As a general rule, NEVER COPY-PASTE TEXT FROM OTHER WEBSITES. (There are a few limited exceptions,[1][2] and adding a few words as part of a properly cited and clearly attributed quotation is OK.)
Your article must not use copyrighted content. Wikipedia takes copyright very seriously.
Do not copy and paste text, from websites, PDFs, books, magazines, or other sources, even if you own them yourself or if someone has given you permission to do so. Giving you permission does not allow you to use it on Wikipedia. You may use short, properly attributed and sourced quotations.
Wikipedia software detects text taken from other sources. Articles violating copyright will be deleted.[1]
Write the article yourself in your own words but do not closely paraphrase it.[2] It's okay if your text is not perfect — that can always be fixed later. (Similarly, if you're considering uploading an image for the article and you've not done so before, you might want to wait a few days to get input from others on your article.[3])
Your article should also establish notability.
On the Notability page, you read how to make your subject notable enough for Wikipedia. Be sure that by the time the reader finishes reading your article, they will understand why the subject is notable.
Your article must be neutral in its tone.
Articles in Wikipedia should have a neutral point of view. This means that they are neither "for" nor "against" any particular subject matter. While properly cited praise or criticism of the subject is perfectly acceptable, your article should approach it from a neutral tone. Just write about facts — it is fine to include the fact that somebody else has published an opinion, but do not include your own opinion. Articles must fairly represent all significant views, proportionately, and without bias. Articles that only attack their subject may be deleted, and articles that serve only to praise a subject may be deleted or radically edited by others to achieve a neutral tone.
Your article should not engage in puffery.
Puffery is when an article attempts to exaggerate the notability of its subject. Puffery only serves to reduce the neutrality of the article and so it should be avoided. The most common type of puffery is the use of peacock terms such as legendary, great, leading, award-winning, cutting-edge, or innovative and any other adjectives that make the subject sound more important than it is.
Your article needs to meet style guidelines.
All articles on Wikipedia follow the same style. Make sure you take a look at the Simplified Manual of Style, its full version, or take a look at an article, preferably a Wikipedia 'Good article’’ related to your subject to see how content is formatted. Do not mix American English and British English in one article.
^ abThere are a very few websites (and other sources) from which large amounts of text can be copy-pasted without violating copyright — cases where the text is in the public domain or uses a Wikipedia-compatible license (for the latter, attribution is usually required. Even content copied from other Wikipedia articles needs attribution, per Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia). If you are not sure you content is free of copyright, please ask for advice at Wikipedia talk:Copyright problems, and wait for a reply before finishing this wizard.
^Relevant, illustrative images are great, but if you didn't create the image yourself, the copyright issues can be very complicated. If you want to use a previously-published image, you can ask a question at Wikipedia:Media copyright questions; you could also look for a suitable existing image either on Wikipedia or on Wikimedia Commons. (You can use images from the Commons in the same way as local Wikipedia ones.)
