User:Noleander/FA checklist

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This is an example checklist to complete before nominating an article for WP:Featured Article consideration.

Style conventions

Every article must establish certain style conventions and use them consistently. Here is an example set of conventions:

  • American spellings
  • Date format: 15 July 1975 (DMY); BCE / CE
  • Measurement units: Metric only
  • Sources: All sources are defined in the Sources section using a "Cite" template
  • Citations use "sfn" or "harvnb" template; use "sfnRef" template for anonymous sources
  • Bundle citations: multiple adjacent cites are bundled into a single [nn] superscript using Template:Multiref
  • Book sources: include only one of ISBN, OCLC, LCCN, etc. ISBN preferred. No dashes in ISBNs.
  • Sources: include author-link, if available
  • Source URLs: Internet Archives is preferred, if available, due to its permanence
  • Footnotes: any facts stated in an explanatory footnote require a citation. Same for image captions.
  • Journal & magazine sources: include ISSN, if available (format nnnn-nnnn)
  • Use DOI for journal aricles; only include BibCode if DOI is not available.
  • No quotes in citations. If quote is needed: put into an efn footnote (or body text)
  • All page numbers (or ranges) end with a period.
  • Titles of all sources use Title Case (regardless of how the source capitalizes itself)
  • All images aligned on right side
  • Dashes use n-dash (not m-dash or hyphen)
  • Do not use false titles (MOS:PSEUDOTITLE)
  • Citations to sources with 10 or more pages require a specific page number
  • Use Oxford comma
  • Follow WP:Summary style and use subarticles to keep this article consistent with WP:SIZERULE
  • Spell-out numbers twelve and smaller
  • Sources do not display "location" field/city.
  • Italics for foreign language words; Single quotes around the English word when translating a foreign word into English via a gloss; Double quotes for MOS:WORDSASWORDS (not italics, because italics are used in this article for foreign words);

Checklist before nominating an article for WP:Featured Article

Reviews

Run these tools and address any issues they report

Grammar & prose

  • Read each paragraph out loud to make sure it sounds okay & punctuation is okay
  • Wording should be engaging and vibrant, but not poetic or vulgar.
  • Ensure no puffery or promotional wording ("Famous" "Great" "Powerful" "Renowned" "outstanding" etc) see WP:PEACOCK
  • Vary wording (e.g. alternate a person's name with he/she/they)
  • Vary sentence structure ( subj-verb-obj obj-verb-subj etc)
  • If stumped on wording or grammar, consult WP:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors; or – as a last resort – consider using a writing app such as a thesaurus or grammar-checker ... but only for individual words or phrases, not entire sentences, and certainly not facts.
Alphabetize lists
  • Sources
  • Further Reading
  • See Also
  • Categories [this is not required by MOS, but still a good idea]
  • External links etc

Categories

  • Not too many
  • Not in both a parent category and a child category, see WP:DIFFUSE

Lead

  • Write Lead last, after body is done
  • No cites in Lead
  • Very few blue links in Lead section ([MOS:LEADLINK]]), maybe 3 to 10, and only for links that are obscure and/or critical. NOT for common things like names of cities or countries.
  • An InfoBox, if appropriate, will make article look professional, so try to have one
  • Maximum 4 paragraphs (MOS permits more, but not a good idea)
  • First paragraph in Lead should summarize/introduce/identify the scope of the entire article. The following Lead paragraphs should summarize the body text, in same order as body content

Images

  • Ensure all images have free-use proof (aka proof of no copyright violation)
    • Never try to include copyrighted images even if one of the exceptions is met
  • Caption: Don't end in period if entire caption is a sentence fragment; otherwise, periods. MOS:CAPFRAG
  • Caption should relate the image to the subject of the article (E.g. in an article on Tudors: "Roses were symbolic of the Tudor dynasty" not "A red rose")
  • Alt text for most images (not required if caption is sufficient)
    • Alt text should be "Smith giving a speech", not "A main in a suit, standing on a stage"
  • Cites are required for any facts stated in a caption
  • Put all images on right side (left side can lead to problems)
  • Use Template:Easy CSS image crop to crop
  • Enhance poor-quality images if necessary (sharpen, contrast etc)
  • Enlarge small images with "upright=1.4" field, if needed (max allowed is 1.6)
  • The WikiCommons Details page must explicitly identify source of image; a URL is best. If URL is provided, ensure it is still alive.

Sources

  • For anonymous sources: use "sfnRef" technique to give them a ref name
  • Use Template:refbegin and Template:refend around all the Sources & Further Reading sections (to get a smaller font)
  • Use WP:TWL to try to find recent, scholarly sources on the article's topic, and incorporate them.
    • Do not rely exclusively on books, especially not only the classic books
  • If source does not yet have URL; try to find one & add URL
  • Ensure access-date field for all that have URLs ("Show Ref Check" from tools menu should indicate if missing; but it is flaky) However: access-date is not required for URLs that have content that is unlikely to change over time (e.g. any URLS to books at Google Books or Internet Archive. See Template:Cite book )
  • Ensure all URLs are functional (either original or archived)
  • Add author-links if available (for any source with first/last fields)
  • You must read all sources, even sources that were inserted by editors before you came to the article. You don't need to read the full source, but at least the portions being cited. If you cannot access the source, ask at WP:RX. As a last resort: remove the source and find a replacement.
  • Do not use sketchy sources (e.g. random websites); if cannot find better source (see WP:Reliable Sources) remove the source (and the associated material, if it was the sole source)
  • Page numbers of full source: must be provided for all journal sources, and source that is a chapter within a book
  • Titles of sources: use Title case (initial capital letters, but not prepositions or conjunctions) for the title=Abc Def Ghij" field in all sources & citations (MOS permits sentence case or title case for source titles, but choice must be uniform thru an article; see WP:CITEVAR MOS:TITLECAPS)
  • Ensure all items in "Sources" section are in fact utilized by some citation (TBS: there is a tool that identifies sources that are not utilized) otherwise: move it to "Further reading"

Citations

  • Use Template:sfn or Template:harvnb for all citations, even anonymous ones (use "sfnRef" to get a sfn-suitable name for anonymous sources)
  • Put cites at the end of sentences (only put mid-sentence in rare situations)
  • When two or more cites are end of a sentence: put them in increasing numerical order e.g. [5][6] not [6][5] (This is moot if bundling cites)
  • Ensure all sentences have cites, unless or 2 or more consecutive share same cite, then put at end of final sentence
  • If source has 10 or more numbered pages, cite MUST include page number(s) for the pages that support the sentence. NO exceptions.
  • Ensure consistent style & format across all cites & Sources
  • Explanatory footnotes must have citations, except for rare footnotes that are not stating a fact (e.g. exists only to display a WP link)
  • Bundling multiple adjacent/consecutive sources: Bundle using either Template:Multiref or Template:sfnm (use one or the other thru entire article)
  • ISSN / OCLC / ISBN / DOI etc: Be as uniform as possible.
    • NO hyphens in ISBNs.
    • Year:
      • Before 1970, ISBNs did not exist
      • 1970 to 2007: ISBN-10 only (cannot use ISBN-10 for editions/reprints before 1970)
      • 2007 onward: ISBN-13 (should not use ISBN-13 for editions/reprints before 2007; however some ISBN-13 have been fabricated for ISBN-10 works)
    • If you include ISSN for one periodical, must include for all. Use xxxx-xxxx format
    • Use one of ISBN, OCLC or LCCN
  • Location field for books - Uniform: include or omit for all
  • Page range: "p" vs "pp" -> Run "Show Ref Check" from Tools menu to identify p vs pp mistakes

Manual of Style

  • Dashes uniform, e.g. always use n-dash everywhere, e.g Template:snd or Template:nbndash. Also in source "title" fields. Hyphens okay ONLY for page ranges within cite templates.
  • Oxford comma or not: uniform
  • England vs US uniform: Spelling (colour); meters/feet; DMY vs MDY
  • Section titles: keep them brief, and each on a single topic; try to avoid word "and" in section titles
  • Quotes: use very sparingly: only for famous quotes, or ones that provide valuable insight
    • In general, paraphrase any quote into encyclopedic. voice
    • Block quotes are very rare. Use template blockquote, never quote-box template.

Layout & overall

  • Use 2-columns sections: Sources, Citations, References, See also, etc
  • Break huge paragraphs into smaller
  • Avoid single-sentence paragraphs: Merge into adjacent paragraphs
  • Keep the article tight & focused; avoid temptation to add tons of details
    • Push obscure details into footnotes or into sub-articles see WP:SUMMARY
    • Even depth throughout entire article: see WP:PROPORTION
    • Ensure readers know about sub-articles by providing "further" or "seealso" or "main" templates at top of sections, if available
  • Try to minimize or eliminate size of the See Also section
  • Try to eliminate any red links; consider creating stub article if possible
  • Technical topics should be simplified per WP:Make technical articles understandable

Miscellaneous

  • Neutral point-of-view NPOV: ensure that any minority or controversial views are represented, but only to an appropriate degree
  • Visit WP:Featured article criteria and check those criteria
  • At top of article include:
{{Use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
  • Experimental process (I've never tried this): Run chatgpt to find errors by typing (say) "Find at least one error in this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julio_and_Marisol" into the box at https://chatgpt.com/ However, one needs at the very least to be logged in to access the kind of "Thinking" ChatGPT variant used in the experiment (currently: "ChatGPT 5.1 Thinking", with the "Extended Thinking" setting) and also to have ChatGPT retrieve the page itself (instead of it deflecting the request with something like "I can't directly browse the web or access live content"). not sure if paid version (ChatGPT Plus) is required, and am not sure whether the free version gives good results. (Also, one can achieve good results with at least the paid versions of Claude or Gemini, too, provided one uses the reasoning/"thinking" variants of those models, perhaps having to vary the prompt.)

Finally

  • Eliminate all double-spaces: this may reduce the page size dramatically (the pagesize tool used do count a double space as a word ... but that bug was fixed late 2025).
  • Validate that every sentence is consistent with its citations/sources. Use the "Veracity" tool (on Tools menu) to generate a checklist
  • After completing all of the above steps: wait a few days to get a fresh perspective; then check ensure you did not introduce any problems
  • Only now, the article can be nominated at WP:Featured_article_candidates#Nominating


GA review vs FA review

See WP:GACR, especially the footnotes 1,2,3 and 4 at the bottom
  • Prose: "Prose at the good article level is not expected to be at a professional level like it is for featured articles. Minor grammatical or style issues that do not impact clarity are not prohibitive of GA status."
  • MOS: GA only requires compliance with MOS: ".. lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation". Other aspects of MOS (e.g. citation/source uniformity - see WP:Good_article_criteria#cite_note-4) are not strictly required
  • Broad coverage: "The "broad in its coverage" criterion is significantly weaker than the "comprehensiveness" required of featured articles. It allows shorter articles, articles that do not cover every major fact or detail, and overviews of large topics."
  • On-going improvements okay if minor: "Edits that do not apply to the "stable" criterion include reverting vandalism, proposals to split or merge content, good faith improvements to the page (such as copy editing), and changes based on reviewers' suggestions. Nominations for articles that are unstable because of disruptive editing may be failed or placed on hold. Stability is based on the article's current state, not any potential for instability in the future."
  • Images: "The presence of media is not an absolute requirement. If illustrating the article by media is impossible, the article may still be a good article. However, if media with acceptable copyright status is appropriate and readily available, then such media should be provided." No requirement for ALT text.

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