiability
Wikipedia:Citing sources
, and
Help:Find sources
All new articles start by researching a topic using
high-quality, published sources
. Even if you're an expert on a topic, you can't just write what you know off the top of your head; 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
social media
, 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
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?
Further information:
Wikipedia:Plain and simple conflict of interest guide
and
Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure
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
, 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
must
disclose your relationship
and make sure that it is reviewed by another editor by submitting it via
Articles for creation
. 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
Further information:
Help:Searching
The English Wikipedia already has 7.2 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.
Search for articles (or drafts) that already exist:
Note:
Articles are in "Main" space, and drafts are in "Draft" space.
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
Further information:
Help:Find 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 just means the community hasn't evaluated it yet. If a source meets the
reliable source
criteria, you are welcome to use it. If you have questions, please do ask at the
Teahouse
Notability – should this topic have an article?
Notability
General notability guideline
Subject-specific guidelines
Academics
Astronomical objects
Books
Events
Films
Geographic features
Music
Numbers
Organizations and companies
People
Species
Sports and athletes
Web content
See also
Notability essays
Guide to deletion
Common deletion outcomes
Why was my article deleted?
Main page:
Wikipedia:Notability
Your topic
must
meet Wikipedia's criteria for having an article, which we call "
notability
". If there are multiple published
reliable sources
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
social media
, 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 notable topic is one that has
multiple
reliable sources that each meet
all three
of the following criteria:
Secondary
. A
secondary source
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
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
of the subject if
any
of the following are true:
if the subject paid for it, including all forms of
sponsored content
if the content within the source originates from the subject, including most
interviews
and all
press releases
, even if published by a third party (sometimes called "
churnalism
"), 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. Trivial mentions, such as 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
and
trivial
If your topic is not notable, stop here and find a new one.
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
Look at similar articles
See also:
Help:Introduction to the Manual of Style
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
of the article may have a
quality rating
in the shaded box at the top. If an article has been assessed as
-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
for guidance on how to structure an article.
Writing your draft
Further information:
Wikipedia:Writing better articles
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
Edit tab in desktop view
Edit pencil in mobile view
Further information:
Help:Introduction
Help:Wikitext
, and
Help:VisualEditor
Wikipedia provides
various editing tools
, and you have a choice of what tool best suits your needs:
Editing interface selector
Source editor
– edits the
wikitext
of the article, which uses some special characters, like adding [[square brackets]] to create a link to another page, or asterisks to make bullet points.
Visual Editor
– a tool similar to a word processor, for editing articles without the need to understand any special codes or
markup
Visual Editor
is the default. To switch your default editing interface, select an option from the "Editing mode" menu in
your preferences
Users of
mobile devices
are automatically redirected to the
official mobile version
of Wikipedia. If you don't want to use the mobile version, tap the
Desktop
link at the bottom of any page to switch to the desktop version.
Where to start writing
Further information:
Wikipedia:Drafts
and
Wikipedia:About the sandbox
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 sandbox
– this is a page you can always easily find, by tapping the user icon in the top right corner to show the menu linking your sandbox. 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
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.
Create your draft with the Article Wizard!
How to create content
Further information:
Help:Editing
WP:Neutral point of view
, and
WP:Verifiability
Writing a Wikipedia article:
Summarize the most important things your sources say.
Don't
copy
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
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
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
Publish
button saves your progress.
You can
add images
templates
like an
infobox
at the top, or a
stub
at the bottom, and
categories
to your article.
Avoid using
large language models
("AI") like
ChatGPT
to generate article content. These often produce inaccurate text, and sometimes make up fake sources and references. It is much better to write the article completely yourself - then you can be confident in what it says. Remember, you are responsible for the content you add.
Citing sources
Further information:
Wikipedia:Citing sources
Help:Find sources
Help:Referencing for beginners
, and
Help:Introduction to referencing with VisualEditor
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
The best way to demonstrate verifiability, is by creating a
citation
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
Main pages:
Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not
and
Wikipedia:Avoiding common mistakes
Here are some "Do"s and "Don't"s, to highlight some of the most important points about writing your first article:
Dos and don't
Great ways to contribute
Things to avoid
Do
make sure that the topic you write about is
notable
; articles about non-notable topics get deleted.
Do
include
citations
to
independent
reliable
sources for all assertions of fact.
Do
add content that has a
neutral point of view
, and
fairly represents the majority
of the sources.
Do
exercise caution when editing articles about
living people
. Negative or critical content must be impeccably sourced to
highly reliable sources
Do
ask for help at the
Teahouse
, the
Help desk
, or check
these help links
Don't
engage in
original research
or personal essays.
Don't
copy
copyrighted material
into articles.
Don't
speculate about
events in the future
Don't
write an article only to define a word; Wikipedia is
not a dictionary
. Try
Wiktionary
instead.
Don't
write an article if you have a
conflict of interest
because of a personal or professional connection to the topic of the article.
Don't
use
large language models
(LLMs) to write original content.
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
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
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
Any controversial claims about
living people
are impeccably sourced.
Publish directly
Main page:
Wikipedia:Drafts § Moving drafts to mainspace
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
Further information:
Wikipedia:Articles for creation
Alternatively, if
If
you think your article is ready
but would like another editor to check it
, you can
submit it for review
by an experienced editor by clicking the
Submit the draft for review!
button at the top of your draft. If the button isn't there, you can instead add
{{
subst:submit
}}
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!
One of the best places to ask for assistance is at the
Teahouse
, which is dedicated to answering newer editors' questions.
Contact
your Wikipedia mentor
– they are there to answer your questions!
For a list of informative, instructional and supportive pages, see the
Help directory
. More can be found at the
request directory
Click here to ask for help on your talk page
. A volunteer will visit you there shortly!
Alternatively, you can ask a question via the
#help
channel at
Wikipedia:Discord
or
IRC
chat at the
#wikipedia-en-help
connect
channel.
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for new Wikipedia editors and students.
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Your first article
Add topic
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