Wikipedia:Essays in a nutshell/Article writing

The following are summaries of essays written by users on Wikipedia. This list is incomplete. If you have an essay, or know of an essay that's not included, feel free to add it to the list. Wikipedia also has an introduction for aspiring contributors that provides information and resources on the basics needed to comprehend, comment on, and edit to Wikipedia.

Editing

Essay	In a nutshell	Shortcuts	Impact
Advanced article editing	There are techniques that can make the editing of Wikipedia articles faster and more convenient.	WP:EDITFAST	Low
Amnesia test	If you can't write an article after leaving all your prior knowledge about the subject behind, it fails the amnesia test, and regardless of how many external links you can dig up that relate to the subject, those links don't satisfy notability guidelines.	WP:AMNESIA, WP:FORGET	Low
An article is the sum of its parts	The impact of any individual contribution should be considered in regards to the tone and perspective of the article as a whole.	WP:PIECEMEAL, WP:PIECE	Unranked
Avoid mission statements	Mission statements rarely tell us much and should generally not be transcribed in full in Wikipedia articles.	WP:MISSION, WP:SLOGAN	Low
Avoid prelimit of articles as if excluding many of 54 cards	Don't exclude details from articles if the complexity of the subject demands it.	WP:54CARDS	Unranked
Beef up that first revision	The articles for deletion and speedy deletion processes would be greatly better off if editors put out solid, substantive drafts as the first mainspace revision of an article rather than just a few lines and the promise that an article will grow in the future.	WP:BEEF	Low
Cherrypicking	Do not cherrypick. When selecting information from a source, include contradictory and significant qualifying information from the same source.	WP:CHERRYPICKING WP:CHERRY-PICKING WP:CHERRYPICK WP:CHERRY-PICK	Mid
Contributing to Wikipedia	The main page that provides information, links, videos and other resources on the basics needed to comprehend, comment on, and contribute to Wikipedia.	WP:HOW WP:CTW	High
Dictionaries as sources	Dictionaries and glossaries present special challenges and limitations.	WP:DICTS WP:DICTIONARIES
Don't overload your watchlist!	A watchlist becomes harder to navigate the longer it is. Only watch articles that need watching.	WP:OVERLOAD	Unranked
Don't teach the controversy	(That doesn't mean what you think it means.) Instead, neutrally document the conflict.	WP:DTTC WP:NDTC
Edit count	Edit counters are a useful tool, but remember that it's the quality of edits that counts, not the quantity.	WP:EC, WP:EDITCOUNT	Low
Editing on mobile devices	Editing on Wikipedia can be done on mobile devices, but beware of the challenges.	WP:DEVICES	Unranked
Editors are not mindreaders	Put yourself in the shoes of other editors. How can they distinguish the incomplete, unreferenced article you've just created but plan to improve from one that will never be improved?	WP:MINDREADER	Low
Endorsements	In light of BLP, commercial endorsements usually should not be reported in the present tense. Other care also should be applied.	WP:ENDORSEMENT WP:ENDORSEMENTS WP:ENDORSE WP:ENDORSED
Example cruft	Writing an encyclopedic entry about a subject will involve generalizations. Avoid the temptation to engage in original research by finding every example of a phenomenon, or every exception to a phenomenon.	WP:GENERALIZE, WP:EXAMPLES, WP:EXCEPTION, WP:EXAMPLEFARM	Unranked
Featured articles may have problems	Featured articles are not necessarily to be emulated; focus on our policies and guidelines	WP:ARTICLEPROBLEM	Low
Minors and persons judged incompetent	In light of BLP, editing about minors and persons legally judged incompetent should be especially protective of their rights.	WP:MINORS WP:INCOMPETENTS
Give an article a chance	Don't be too hasty in nominating newly-created articles for deletion. Remember that some people don't have as much free time to edit as others and that we shouldn't bite the newbies.	WP:CHANCE	Low
Not editing because of Wikipedia restriction	If your planned article or editing would conflict with Wikipedia's standards, it's happened before. No website can be everything for everyone. Examples follow.	WP:NOTEDITING WP:NOEDITING WP:NOTEDIT WP:NOTWRITING WP:NOWRITING WP:NOTWRITE WP:NOWRITE
Nothing is in stone	Wikipedia is always bound to change	WP:STONE	Low
For publicists publicizing a client's work	Publicists may want tips on legitimately reporting clients' achievements and have their articles stay in Wikipedia, not deleted.	WP:PUBLICITY WP:PUBLICIST WP:PUBLICISTS
Robotic editing	Robotic editing is the manual performance of the same or similar edit to multiple, perhaps numerous pages.		Mid
There is a deadline	If the preservation or survivability of the knowledge is at stake, contribute it to Wikipedia before it's too late.	WP:TIAD	Mid
There is no deadline	Wikipedia is a work in progress. Don't rush to edit, it's not a competition.	WP:TIND, WP:NORUSH, WP:DEADLINE	Mid
Vague introductions	Explain the subject of the article concisely in the lead. The lead should summarize the contents of the article.	WP:VAI	Mid
Why Johnny can't wiki-read	Techniques to improve the readability of articles.	WP:JOHNNY	Unranked
Wikipedia is a volunteer service	The editors on Wikipedia are mainly volunteers. Editors can contribute as much as they want, and however long they desire.	WP:VOLUNTEER	Low
Wikipedia is a work in progress	Wikipedia is constantly being improved and expanded, and it will never be finished.	WP:WIP, WP:WNF, WP:NOTDONE, WP:NOTFINISHED, WP:WORKINPROGRESS	Mid
Wikipedia is not being written in an organized fashion	Wikipedia grows organically, thus the quality of pages is varied.	WP:ORGANIZE	Low
Write the article first	Editors are encouraged to write the article on a given subject before adding a link to the article on list pages, disambiguation pages, or templates.	WP:WTAF	Low
Writing better articles	A guide on layout and style, and how to make an article clear, precise and relevant to the reader.	WP:BETTER	Mid

Formatting and style

Essay	In a nutshell	Shortcuts	Impact
98 percent table width anomaly	Tables in class wikitable or infobox, wider than 98%, trigger bottom scroll bars. Use margin-right:0 or infobox margin-left:0 to avoid the scrollbar and allow full width.	WP:98WIDE	Low
Advanced footnote formatting	Remote footnotes can be added for pronunciations or examples. Footnotes can be indented, line-split and shortened by deferring details into References or External links. Due to a WP quirk, the 1st footnote on a page might not indent properly. Beware websites violating copyrights.		Low
Advanced table formatting	Techniques to improve the display or editing of wikitables in Wikipedia	WP:ADTABLE	Low
Advanced template coding	Techniques to improve the display or editing of templates in Wikipedia.	WP:ADTEMPLATE	Low
Advanced text formatting	Techniques to control or adjust the alignment of text on a page.	WP:TYPESET	Low
Autosizing images	Techniques to auto-size, or scale, any image ("thumb" or "frameless").	WP:Autosizing, WP:Scaling, WP:AUTOSIZE, WP:SCALE	Low
Avoiding text gaps	Text gaps may appear on certain browsers, but not on others. Be careful to avoid accidentally creating them.	WP:TEXTGAP	Unranked
Avoiding Wikipedia quirks	There are many quirks on Wikipedia, but they have workarounds.	WP:QUIRK	Low
Bare URLs	Simply copying and pasting the URL of an online reference is not helpful in the event of linkrot. It is preferable to use proper citation templates when citing sources.	WP:BURL, WP:BURLS	Unranked
Don't draw misleading graphs	Graphs should accurately represent the context of the data.		Low
Don't leave giant breaks between sections	Avoid whitespace and fix it if spotted.	WP:GIANTBREAKS	Low
Emerson	If you quote "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" at someone, odds are you are making a fool of yourself, since it has nothing to do with writing-style consistency, but political inflexibility. Plus you're just being an uncivil WP:JERK on purpose.	WP:HOBGOBLIN
Graphs and charts	How to create and use graphs and charts on Wikipedia.		Unranked
Overlink crisis	Avoid overlinking Wikipedia pages, especially in navboxes or infoboxes.	WP:LINKCRISIS	Low
Common-style fallacy	Wikipedia has its own set of policies and guidelines for article content and naming (which are distinct from each other). Facts on a subject are drawn from reliable sources, but no particular subset of them (e.g. news publishers) dictates how Wikipedia must write. Style is a matter of Wikipedia community consensus, based on general-audience style guides, not mimicry of any particular genre (or trademark).	WP:COMMONSTYLE, WP:CSF	Unranked
Specialized-style fallacy	Wikipedia has its own set of guidelines for article layout and naming. Facts on a subject should be drawn from reliable sources, but how content is styled is a matter for the Wikipedia community and with everyone in mind, not just for specialists who usually write for academic journals or other single-field publications and their limited audiences.	WP:SPECIALSTYLE, WP:SSF	Unranked
Walled garden	Articles should have outgoing and incoming links to the wider encyclopedia. Don't create a group of articles that exclusively link to each other.	WP:WG, WP:WALL	Low

Stubs and short articles

Essay	In a nutshell	Shortcuts	Impact
An unfinished house is a real problem	An unfinished article is not a harmless thing. As such you should make it accurate and readable before saving.	WP:REALPROBLEM	Low
Don't demolish the house while it's still being built	An article too short to provide more than rudimentary information about a subject should be marked as a stub and edited, and expanded, rather than simply deleted.	WP:INSPECTOR, WP:DEMOLISH, WP:DONOTDEMOLISH	Low
Don't hope the house will build itself	A little planning and a little effort is all that is needed to prevent an article from being deleted.	WP:BUILDER	Low
Make stubs	Why make a red link, when you can make a stub?	WP:MAKESTUBS	Low
One sentence does not an article make	One sentence "articles" and "essays" should be deleted as not worthy of inclusion in an encyclopedia.	WP:1S, WP:2S, WP:1 SENTENCE, WP:2 SENTENCES	Low
Put a little effort into it	When creating a new article, even if it is a stub, try to put in at least a little bit more than just the absolute minimum.	WP:PUTEFFORT, WP:LITTLEEFFORT	Low

Use of templates

Essay	In a nutshell	Shortcuts	Impact
A navbox on every page	Navbox templates can be useful as a tool for navigation.	WP:NBFILL, WP:ANOEP	Low
Alternatives to the "Expand" template	Avoid using {{expand}} templates. There are alternatives.	WP:ALTEXPAND, WP:EXPANDALTS	Unranked
Avoid template creep	Don't overuse templates. Keep it simple, stupid!	WP:ATC, WP:TCREEP	Low
Clarify the cleanup	Use a specific cleanup template other than {{cleanup}}.	WP:CTC, WP:CCLEANUP	Low
Navigation template	A navigation template is a template that links between multiple articles belonging to the same topic. There are two types of navigation templates, navigation boxes, or navboxes, and sidebars.	WP:NAV	High
Not everything needs a navbox	Navbox templates can be useful as a tool for navigation, but use them sparingly.	WP:NENAN	Low
Responsible tagging	If you identify problems in an article but don't have the knowledge or time to fix them yourself, please take care to only add the most relevant and specific tags, and leave an explanation on the talk page so that others can understand what the problem was and determine if they can do anything to fix it.	WP:RESPTAG	Mid
Tag bombing	Adding multiple tags without explaining the reason is disruptive.	WP:TAGBOMB	Low
Tagging pages for problems	It is important to clearly and concisely identify problems with Wikipedia pages to allow other editors to fix them.	WP:TAGGING	Low
Templates are lazy	We have templates. They're great. Don't use them when you don't need to.	WP:LAZY	Low
Too many boxes	Be Free. Think outside the Box.	WP:NOBOX, WP:UNBOX	Unranked