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Wikipedia:Two prongs of notability - Wikipedia
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navigation-not-searchable">"WP:2" redirects here. For other uses, see <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:2_(disambiguation)" class="mw-disambig" title="Wikipedia:2 (disambiguation)">WP:2 (disambiguation)</a>.</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Not to be confused with <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Two_prongs_of_merit" title="Wikipedia:Two prongs of merit">Wikipedia:Two prongs of merit</a>.</div> <div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Essay on editing Wikipedia</div><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238436933">.mw-parser-output .ombox{margin:4px 0;border-collapse:collapse;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;background-color:var(--background-color-neutral-subtle,#f8f9fa);box-sizing:border-box;color:var(--color-base,#202122)}.mw-parser-output .ombox.mbox-small{font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{border:2px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ombox-delete{border:2px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ombox-content{border:1px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ombox-style{border:1px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ombox-move{border:1px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ombox-protection{border:2px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.9em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-invalid-type{text-align:center}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ombox{margin:4px 10%}.mw-parser-output .ombox.mbox-small{clear:right;float:right;margin:4px 0 4px 1em;width:238px}}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output table.ombox img{max-width:none!important}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{background-color:#310402}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{background-color:#310402}}</style><table class="plainlinks ombox ombox-notice" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Essay.svg/30px-Essay.svg.png" decoding="async" width="30" height="36" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Essay.svg/45px-Essay.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Essay.svg/60px-Essay.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="35" data-file-height="42"/></span></span></td><td class="mbox-text"><div style="padding-top: 6px; padding-bottom: 5px;"><b>This is an <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Essays" title="Wikipedia:Essays">essay</a> on <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability" title="Wikipedia:Notability">notability</a>.</b><br/><div style="font-size: 90%;">It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Policies_and_guidelines" title="Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines">Wikipedia's policies or guidelines</a>, as it has not been <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Consensus#Levels_of_consensus" title="Wikipedia:Consensus">thoroughly vetted by the community</a>. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.</div></div></td><td class="mbox-imageright"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1252059228">.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxplain{float:right;margin:0 0 0 1em;border:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);background-color:var(--background-color-base,#fff);padding:0.3em 0.6em 0.2em 0.6em;text-align:center;font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxleft{float:left;margin:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutlist{display:inline-block;border-bottom:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);margin-bottom:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxplain ul{font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutanchordiv{position:relative;top:-3em}.mw-parser-output li .module-shortcutanchordiv{float:right}.mw-parser-output .mbox-imageright .module-shortcutboxplain{padding:0.4em 1em 0.4em 1em;line-height:1.3;margin:0}</style><div class="module-shortcutanchordiv"><span id="WP:TWOPRONGS"></span><span id="WP:2"></span></div><div class="module-shortcutboxplain noprint" role="note"><div class="module-shortcutlist"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Shortcut" title="Wikipedia:Shortcut">Shortcuts</a></div><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:TWOPRONGS&redirect=no">WP:TWOPRONGS</a></span></li><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:2&redirect=no">WP:2</a></span></li></ul></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238436933"><table class="plainlinks ombox ombox-notice nutshell" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Walnut.png/30px-Walnut.png" decoding="async" width="30" height="30" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Walnut.png/45px-Walnut.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Walnut.png/60px-Walnut.png 2x" data-file-width="192" data-file-height="192"/></span></span></td><td class="mbox-text"><b>This page in a nutshell:</b> Notability implies two things, that a subject is worthy of note, and that there are enough reliable sources on it to enable encyclopedic treatment of it.</td></tr></tbody></table> <figure class="mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Two_prongs_of_notability.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Two_prongs_of_notability.svg/450px-Two_prongs_of_notability.svg.png" decoding="async" width="450" height="175" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Two_prongs_of_notability.svg/675px-Two_prongs_of_notability.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Two_prongs_of_notability.svg/900px-Two_prongs_of_notability.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1011" data-file-height="394"/></a><figcaption>Notability: a two part test</figcaption></figure> <p>Notability, our standard regarding whether a topic merits its own article, fundamentally has two prongs. A subject must be both worthy of our notice and also must have been noticed and received significant coverage in <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Sources" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">reliable</a> <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research#Primary,_secondary_and_tertiary_sources" title="Wikipedia:No original research">secondary sources</a>, in order for us to write an encyclopedia article on the topic. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc"/> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Prong_1:_Worthy_of_notice" data-mw-thread-id="h-Prong_1:_Worthy_of_notice"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Prong_1:_Worthy_of_notice"></span>Prong 1: Worthy of notice<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Prong_1:_Worthy_of_notice"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Two_prongs_of_notability&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Prong 1: Worthy of notice"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span><!--__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Prong_1:_Worthy_of_notice","replies":[]}}--></div> <p>The first prong of the notability test is whether a subject is worthy of our notice. A high school sports team will usually draw significant local coverage in independent reliable sources, but most of them are not noteworthy enough for an encyclopedia article. As well, some <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:MILL" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:MILL">run-of-the-mill</a> people, places, and things might draw significant coverage of a routine nature. Some of our <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SNG" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SNG">subject-specific notability guidelines</a> offer guidance for determining which things are worthy of our notice. For topics outside of the domain of subject-specific notability guidelines, the existence of coverage itself is taken as a presumption of being noteworthy. This presumption can be challenged and debated at <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:AFD" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:AFD">articles for deletion</a>, since coverage is an imperfect indicator of noteworthiness. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Prong_2:_Has_sources_enabling_encyclopedic_treatment" data-mw-thread-id="h-Prong_2:_Has_sources_enabling_encyclopedic_treatment"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Prong_2:_Has_sources_enabling_encyclopedic_treatment"></span>Prong 2: Has sources enabling encyclopedic treatment<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Prong_2:_Has_sources_enabling_encyclopedic_treatment"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Two_prongs_of_notability&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Prong 2: Has sources enabling encyclopedic treatment"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span><!--__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Prong_2:_Has_sources_enabling_encyclopedic_treatment","replies":[]}}--></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1244412712">.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}}</style><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>We require "significant coverage" in reliable sources so that we can actually write a whole article, rather than half a paragraph or a definition of that topic. If only a few sentences could be written and supported by sources about the subject, that subject does not qualify for a separate page</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite>from <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:N" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:N">our general notability guideline</a></cite></div></blockquote> <p>The other prong of notability ensures that we can actually write an encyclopedia article on a subject. The main thrust of the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:GNG" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:GNG">general notability guideline</a> is that a subject has "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject". This excludes things such as mere passing mentions, press releases, and self-published work. The general notability guideline is an adjunct to our policy of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:V" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:V">verifiability</a>. If we lack sufficient secondary source coverage to build an encyclopedia article about a subject, we usually should not have an article on that subject, even if it was otherwise worthy of our notice. Our policy on <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SELFPUB" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SELFPUB">self published sources</a> states that they should not be the primary source of material for an article. Without secondary sources, it is impossible to include any critical analysis or serious discussion of a subject, since our policy on <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOR" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOR">original research</a> forbids us from drawing conclusions based on disparate primary sources. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Both_required" data-mw-thread-id="h-Both_required"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Both_required"></span>Both required<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Both_required"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Two_prongs_of_notability&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Both required"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span><!--__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Both_required","replies":[]}}--></div> <p>Subjects that fail either prong of the test generally should not have stand-alone articles. Subjects that satisfy either prong individually, but not both, can sometimes be included as content in other articles. </p> <ul><li><b>Failing the first prong:</b> Articles on subjects not worthy of notice work against the concept that Wikipedia is <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:INDISCRIMINATE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:INDISCRIMINATE">not an indiscriminate collection of information</a>.</li> <li><b>Failing the second prong:</b> Subjects without sources enabling encyclopedic treatment can only ever have short stubs that are <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:V" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:V">verifiable</a>, that can likely never evolve into a proper encyclopedia article. These subjects are best treated as part of a larger article that can easily pass both tests when taken as a whole.</li></ul> <p>Articles that satisfy the second prong usually, but not always, satisfy the first prong as well. Some subject-specific notability guidelines specify that certain types of routine coverage should not be considered for notability purposes, even if they would otherwise satisfy the requirements for being a reliable source for an encyclopedia article. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Wikipedia_is_an_encyclopedia" data-mw-thread-id="h-Wikipedia_is_an_encyclopedia"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Wikipedia_is_an_encyclopedia"></span>Wikipedia is an encyclopedia<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Wikipedia_is_an_encyclopedia"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Two_prongs_of_notability&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Wikipedia is an encyclopedia"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span><!--__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Wikipedia_is_an_encyclopedia","replies":[]}}--></div> <p>While we've focused a lot on what <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOT" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOT">Wikipedia is not</a>, in the end, we are supposed to be an encyclopedia. An encyclopedia article is supposed to be detailed and comprehensive. This is contrasted with other sorts of reference works such as a dictionary, a book of statistics, or a <a href="/wiki/Who%27s_who" class="mw-redirect" title="Who's who">Who's who</a> type book. When we allow topics that fail one prong or the other, we stray from our mission of being an encyclopedia. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Examples" data-mw-thread-id="h-Examples"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Examples"></span>Examples<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Examples"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Two_prongs_of_notability&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Examples"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span><!--__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"headingLevel":2,"name":"h-","type":"heading","level":0,"id":"h-Examples","replies":["h-Biographies-Examples","h-Places,_roads,_infrastructure-Examples"]}}--></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Biographies" data-mw-thread-id="h-Biographies-Examples"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Biographies-Examples"></span>Biographies<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Biographies-Examples"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Two_prongs_of_notability&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Biographies"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NPEOPLE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NPEOPLE">WP:NPEOPLE</a></div> <p>Sometimes a person has clearly made an impact in their professional field (as evidenced by numerous citations or a prestigious award, for example), but there is little or no independent, biographical, coverage of them available. We usually should not have standalone biographies on these people. Lacking independent, biographical, coverage of the person, we are unable to construct an encyclopedic biography for them. Sometimes these people have self-published biographies, resumes, or CVs on their personal or professional web site. Our <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SELFPUB" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SELFPUB">policy prohibits</a> writing an article primarily based on these self-published sources. </p><p>Such biographies based primarily on self-published information will almost never include any negative or critical information about the subject. The foundation has <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Biographies_of_living_people" class="extiw" title="foundation:Resolution:Biographies of living people">issued guidance</a> identifying overly promotional biographical articles for living people as a core issue facing Wikipedia, and has declared that they "are not neutral, and have no place in our projects." Such biographies should be deleted if no reliable, independent sources of <i>biographical</i> information about the person (and not their work) can be found. </p><p>Notable work, of course, may be included in the relevant subject matter articles for that field, and may even merit its own article. A stand-alone biography should be a biography, not a directory of a person's work. A highly cited academic work, for example, might merit an article of its own, even if its author does not due to a lack of independent biographical coverage. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Places,_roads,_infrastructure" data-mw-thread-id="h-Places,_roads,_infrastructure-Examples"><span id="Places.2C_roads.2C_infrastructure"></span><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Places,_roads,_infrastructure-Examples"></span>Places, roads, infrastructure<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Places,_roads,_infrastructure-Examples"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Two_prongs_of_notability&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Places, roads, infrastructure"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NGEO" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NGEO">WP:NGEO</a></div> <p>Wikipedia has a traditionally accepted a role as a <a href="/wiki/Gazetteer" title="Gazetteer">gazetteer</a>, which effectively exempts many public places, roads, towns, and the like from being subject to questions regarding noteworthiness. This consensus is subject <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Ccc" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Ccc">to change</a>, but is fairly well established, and not often challenged. </p> <!-- NewPP limit report Parsed by mw‐web.codfw.main‐568dbbbfd9‐xbwq9 Cached time: 20241109175352 Cache expiry: 2592000 Reduced expiry: false Complications: [vary‐revision‐sha1, show‐toc] DiscussionTools time usage: 0.015 seconds CPU time usage: 0.177 seconds Real time usage: 0.250 seconds Preprocessor visited node count: 564/1000000 Post‐expand include size: 16549/2097152 bytes Template argument size: 1458/2097152 bytes Highest expansion depth: 15/100 Expensive parser function count: 2/500 Unstrip recursion depth: 0/20 Unstrip post‐expand size: 6372/5000000 bytes Lua time usage: 0.079/10.000 seconds Lua memory usage: 2067778/52428800 bytes Number of Wikibase entities loaded: 0/400 --> <!-- Transclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template) 100.00% 203.991 1 -total 53.98% 110.114 1 Template:Notability_essay 51.41% 104.873 1 Template:Essay 29.58% 60.344 1 Template:Ombox 18.91% 38.567 1 Template:Redirect 18.48% 37.707 1 Template:Project_other 17.30% 35.289 1 Template:Short_description 16.96% 34.604 1 Template:Ombox/shortcut 9.97% 20.345 1 Template:Pagetype 9.71% 19.802 1 Template:Blockquote --> <!-- Saved in parser cache with key enwiki:pcache:idhash:29758889-0!canonical and timestamp 20241109175352 and revision id 1233899309. 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