Learning patterns/Local standards of notability

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Local standards of notability

problemNew articles written by students or educators are being deleted.

solutionCreate a worklist with the help of an experienced Wikimedian.

creator• KHarold (WMF)

created on3 January, 2015

What problem does this solve?

One common reason why new articles written by students or educators may be deleted because they do not meet standards for notability. This can either mean that a topic does not have sufficient coverage from reliable, independent sources over a sustained period of time, or does not meet standards for inclusion in Wikipedia. Sometimes, a topic might have sufficient notability to be included on Wikipedia, but only as a section within another article.

What is the solution?

Before the beginning of the term

It is recommended that educators work with an experienced Wikimedian to create a worklist of articles for students to choose from that meet local standards for notability.

• The educator should start by making a list of articles, images or other content that is missing from Wikipedia on the subject that their class will be studying.
• An experienced Wikimedia volunteer can review this list and give advice on which topics are suitable for students to start or expand.
• Students may need assistance naming articles appropriately.
• Post the worklist on the course page.

Hot Tip: Many educators and program leaders have found that academic topics have fewer notability challenges than cultural topics.

What to do if your article has been deleted

Post a message on the talk page of the user who deleted the article.

• Ask for an explanation of why the article was deleted.
• If the topic was not notable enough for its own article, ask whether the topic can be included as a section in a larger article.

General considerations

• It is important to note that standards for notability can sometimes differ by Wikipedia. If you do not have a strong understanding of rules around notability in the community where students will be contributing work, try to find someone from that community who can review a proposed work list before the course begins.
• There are a variety of other reasons why new articles may be deleted that you can learn about by reading the deletion policies for English Wikipedia.

See also

Education Toolkit Learning Pattern This learning pattern is part of the Education Program Toolkit. Go to the toolkit.

Related patterns

• Edit-a-thon worklists

External links

• The Wikimedia education program training for Ambassadors covers somebest practices for choosing articles for students to work on.