Wikipedia:Unreferenced articles

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Shortcut: WP:URA

Wikipedia:Unreferenced articles is a category based project to review articles that are in Category:Articles lacking sources. The template {{unreferenced}} is the only template currently placing articles in this category. Per Wikipedia:Verifiability The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. "Verifiable" in this context means that any reader should be able to check that material added to Wikipedia has already been published by a reliable source. Wikipedia:Verifiability is one of Wikipedia's core content policies. The others include Wikipedia:No original research and Wikipedia:Neutral point of view.

The goal of this project is to ensure that articles meet at least the barest minimum of verifiability, by including at least one reliable published (online or offline) reference. The project Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check has a bolder purpose nothing less than having facts in Wikipedia verified by multiple independent sources to make it the most authoritative source of information in the world.

Contents 1 Tasks 1.1 Current task 2 Hints and tips 2.1 General 2.2 Check validity of articles 3 Special Project 4 See also 5 Volunteers

[edit] Tasks

[edit] Current task

Focusing on the old subcategories from Category:Articles lacking sources currently this is -

• Category:Articles lacking sources from August 2006 November 13, 2008 started with 1,254 contains 156 as of June 23, 2009.

87% completed (Estimate)

• C = 5
• D = 4
• E = 2
• F = 6
• G = 7
• H = 9
• I = 2
• J = 6
• K = 9
• L = 12
• M = 15
• N = 5
• O = 4
• P = 6
• R = 12
• S = 41
• T = 24
• U = 2
• V = 1
• W = 2

[edit] Hints and tips

[edit] General

• In order to help people find this project, consider using an edit summary like the following: Wikipedia:Unreferenced articles; [[Wikipedia:Unreferenced articles|you can help!]]
• If the article has even one reference or external link (that is related to the article content) use -

• Templates {{Refimprove}}, {{Primarysources}}, {{Onesource}} and {{rs}} as appropriate to put the article in Category:Articles lacking reliable references
• Templates {{Verify source}}, or {{Verify credibility}} tags to put the article in to Category:Wikipedia articles needing factual verification.
• If the reference is spam or completely unrelated, you may want to remove it and consider further action.

• If an article has no reference, attempt to locate and add a reference(s) to the article.

• Add a section ==References== adding "{{Reflist}}" below will automatically generate the list of footnotes if they are used.
• At the barest minimum add a link to the reference you found.
• {{uw-unsor1}}, {{uw-unsor2}}, {{uw-unsor3}} may be placed on the talk page of the original editor of an unreferenced article.

[edit] Check validity of articles

• Check if the article qualifies for speedy deletion/prod/afd/merge/redirect, review the rules and nominate as appropriate.
• If suspicious, check for possible copyright violation.
• Consider using {{find}} to look for sources.
• Validity related templates include {{citation style}}, {{OR}} and others from Category:Citation and verifiability maintenance templates

[edit] Special Project

The Category Category:Articles lacking sources (Erik9bot) is populated by a bot, it contains articles that don't appear to have a reference, and the article does not have an unreferenced tag. Weekly it will check to see if the article has been referenced or tagged as unreferenced and remove from the category as appropriate. We are hosting a start up project here while the bot is in extended trial Bot Approved, until create a stand alone project. If you see a problem please report it at the User:Erik9bot.

The tasks

1. Pick an article from Category:Articles lacking sources (Erik9bot)
2. Check for any references, unreferenced tag or under referenced tag, if it has been referenced or tagged for more then a week report at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Erik9bot 9
3. If there are poorly formatted references in the article, format them per Wikipedia:Citing sources
4. Add the template {{BLP unsourced}}, {{unreferenced}}, to encourage editors to reference the article Or
5. Reference or action as you would any article in Wikipedia:Unreferenced articles
6. After adding references or tags, remove the [[Category:Articles lacking sources (Erik9bot)]].

[edit] See also

• Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check
• Unreferenced GA task force
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Unreferenced Article Cleanup/Unreferenced-totals

[edit] Volunteers

Userboxes {{User Unreferenced Articles}} UA This user helps with a drive to add citations to unreferenced articles.

Feel free to sign your name and leave any comments if you volunteer for this cleanup project. You might want to consider adding {{Wikipedia:Unreferenced articles/Userbox}} to your userpage, which will produce a box like the one at right.

1. ~ ONUnicorn^{(Talk|Contribs)}problem solving (Should we have a userbox?)
2. Jeepday (talk) 02:38, 17 May 2007 (UTC) I am ready! (yes to the userbox)
3. PhilKnight 16:06, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
4. Enslin I was just thinking there should be something like this.
5. E104421 12:19, 18 June 2007 (UTC) - Good idea!
6. Spazure 07:42, 14 July 2007 (UTC) - This is even more fun to me than WP:DEP, and seems to need people a lot more, too! (love the userbox, have it myself)
7. DGG (talk) 04:04, 17 July 2007 (UTC) I support all improvement projects--deletion is the last resort, not the first.
8. Dabomb87 21:16, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
9. JlittletJlittlet 03:32, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
10. _{Hydrogen Iodide (HI!)} 01:51, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
11. ArielGold 07:13, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
12. Marlith ^T/C 17:20, 16 September 2007 (UTC) Unreferenced articles are Wikipedia's biggest problem next to vandals.
13. —Viriditas | Talk 02:00, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
14. Pinkadelica 09:17, 23 October 2007 (UTC)
15. --Esprit15d 21:23, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
16. --Pearrari 23:26, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
17. Lquilter Lquilter (talk) 14:14, 29 November 2007 (UTC) - excellent project idea. Very important.
18. — Rudget _{contributions} 16:27, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
19. Elle (talk) 00:24, 16 January 2008 (UTC)
20. Princess Janay (talk) 21:23, 16 January 2008 (UTC)-Help them,, don't delete them!
21. Ascidian 23:06, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
22. Neparis (talk) 02:33, 11 April 2008 (UTC) - a bit late to the party, but will glad to be of (occasional) service.
23. BelovedFreak 23:59, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
24. FCSundae (talk) 08:00, 5 May 2008 (UTC) - Going after unreferenced BLPs.
25. Excirial ^{(Talk,Contribs)} 11:52, 30 May 2008 (UTC) I will be going after the oldest articles first, excluding bands and music records
26. --THE FOUNDERS INTENT ^PRAISE 22:33, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
27. Vejvančický I´m trying to improve mainly Czech unreferenced stubs.
28. --Hut 8.5 13:34, 18 July 2008 (UTC)
29. --Rosiestep (talk) 21:36, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
30. clarityat3am (talk) 00:34, 4 September 2008 (UTC) I'm most interested in helping out the musicians and bands that need references.
31. Jniech (talk) 10:58, 8 December 2008 (UTC) Mostly reference up article on World War II related to Poland. Let me know if you want help with articles in this area.
32. Whpq (talk) 20:09, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
33. Bearian (talk) 18:30, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
34. The New Mikemoral^talk_contribs 00:42, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
35. Thelongview (talk) 11:17, 9 February 2009 (UTC) Happy to help.
36. User:Al Wiseman (talk) 19:59, 11 February 2009 (UTC) LOVE to help.
37. Ricardiana (talk) 05:00, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
38. Chcoc (talk) 04:30, 14 March 2009 (UTC)
39. HJMitchell You rang? 22:50, 28 April 2009 (UTC)- might as well add my name to the list! I do a lot of this stuff for other causes!
40. Ernstblumberg (talk) 13:54, 8 May 2009 (UTC)
41. Unionhawk ^{Talk E-mail} 04:09, 25 May 2009 (UTC)
42. Esowteric (talk) 13:47, 2 June 2009 (UTC)
43. Arthree (talk) 07:16, 3 June 2009 (UTC) - Might as well do something useful while at work...
44. œ^™ 00:09, 2 July 2009 (UTC)