Template:WikiProject United States

Template documentation

Usage

This project banner template should be added (not subst:ed) to the talk page of articles within the scope of the project. While the template does not require any additional parameters, it has a number of optional ones that add various extra features to the banner.

Syntax

The full syntax is as follows:

{{WikiProject United States
|class=
|importance=
|attention=
|auto=
|autoi=
|needs-infobox=
|image-needed=
|image-in=
|image-in2=
|image-in3=
|image-details=
|map-needed=
|map-in=
|map-in2=
|map-in3=
|map-details=
|geocoord-needed=
|unref=
|listas=
|category=
|small=

<!-- Portals -->
|portal1-name=
|portal1-link=
|portal2-name=
|portal2-link=
|portal3-name=
|portal3-link=
|portal4-name=
|portal4-link=
|portal5-name=
|portal5-link=

<!-- Specific, national and regional projects -->
|USanimation=               <!-- or |US-animation= -->
|USanimation-importance=    <!-- or |US-animation-importance= -->
|USfilm=                    <!-- or |UScinema= -->
|USfilm-importance=         <!-- or |UScinema-importance= -->
|USMusic=                   <!-- or |us-music= -->
|USMusic-importance=        <!-- or |us-music-importance= -->
|USOldwest=                 <!-- or |Oldwest= -->
|USOldwest-importance=      <!-- or |Oldwest-importance= -->
|USTV=                      <!-- or |us-television= -->
|USTV-importance=           <!-- or |us-television-importance= -->
|AsianAmericans=            <!-- or |USAsians= -->
|AsianAmericans-importance= <!-- or |USAsians-importance= -->
|FBI=
|FBI-importance=
|FRAM=                      <!-- or |Franco-Americans= -->
|FRAM-importance=           <!-- or |Franco-Americans-importance= -->
|KYOVA=
|KYOVA-importance=
|LOC=                       <!-- or |Library of Congress= --> 
|LOC-importance=            <!-- or |Library of Congress-importance= -->
|MexAm=                     <!-- or |MexicanAmericans= --> 
|MexAm-importance=          <!-- or |MexicanAmericans-importance= -->
|NARA=
|NARA-importance=
|Witch-trials=
|Witch-trials-importance=
|Smithsonian=               <!-- or |SI= -->
|Smithsonian-importance=    <!-- or |SI-importance= -->
|SIArt=                     <!-- or |AAA= -->
|SIArt-importance=          <!-- or |AAA-importance= -->
|September 11, 2001=                 <!-- or |911= -->
|September 11, 2001-importance=      <!-- or |911-importance= -->
|Superfund=                 <!-- or |Superfunds= -->
|Superfund-importance=      <!-- or |Superfunds-importance= -->
|County=                    <!-- or |U.S. counties= -->
|County-importance=         <!-- or |county-importance=-->
|UScomics=                  <!-- or |US-comics= -->
|UScomics-importance=       <!-- or |US-comics-importance=-->
|USGov=                     <!-- or |US-Government= -->
|USGov-importance=          <!-- or |US-Government-importance=-->
|USgovernors=               <!-- or |US-Governors= -->
|USgovernors-importance=    <!-- or |US-Governors-importance=-->
|UShistory=                 <!-- or |US-history= -->
|UShistory-importance=      <!-- or |US-history-importance= -->
|USMIL=                     <!-- or |US-military= -->
|USMIL-importance=          <!-- or |US-military-importance= -->
|ACW=
|ARW=
|USPE=                      <!-- or |US-presidential-elections= --> 
|USPE-importance=           <!-- or |US-presidential-elections-importance= --> 
|USPresidents=              <!-- or |US-Presidents= -->
|USPresidents-importance=   <!-- or |US-Presidents-importance=-->
|USSL=                      <!-- or |USState-Legislators= -->
|USSL-importance=           <!-- or |USState-Legislators-importance=-->

<!-- State and Territory projects -->
|AR=                        <!-- or |Arkansas= -->
|AR-importance=             <!-- or |Arkansas-importance=-->
|AZ=                        <!-- or |Arizona= -->
|AZ-importance=             <!-- or |Arizona-importance=-->
|CO=                        <!-- or |Colorado= -->
|CO-importance=             <!-- or |Colorado-importance=-->
|DE=                        <!-- or |Delaware= -->
|DE-importance=             <!-- or |Delaware-importance=-->
|DC=                        <!-- or |District of Columbia= -->
|DC-importance=             <!-- or |District of Columbia-importance= -->
|ID=                        <!-- or |Idaho= -->
|ID-importance=             <!-- or |Idaho-importance=-->
|IN=                        <!-- or |Indiana= -->
|IN-importance=             <!-- or |Indiana-importance=-->
|KS=                        <!-- or |Kansas= -->
|KS-importance=             <!-- or |Kansas-importance=-->
|KY=                        <!-- or |Kentucky= -->
|KY-importance=             <!-- or |Kentucky-importance=-->
|LA=                        <!-- or |Louisiana= -->
|LA-importance=             <!-- or |Louisiana-importance=-->
|MA=                        <!-- or |Massachusetts= -->
|MA-importance=             <!-- or |Massachusetts-importance=-->
|MS=                        <!-- or |Mississippi= -->
|MS-importance=             <!-- or |Mississippi-importance=-->
|NC=                        <!-- or |North-Carolina= -->
|NC-importance=             <!-- or |North-Carolina-importance=-->
|ND=                        <!-- or |North-Dakota= -->
|ND-importance=             <!-- or |North-Dakota-importance=-->
|NE=                        <!-- or |Nebraska= -->
|NE-importance=             <!-- or |Nebraska-importance=-->
|NH=                        <!-- or |New Hampshire= -->
|NH-importance=             <!-- or |New-Hampshire-importance=-->
|NM=                        <!-- or |New-Mexico= -->
|NM-importance=             <!-- or |New-Mexico-importance=-->
|OH=                        <!-- or |Ohio= -->
|OH-importance=             <!-- or |Ohio-importance=-->
|RI=                        <!-- or |Rhode-Island= --> 
|RI-importance=             <!-- or |Rhode-Island-importance= -->
|Samoa=                     <!-- or |USSamoa-carolina= --> 
|Samoa-importance=          <!-- or |USSamoa-carolina-importance= -->
|SC=                        <!-- or |South-carolina= --> 
|SC-importance=             <!-- or |South-carolina-importance= -->
|TX=                        <!-- or |Texas= --> 
|TX-importance=             <!-- or |Texas-importance= -->
|UT=                        <!-- or |Utah= --> 
|UT-importance=             <!-- or |Utah-importance= -->
|VT=                        <!-- or |Vermont= --> 
|VT-importance=             <!-- or |Vermont-importance= -->
|WA=                        <!-- or |Washington= -->
|WA-importance=             <!-- or |Washington-importance=-->
|WV=                        <!-- or |West-Virginia= -->
|WV-importance=             <!-- or |West-Virginia-importance=-->
|WY=                        <!-- or |Wyoming= -->
|WY-importance=             <!-- or |Wyoming-importance=-->

<!-- City and locality projects -->
|Austin=
|Austin-importance=
|Boston=
|Boston-importance=
|Cape-Cod=
|Cape-Cod-importance=
|Charlotte=
|Charlotte-importance=
|Cincinnati=
|Cincinnati-importance=
|Coal-fields=                    <!-- or |KY-coal= -->
|Coal-fields-importance=         <!-- or |KY-coal-importance= -->
|Durham=
|Durham-importance=
|EasternWashington=              <!-- or |EastWa= -->
|EasternWashington-importance=   <!-- or |EastWa-importance= -->
|Indianapolis=
|Indianapolis-importance=
|Louisville=
|Louisville-importance=
|Lowell=
|Lowell-importance=
|NOLA=                           <!-- or |New-Orleans= -->
|NOLA-importance=                <!-- or |New-Orleans-importance=-->
|NHMTN=                          <!-- or |New-Hampshire-Mountains= -->
|NHMTN-importance=               <!-- or |New-Hampshire-Mountains-importance=-->
|Ohiotownships=                  <!-- or |OHtownships= -->
|Ohiotownships-importance=       <!-- or |OHtownships-importance=-->
|Omaha=
|Omaha-importance=
|SATF=                           <!-- or |San-Antonio= --> 
|SATF-importance=                <!-- or |San-Antonio-importance= -->
|SCMB=                           <!-- or |MyrtleBeach= --> 
|SCMB-importance=                <!-- or |MyrtleBeach-importance= -->
|Seattle=
|Seattle-importance=
|Shreveport=
|Shreveport-importance=
|Yellowstone=                     <!-- or |YNP= -->
|Yellowstone-importance=          <!-- or |YNP= -->
|Youngstown=
|Youngstown-importance=

<!-- Educational and University projects -->
|A&M=
|A&M-importance=
|Dartmouth=
|Dartmouth-importance=
|ECU=
|ECU-importance=
|LATech=
|LATech-importance=
|NCSU=
|NCSU-importance=
|Notre-Dame=
|Notre-Dame-importance=
|TTU=                         <!-- or |Texas-Tech= --> 
|TTU-importance=              <!-- or |Texas-Tech-importance= -->
|UNC=
|UNC-importance=
|UNT=
|UNT-importance=
|UOFMA=
|UOFMA-importance=
|UTA=
|UTA-importance=
|WVU=                           <!-- or |West-Virginia-University= --> 
|WVU-importance=                <!-- or |West-Virginia-University-importance= -->
}}

Instructions

General parameters

• class – a rating of the article's quality; see the assessment department for more details.
• importance – a rating of the article's importance; see the assessment department for more details.
• attention – "yes" if the article requires immediate attention. This adds the talk page to Category:United States articles needing attention.
• auto – "yes" if the article was automatically assessed by a bot. This adds the talk page to Category:Automatically assessed United States articles.
• autoi – "yes" if the article was given an automatic importance by a bot. This adds the talk page to Category:Inherited importance United States articles.
• needs-infobox – "yes" if the article needs an infobox. This adds the talk page to Category:United States articles needing infoboxes.
• image-needed – "yes" if the article needs an image or photograph. This adds the talk page to Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in the United States.
  • image-in - Used in conjunction with the image-needed=yes parameter to place the image request into a specific location, such as in the state, city or county in the United States. For example, "image-in=New York City" will place the article talk page into Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in New York City. Leave blank or delete if not.
  • Additional image-in2 and image-in3 parameters used in conjunction with the image-needed=yes parameter may be used to specify up to three total location categories (such as for celebrities and other people who may frequent multiple county locations).
  • image-details - (appears only if "image-needed" is set to yes) Additional details to describe the image that is requested.
• map-needed – "yes" if the article needs an map. This adds the talk page to Category:Wikipedia requested maps in the United States.
  • map-details - (appears only if "map-needed" is set to yes) Additional details to specify the kind of map information that is needed.
  • map-in - Used in conjunction with the map-needed=yes parameter to place the image request into a specific location, such as in the state, city or county in the United States. For example, "map-in=New York City" will place the article talk page into Category:Wikipedia requested maps in New York City. Leave blank or delete if not.
  • Additional map-in2 and map-in3 parameters used in conjunction with the map-needed=yes parameter may be used to specify up to three total location categories (such as for celebrities and other people who may frequent multiple county locations).
• geocoord-needed - "yes" if the article needs geocoordinate data. This adds the talk page to Category:United States articles missing geocoordinate data.
• unref – "yes" if the article needs inline citations and references. This adds the talk page to Category:United States articles needing references.
• small – "yes" to display a small version of the template aligned along the right side of the page.
• listas – a DEFAULTSORT override sortkey, for use in:

• Listings being with "The"; e.g. The 13th Regional Corporation, would be listas=13th Regional Corporation, The.
• Listings being with "List of", would be listas=Bridges in the United States, List of and listas=Botanical gardens in the United States, List of.
• Proper names; e.g. George Washington, would be listas=Washington, George

• category – "no" if only if a banner is being used for demonstration or testing purposes, to prevent unnecessary or undesirable categorization.

Portals

• portalX-name – if the article has been selected for use on a portal, the name of that portal. The name should be given without any formatting or namespace prefixes; thus, Portal:United States is given as "|portal1-name=United States". Up to five different portals may be specified, via the parameters portal1-name through portal5-name.
• portalX-link – the portal subpage location where the article may be found on the corresponding portal. This should be given as a pure unlinked subpage name; thus, Portal:United States/Selected article/21 is given as "|portal1-link=Selected article/21".

Related projects

National level projects

• USanimation – "yes" if the article is supported by American animation work group.
• USfilm – "yes" if the article is supported by American cinema task force.
• USMusic – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject American music.
• Oldwest – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject American Old West.
• USTV – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject American television.
• AsianAmericans – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Asian Americans.
• FBI – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject FBI.
• FRAM – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Franco-Americans.
• KYOVA – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject KYOVA Region.
• LOC – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Library of Congress.
• MexicanAmericans – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Mexican-Americans.
• NARA – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject National Archives and Records Administration.
• 911 – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject September 11, 2001.
• Smithsonian – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Smithsonian Institution.
• SIArt – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Archives of American Art.
• Superfund – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Superfunds.
• County – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject U.S. counties.
• UScomics – "yes" if the article is supported by United States comics work group.
• USGov – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject United States Government.
• USgovernors – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject United States governors.
• UShist – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject United States History.
• USMIL – "yes" if the article is supported by United States military history task force.
• ACW – "yes" if the article is supported by American Civil War task force.
• ARW – "yes" if the article is supported by American Revolutionary War task force.
• USPresidents – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject U.S. Presidents.
• USPE – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject United States presidential elections.
• USSL – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject US State Legislatures.

State and territorial projects

• AR – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Arkansas.
• AZ – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Arizona.
• CO – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Colorado.
• DE – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Delaware.
• DC – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject District of Columbia.
• ID – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Idaho.
• IN – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Indiana.
• KS – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Kansas.
• KY – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Kentucky.
• LA – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Louisiana.
• MA – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Massachusetts.
• MS – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Mississippi.
• NC – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject North Carolina.
• ND – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject North Dakota.
• NE – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Nebraska.
• NH – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject New Hampshire.
• NM – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject New Mexico.
• OH – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Ohio.
• RI – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Rhode Island.
• Samoa – "yes" if the article is supported by American Samoa work group.
• SC – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject South Carolina.
• TX – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Texas.
• UT – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Utah.
• VT – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Vermont.
• WA – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Washington.
• WV – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject West Virginia.
• WY – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Wyoming.

City and local projects

• Austin – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Austin.
• Boston – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Boston.
• Cape-Cod – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Cape Cod and the Islands.
• Charlotte – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Charlotte.
• Cincinnati – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Cincinnati.
• Coal-fields – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Kentucky - Eastern Mountain Coal Fields task force.
• Durham – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Durham, North Carolina.
• EastWa – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Washington - Eastern Washington task force.
• Indianapolis – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Indiana - Indianapolis task force.
• Louisville – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Louisville (covering territory in Kentucky and Indiana).
• Lowell – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Lowell, Massachusetts (covering territory in Kentucky and Indiana).
• NOLA – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject New Orleans.
• NHMTN – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject New Hampshire Mountains.
• Ohiotownships – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Ohio - Townships task force.
• Omaha – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Omaha.
• SCMB – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Myrtle Beach.
• SATF – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Texas - San Antonio.
• Seattle – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Seattle.
• Shreveport – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Louisiana - Shreveport.
• Yellowstone – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Wyoming - Yellowstone.
• Youngstown – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Ohio - Youngstown.

Education and University projects

• A&M – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Texas A&M.
• Dartmouth – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Dartmouth College.
• ECU – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject East Carolina University.
• LATech – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Louisiana Tech.
• NCSU – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject NCSU.
• Notre-Dame – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Notre Dame.
• UNC – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• UNT – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject University of North Texas.
• UOFMA – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject University of Massachusetts.
• UTA – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject University of Texas at Austin.
• TTU – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject Texas Tech University.
• WVU – "yes" if the article is supported by WikiProject West Virginia University.

Quality assessment

An article's quality assessment is generated from the class parameter in the {{WikiProject United States}} project banner on its talk page:

{{WikiProject United States|class=???}}

The following values may be used for the class parameter to describe the quality of the article:

FA (for featured articles only; adds articles to Category:FA-Class United States articles)		FA
A (adds articles to Category:A-Class United States articles)		A
GA (for good articles only; adds articles to Category:GA-Class United States articles)		GA
B (adds articles to Category:B-Class United States articles)		B
C (adds articles to Category:C-Class United States articles)		C
Start (adds articles to Category:Start-Class United States articles)		Start
Stub (adds articles to Category:Stub-Class United States articles)		Stub
FL (for featured lists only; adds articles to Category:FL-Class United States articles)		FL
List (adds articles to Category:List-Class United States articles)		List

For pages that are not articles, the following values can also be used for the class parameter:

Book (for Wikipedia books; adds pages to Category:Book-Class United States articles)		Book
Category (for categories; adds pages to Category:Category-Class United States articles)		Category
Disambig (for disambiguation pages; adds pages to Category:Disambig-Class United States articles)		Disambig
FM (for files; adds pages to Category:FM-Class United States articles)		FM
File (for files; adds pages to Category:File-Class United States articles)		File
Redirect (for redirect pages; adds pages to Category:Redirect-Class United States articles)		Redirect
Portal (for portal pages; adds pages to Category:Portal-Class United States articles)		Portal
Project (for project pages; adds pages to Category:Project-Class United States articles)		Project
Template (for templates; adds pages to Category:Template-Class United States articles)		Template
NA (for any other pages where assessment is unnecessary; adds pages to Category:NA-Class United States articles)		NA
??? (articles for which a valid class has not yet been provided are listed in Category:Unassessed United States articles)		???

The class parameter should be assigned according to the quality scale below.

Quality scale

WikiProject article quality grading scheme

Class	Criteria	Reader's experience	Editing suggestions	Example
FA	The article has attained featured article status. More detailed criteria The article meets the featured article criteria: A featured article exemplifies our very best work and is distinguished by professional standards of writing, presentation, and sourcing. In addition to meeting the policies regarding content for all Wikipedia articles, it has the following attributes. It is— (a) well-written: its prose is engaging, even brilliant, and of a professional standard; (b) comprehensive: it neglects no major facts or details and places the subject in context; (c) well-researched: it is a thorough and representative survey of the relevant literature. Claims are verifiable against high-quality reliable sources and are supported by inline citations where appropriate; (d) neutral: it presents views fairly and without bias; and (e) stable: it is not subject to ongoing edit wars and its content does not change significantly from day to day, except in response to the featured article process. It follows the style guidelines, including the provision of— (a) a lead: a concise lead section that summarizes the topic and prepares the reader for the detail in the subsequent sections; (b) appropriate structure: a system of hierarchical section headings and a substantial but not overwhelming table of contents; and (c) consistent citations: where required by criterion 1c, consistently formatted inline citations using either footnotes (<ref>Smith 2007, p. 1.</ref>) or Harvard referencing (Smith 2007, p. 1)—see citing sources for suggestions on formatting references; for articles with footnotes, the meta:cite format is recommended. The use of citation templates is not required. Media. It has images and other media where appropriate, with succinct captions, and acceptable copyright status. Images included follow the image use policy. Non-free images or media must satisfy the criteria for inclusion of non-free content and be labeled accordingly. Length. It stays focused on the main topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style).	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.	Gerald Ford
A	The article is well-organized and essentially complete, having been reviewed 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: Provides a well-written, clear and complete description of the topic, as described in Wikipedia:How to write a great article. It should be of a length suitable for the subject, appropriately structured, and be well referenced by a broad array of reliable sources. It should be well illustrated, with no copyright problems. Only minor style issues and other details need to be addressed before submission as a featured article candidate. See the A-Class assessment departments of some of the larger WikiProjects (e.g. WikiProject Military history).	Very useful to readers. A fairly complete treatment of the subject. A non-expert in the subject matter would typically find nothing wanting.	Expert knowledge may be needed to tweak the article, and style issues may need addressing. Peer review may help.	24th Infantry Division (United States)
GA	The article has attained good article status. More detailed criteria The article meets the good article criteria: A good article is— Well-written: (a) the prose is clear and concise, respects copyright laws, and the spelling and grammar are correct; and (b) it complies with the manual of style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation. Factually accurate and verifiable: (a) it provides references to all sources of information in the section(s) dedicated to the attribution of these sources according to the guide to layout; (b) it provides in-line citations from reliable sources for direct quotations, statistics, published opinion, counter-intuitive or controversial statements that are challenged or likely to be challenged, and contentious material relating to living persons—science-based articles should follow the scientific citation guidelines; and (c) it contains no original research. Broad in its coverage: (a) it addresses the main aspects of the topic; and (b) it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style). Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without bias, giving due weight to each. Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute. Illustrated, if possible, by images: (a) images are tagged with their copyright status, and valid fair use rationales are provided for non-free content; and (b) images are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions.	Useful to nearly all readers, with no obvious problems; approaching (although not equalling) the quality of a professional encyclopedia.	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.	South Dakota
B	The article is mostly complete and without major issues, but requires some further work to reach good article standards. More detailed criteria The article meets the six B-Class criteria: The article is suitably referenced, with inline citations where necessary. It has reliable sources, and any important or controversial material which is likely to be challenged is cited. The use of either <ref> tags or citation templates such as {{cite web}} is not required. The article reasonably covers the topic, and does not contain obvious omissions or inaccuracies. It contains a large proportion of the material necessary for an A-Class article, although some sections may need expansion, and some less important topics may be missing. The article has a defined structure. Content should be organized into groups of related material, including a lead section and all the sections that can reasonably be included in an article of its kind. The article is reasonably well-written. The prose contains no major grammatical errors and flows sensibly, but it certainly need not be "brilliant". The Manual of Style need not be followed rigorously. The article contains supporting materials where appropriate. Illustrations are encouraged, though not required. Diagrams and an infobox etc. should be included where they are relevant and useful to the content. The article presents its content in an appropriately understandable way. It is written with as broad an audience in mind as possible. Although Wikipedia is more than just a general encyclopedia, the article should not assume unnecessary technical background and technical terms should be explained or avoided where possible.	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 also be considered if practical, and the article checked for general compliance with the Manual of Style and related style guidelines.	New York City
C	The article is substantial, but is still missing important content or contains a lot of irrelevant material. The article should have references to reliable sources, but may still have significant issues or require substantial cleanup. More detailed criteria The article is better developed in style, structure and quality than Start-Class, but fails one or more of the criteria for B-Class. It may have some gaps or missing elements; need editing for clarity, balance or flow; or contain policy violations such as bias or original research. Articles on fictional topics are likely to be marked as C-Class if they are written from an in-universe perspective.	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 address cleanup issues.	Federal Bureau of Investigation
Start	An article that is developing, but which is quite incomplete and may require further reliable sources. More detailed criteria The article has a usable amount of good content but is weak in many areas. Quality of the prose may be distinctly unencyclopedic, and MoS compliance non-existent; but the article should satisfy fundamental content policies such as notability and BLP, and provide sources to establish verifiability. No Start-Class article should be in any danger of being speedily deleted.	Provides some meaningful content, but the majority of readers will need more.	Provision of references to reliable sources should be prioritised; the article will also need substantial improvements in content and organisation.	AFL-CIO
Stub	A very basic description of the topic. More detailed criteria The article is either a very short article or a rough collection of information that will need much work to become a meaningful article. It is usually very short, but if the material is irrelevant or incomprehensible, an article of any length falls into this category.	Provides very little meaningful content; may be little more than a dictionary definition.	Any editing or additional material can be helpful. The provision of meaningful content should be a priority.	Article Seven of the United States Constitution
FL	The article has attained featured list status. More detailed criteria The article meets the featured list criteria: Prose. It features professional standards of writing. Lead. It has an engaging lead that introduces the subject and defines the scope and inclusion criteria. Comprehensiveness. (a) It comprehensively covers the defined scope, providing at least all of the major items and, where practical, a complete set of items; where appropriate, it has annotations that provide useful and appropriate information about the items. (b) In length and/or topic, it meets all of the requirements for stand-alone lists; does not violate the content-forking guideline, does not largely duplicate material from another article, and could not reasonably be included as part of a related article. Structure. It is easy to navigate and includes, where helpful, section headings and table sort facilities. Style. It complies with the Manual of Style and its supplementary pages. (a) Visual appeal. It makes suitable use of text layout, formatting, tables, and colour; and a minimal proportion of items are redlinked. (b) Media files. It has images and other media, if appropriate to the topic, that follow Wikipedia's usage policies, with succinct captions. Non-free images and other media satisfy the criteria for the inclusion of non-free content and are labeled accordingly. Stability. It is not the subject of ongoing edit wars and its content does not change significantly from day to day, except in response to the featured list process.	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.	List of United States cities by population
List	Meets the criteria of a stand-alone list, 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 capitals in the United States
Book	A collection of Wikipedia articles arranged as a book (see Wikipedia Books). More detailed criteria Collections typically cover a topic and related subjects. These can be downloaded electronically (in PDF or OpenDocument formats), or ordered in print.	People who would like to read wikipedia offline, or in print.	It is a good idea to team up with a relevant WikiProject to gather feedback on books.	Book:Political divisions of the United States
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:United States
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.	New Amsterdam (disambiguation)
FM	Featured pages in the file namespace falls under this class.	The page contains a featured image, sound clip or other media-related content.	Make sure that the file is properly licensed and credited.	File:American World War II senior military officials, 1945.JPEG
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:Flag of the United States.svg
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:United States
Project	All WikiProject-related pages fall under this class.	Project pages are intended to aid editors in article development, and are probably not useful to readers.	Develop these pages into collaborative resources useful for improving articles within the project.	Wikipedia:WikiProject United States
Redirect	Any redirect falls under this class.	The page redirects to another article with a similar name, related topic or that has been merged 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.	List of United States submarine classes
Template	Any template falls under this class. The most common types of template include infoboxes and navboxes.	Different types of template 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:United States topics
NA	Any non-article page that fits no other classification.	The page contains no article content, and is probably not useful to any casual reader.	Look out for mis-classified articles. Currently many NA-class articles need to be re-classified.	User:BrendelSignature/Income inequality in the United States

Importance assessment

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

{{WikiProject United States|importance=???}}

The following values may be used for the importance parameter to describe the relative importance of the article within the project:

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

The importance parameter should be assigned according to the importance scale below.

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.	United States, New York City, Washington, D.C.
High	Subject is extremely notable, but has not achieved international notability, or is only notable within a particular continent.	Arizona, California, New York
Mid	Subject is only notable within its particular field or subject and has achieved notability in a particular place or area.	Fat Man, Federal Communications Commission
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.	509th Tactical Fighter Squadron
NA	Subject importance is not applicable. Generally applies to non-article pages such as redirects, categories, templates, etc.	Template:United States topics
???	Subject importance has not yet been assessed.	???

To avoid needlessly cluttering up talk pages, it is usually appropriate to remove any unused parameters from the template.

See also

• {{User interest United States}}
• {{User WikiProject United States}}
• {{User WP United States}}