Wikipedia:Common sourcing mistakes (notability)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Wikipedia is an

indiscriminate inclusion of topics by attempting to ensure that the subjects of articles are "worthy of notice" – by only including articles on topics that the world has taken note of by substantively treating them in reliable sources unconnected with the topic. The general notability standard thus presumes that topics are notable if they have "received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent
of the subject".

Wikipedia's notability standards works hand in glove with its policy on

citing those sources as you write for the information they provide (without copying the words used[2]). At the same time such sources verify the information content, they act to demonstrate the notability of the topic by their substantive treatment of it. If notability cannot be established for an article, it is likely to be merged, redirected or deleted
.

In order to establish notability, we ask that users

secondary sources that are entirely independent
of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond its mere trivial mention.

There are a number of common mistakes seen in addressing this issue:

If insufficient reliable, secondary and independent sources exist treating a topic in substantive detail, then Wikipedia should not have an article on the topic. Remember that no amount of editing can overcome a lack of notability.

Footnotes

  1. ^
    WP:BLPPRIVACY
    .
  2. inline citation
    to the source of the quotation.