From Freepedia
A featured article should have the following attributes:
- It should exemplify our very best work, representing Wikipedia's unique qualities on the Internet.
- It should be well written, comprehensive, factually accurate, neutral, and stable. Read Great writing and The perfect article to see how high the standards are set. In this respect:
- (a) "well written" means that the prose is compelling, even brilliant;
- (b) "comprehensive" means that an article covers the topic in its entirety, and does not neglect any major facts or details;
- (c) "factually accurate" includes the supporting of facts with specific evidence and external citations (see Wikipedia:Verifiability); these include a "References" section where the references are set out, enhanced by the appropriate use of inline citations (see Wikipedia:Cite sources);
- (d) "neutral" means that an article is uncontroversial in its neutrality and factual accuracy (see Wikipedia:Neutral point of view); and
- (e) "stable" means that an article does not change significantly from day to day (apart from improvements in response to reviewers' comments) and is not the subject of ongoing edit wars;
- It should comply with the standards set out in the style manual and relevant WikiProjects. These include having:
- (a) a succinct lead section that summarizes the entire topic and prepares the reader for the higher level of detail in the subsequent sections;
- (b) a proper system of heirarchical headings; and
- (c) a substantial, but not overwhelmingly large, table of contents (see Wikipedia:Section).
- It should have images where appropriate, with succinct captions and acceptable copyright status; however, including images is not a prerequisite for a featured article.
- It should be of appropriate length, staying tightly focused on the main topic without going into unnecessary detail; it should use summary style to cover sub-topics that are treated in greater detail in any "daughter" articles.
