Ideas for polishing a Wikipedia article

From CommunityData

Here are a few suggestions that likely point to areas of improvement for most of your articles. These may not all apply to your article and don't worry if they aren't all done. These are features can really make your additions shine:

  • Refine the paragraph above the Table of Contents, remember it is the first thing that will be read. Considering adding a short description using this template.
  • Find and add some relevant images. To make sure that you have permission to use the images, please review the WikiEdu module and read the Guide to Illustrating Wikipedia.
  • Add a "See also" section of related articles by creating the heading and adding a list of internal links. Also consider adding a "External links" section, if there is somewhere relevant to link to.
  • Try to find a relevant infobox or fill-in more details for the pre-existing one.
  • Try to find any relevant category templates and WikiProjects. Often these were found at the bottom of the original article or on its "Talk page".
  • Try to find more citations to add as references. Also, make sure to add them correctly and re-use instead of duplicate. Having a wide variety of sources can be just as important as the number.
  • Clean up formatting and use some of the "wiki features". For instance, look for lists that could be sub headers, add internal links to places and concepts that readers may want more information about, consider whether "article elements" (e.g. infobox, table of contents, categories) are in the recommended order.
  • Do some copy-editing. For instance, look for extra paragraphs and whitespace, inconsistent citation placement, extra periods, typos, etc. Make sure everything is written from the neutral point of view, this is an encyclopedia after all!
  • Review the WikiEdu Editing Guide and see if anything else stands out.