 | This is an information page. It is not an encyclopedic article, nor one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines; rather, its purpose is to explain certain aspects of Wikipedia's norms, customs, technicalities, or practices. It may reflect differing levels of consensus and vetting. |
So you made a userspace draft: if you've just created (or had created for you) a draft in your userspace (something like User:Example/pagename) then this is the place to be.
If you haven't already done so, you might want to look at the Tutorial or Contributing to Wikipedia for general guidance on how to edit pages, or Writing better articles for guidance on how to write and structure your article. The Cheatsheet can help with basic wiki markup. If you need help, you can ask at the Teahouse, Help desk or Wikipedia's live help chat. It is often very instructive to find existing articles on topics similar to that of your draft (e.g. if you're writing a biography of an economist, find existing biographies of other economists). Look at how these established articles are written and structured, and examine how the wiki markup works to produce the final product.
Once you feel the draft is completed, you may wish to ask for feedback on your creation first at Wikipedia:Peer review. If you are ready to go live, you can move it to mainspace. However, note that your account must be four days old and you must have made a minimum of 10 edits in order to do so (a restriction called autoconfirmation). If you do not meet these restrictions, you can request such a move at this section of Wikipedia:Requested moves. Further, note that autoconfirmed editors with a low edit count are strongly encouraged to follow the peer review process rather than move a draft directly into mainspace.
Above all, don't rush: Rome wasn't built in a day, and there's no reason your article should be. However, if you don't cover at least the core issues below before going "live" with your draft, you may soon be looking at Why was my page deleted? Don't wait to get it perfect, but do write enough content and cite enough sources so that others can develop the article if you move on.
Core issues
If you created your draft via the Article Wizard, you should be familiar with these core issues: but they are very important so they're recapped here.
Notability
Above all else, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. This means that by its very nature, items in Wikipedia have to be notable enough to be considered encyclopedic.
A topic is notable if it has been the subject of multiple, non-trivial published works from sources that are reliable and independent of the subject itself and of each other. All topics must meet a minimum threshold of notability in order for an article on that topic to be included in Wikipedia. This requirement ensures that there exists enough source material to write a verifiable, encyclopedic article about the topic.
What Wikipedia is not: In addition to the notability criteria described above, the entry must also be encyclopedic in nature. Items such as FAQs, video game guides, memorials, instruction manuals, directories, list of links, advertising, self-promotion, and dictionary definitions are not encyclopedic.
Sources
1. have a reputation for reliability: they are reliable sources
2. are independent of the subject
3. are verifiable by other editors
The key thing you'll need is (more) reliable sources, which are also independent of the subject. Other editors will need these to both verify the information in your article, and confirm notability.
- Look for more sources! There's no substitute for research.
- Remember that not every subject in the world meets the notability criteria - but some that currently don't might do so in the future.
- If you're unable to find the sources to support an article, you could post a request at Wikipedia:Requested articles.
If you'd like to try to find the reliable sources needed for your proposed article, these links may help:
| Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL. Remember, though, that many valuable sources are not available online. |
Content
As a general rule, DO NOT COPY-PASTE TEXT FROM OTHER WEBSITES OR ANY FORM OF MEDIA. (There are a few limited exceptions.[1][2] For example, a few words as part of a properly cited and clearly attributed quotation is acceptable.)
The article you create should not include text copy-and-pasted from other websites, books, magazines or other sources, unless it is part of a properly attributed and sourced quotation. Articles violating copyright will be deleted.[1] Write the article yourself in your own words.[2] It is okay if your text is not perfect — that can always be fixed later.
Style and layout
To develop good style and layout, you can look at Wikipedia:Writing better articles, or look at the way existing articles are written (especially similar ones).
It is good to identify relevant categories to which your draft article could belong. To add a category to a user space draft, edit the article and add the category using the syntax [[:Category:Category name]] at the bottom of the article, e.g. [[:Category:Mind-body interventions]]. The colon syntax will not add your draft to the listing of articles in the category, but will list the categories as links at the bottom of the article. When your draft is ready to be transferred to article space, remove the colons from the category links.
Similarly, you should try to add appropriate wikilinks in the article. Add wikilinks to other articles that aid navigation and understanding, but avoid cluttering the page with links to terms whose meaning can be understood by most readers, such as plain English words. Use your perusal of established articles on similar topics as a guide on what kind of things to link.
Ready!
Once you think your draft is ready to go live, submit your article to the Articles for creation by placing {{subst:AFC submission/submit}} at the top of your article and an experienced user will move your article into WP:Draftspace for further review.[3]
Name clash
If the name you'd like to give your page already exists, you can't just replace that page.
- If the existing page is an article on the subject you want to cover anyway, just edit it and integrate the content from your draft if it will improve the article.
- If the existing page is an article on a different subject, you'll need to choose a slightly different name, to "disambiguate" between the two topics.
- See Wikipedia:Disambiguation for details on how to do that correctly (you need to choose a good page name, and also correctly link the pages)
- Or just go to the Request directory and select the noticeboard or request page most closely connected to the query you have. A volunteer will visit you there.
- If the existing page is a redirect (a page which takes you to an article under another name – the "target" page), you can either integrate your content into the target article or change the redirect into its own article. In the latter case, you should generally post on the talk page of the target article first, to see if anyone objects or has a better idea.
Deleting your draft
If you decide to abandon your draft, just put {{db-userreq}} at the start of it. It will be deleted shortly. Alternatively, you could donate your draft to WikiProject Abandoned Drafts for another user to finish and introduce into the mainspace.
See also
Notes
- ^ a b There are a very few websites (and other sources) from which 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). However, even when taking text from public domain sources, the copying should be attributed to the source. Avoiding copyright infringement does not excuse plagiarism. If you think a source may qualify, please ask for confirmation at Wikipedia talk:Copyright problems, and await a response before using the text unchanged.
- ^ a b If you own the previously published material or have permission to reproduce it, permission must be verified. See Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials.
- ^ If your account is already autoconfirmed, you have the ability to move the page on your own. At "To new title", enter your intended name for the final article without any prefixes. However, you may wish to ask for feedback on your creation first, at Wikipedia:Peer review.
If an appropriate name for the article is not immediately obvious, please visit Wikipedia:Article titles. Please note that Wikipedia articles are normally titled using the name which is most commonly used to refer to the subject of the article in English-language reliable sources—common usage is preferred to technically correct but rarer forms, whether the official name, the scientific name, the birth name, the original name or the trademarked name.