Wikipedia:WikiProject Social Work/Assessment/Importance criteria

The criteria used for rating article importance are not meant to be an absolute or canonical view of how significant the topic is. Rather, it is a rough approximation of how important it is for this project to produce a high quality article on the topic. Importance ratings are a combination of several factors:
 * 1) What is the probability of the average reader of Wikipedia needing to look up the topic? Page view counts are very helpful in approximating this. This criterion should be used in conjunction with the other criteria; articles that are very frequently viewed but only tangentially related to social work should be given a low importance rating.
 * 2) What is the significance of the topic for the history and practice of social work? Topics which may seem obscure to a Western audience, but have been significant in changing social work practice in other parts of the world, should be highly rated.
 * 3) What is the significance of the topic for popular perceptions of social work? Articles such as Welfare queen or the Death of Baby P may have had minimal impact on the practice of social work, but are significant in shaping public perceptions of social work, and should be highly rated.