Plain and simple overview of creating a new article "WP:1ST" and "WP:FIRST" redirect here. For other uses, see Wikipedia:1st (disambiguation). ShortcutsWP:YFAWP:YFAH:YFAH:YFA Writing an article Learn how you can create a Wikipedia article. This page in a nutshell: The topic of the article must be notable: it must he in-depth coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the topic. If you are connected to the topic, don't write about it. Find another topic instead. Make sure there isn't already an article about the topic. The article you write must include citations to the sources you used. Use your own words to write the article; you must not copy from sources word-for-word. Don't use large language models (LLMs) to write original content. New here?
Creating an article is one of the more difficult tasks on Wikipedia, and you'll he a higher chance of success if you help out with other tasks first to learn more about how Wikipedia works. You can always come back to create an article later; there is no rush!
Article creation Introductory Getting started with Wikipedia Article wizard Your first article Suggested articles Most-wanted articles Requested articles Images needing articles Concepts and guidelines Standard layout Lead section Sections Stub articles Categorization Development processes Article development Moving a page Merging articles Featured article criteria The perfect article Meta tools and groups WikiProject: Articles for creation Special:NewPages Special:NewPagesFeed New pages patrol New articles by topic Recent additions (DYK)Welcome to Wikipedia! Creating a new article is one of many ways to contribute to the encyclopedia, but can be difficult for new editors. We recommend looking at our introductory tutorials or contributing to Wikipedia to learn the basics about editing first. Working on existing articles is a great way to learn Wikipedia's protocols and style conventions; see the Task Center or your homepage for articles that need your assistance and tasks you can help out with.
Before creating your first article, it's highly recommended to practice in your sandbox. Choose a topic supported by reliable, independent sources. Write in a neutral tone, oid promotional language, and make sure all the information in the article is supported by your sources. If you're unsure, the Article Wizard can help guide you step-by-step through the process. Don't worry if it's not perfect—every experienced editor started with their first try!
Once you are familiar with the basics of Wikipedia editing, this page will guide you through the process of creating your first article! Specifically, you will learn how to:
Determine whether Wikipedia should he a new article on the given subject Identify and use reliable sources to support assertions in the article Create a draft of the article Submit the draft for publication into the encyclopedia itself The basics Further information: Wikipedia:Simplified ruleset, Wikipedia:Reliable sources, Wikipedia:Verifiability, Wikipedia:Citing sources, and Help:Find sourcesAll new articles start by researching a topic using high-quality, published sources. Even if you're an expert on a topic, you can't just write what you know off the top of your head; published sources are needed. High-quality sources include books by reputable publishers, respected newspapers, peer-reviewed scientific and academic journals, and other sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy. This may include some high-quality websites, but excludes personal and company websites, blogs, social media, and any site where the public can contribute, like forums and even Wikipedia itself.
We summarize such high-quality, published sources in Wikipedia articles. That is all we do! Please make sure that everything you write on Wikipedia is based on such sources, and be sure to include inline citations along with the content you write. While primary sources can be used, they should be used sparingly and carefully, usually only to support basic facts. Primary sources do not contribute to establishing notability.
Before you start writingAre you connected to the article topic? Further information: Wikipedia:Plain and simple conflict of interest guide and Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure
If you he a personal or professional relationship with what you want to write about, it is best if you do not create the new article yourself. Editing with a conflict of interest, regardless of whether you feel you can do so neutrally, gives the appearance of bias and undermines public confidence in Wikipedia. If you create an article despite your conflict of interest, you must disclose your relationship and make sure that it is reviewed by another editor by submitting it via Articles for creation. If you he a financial conflict of interest in the topic (for example if you he been paid to edit it) you must make the required paid-contribution disclosure and abide by the community's restrictions on paid editing.
Search for an existing article Further information: Help:SearchingThe English Wikipedia already has 7.08 million articles. Before creating a new one, try to make sure there is not already an article (or a Draft in development) on the same topic, perhaps under a different spelling, or even a different name.
Search for articles (or drafts) that already exist:Note: Articles are in "Main" space, and drafts are in "Draft" space.
If you're sure that there is no article or draft ailable for your topic, then there is just one big task to do before you start writing your first article: you he to gather sources about the topic in order to establish its notability.
Gather sources Further information: Help:Find sourcesAs described above in § The basics, Wikipedia articles are written based on published sources. If you need some help finding sources, see this helpful guide.
For some common sources, you may find these assessments by the Wikipedia community helpful. Please note these assessments certainly do not list all possible sources: if a source is not listed, that only just means the community hasn't evaluated it yet. If a source meets the reliable source criteria, you are welcome to use it. If you he questions, please do ask at the Teahouse.
Notability – should this topic he an article? Notability General notability guideline Subject-specific guidelines Academics Astronomical objects Books Events Films Geographic features Music Numbers Organizations and companies People Species Sports and athletes Web content See also Notability essays Guide to deletion Common deletion outcomes Why was my article deleted? vte Main page: Wikipedia:NotabilityYour topic must meet Wikipedia's criteria for hing an article, which we call "notability". Notability is tricky to define, but in a nutshell, if there are multiple published reliable sources about a topic, then it may be notable. A topic is not notable if there aren't sufficient reliable sources about it. (Important: unreliable ones like blogs, social media, and websites anyone can edit don't count!) The general notability guideline gives more details on how to tell if a topic is notable or not. If you're not sure if your topic is notable, ask for help at the Teahouse.
A notable topic is one that has multiple reliable sources that each meet all three of the following criteria:
Secondary. A secondary source provides thought and reflection based on primary sources, generally at least one step removed from a topic. It contains analysis, evaluation, interpretation, or synthesis of the facts, evidence, concepts, and ideas taken from primary sources. Independent of the subject. This means that nobody involved in writing or publishing the source has a financial or other connection to the subject. A source is not independent of the subject if any of the following are true: if the subject paid for it, including all forms of sponsored content, if the content within the source originates from the subject, including most interviews and all press releases, even if published by a third party (sometimes called "churnalism"), or it was published by the subject itself, on behalf of the subject, or by someone related to the subject. Significant coverage. The sources must discuss your subject in depth, in multiple paragraphs. Trivial mentions, such as one or two sentences or the appearance of your subject in a table or list, is not enough to help establish notability. The special notability guideline for businesses has lots of good examples of what is considered significant and trivial.If your topic is not notable, stop here and find a new one. Non-notable topics do not qualify for a separate article. Consider expanding a relevant existing article related to the topic or select a new topic. If you are stuck, ask for guidance at the Teahouse.
Look at similar articles See also: Help:Introduction to the Manual of StyleIt's a good idea to look at several existing Wikipedia articles on subjects similar to yours to see how such articles are formatted. The quality of our existing articles varies and lower quality articles should not be used as a model. The Talk page of the article may he a quality rating in the shaded box at the top. If an article has been assessed as B-class, or as a Good Article or Featured Article, it is safe to use as an organizational template for your article. You can also consult Wikipedia's Manual of Style for guidance on how to structure an article.
Writing your draft Further information: Wikipedia:Writing better articlesOnce you've verified that there § isn't already an article out there about your topic, § gathered your sources, and § established notability, you're ready to start writing!
What editing tool to use Edit tab in desktop view Edit pencil in mobile view Further information: Help:Introduction, Help:Wikitext, and Help:VisualEditorWikipedia provides various editing tools, and you he a choice of what tool best suits your needs:
Editing interface selector Source editor – edits the wikitext of the article, which uses some special characters, like adding [[brackets]] to create a link to another page, or asterisks to make bullet points. Visual Editor – a tool similar to a word processor, for editing articles without the need to understand any special codes or markup.Visual Editor is the default. To switch your default editing interface, select an option from the "Editing mode" menu in your preferences.
Users of mobile devices are automatically redirected to the official mobile version of Wikipedia. If you don't want to use the mobile version, tap the Desktop link at the bottom of any page to switch to the desktop version.
Where to start writing Further information: Wikipedia:Drafts and Wikipedia:About the sandboxWhere will you develop your draft? You he several options:
in "Draftspace" – this is a special area of Wikipedia dedicated to creating new articles, and is a good choice because other editors can find your draft here and help out. in your sandbox – this is a page you can always easily find, by tapping the user icon in the top right corner to show the menu linking your sandbox. Downside: you can only create one article at a time there, and it's not so easy for other editors to find. in a user subpage. You can find more information about subpages here.The easiest way is with the Article Wizard, which will create your article in Draft space and guide you through the steps of creating a draft.
Create your draft with the Article Wizard! How to create content Further information: Help:Editing, WP:Neutral point of view, and WP:VerifiabilityWriting a Wikipedia article:
Summarize the most important things your sources say. Don't copy/paste wording from your sources; instead, summarize the ideas in the source using your own words. Summarization is more than just changing a few words around here and there. Only add information supported by your sources. Don't add from your own knowledge or expertise. Make sure you show all major viewpoints fairly. Do not cover fringe views or those held only by a tiny minority. Don't take sides or use promotional language. Write in a professional tone; oid loaded language. Add citations as you go. This is much easier than writing first and trying to remember later where you found each piece of information. You don't he to write the article all at once! Se your progress frequently, with an appropriate edit summary. The Publish button ses your progress. You can add images, templates like an infobox at the top, or a stub at the bottom, and categories to your article. Avoid using large language models ("AI") like ChatGPT to generate article content. These often produce inaccurate text, and sometimes make up fake sources and references. It is much better to write the article completely yourself - then you can be confident in what it says. Remember, you are responsible for the content you add. Citing sources Further information: Wikipedia:Citing sources, Help:Find sources, Help:Referencing for beginners, and Help:Introduction to referencing with VisualEditorSources are the published books, academic articles, reputable magazines and newspapers, and other locations where you find the information you will be writing about. You will need to find sources before you start writing, because all content in articles at Wikipedia must be verifiable—that is, backed up by reliable sources.
The best way to demonstrate verifiability, is by creating a citation to a reliable source that you found, and embedding it in-line as you write your article.
The best sources tend to he some form of editorial oversight and a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy. Some websites are reliable; many are not. If you're not sure about the reliability of a website, you can read what editors think about them. It's okay to use non-English sources, offline sources, and subscription-only or fee-based sources, as long as they are reliable.
Dos and don'ts Main pages: Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not and Wikipedia:Avoiding common mistakesHere are some "Do"s and "Don't"s, to highlight some of the most important points about writing your first article:
Dos and don't Great ways to contribute Things to oid Do make sure that the topic you write about is notable; articles about non-notable topics get deleted. Do include citations to independent, reliable sources for all assertions of fact. Do add content that has a neutral point of view, and fairly represents the majority of the sources. Do exercise caution when editing articles about living people. Negative or critical content must be impeccably sourced to highly reliable sources. Do ask for help at the Teahouse, the Help desk, or check these help links. Don't engage in original research or personal essays. Don't copy copyrighted material into articles. Don't speculate about events in the future. Don't write an article only to define a word; Wikipedia is not a dictionary. Try Wiktionary instead. Don't write an article if you he a conflict of interest because of a personal or professional connection to the topic of the article. Don't use large language models (LLMs) to write original content. Publish your draftWhen your draft is ready, you he two options for publishing it: you can do so directly yourself, or ask another editor to review it first. If you don't he an account, if your account is not yet confirmed, or if you he a conflict of interest with the article topic, you will he to ask for a review. Otherwise, the choice is up to you. In either case, you should take some time to double check that the draft is ready first.
Pre-publication checksTake another look at your draft to see if it meets the criteria required for a Wikipedia article. Make sure that:
The first sentence defines the article topic, and tells the reader who or what the subject is in plain English. There are citations to reliable sources in the article (most reviewers look for at least three sources). Some specific types of information require inline citations, namely: direct quotations, and any contentious material about living persons (negative, positive, or neutral). The article is written from a neutral point of view. Any controversial claims about living people are impeccably sourced. Publish directly Main page: Wikipedia:Drafts § Moving drafts to mainspaceIf you are sure your draft is ready, and you do not he a § conflict of interest with the topic, you can publish it directly by moving the page from the draft namespace to the main article namespace. To do so, follow the instructions in how to move a page. Articles published directly take longer to appear in external search engines, up to a maximum of 90 days.
Ask for a review Further information: Wikipedia:Articles for creationAlternatively, ifIf you think your article is ready but would like another editor to check it, you can submit it for review by an experienced editor by clicking the Submit the draft for review! button at the top of your draft. If the button isn't there, you can instead add {{subst:submit}} to the top of the draft. A reviewer will then look at your draft and either publish it or give you feedback on how to improve it. You may continue to edit the page, even while waiting for a review. This may take some time (maybe weeks); please he patience, we are all volunteers.
Congratulations!Congratulations, you've created your first article! We he some suggested next steps at Help:After your first article, but do pat yourself on the back. Not many people he successfully created an article on Wikipedia!
Help is ailable! The best place to ask for assistance is at the Teahouse, which is dedicated to answering newer editors' questions. For a list of informative, instructional and supportive pages, see the Help directory. More can be found at the request directory. Click here to ask for help on your talk page. A volunteer will visit you there shortly! Alternatively, you can ask a question via the #help channel at Wikipedia:Discord or IRC chat at the #wikipedia-en-help connect channel. Wiki Education offers a library of training modules for new Wikipedia editors and students. vteBasic information on Wikipedia - (Search) Help directory menu Teahouse (interactive help for new editors) About Wikipedia Readers' index to Wikipedia Statistics Administration FAQs Purpose Who writes Wikipedia? Organization Censorship In brief General disclaimer Readers' FAQ Student help Nigation Searching Viewing media Help Mobile access Parental advice Other languages Researching with Wikipedia Citing Wikipedia Copyright Introductionsto contributing Main introduction List of tutorials and introductions The answer Dos and don'ts Learning the ropes Common mistakes Newcomer primer Simplified ruleset The "Missing Manual" Your first article Wizard Young Wikipedians The Wikipedia Adventure Accounts Why create an account? Logging in Email confirmation Editing Toolbar Conflict VisualEditor User guide Pillars, policies and guidelines Five pillars Manual of Style Simplified Etiquette Expectations Oversight Principles Ignore all rules The rules are principles Core content policies Policies and guidelines Vandalism Appealing blocks What Wikipedia is not Getting help Help menu Help desk Reference desk Category Requests for help Disputes resolution requests IRC live chat Tutorial Contact us Wikipedia community Departments Meetups WikiProjects Overview FAQ Village pump policy technical proposals idea lab wikimedia misc Newsletters: Signpost Library Newsletter GLAM Newsletter Informational: Community portal Dashboard Noticeboards Maintenance Task Center Essays Open letters Sourcing and referencingResearch Wikipedia Library Request Resources Free resources Request access to major databases WikiProject Resource Exchange Shared resources Guidelines Finding sources Combining sources Referencing Citations Citation Style 1 Citation templates Footnotes Page numbers Cite errors How-to guides Category Tools Infoboxes Writing articles Development Better writing Files Images Media files Uploading Deletion User contribution pages Editing pages Diffs Namespaces Deletion Merging Renaming Requests Redirecting Reverting Vandalism cleanup Talk pages Archiving Wiki markup Wiki markup Cheatsheet Columns HTML Lists Magic words For beginners Sections Sounds Special Characters Tables Templates Documentation Index Substitution Transclusion Image and video markup Tutorial Linking Directories and glossaries Category Abbreviations Contents Edit summaries Essays Glossary Index Shortcuts Tips