Article progress grading scheme [ v • d • e ]
| Label |
Criteria |
Reader's experience |
Editor's experience |
Example |
 FA
{{FA-Class}} |
Reserved exclusively for articles that have received "Featured article" status, and meet the current criteria for featured articles. |
Definitive. Outstanding, thorough article; a great source for encyclopedic information. |
No further additions are necessary unless new published information has come to light, but further improvements to the text are often possible. |
Tourette Syndrome (as of July 2007) |
FL
{{FL-Class}} |
Reserved exclusively for articles that have received "Featured lists" status, and meet the current criteria for featured lists. |
Definitive. Outstanding, thorough list; a great source for encyclopedic information. |
No further additions are necessary unless new published information has come to light, but further improvements to the text are often possible. |
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives (as of January 2008) |
A
{{A-Class}} |
Provides a well-written, reasonably clear and complete description of the topic, as described in How to write a great article. It should be of a length suitable for the subject, with a well-written introduction and an appropriate series of headings to break up the content. It should have sufficient external literature references, preferably from reliable, third-party published sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy (peer-reviewed where appropriate). Should be well illustrated, with no copyright problems. At the stage where it could at least be considered for featured article status, corresponds to the "Wikipedia 1.0" standard. |
Very useful to readers. A fairly complete treatment of the subject. A non-expert in the subject matter would typically find nothing wanting. May miss a few relevant points. |
Minor edits and adjustments would improve the article, particularly if brought to bear by a subject-matter expert. In particular, issues of breadth, completeness, and balance may need work. Peer-review would be helpful at this stage. |
Durian (as of March 2007) |
 GA
{{GA-Class}} |
The article has passed through the Good article nomination process and been granted GA status, meeting the good article standards. This should be used for articles that still need some work to reach featured article standards, but that are otherwise acceptable. Good articles that may succeed in FAC should be considered A-Class articles, but having completed the Good article designation process is not a requirement for A-Class. |
Useful to nearly all readers. A good treatment of the subject. No obvious problems, gaps, or excessive information. Adequate for most purposes, but other encyclopedias could do a better job. |
Some editing will clearly be helpful, but not necessary for a good reader experience. If the article is not already fully wikified, now is the time. |
International Space Station (as of February 2007) |
B
{{B-Class}} |
Commonly the highest article grade that is assigned outside a more formal review process. Has several of the elements described in "start", usually a majority of the material needed for a comprehensive article. Nonetheless, it has some gaps or missing elements or references, needs editing for language usage or clarity, balance of content, or contains other policy problems such as copyright, Neutral Point Of View (NPOV) or No Original Research (NOR). With NPOV a well written B-class may correspond to the "Wikipedia 0.5" or "usable" standard. Articles that are close to GA status but don't meet the Good article criteria should be B- or Start-class articles. |
Useful to many, but not all, readers. A casual reader flipping through articles would feel that they generally understood the topic, but a serious student or researcher trying to use the material would have trouble doing so, or would risk error in derivative work. |
Considerable editing is still needed, including filling in some important gaps or correcting significant policy errors. Articles for which cleanup is needed will typically have this designation to start with. |
Jammu and Kashmir (as of October 2007) has a lot of helpful material but needs more prose content and references. |
Start
{{Start-Class}} |
The article has a meaningful amount of good content, but it is still weak in many areas, and may lack a key element. For example an article on Africa might cover the geography well, but be weak on history and culture. Has at least one serious element of gathered materials, including any one of the following:
- a particularly useful picture or graphic
- multiple links that help explain or illustrate the topic
- a subheading that fully treats an element of the topic
- multiple subheadings that indicate material that could be added to complete the article
|
Useful to some, provides a moderate amount of information, but many readers will need to find additional sources of information. The article clearly needs to be expanded. |
Substantial/major editing is needed, most material for a complete article needs to be added. This article still needs to be completed, so an article cleanup tag is inappropriate at this stage. |
Real analysis (as of November 2006) |
Stub
{{Stub-Class}} |
The article is either a very short article or a rough collection of information that will need much work to bring it to A-Class level. It is usually very short, but can be of any length if the material is irrelevant or incomprehensible. |
Possibly useful to someone who has no idea what the term meant. May be useless to a reader only passingly familiar with the term. At best a brief, informed dictionary definition. |
Any editing or additional material can be helpful. |
Coffee table book (as of July 2005) |
| Article |
Author |
Import |
Status |
Remarks |
| The Brothers Karamazov |
Fyodor Dostoevsky |
Top |
FA |
However needs slight restyling for Novels and addition of infobox. |
| Oroonoko |
Aphra Behn |
High |
FA |
However needs slight restyling for Novels and addition of infobox. |
| The Old Man and the Sea |
Ernest Hemingway |
High |
FA |
Needs some additional infobox data. |
| 8539 (novel) |
Alfred Bulai |
Low |
Start |
Needs to be reworded badly and organized by someone that has read the novel; needs infobox and other info. |
| Not Without Laughter |
Langston Hughes |
Low |
Stub |
Still needs considerable input, infobox completion and more restyling |
| Bracebridge Hall |
Washington Irving |
Low |
Stub |
Still needs considerable input, infobox comletion and more restyling |
| The Birds on the Trees |
Nina Bawden |
Low |
Stub |
|
| The Pickwick Papers |
Charles Dickens |
Top |
B |
infobox needs to be expanded and restyling needed |
| Oliver Twist |
Charles Dickens |
Top |
B |
infobox and restyling needed |
| Nicholas Nickleby |
Charles Dickens |
Top |
Start |
restyling needed |
| The Old Curiosity Shop |
Charles Dickens |
High |
Start |
infobox and restyling needed |
| Barnaby Rudge |
Charles Dickens |
High |
Start |
infobox and restyling needed |
| A Christmas Carol |
Charles Dickens |
High |
B |
infobox and restyling needed |
| The Chimes |
Charles Dickens |
Low |
Stub |
Needs considerable input, infobox and restyling needed |
| The Cricket on the Hearth |
Charles Dickens |
Mid |
Start |
Needs considerable input, infobox and restyling needed |
| The Battle of Life |
Charles Dickens |
Low |
Stub |
Needs considerable input, infobox and restyling needed |
| Martin Chuzzlewit |
Charles Dickens |
High |
Start |
infobox and restyling needed |
| Dombey and Son |
Charles Dickens |
High |
Start |
infobox and restyling needed |
| David Copperfield |
Charles Dickens |
Top |
Start |
infobox and restyling needed |
| Bleak House |
Charles Dickens |
High |
Start |
restyling and expansion needed |
| Hard Times |
Charles Dickens |
High |
B |
infobox completion and restyling needed, very full article, almost an A-Class needs care. |
| Little Dorrit |
Charles Dickens |
Mid |
Start |
more description, infobox and restyling needed |
| A Tale of Two Cities |
Charles Dickens |
High |
B |
extra infobox info and more restyling needed |
| Great Expectations |
Charles Dickens |
High |
Start |
infobox and restyling needed |
| Our Mutual Friend |
Charles Dickens |
Mid |
Start |
infobox and restyling needed |
| The Mystery of Edwin Drood |
Charles Dickens |
Mid |
Stub |
infobox and restyling needed - and much more needed |
| Silverlock |
John Myers Myers |
Mid |
Stub |
Lots of content needed and infobox. |
| Ella Minnow Pea |
Mark Dunn |
Low |
Stub |
Content needed |
| Gadsby (novel) |
Ernest Vincent Wright |
Mid |
Stub |
infobox still incomplete and content on actual plot need. Really still a stub. |
| The Fox (novel) |
D. H. Lawrence |
Low |
Stub |
Everything needed I am not sure about the genre |
| Tar Baby (novel) |
Toni Morrison |
Low |
Stub |
Has infobox, content is only one short graf |
| The End of the Affair |
Graham Greene |
Mid |
Stub |
Needs huge editorial input, i.e. for a major novel and two films there is great need for content, leading to an eventual split to three articles. |
| To Kill a Mockingbird |
Harper Lee |
High |
Start |
Novel infobox needed |
| Charlotte's Web |
E. B. White |
Mid |
Start |
Novel infobox needed |
| Article |
Author |
Import |
Status |
Remarks |
| The Lord of the Rings |
J. R. R. Tolkien |
Top |
FA |
Nearly there still needs infobox and few tweeks |
| Black Sun Rising |
|
Low |
Stub |
Needs considerable input and restyling |
| When True Night Falls |
|
Low |
Stub |
Needs considerable input, restyling and infobox image |
| Crown of Shadows |
|
Low |
Stub |
Needs considerable input, restyling and infobox image |
| Kushiel's Dart |
Jacqueline Carey |
Low |
Stub |
Needs input and more restyling (some done), also need critical references etc. |
| Kushiel's Chosen |
Jacqueline Carey |
Low |
Stub |
Needs input and restyling |
| Kushiel's Avatar |
Jacqueline Carey |
Low |
Stub |
Needs input and restyling |
| Ratha's Creature |
Clare Bell |
Stub |
Low |
infobox, divided section, updated plot, media section, picture, etc |
| Ratha and Thistle-chaser |
Clare Bell |
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|
{{{1}}}
|
infobox, divided section, updated plot, media section, picture, etc |
| Red Shift (novel) |
|
Low |
Start |
Needs more critical content and release details etc |
| The Runes of the Earth |
Stephen Donaldson |
Mid |
Start |
Needs more plot and thematic input |
| The Silver Wolf |
|
Low |
Stub |
Infobox needed and more info |
| The Neverending Story |
Michael Ende |
High |
Start |
Infobox needed |
| The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe |
C. S. Lewis |
High |
B |
|
| Borrible Trilogy |
Michael de Larrabeiti |
Mid |
B |
|
| Furies of Calderon |
Jim Butcher |
Low |
Stub |
Needs input |
| Wolf Brother |
Michelle Paver |
Low |
Start |
need more information |
| Gert Fram |
Orson Scott Card |
Mid |
Stub |
actually Card's first short story |
For those who wish to see the latest amendments made by editors to the articles mentioned on this page — Changes
