User:Bobby Cohn/sandbox/Writing articles for dummies

This is a guidance essay that is meant to summarise other Wikipedia policies and guidelines, and explain how those policies relate to the task of writing a new Wikipedia article. It is meant to explain those policies as they relate to the different steps of writing an article.

I'm titling this essay Writing articles for dummies because if you follow these steps exactly, you shouldn't have an issue with having your article accepted at WP:Articles for Creation and it should survive any discussion at WP:Articles for Deletion.

Step 0: Determine who or what you are writing about

If you've gotten this far, it is likely you already know you are writing about. However, there is more to determining this than you may think. It is also possible that you are not sure what you want to write about, but you're ready to tackle a new task. That's okay too!

Writing an article about different topics requires applying different policies and guidelines. Are you writing a biography of a living person? Understand that every statement of fact, quote, or contentious material about that individual will require an inline citation. Are you writing about a company? Know that we often do not value what the company thinks about themselves, or statements that they have published or have had others publish.

Knowing what type of article you are writing is crucial because it will dictate how you conduct your research and writing. As we will discuss later, there are subject-specific notability guidelines, and this is where it is beneficial to truly understand your subject.

Step 0.1: Are you writing about yourself or someone/thing that you have a connection to?

Are you writing about yourself, someone or something that you have a connection to? Stop. Seriously.

• "But I still want to write about myself/my book/my grandmother"

Okay, head over to your user page and declare your conflict of interest. That's it. That's all we ask.

• "But I'm being paid to write an article."
  "My boss asked me to write an article."
  "I want to write about a company I own or work for."

While you're editing is not strictly disallowed, you do have to follow Wikipedia's mandatory paid editing disclosure requirements. Go to your user page and place the {{Paid}} template and fill in the parameters. Choose one of the examples below that is most applicable to your situation:

1. {{paid|client = InsertName}}
2. {{paid|employer = InsertName}}
3. {{paid|employer = InsertName |client = InsertName}}

Step 1: Understand what will be accepted as an article

There are only two requirements for an article to exist on Wikipedia, and they are copied here, in full:

1. It meets either the general notability guideline (GNG) below, or the criteria outlined in a subject-specific notability guideline (SNG); and
2. It is not excluded under the What Wikipedia is not policy.

Pretty straight forward, right? Only two things. The problem is that a lot of new writers will have an idea of what they think a generic Wikipedia article will look like, and then they go about trying to write their own article that ends up being precluded by one of the above policies. This will cause frustration because "the work has already been done. Why can't I just publish what I've got?" But this hardly ever works.

So instead, this guide will walk you through writing an article by starting from within the guidelines, and working outwards from that. This way, when you get to the end of your article, there won't be any surprises and you shouldn't have any trouble having your article accepted.

We will address each of the above requirements one at a time, in reverse order.

1.1: Ensuring your article isn't precluded from existing

The policy page Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not describes any article, regardless of whether it meets the notability policy as described below, that cannot be allowed on Wikipedia. Ensure that the article that you plan to write isn't precluded by a rule on that policy page. For example, you cannot write an article that would solely be a dictionary definition, or a simple collection of information such as numbers or lyrics for a database.

In addition, you cannot write promotional material nor may you write original research. On Wikipedia, original research is defined as "material—such as facts, allegations, and ideas—for which no reliable, published source exists." However, if you follow the remainder of this guideline, you should not have a problem avoiding these two constraints, as you will have written your article as the steps below dictate: in a neutral tone using citations to previously published facts.

1.2: Ensuring your subject is notable

There are two ways to establish notability on Wikipedia.

1. Through a subject-specific notability guideline, or SNG: these are policies that are specific to a topic area that outline what needs to be established in an article for it to be published.
2. Through the General Notability Guidelines, or the GNG: this is a catch-all provision that outlines what is required for any other topic to be demonstrated notable.

Satisfying one of the above is sufficient in demonstrating that an article ought to exist on Wikipedia. Now is the time to begin thinking about how your new article will demonstrate that the subject is notable. That is the easiest order of operations to writing an article. Take a look at the category Wikipedia notability guidelines and see which would best describe your subject. Your article will likely fall into a subject-specific notability guideline. Depending on your subject, you may find it easier to find notability in your sources and establish it when writing your article using either the

Before moving onto the next stage of researching and writing your article, you should now understand

Step 2: Conduct your research

It is so, so important that you do this step first. Seriously, if you're going to try and research your topic after you have already written your article, it will not work.

Step 3: Write your article

The first step in writing is collecting your research. You have done your research right? If you have skipped the research step, this whole process falls apart. In writing your article, do not worry about fancy things like adding photos or including templates like infoboxes. The main goal here is to get your information on the page.

See also

• Help:Your first article
• Help:Referencing for beginners
• Wikipedia:The answer to life, the universe, and everything
• Wikipedia:Everything you need to know