Template:WikiProject Journalism/doc

Instructions

Syntax

The full syntax is as follows:

{{WikiProject Journalism
|class=
|importance=
|attention=
|auto=
|needs-infobox=
}}

General parameters

• attention – set |attention=yes if the article needs immediate attention from experienced editors. Use only if another parameter does not cover the need for attention; this should be used sparingly. It is strongly encouraged to also add a section to the talk page explaining what needs attention.
  • This parameter populates Category:Journalism articles needing attention.
• class – valid values are fa, a, ga, b, c, start, stub, fl, list, na (case-insensitive). See the quality scale for details. Setting an explicit value of NA is rarely necessary; for this, either leave |class= blank or omit the parameter.
• importance – valid values are: top, high, mid, low, na (case-insensitive). See the importance scale for details. Setting an explicit value of NA is rarely necessary; for this, either leave |importance= blank or omit the parameter.
• listas – This parameter, which is the equivalent of the DEFAULTSORT sortkey that should be placed on all biographical articles, is a sortkey for the article talk page (e.g. for Charles Dickens, use |listas=Dickens, Charles so that the talk page will show up in the D's and not the C's of the various assessment and administrative categories). This is important because it is one source used by those who set DEFAULTSORT on the article; consider also setting the DEFAULTSORT for the article when setting this parameter. For more information about this, please see Wikipedia:Categorization of people § Ordering names in a category.
  If the article is using {{WikiProject banner shell}} then it is preferable to add |listas= to that template instead of a project banner template. Putting the parameter on more than one template is not required.
• needs-infobox – set |needs-infobox=yes if the article needs an infobox. Remember that infoboxes are not suitable for all articles, and can overwhelm short articles.
  • This parameter populates Category:Journalism articles needing infoboxes.
• auto – This parameter is for the use of bots and indicates that the article has been automatically rated:
  • |auto=length – based on the length of the article
  • |auto=inherit – because one or more other projects use this class
  • |auto=yes (or |auto=stub), in conjunction with |class=stub – as Stub-Class because it uses a stub template
    • Use of the above values (or value combinations) with this parameter populates Category:Automatically assessed Journalism articles.
• category – set |category=no if, and only if, a banner is being used for demonstration or testing purposes, to prevent unnecessary or undesirable categorization. Otherwise, omit this parameter.

Quality assessment

An article's quality assessment is recorded using the |class= parameter in the {{WikiProject banner shell}}. Articles that have the {{WikiProject Journalism}} banner template on their talk page will be added to the appropriate categories by quality.

The following standard grades may be used to describe the quality of mainspace articles (see Wikipedia:Content assessment for assessment criteria):

FA	(for featured articles only; adds them to the FA-Class Journalism articles category)		File:Featured article star.svg FA
FL	(for featured lists only; adds them to the FL-Class Journalism articles category)		File:Featured article star.svg FL
A	(for articles that passed a formal peer review only; adds them to the A-Class Journalism articles category)		File:Symbol a class.svg A
GA	(for good articles only; adds them to the GA-Class Journalism articles category)		File:Symbol support vote.svg GA
B	(for articles that satisfy all of the B-Class criteria; adds them to the B-Class Journalism articles category)		B
C	(for substantial articles; adds them to the C-Class Journalism articles category)		C
Start	(for developing articles; adds them to the Start-Class Journalism articles category)		Start
Stub	(for basic articles; adds them to the Stub-Class Journalism articles category)		Stub
List	(for stand-alone lists; adds them to the List-Class Journalism articles category)		List
NA	(for any other pages where assessment is unwarranted; adds them to the NA-Class Journalism pages category)		NA
???	(articles for which a valid class has not yet been provided are listed in the Unassessed Journalism articles category)		???

For non-mainspace content, the following values may be used:

FM	(for featured media only; adds them to the FM-Class Journalism pages category)		File:Featured article star.svg FM
Category	(for categories; adds them to the Category-Class Journalism pages category)		Category
Draft	(for drafts; adds them to the Draft-Class Journalism pages category)		Draft
File	(for files and timed text; adds them to the File-Class Journalism pages category)		File
Portal	(for portal pages; adds them to the Portal-Class Journalism pages category)		Portal
Project	(for project pages; adds them to the Project-Class Journalism pages category)		Project
Template	(for templates and modules; adds them to the Template-Class Journalism pages category)		Template

The following non-standard assessment grades for mainspace content may be used at a WikiProject's discretion:

Disambig	(for disambiguation pages; adds them to the Disambig-Class Journalism pages category)		Disambig
Redirect	(for redirect pages; adds them to the Redirect-Class Journalism pages category)		Redirect

Quality scale

WikiProject content quality grading scheme

Class	Criteria	Reader's experience	Editing suggestions	Example
File:Featured article star.svg FA	The article has attained featured article status by passing an in-depth examination by impartial reviewers from WP:Featured article candidates. More detailed criteria The article meets the featured article criteria:{{Wikipedia:Featured article criteria}}	Professional, outstanding, and thorough; a definitive source for encyclopedic information.	No further content additions should be necessary unless new information becomes available; further improvements to the prose quality are often possible.	Cleopatra (as of June 2018)
File:Featured article star.svg FL	The article has attained featured list status by passing an in-depth examination by impartial reviewers from WP:Featured list candidates. More detailed criteria The article meets the featured list criteria:{{Wikipedia:Featured list criteria}}	Professional standard; it comprehensively covers the defined scope, usually providing a complete set of items, and has annotations that provide useful and appropriate information about those items.	No further content additions should be necessary unless new information becomes available; further improvements to the prose quality are often possible.	List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events (as of May 2018)
File:Symbol a class.svg A	The article is well organized and essentially complete, having been examined by impartial reviewers from a WikiProject or elsewhere. Good article status is not a requirement for A-Class. More detailed criteria The article meets the A-Class criteria: {{Wikipedia:Content assessment/A-Class criteria|raw=yes}}	Very useful to readers. A fairly complete treatment of the subject. A non-expert in the subject would typically find nothing wanting.	Expert knowledge may be needed to tweak the article, and style problems may need solving. WP:Peer review may help.	Battle of Nam River (as of June 2014)
File:Symbol support vote.svg GA	The article meets all of the good article criteria, and has been examined by one or more impartial reviewers from WP:Good article nominations. More detailed criteria {{Wikipedia:Good article criteria}}	Useful to nearly all readers, with no obvious problems; approaching (though not necessarily equalling) the quality of a professional publication.	Some editing by subject and style experts is helpful; comparison with an existing featured article on a similar topic may highlight areas where content is weak or missing.	Everybody Wants to Rule the World (as of October 2025)
B	The article meets all of the B-Class criteria. It is mostly complete and does not have major problems, but requires some further work to reach good article standards. More detailed criteria {{Wikipedia:Content assessment/B-Class criteria|raw=yes}}	Readers are not left wanting, although the content may not be complete enough to satisfy a serious student or researcher.	A few aspects of content and style need to be addressed. Expert knowledge may be needed. The inclusion of supporting materials should be considered if practical, and the article checked for general compliance with the Manual of Style and related style guidelines.	Psychology (as of January 2024)
C	The article is substantial but is still missing important content or contains irrelevant material. The article should have some references to reliable sources, but may still have significant problems or require substantial cleanup. More detailed criteria The article cites more than one reliable source and is better developed in style, structure, and quality than Start-Class, but it fails one or more of the criteria for B-Class. It may have some gaps or missing elements, or need editing for clarity, balance, or flow.	Useful to a casual reader, but would not provide a complete picture for even a moderately detailed study.	Considerable editing is needed to close gaps in content and solve cleanup problems.	Wing (as of June 2018)
Start	An article that is developing but still quite incomplete. It may or may not cite adequate reliable sources. More detailed criteria The article has a meaningful amount of good content, but it is still weak in many areas. The article has one or more of the following: A 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	Provides some meaningful content, but most readers will need more.	Providing references to reliable sources should come first; the article also needs substantial improvement in content and organisation. Improve the grammar, spelling, and writing style; decrease the use of jargon.	Gravel (as of January 2006)
Stub	A very basic description of the topic. Meets none of the Start-Class criteria.	Provides very little meaningful content; may be little more than a dictionary definition. Readers probably see insufficiently developed features of the topic and may not see how the features of the topic are significant.	Any editing or additional material can be helpful. The provision of meaningful content should be a priority. The best solution for a Stub-class Article to step up to a Start-class Article is to add in referenced reasons of why the topic is significant.	Lineage (anthropology) (as of December 2014)
List	Meets the criteria of a stand-alone list or set index article, which is an article that contains primarily a list, usually consisting of links to articles in a particular subject area.	There is no set format for a list, but its organization should be logical and useful to the reader.	Lists should be lists of live links to Wikipedia articles, appropriately named and organized.	List of literary movements
Category	Any category falls under this class.	Categories are mainly used to group together articles within a particular subject area.	Large categories may need to be split into one or more subcategories. Be wary of articles that have been miscategorized.	Category:Software
Disambig	Any disambiguation page falls under this class.	The page serves to distinguish multiple articles that share the same (or similar) title.	Additions should be made as new articles of that name are created. Pay close attention to the proper naming of such pages, as they often do not need "(disambiguation)" appended to the title.	Apple (disambiguation)
File	Any page in the file namespace falls under this class.	The page contains an image, a sound clip or other media-related content.	Make sure that the file is properly licensed and credited.	File:Musk Lorikeet jul08.jpg
Portal	Any page in the portal namespace falls under this class.	Portals are intended to serve as "main pages" for specific topics.	Editor involvement is essential to ensure that portals are kept up to date.	Portal:Science
Project	All WikiProject-related pages fall under this class.	Project pages are intended to aid editors in article development.	Develop these pages into collaborative resources that are useful for improving articles within the project.	Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history
Redirect	Any redirect falls under this class.	The page redirects to another article with a similar name, related topic or that has been merged with the original article at this location.	Editor involvement is essential to ensure that articles are not mis-classified as redirects, and that redirects are not mis-classified as articles.	Wikipedia:5P
Template	Any template falls under this class. The most common types of templates include infoboxes and navboxes.	Different types of templates serve different purposes. Infoboxes provide easy access to key pieces of information about the subject. Navboxes are for the purpose of grouping together related subjects into an easily accessible format, to assist the user in navigating between articles.	Infoboxes are typically placed at the upper right of an article, while navboxes normally go across the very bottom of a page. Beware of too many different templates, as well as templates that give either too little, too much, or too specialized information.	Template:Martial arts
NA	Any non-article page that fits no other classification.	The page contains no article content.	Look out for misclassified articles. Currently, many NA-class articles may need to be re-classified.

Importance assessment

An article's importance assessment is generated from the importance parameter in the {{WikiProject Journalism}} project banner on its talk page:

{{WikiProject Journalism|importance=???}}

The following values may be used for the importance parameter to describe the relative importance of the article within the project (see Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Priority of topic for assessment criteria):

Top (adds articles to Category:Top-importance Journalism articles)		Top
High (adds articles to Category:High-importance Journalism articles)		High
Mid (adds articles to Category:Mid-importance Journalism articles)		Mid
Low (adds articles to Category:Low-importance Journalism articles)		Low
NA (adds articles to Category:NA-importance Journalism articles)		NA
??? (articles for which a valid importance rating has not yet been provided are listed in Category:Unknown-importance Journalism articles)		???

Importance scale

WikiProject article importance scheme

Importance	Criteria	Example
Top	Subject is extremely important, even crucial, to its specific field. Reserved for subjects that have achieved international notability within their field.	Kindergarten
High	Subject is extremely notable, but has not achieved international notability, or is only notable within a particular continent.	Factory Acts
Mid	Subject is only notable within its particular field or subject and has achieved notability in a particular place or area.	0.999...
Low	Subject is not particularly notable or significant even within its field of study. It may only be included to cover a specific part of a notable article.	G cell
NA	Subject importance is not applicable. Generally applies to non-article pages such as redirects, categories, templates, etc.	Category:Palms
???	Subject importance has not yet been assessed.