 | This is anessay onnotability. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one ofWikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not beenthoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: An article should be based onreliable,independent,significant coverage. The coverage should be significant in both quantity and quality, toverify enough prose for a substantial article, and clearly support the subject's significance. |
A subject is appropriate for a stand-alone article if it is based onsignificant coverage inreliable sources that areindependent of the subject. The notability of the subject can only beverified in reliable and independent sources that explain the subject's significance and provide enough coverage toverify a substantial article. This coverage needs to be significant in quantity and quality, providing enough verifiable material to write a substantial article, and giving the reader a clear understanding of why the subject is significant to human knowledge.
Significant coverage is measured in bothquantity andquality. There is a strong relationship between quantity and quality: a subject that is significant to human knowledge will usually receive more coverage, and more coverage will eventually describe how the subject is significant to human knowledge.
It is impossible to maintain aneutral andverifiable encyclopedia unless each article is based on significant coverage inreliable sources. Thegeneral notability guideline explains that significant coverage must be more than atrivial mention, and this applies to both the quality and quantity of coverage. A high quality mention, such as an award, still might lack enough quantity of coverage to write a separate and substantial article. Vice versa, a lengthy quote may be trivial if it is repetitive and/or lacking any analysis, evaluation, or interpretation.
It is easier to evaluate the significance of coverage aftersummarizing any quality coverage, and removing any unverifiable ororiginal ideas. If this would result in an article that is either short, or heavily reliant onprimary or non-independent research, the subject might not be suitable for a stand-alone article. However, any quality coverage may be appropriately summarized at a related article, if there is aconsensus to do so.