Wikipedia:WikiProject Writing/Assessment

More information Writing articles by quality and importance, Quality ...

How are articles assessed? • How do I find article assessments? • How do I assess articles? • How do I find articles in need of assessment? • Importance assessment rubric • Quality assessment rubric

WikiProjects assess articles based on their importance and quality standards. Importance refers to how pertinent the article is to the scope and goals of WikiProject Writing. Quality refers to how complete an article is based on Wikipedia's content standards.

Be mindful that Wikipedia's editing base is made up entirely of volunteers with varying levels of expertise. If you see an assessment that doesn't look quite right, you can always bring it up on the WikiProject Writing discussion page for further insight from active WikiProject Writing participants.

How are articles assessed?

Quality assessments

Article quality is based on a partial letter-grade class system (See 'quality assessment rubric' for a full breakdown of each class). Content quality is somewhat standard across articles, but may contain some variation depending on the amount of reliable secondary sources available for use in the article. For example, articles on academic organizations may be much shorter or have fewer sections than foundational or field-specific topic articles due to the amount of sourcing available. The goal here is to figure out how well the article captures the sum of reliable knowledge available on the topic and how effectively it communicates this information to a public audience. Find out more about quality assessments here.

Importance assessments

Article importance is based on a low to top importance scale (See 'Importance assessment rubric' for a full breakdown of each tier). Article importance is specific to the field the article is a part of. Since WikiProjects encompass a wide range of fields on Wikipedia, those participants are the principle editors assessing importance. Since this is a fairly WikiProject-specific importance scale, WikiProjects often create their own importance assessments based on their scope and goals. WikiProject Writing has developed it's own importance scale, but if you would like to make changes or discuss a clarification, you can do so at the WikiProject Writing discussion page. Find out more about importance assessments here.

How do I find article assessments?

You can find article quality and importance assessments on the talk page of any Wikipedia article. At the top of the talk page, there will be a WikiProject banner(s) with a class and importance grade beneath a short description of the WikiProject. If there are multiple WikiProjects, you may need to click on the dropdown menu for each WikiProject to find their assessments. It is important to note that assessment may differ from project to project. For reference, here is an example of the WikiProject Writing banner:

Writing

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Writing, a WikiProject interested in improving Wikipedia's coverage of content related to the fields of rhetoric, composition, technical communication, literacy, and language studies.WritingWikipedia:WikiProject WritingTemplate:WikiProject WritingWriting
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

NOTE: The quality and importance grades are omitted here. They will normally appear where the 'NA class' box is located.

How do I assess articles?

Articles can be assessed by adding the WikiProject Writing banner template to the talk page of an article and setting class and importance parameters. You can go about doing this through source editor in wikitext OR by using the Rater tool which allows you to add the banner in visual editor.

For a full step-by-step breakdown of both methods, use the tagging and assessing articles guide. This guide also goes over how to change preexisting quality and importance assessments.

How do I find articles in need of assessment?

Articles under the scope of WikiProject Writing are tracked using the WP 1.0 bot. The bot generates a table listing articles that have been assessed and unassessed. All articles with the WikiProject Writing banner are included in this table. Those that have been assessed are listed alongside their quality and importance classes or grades. You can find articles in need of assessment by clicking on the number next to 'unassessed' and selecting an article.

Writing articles by quality and importance
Quality	Importance
Quality	Top	High	Mid	Low	NA	???	Total
FA	1						1
GA	1		1	4			6
B	8	7	19	34		19	87
C	10	18	55	199		74	356
Start	1	6	28	288		132	455
Stub		2	11	100		59	172
List		1	2	10		3	16
Category					370		370
Disambig					1		1
File					1		1
Project					6		6
Template					24		24
NA				3	38		41
Other					197		197
Assessed	21	34	116	638	637	287	1,733
Unassessed						11	11
Total	21	34	116	638	637	298	1,744

Importance assessment rubric

This table was developed by WikiProject Writing participants based on the importance level of articles under the scope of WikiProject Writing. If you are unclear about an assessment criteria or a specific article you're working on, you can start a discussion on theWikiProject Writing discussion page to gain clarity/consensus on a potential revision.

NOTE: Any article which has not yet been assessed on the importance scale is automatically added to the Category:Unknown-importance Writing articles.

Label	Criteria	Examples
Top	These are vital, general-interest articles that require input from experts in writing studies and associated fields. Category:Top-importance Writing articles	Writing
High	These are articles on field-specific topics that are of interest to, or have potential to affect, many average readers. Articles are high traffic, general interest, or represent content gaps in coverage of marginalized topics. Category:High-importance Writing articles	Basic writing Writing centers Beverly J. Moss
Mid	These are field-specific articles or articles that need field-specific sections within writing studies. They may or may not be commonly known outside of writing studies and associated fields. Category:Mid-importance Writing articles	Digital Rhetoric
Low	These articles are on highly specialized topics within writing studies or loosely tied to writing fields. Category:Low-importance Writing articles	Ballpoint pen

Quality assessment rubric

This quality assessment criteria has been developed by WikiProject articles for creation as a standard guidelines for quality assessment. WikiProject Writing has placed article examples for several examples sections of the criteria, but we still need help improving articles to featured article status and featured list status.

Class	Criteria	Reader's experience	Editing suggestions	Example
FA	The article has attained featured article status by passing an in-depth examination by impartial reviewers from WP:Featured article candidates. More detailed criteria The article meets the featured article criteria: A featured article exemplifies Wikipedia's very best work and is distinguished by professional standards of writing, presentation, and sourcing. In addition to meeting the policies regarding content for all Wikipedia articles, it has the following attributes. It is: well-written: its prose is engaging and of a professional standard; comprehensive: it neglects no major facts or details and places the subject in context; well-researched: it is a thorough and representative survey of the relevant literature; claims are verifiable against high-quality reliable sources and are supported by inline citations where appropriate; neutral: it presents views fairly and without bias; stable: it is not subject to ongoing edit wars and its content does not change significantly from day to day, except in response to the featured article process; and compliant with Wikipedia's copyright policy and free of plagiarism or too-close paraphrasing. It follows the style guidelines, including the provision of: a lead: a concise lead section that summarizes the topic and prepares the reader for the detail in the subsequent sections; appropriate structure: a substantial but not overwhelming system of hierarchical section headings; and consistent citations: where required by criterion 1c, consistently formatted inline citations using footnotes—see citing sources for suggestions on formatting references. Citation templates are not required. Media. It has images and other media, where appropriate, with succinct captions and acceptable copyright status. Images follow the image use policy. Non-free images or media must satisfy the criteria for inclusion of non-free content and be labeled accordingly. Length. It stays focused on the main topic without going into unnecessary detail and uses summary style where appropriate.	Professional, outstanding, and thorough; a definitive source for encyclopedic information.	No further content additions should be necessary unless new information becomes available; further improvements to the prose quality are often possible.	Cleopatra (as of June 2018)
FL	The article has attained featured list status by passing an in-depth examination by impartial reviewers from WP:Featured list candidates. More detailed criteria The article meets the featured list criteria: Prose. It features professional standards of writing. Lead. It has an engaging lead that introduces the subject and defines the scope and inclusion criteria. Comprehensiveness. (a) It comprehensively covers the defined scope, providing at least all of the major items and, where practical, a complete set of items; where appropriate, it has annotations that provide useful and appropriate information about the items. (b) statements are sourced where they appear, and they provide inline citations if they contain any of the four kinds of material absolutely required to have citations. (c) In length and/or topic, it meets all of the requirements for stand-alone lists and includes at minimum eight items; does not violate the content-forking guideline, does not largely duplicate material from another article, and could not reasonably be included as part of a related article. Structure. It is easy to navigate and includes, where helpful, section headings and table sort facilities. Style. It complies with the Manual of Style and its supplementary pages. (a) Visual appeal. It makes suitable use of text layout, formatting, tables, and colour; and a minimal proportion of items are redlinked. (b) Media files. It has images and other media, if appropriate to the topic, that follow Wikipedia's usage policies, with succinct captions. Non-free images and other media satisfy the criteria for the inclusion of non-free content and are labeled accordingly. (c) Accessibility. It uses proper formatting to be accessible to all readers. Bulleted and unbulleted lists and tables are structured correctly. Visual media, if included, utilize alternative (alt) text. Stability. It is not the subject of ongoing edit wars and its content does not change significantly from day to day, except in response to the featured list process.	Professional standard; it comprehensively covers the defined scope, usually providing a complete set of items, and has annotations that provide useful and appropriate information about those items.	No further content additions should be necessary unless new information becomes available; further improvements to the prose quality are often possible.	List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events (as of May 2018)
A	The article is well organized and essentially complete, having been examined by impartial reviewers from a WikiProject or elsewhere. Good article status is not a requirement for A-Class. More detailed criteria The article meets the A-Class criteria: Provides a well-written, clear and complete description of the topic, as described in Wikipedia:Article development. It should be of a length suitable for the subject, appropriately structured, and be well referenced by a broad array of reliable sources. It should be well illustrated, with no copyright problems. Only minor style issues and other details need to be addressed before submission as a featured article candidate. See the A-Class assessment departments of some of the larger WikiProjects (e.g. WikiProject Military history).	Very useful to readers. A fairly complete treatment of the subject. A non-expert in the subject would typically find nothing wanting.	Expert knowledge may be needed to tweak the article, and style problems may need solving. WP:Peer review may help.	Battle of Nam River (as of June 2014)
GA	The article meets all of the good article criteria, and has been examined by one or more impartial reviewers from WP:Good article nominations. More detailed criteria A good article is: Well-written: the prose is clear, concise, and understandable to an appropriately broad audience; spelling and grammar are correct; and it complies with the Manual of Style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation. Verifiable with no original research: it contains a list of all references (sources of information), presented in accordance with the layout style guideline; reliable sources are cited inline. All content that could reasonably be challenged, except for plot summaries and that which summarizes cited content elsewhere in the article, must be cited no later than the end of the paragraph (or line if the content is not in prose); it contains no original research; and it contains no copyright violations or plagiarism. Broad in its coverage: it addresses the main aspects of the topic; and it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style). Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial bias, giving due weight to each. Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute. Illustrated, if possible, by media such as images, video, or audio: media are tagged with their copyright statuses, and valid non-free use rationales are provided for non-free content; and media are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions.	Useful to nearly all readers, with no obvious problems; approaching (though not necessarily equalling) the quality of a professional publication.	Some editing by subject and style experts is helpful; comparison with an existing featured article on a similar topic may highlight areas where content is weak or missing.	Language
B	The article meets all of the B-Class criteria. It is mostly complete and does not have major problems, but requires some further work to reach good article standards. More detailed criteria The article is suitably referenced, with inline citations. It has reliable sources, and any important or controversial material which is likely to be challenged is cited. Any format of inline citation is acceptable: the use of <ref> tags and citation templates such as `{{cite web}}` is optional. 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 does not need to be of the standard of featured articles. The Manual of Style does not need to be followed rigorously. The article contains supporting materials where appropriate. Illustrations are encouraged, though not required. Diagrams, an infobox etc. should be included where they are relevant and useful to the content. The article presents its content in an appropriately understandable way. It is written with as broad an audience in mind as possible. The article should not assume unnecessary technical background and technical terms should be explained or avoided where possible.	Readers are not left wanting, although the content may not be complete enough to satisfy a serious student or researcher.	A few aspects of content and style need to be addressed. Expert knowledge may be needed. The inclusion of supporting materials should be considered if practical, and the article checked for general compliance with the Manual of Style and related style guidelines.	Rhetoric
C	The article is substantial but is still missing important content or contains irrelevant material. The article should have some references to reliable sources, but may still have significant problems or require substantial cleanup. More detailed criteria The article cites more than one reliable source and is better developed in style, structure, and quality than Start-Class, but it fails one or more of the criteria for B-Class. It may have some gaps or missing elements, or need editing for clarity, balance, or flow.	Useful to a casual reader, but would not provide a complete picture for even a moderately detailed study.	Considerable editing is needed to close gaps in content and solve cleanup problems.	Communication
Start	An article that is developing but still quite incomplete. It may or may not cite adequate reliable sources. More detailed criteria The article has a meaningful amount of good content, but it is still weak in many areas. The article has one or more of the following: A useful picture or graphic Multiple links that help explain or illustrate the topic A subheading that fully treats an element of the topic Multiple subheadings that indicate material that could be added to complete the article	Provides some meaningful content, but most readers will need more.	Providing references to reliable sources should come first; the article also needs substantial improvement in content and organisation. Improve the grammar, spelling, and writing style; decrease the use of jargon.	African-American Vernacular English
Stub	A very basic description of the topic. Meets none of the Start-Class criteria.	Provides very little meaningful content; may be little more than a dictionary definition. Readers probably see insufficiently developed features of the topic and may not see how the features of the topic are significant.	Any editing or additional material can be helpful. The provision of meaningful content should be a priority. The best solution for a Stub-class Article to step up to a Start-class Article is to add in referenced reasons of why the topic is significant.	Conference on College Composition and Communication
List	Meets the criteria of a stand-alone list or set index article, which is an article that contains primarily a list, usually consisting of links to articles in a particular subject area.	There is no set format for a list, but its organization should be logical and useful to the reader.	Lists should be lists of live links to Wikipedia articles, appropriately named and organized.	List of literary movements

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