Editing Encyclopedia:Stub (section)

==Basic information==
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A '''stub''' is an article that lacks the breadth of coverage expected from an encyclopedia but still provides some useful information and is capable of expansion. Non-article pages, such as disambiguation pages, [[Wikipedia:Lists|lists]], categories, [[Wikipedia:Templates|templates]], talk pages, and [[wikipedia:Redirect|redirects]], are not regarded as stubs.

If a stub has little [[Wikipedia:Verifiability|verifiable]] information, or if its subject has no apparent [[Wikipedia:Notability|notability]], it may be [[Wikipedia:Deletion policy|deleted]] or be [[Wikipedia:Merging|merged]] into another relevant article.

While a "[[Wikipedia:GOODDEF|definition]]" may be enough to qualify an article as a stub, [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a dictionary|Wikipedia is not a dictionary]]. The distinction between dictionary and encyclopedia articles is best expressed by the [[use–mention distinction]]:
* A dictionary article is ''about'' [[wikt:Wiktionary:Criteria for inclusion|a word or phrase]] and will often have several ''different'' definitions for it
* An encyclopedia article is ''about the subject [[denotation|denoted by]] the title'' but usually has only '''''one definition''''' (or in some cases, several definitions that are largely the ''same'') but there may be ''several equivalent words (synonyms) or phrases for it''.

Sizable articles are usually not considered stubs, even if they have significant problems or are noticeably incomplete. With these larger articles, a [[Wikipedia:Cleanup resources|cleanup template]] is usually added instead of a stub template.

===How big is too big?===
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Over the years, different editors have followed different [[rules of thumb]] to help them decide when an article is likely to be a stub. Editors may decide that an article with more than ten sentences is too big to be a stub, or that the threshold for another article may be 250 words. Others follow the [[Wikipedia:Did you know|Did you know?]] standard of 1,500 [[wikipedia:Article size#Readable prose|characters in the main text]], which is usually around 300 words. 

'''There is no set size at which an article stops being a stub.''' While very short articles are very likely to be stubs, there are some subjects about which very little {{em|can}} be written. Conversely, there are subjects about which a lot could be written, and their articles may still be stubs even if they are a few paragraphs long. As such, it is impossible to state whether an article is a stub based solely on its length, and any decision on the article has to come down to an editor's best judgment (the user essay on the [[User:Grutness/Croughton-London rule of stubs|Croughton-London rule]] may be of use when trying to judge whether an article is a stub). Similarly, stub status usually depends on the length of prose text alone; lists, [[Help:Template|templates]], images, and other such peripheral parts of an article are usually not considered when judging whether an article is a stub.

That said, [[Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser|AutoWikiBrowser]] is frequently set to automatically remove stub tags from any article with more than 500 words.  This threshold was chosen because it is very unlikely that any article containing more than 500 words is correctly classified as a stub.

===Creating and improving a stub article===
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{{See also|Wikipedia:Writing better articles}}

A stub should contain enough information for other editors to expand upon it. The key is to provide adequate ''context''—articles with little or no context usually end up being [[Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion#A1|speedily deleted]]. Your initial research may be done either through books or reliable websites. You may also contribute knowledge acquired from other sources, but it is useful to conduct some research beforehand to ensure that your facts are accurate and [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|unbiased]]. Use your own words: directly copying other sources without giving them credit is [[plagiarism]], and may in some cases be a violation of [[Wikipedia:Copyrights|copyright]].

Begin by defining or describing your topic. Avoid [[fallacies of definition]]. Write clearly and informatively. State what a person is famous for, where a place is located and what it is known for, or the basic details of an event and when it happened.  As of 2024, most stubs contain two to seven sentences (50–150 words).

Next, try to expand upon this basic definition. Internally [[Help:Link|link]] relevant words, so that users unfamiliar with the subject can understand what you have written. Avoid linking words needlessly; instead, consider which words may require further definition for a casual reader to understand the article.  Most stubs link out to 5–20 other Wikipedia articles, often averaging about two links per sentence.

Lastly, a critical step: add [[Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources|sources]] for the information you have put into the stub; see [[Wikipedia:Citing sources|citing sources]] for information on how to do so in Wikipedia.  Most stub articles have one to three [[Wikipedia:Inline citation|inline citations]]; some also list sources at the end of the page, as [[Wikipedia:General references|general references]].

{{Anchor|STUB-SPACING|SVSP|STUBSPACE}}

===How to mark an article as a stub===
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After writing a short article, or finding an unmarked stub, you should insert a ''stub template''. Choose from among the templates listed at [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Stub types]], or if you are unsure what template to use, just use a generic {{tlx|stub}}, which others can sort later. Stubs should never be manually added to stub categories—always use a template.

Per the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout#Order of article elements|Manual of Style]], the stub template is placed at the ''end'' of the article, ''after'' the [[Help:Link#External links|''External links'' section]], any [[Help:Navigation|navigation templates]], and the [[Help:Category|category tags]], so that the stub category will appear after all article content. Until December 2024, it was the standard to leave two blank lines between the first stub template on a page and whatever preceded it (see [[Wikipedia talk:Stub#Replace double-blank-line method with CSS]]). {{show by date|2026|1|1|<!-- Advertise the change while it is still "new" --><strong>This is now unnecessary, and the extra line should be removed when encountered.</strong>|This is now unnecessary, and the extra line should be removed when encountered.}} As with all templates, stub templates are added by simply placing the name of the template in the text between double pairs of curly brackets (e.g., {{tlx|Wikipedia-stub}}). Stub templates are [[Wikipedia:Transclusion|transcluded]], ''not'' [[Wikipedia:Substitution|substituted]].

Stub templates have two parts: a short message noting the stub's topic and encouraging editors to expand it, and a category link, which places the article in a ''stub category'' alongside other stubs on the same topic. For example, inclusion of the {{tlx|Art-historian-stub}} template adds the article to the [[:Category:Art historian stubs]] category; an explicit <code><nowiki>[[Category:Art historian stubs]]</nowiki></code> link is not needed and should be removed if present.

The naming for stub templates is usually ''topic-stub''; a list of these templates may be found [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Stub types|here]]. You need not learn all the templates—even simply adding {{tl|stub}} helps (see [[Wikipedia:When to use the generic stub tag|this essay]] for more information). The more accurately an article is tagged, however, the less work it is for other sorters later, and the more useful it is for editors looking for articles to expand.

If a more specific stub template than is currently on an article exists and completely covers the subject of the article, remove the more general template and replace it with the more specific type (for example, an article on Morocco may be stubbed with {{tl|Africa-stub}}. If it is ''solely'' about Morocco, remove the template and replace it with {{tl|Morocco-stub}} – don't simply add {{tl|Morocco-stub}} and leave {{tl|Africa-stub}} in place). One specific template can often replace multiple more general types (for example, {{tl|UK-sport-bio-stub}} can replace both {{tl|UK-bio-stub}} and {{tl|sport-bio-stub}}).

If an article overlaps several stub categories, more than one template may be used, but it is strongly recommended that only those relating to the subject's main notability be used. A limit of three or, if really necessary, four stub templates is advised.

Stub-related activities are centralised at [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting]] ([[Wikipedia:Shortcut|shortcut]] [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting|Wikipedia:WSS]]). This project should be your main reference for stub information, and is where new stub types should be proposed for discussion prior to creation.

===Removing stub status===
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Once a stub has been properly expanded and becomes a larger article, any editor may remove its stub template. No [[Wikipedia:Administrators|administrator]] action or formal permission is needed. Stub templates are usually located at the bottom of the page, and usually have a name like {{tlc|something-stub}} if you are using the classic wikitext editor rather than [[Wikipedia:VisualEditor|VisualEditor]].

Many articles still marked as stubs have in fact been expanded beyond what is regarded as stub size. If an article is too large to be considered a stub but still needs expansion, the stub template may be removed and appropriate {{tl|expand section}} templates may be added (no article should contain both a stub template and an expand template).

When removing stub templates, users should also visit the talk page and update the WikiProject classifications as necessary.

[[Wikipedia:Be bold|Be bold]] in removing stub tags that are clearly no longer applicable.

===Locating stubs===

{{hatnote|This section is about finding articles already tagged as a stub. To find the appropriate stub template to tag an article with, see {{slink||How to mark an article as a stub}}.}}
* [[:Category:Stub categories]] ''the main list of stub categories and of articles contained within them''
* [[:Category:Stubs]] ''deprecated, but still receives a few articles periodically''
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* [[Special:Shortpages]]

These categories can be used with [[Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser|AutoWikiBrowser]] (AWB) to  make bulk changes to stub types, or the sub-program within AWB called [[Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser/Database Scanner|DataBase Scanner]] can be used to find articles by number of characters or words to locate potential stubs needing categorization or other tagging and/or expansion. This stand-alone application requires [[Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/AutoWikiBrowser|the operator be approved]] and the installation of the program on a personal computer (Linux, Mac, or PC). An alternate process using the web-based tool [[Wikipedia:PetScan|PetScan]] (no installation required) can also be used to locate articles by minimum or maximum size, the intersection of stub categories along with another category of interest, templates on the page, date of last edit, and namespace.