Wikipedia:Guide to improving articles

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Also known as: Life cycle of the ideal article

Wikipedia's articles are like living things: they are born into stubhood and (ideally) grow up into well-written, comprehensive articles. Unlike other living things, articles have an infinite life expectancy (excepting inappropriate articles that get deleted).

This page details the different stages in an article's life, and lists the various ways you can help articles grow into the next stage. Note that skipping stages is allowed — in fact, it's a very good thing if you can accomplish this! Also, there is no hard line in-between stages, except for featured articles. These are rough categories to help you get an idea of how articles typically grow on Wikipedia.

Please note that this life cycle does not concern itself with votes for deletion, merging, splitting, templates, images, categories, or any of the other issues and organizational techniques that will crop up from time to time. See: Wikipedia:Utilities.

Uncreated article

Every article starts with an idea in the mind of a contributor. You should create articles about whatever you are interested in, so long as they belong in Wikipedia. If you see a red link that strikes your fancy, create an article! For more suggestions on how to think of subjects to contribute on, see Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia.

Before you begin, it's helpful to read the guidelines and tutorials on creating new articles to get an idea of what you should consider (article scope, lead, organization, internal and external links, references, NPOV, etc.)

Good ways to find articles to create:

Stub

If you do not have the time to write a full article, consider writing a "stub" after reading how to create the perfect stub article. Stubs are very short articles, generally of one paragraph or less. These are the "ugly ducklings" of Wikipedia. With effort, they can grow into swans, of course.

Good ways to find and grow stubs:

Developing article

Once a stub has some real content, it's a real article. The vast majority of articles fall into this category. They may have mistakes, but you are encouraged to copyedit and correct them.

Good ways to find and improve developing articles:

Disputed article

Occasionally a developing article (or even a good or great article) will get sick: two or more editors disagree with each other and have trouble reaching a compromise. These articles need extra "tender loving care" from mediators who are willing to help all parties come to a consensus.

If you choose to help these articles out as a mediator, please keep Wikiquette and civility in mind at all times. Stay cool when the editing gets hot.

If you find yourself involved as one of the editors, don't panic. Re-read the three pages linked in the previous paragraph, and follow their advice. If a bitter revert war is in progress, submit a request for page protection. Ask some neutral Wikipedians to come mediate the dispute.

Good ways to find and heal disputed articles:

Good article

A good article has one or more contributors dedicated to improving the article's quality. The article at least tries to be comprehensive. Many Wikipedians "sponsor" or "adopt" a small number of articles, which they add to their watchlists and update whenever they can. Please note that once an article has been "adopted" by one Wikipedian, there's no reason that you shouldn't "adopt" it too, if it strikes your fancy. With two editors collaborating on the same article, it will often improve three times as fast.

Good ways to find and further improve good articles:

Great article

After thorough peer review, with lots of people working together to smooth out the rough edges, a good article can become great. You'll know a great article when you see it. It's steadily approaching perfection. Polish it up as best you can, maybe give it another round in peer review, then submit it as a featured article candidate.

How to get great articles up to featured-quality:

Featured article

Once the article is certified as feature-quality, it can usually be featured on the main page. Just be patient, and the article will eventually get its turn. The day before the article is scheduled to appear on the main page, give it a last once-over, polishing it wherever you find anything.

Note: occasionally, some articles are feature-quality but cannot be featured on the main page for various reasons. For example, if an article is about a subject that would offend a significant number of readers, it will probably not be listed on the main page.

Beyond...

Featured articles are well-polished, but there are almost always small improvements that can be made. Don't ever be afraid to correct mistakes when you see them; no article is perfect, though perfection will always remain our goal.

Without a doubt, though, our featured articles are excellent, so why not show them off? There are a number of ways you can showcase our best work to people who might not know about Wikipedia. This is an excellent way to recruit new Wikipedians and gain donations, both of which help Wikipedia immensely.

Good ways to showcase our best articles: