User:Raystorm/FA Guide

So you want to write your first featured article and you don’t really know the rules, policies and guidelines to follow? You have chosen the article, but you don’t know how to develop, structure and/or expand it? You don’t know how to include references, where to find free images or whom you can ask for help? You want to know which steps you should take in order to make your article a featured article candidate? Then, this is your page. ;-)

Step 1: Choose well your article and evaluate it
To get an article to be a featured article costs time and effort. That is why it would be better that you are really interested on the topic of the article. It is not necessary that you are an expert on that topic but you should be aware that, depending on the situation of your article (draft, 1000 kbs…) you will have to invest more or less time in researching and selecting information. This means spending hours in front of your computer and that is why it is advisable that you choose an article which attracts your attention so you will invest time in improving it with time.

Once you have chosen the article we should take into account the next checklist:


 * Status of the article: Is it a draft? Is it one of the longest articles of Wikipedia? Is it a good article? Has it suffered a lot of edition wars? (It is difficult to make these articles featured articles unless the war stops) Does it cite references? Is it structured or is it just a long paragraph? Does it have wikilinks?


 * Discussion page: Does it contain information that can give us a hint about how to develop the article?


 * History: Is there any editor who has contributed to the article several times and who could give us information or work with us?


 * Pages linking the article: On the left side, under the search box, there is an option called “What links here”. Click here when you are in your article and see what pages are linking it. If just two or three pages link yours, you will have to create links to your article in other related articles.

Once you have done this, we will put on the article the template to inform everybody that we are going to work on that article. It is highly recommended that you click on the Watch tab next to History and Move tabs, so you can keep an eye on the changes made to the article in your Watchlist.

Step 2: Finding information
The easiest way is to start searching on the Internet, using Google and/or Yahoo as search engines for the keywords of your article. You must remember that blogs, forums and opinion sites are not trustworthy sources of information. (For further information, check WP:V, of vital importance). This first search should give you a general overview of the available information about the article and where to find more. And remember that making reference to something doesn’t mean plagiarizing. Referentes are very important, especially to avoid edition wars. You should start adding (quality) referentes from the very beginning to prove the relevance of your article or someone will put on it the template. It is much easier to prove the relevance of something if it has appeared in different occasions in media or technical journals, no matter if independent or well-known, national and/or international. It is highly recommended you take a look at WP:NOTE.

The next step is, depending on the topic of your article, to obtain quality bibliography. That is to say, books. That's what libraries are for. ;-) If you write an article on Naruto, it is possible that you won’t find an article called “Sociocultural effects of Naruto on the teenage American population”, but if you write an article about history or science you will probably find something. Use them. I recommend university textbooks. You should take into account that some topics are easier than others. In some cases, like history, literature or biographies, the sources dealing with them are usually quite close to encyclopaedic style. On the contrary, other topics, like for example technical ones, are usually dealt with using a more practical approach. Sometimes it is also difficult to find sources dealing with their history or their impact. If the topic of the article is a programming language it will probably be much easier to find sources about each detail of the syntax that about the history of its development and about why it was developed. If you write about a topic that normally is not dealt with in an encyclopaedic way, think about how could you approach the article so it is more complete. From this step on, you should have a clearer idea of the way in which you are going to structure your article. Remember to follow the rules of the Manual of Style.

Technical matters
Referentes should be quoted according the guidelines contained in WP:REF. It should be clear where the information you use in the article is coming from. You can use inline quotes for that (i.e. cite web, cite news...about Harvard style, check the previous link. There isn’t a single style to do it, but you should use one). You can create a section for bibliography from books and another one for footnotes to point out/explain specific details and the pages where they appear. If you are not going to use book but rather websites, put the reference section at the end of the article. It is highly recommended to use the next sequence: Try to use always the most trustworthy and of highest quality source you have. For example, it is better to use Science magazine as source rather than quoting a website called “Science for geeks”. When there are several available sources, try to use those in your own language If you use the same reference more than once, use the parameter ref name=whatever, instead of using just ref. (Check WP:REF)

Neutrality
You should be careful and be always neutral. That is why you will need to cite references from different sources that support different points of view, prioritizing the most commonly accepted point of view. This is, at the same time, the most important and most difficult part. Without neutrality, your article is nothing. For that reason, any aspect should dominate over the article unless that is clearly the most important aspect of the topic you are dealing with. Excessive details should be moved to sub-articles. Only the most important ones should be dealt with in the main article. The most important aspects need longer more detailed entries, while the least important need shorter ones. That implies deciding constantly what information is the most important and move the rest to other articles, as we have already mentioned. References play a very important role here to avoid polemics and edition wars. We will address this issue again later.

Step 3: Structure
How long should be an article? Well, don’t think so much in terms of kbs as in terms of completeness and quality. There are some FAs with just 15 kb (althoug not too many). Some others are quite long. An excessively long article is not attractive for potential readers. If you see that your article is going to be too long, do what we have mentioned in the previous step and create sub-articles and put there the main body of the information of certain points, leaving there just a link and a couple of lines detailing about the topic of the main article.

The summary at the beginning of the article is what we will modify at the end of the whole process (that is why it is called summary). A good summary is the key to make the reader read the whole article, so we have to work on it for some time. It is usually between 2 and 4 paragraphs long and it must mention shortly all the sections of the article.

Try to get rid of all the paragraphs of just one or to lines that you find. By getting rid of I mean to merge them with other paragraphs or, if it is appropriate, to delete it. The sections must follow a hierarchic order. You have to choose the order according to the topic of the article (chronological, etc...). But it should make sense and introduce the information in a coherent and, obviously, orderly way.

A little bit of maintanence
It is advisable to spend some time doing some other less pleasant tasks but which are equally necessary like for example, categorizing the article. Try to choose the more precise category(s) possible. For example, if you write an article of the football player X of the team Y, instead of writing Category:Football choose Category:Players of the team Y. Or if you create an article about a writer, instead of choosing Category:American Writers you can put Category:Writers from New York or Category:Pulitzer Prize Winners. Get it?;-)

It is also necessary that there are wikilinks in an article. Try not to link obvious things like “chair” and try linking the most complex terms or situations. Try to be wise in this respect. For example, you are not going to find an article named “socially tolerated behaviours” when referring to the Victorian times, but you can link that with the article “Sexual norm”. In order to do it, you should proceed as follows: “Nevertheless, then it was not socially tolerated". On the other hand, you should wikilink dates as follows: December 22, 1982 Once again I refer you to the Manual of Style for more information.

If the article is also in another languages, you should put the respective links (interwikis) on it. The easiest way to do it is copying the links from the article in another language that appear at the end of the article (and add the one for the language you are writing the article in!). Then paste them in your article and you are done! Remember that if you translate the article from another wiki, you should mention it in the Edit summary (the box beneath the Edit box) when you start translating (and you can't do it by writing in the References section that your source is the Italian wikipedia, for example. You have got to cite them in your article as well). You can write something like “starting translation of es:wiki” or something of that kind. You must do this in order to comply with the terms of use of GFDL licences.

Step 4: Drafting the perfect article
Well, now is when the hard work begins. :-) It is not a bad idea to have a dictionary near you when you come to this point. Try to use a serious language but not excessively technical. The idea is that a non-specialized reader should be able to understand it but, of course, we are not going to assume that potential readers are ignorants. In other words, you should not be afraid either of using technical terms. Wikilinks are your best allies in order to keep a balance. If you are aware of the fact that your grammar or spelling are not the best, ask other users to proofread your article to look for errors.

The title of the article should match exactly the topic of the article. It could sound obvious but... Do not incluye articles (e.g. “The” for “Iraq War” or "September 11, 2001 attacks"). The same applies for the section titles. If a film has different titles in 2 different countries which share the same language (as it could be the case for Spain and Latin America or Portugal and Brazil), use the original title. It was decided like after a vote on that topic.

Try to write as if you were writing a textbook. You are not writing an essay or a composition for class: you are not asked to express your opinión. It is an extremely important matter to be objective and neutral: it should not be obvious which is your point of view on a particular topic. A featured article should cover all the sides of a topic on the basis of their importance. Try avoiding tag and repeating some sentences (e.g., “on the other hand”, "as a result of" and so on). And remember that you should use references for and against the different points of view.

Remember that you are not always right. No one is. That is not the point. And boasting about your being an expert on a particular topic won’t be at all useful if you can't provide quality references that support the points of view that you want to include in the article when other users argue that they are biased or misleading. No matter what, you should always be polite and friendly: we all want the articles in wikipedia to be better and discussing about a wikipedic ‘mafia' or stuff like that just because someone has a different opinion from yours it will only get you stressed for no reason. As a general rule, if a lot of users disagree with you, especially if they are veterans, the most probable thing is that you are the one who is mistaken. :-) So be humble and listen when someone draws your attention to something: maybe he or she are wrong, but they could also be right. And maybe you end up being friends and collaborating on the article.

All of your information must come from verifiable sources. Don't plagiarize, paraphrase (with common sense, of course). Regarding a controversial aspect, if you don't explain where did you get the information from, someone will probably put the template. If you can't find a source to support the information you include in the article, delete it. Our task is not making up anything or soften reality. If there is no source, there is no information. It doesn’t mean you have to include a reference every two sentences but it is certainly a trend that is being followed more and more in the Spanish and English Wikipedias, so it wouldn’t be bad if you make an effort and include so many references as possible. It will prevent edition wars and will show the relevance of an article.

Try to make an effort and include info that comes from several parts of the world. An article too US-centric, for example, is not half as interesting as one that covers several countries.

Where can I get images?
An article with an image always looks better.

This Wikipedia accepts copyright free images and Fair Use. Assume that all images are copyrighted if it is not clearly stated otherwise. It is the only safe way to proceed. You have different options: with your fantastic digital camera you can take photos and then upload them here (it is just a matter of being smart: if you write an article about a king, look for a statue dedicated to him; if it is about your city, look for a nice view; if it is about train, go to the nearest station and so on) If it is an article about a film or a TV series, it is more difficult (you can't use an image from the film or the movie poster), but maybe you can find some picture of the cast.

Another option is to ask the copyright owner permission, with the proper form, and ask him to authorize the use of his or her image under GFDL licence, but if you try to get something from a news agency, you'd better be patient.

But let’s not fool ourselves, the main place where you can get free images is Commons. People name images there as they please (in English, Spanish or any other language, with the words they like) so it is possible you have to rack your brains to find a certain photo. You can also find there maps and diagrams. Whatever you find there can be used here. But don’t go crazy trying to find fifteen images for the article. Two or three may be enough, always depending on the length of the article. Place them strategically, so they are well distributed (and not all of them together).

Help! Please, I need somebody's help!
Be calm. If you have a problem that requires an urgent solution but you don't know how to solve it, or if you simply have got stuck or whatever might be the case, you have different options at your disposal:
 * The Assistance section of the Village Pump, where someone will help you as quick as possible.
 * Look for a wikiproject related with the topic of the article and ask for help and advice there.
 * If it is a specific problem that needs the collaboration of an administratos, go to the admin notice board and leave a message in the proper section.
 * Get a Peer Review (highly recommended).
 * And, of course, you can ask any individual user for help in his discussion page.

Step 5: Checking
You can expand your article taking information from wikis in other languages. See if the references that you have obtained provide you with a new point of view that you might have overlooked. Ask other people. It is recommended to ask another user who has already written a FA to proofread your article. A fresh and experimented look can contribute with very good suggestions. And of course, get a peer review.

Once you have reached this point, check this article against what is written in: WP:WIAFA. What do you think? ;-) Is it ready to be nominated as a candidate to FA or is there something missing?