Wikipedia Basics

Wikipedia content is intended to be factual, notable, verifiable with cited external sources, and neutrally presented.

The appropriate policies and guidelines for these are found at:

1. Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not, which summarizes what belongs in Wikipedia and what does not;
2. Wikipedia:Neutral point of view, which describes Wikipedia's mandatory core approach to neutral, unbiased article-writing;
3. Wikipedia:No original research, which prohibits the use of Wikipedia to publish personal views and original research of editors and defines Wikipedia's role as an encyclopedia of existing recognized knowledge;
4. Wikipedia:Verifiability, which explains that it must be possible for readers to verify all content against credible external sources (following the guidance in the Wikipedia:Risk disclaimer that is linked-to at the end of every article);
5. Wikipedia:Reliable sources, which explains what factors determine whether a source is acceptable;
6. Wikipedia:Citing sources, which describes the manner of citing sources so that readers can verify content for themselves;
7. And Wikipedia:Manual of Style, which offers a style guide—in general editors tend to acquire knowledge of appropriate writing styles and detailed formatting over time.

(“Wikipedia,” 2015)