User:Gaia Octavia Agrippa/Adoption/First article

Part of the beginner program is successfully produce a B-class article on a subject of your choice. This page will introduce you to wikipedia's requirements for articles and what an article needs to gain a B-class assessment.

B-class is, in my opinion, the first hurdle for an article. There are two assessment levels before B-class, Stub and Start class. However, the requirements to reach these levels vary by the editor assessing and by wiki-projects. B-class on the other hand, has strict requirements that need to be fulfilled.

Before creation

First- read this page: Wikipedia:Your first article
Second - try checking whether the article already exists by searching for it.
Third - ensure that your topic meets Wikipedia's notability guidelines.
Fourth - make sure that your article is verifiable by published sources.

Notability

A major thing you need to consider before creating an article, is whether or not it satisfies Notability. If it doesn't your article will most likely be put up for deletion, and will be removed from wikipedia.

Notability can be summed up in one sentence:

"A topic is presumed to be notable if it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject."

There are several specific notability guidelines. Including ones for:

Stub level

A stub is an article containing only a few sentences of text which is too short to provide encyclopedic coverage of a subject. If an article is so short that its notability cannot be determined, it will be put up for deletion.

When you create a stub make sure it:

Has a minimum of 3 sentences
Clearly states the notability of the subject of the article
Is not copied directly from a website

Stubs are the most basic wikipedia classification. When you first create an article, it will most likely be a stub.

Start level

A Start level article is the next step in the production of a B-class article.

For a Start class article:

It has a usable amount of good content
It should have some referencing or external links
The quality of the prose may be distinctly unencyclopedic
The article should satisfy fundamental content policies such as notability and Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons
Should provide enough sources to establish verifiability

Also try to have:

Headings
An infobox
Pictures
Inline citations

B-class

Below is the asessement requirments for a B-class article.

B {{B-Class}}	The article is suitably referenced, with inline citations where necessary. It has reliable sources, and any important or controversial material which is likely to be challenged is cited. The use of citation templates such as `{{cite web}}` is not required, but the use of <ref></ref> tags is encouraged. The article reasonably covers the topic, and does not contain obvious omissions or inaccuracies. It contains a large proportion of the material necessary for an A-Class article, although some sections may need expansion, and some less important topics may be missing. The article has a defined structure. Content should be organized into groups of related material, including a lead section and all the sections that can reasonably be included in an article of its kind. The article is reasonably well-written. The prose contains no major grammatical errors and flows sensibly, but it certainly need not be "brilliant". The Manual of Style need not be followed rigorously. The article contains supporting materials where appropriate. Illustrations are encouraged, though not required. Diagrams and an infobox etc. should be included where they are relevant and useful to the content. The article presents its content in an appropriately accessible way. It is written with as broad an audience in mind as possible. Although Wikipedia is more than just a general encyclopedia, the article should not assume unnecessary technical background and technical terms should be explained or avoided where possible.

Tips that you should REALLY follow

Whenever you add information to your article, make sure you add an inline citation with it. This means the article is much more likely to get a higher assessment. It also means you don't have to bother adding them later.
If you add pictures, make sure you give an appropriate caption.
ALWAYS try to find an appropriate infobox for your article and fill it out as much as you can.