Wikipedia:WikiProject Environment/Assessment

Welcome to the assessment department of the WikiProject Environment! This department focuses on assessing the quality of Wikipedia's environment articles. The resulting article ratings are used within the project to aid in recognizing excellent contributions and identifying topics in need of further work, and are also expected to play a role in the WP:1.0 program.

The assessment is done in a distributed fashion through parameters in the {{WikiProject Environment}} banner; this causes the articles to be placed in the appropriate sub-categories of Category:Environment articles by quality.

Article statistics
See also: Category:Environment articles by quality
and Category:Environment articles by importance
For detailed assessment statistics, see: (Index · Statistics · Log).

Environment articles by quality and importance
Quality	Importance
	Top	High	Mid	Low	NA	???	Total
FA	2	10	3	13			28
FL			1	1			2
GA	6	26	41	53		2	128
B	19	180	223	247		142	811
C	30	361	533	1,167		506	2,597
Start	5	251	757	2,211		1,619	4,843
Stub		23	221	1,147		1,339	2,730
List	7	29	46	221	4	96	403
Category				2	5,465		5,467
Disambig					50		50
File				1	35		36
Portal	2				35		37
Project					23		23
Template				1	151		152
NA	1	15	31	78	497		622
Other					172		172
Assessed	72	895	1,856	5,142	6,432	3,704	18,101
Unassessed			1	8		201	210
Total	72	895	1,857	5,150	6,432	3,905	18,311
WikiWork factors (?)		ω = 53,662			Ω = 4.82

See also: Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Environment articles by quality log
(To refresh this page, click here)

See also the general assessment FAQ.

1. What is the purpose of the article ratings?

The rating system allows the project to monitor the quality of articles in our subject areas, and to prioritize work on these articles. It is also utilized by the Wikipedia 1.0 program to prepare for static releases of Wikipedia content. Please note, however, that these ratings are primarily intended for the internal use of the project, and do not necessarily imply any official standing within Wikipedia as a whole.

2. How do I add an article to the WikiProject?

Just add {{environment}} to the talk page; there's no need to do anything else.

3. Someone put a {{environment}} template on an article, but it doesn't seem to be within the project's scope. What should I do?

Because of the large number of articles we deal with, we occasionally make mistakes and add tags to articles that shouldn't have them. If you notice one, feel free to remove the tag, and optionally leave a note on the talk page of this department (or directly with the person who tagged the article).

4. Who can assess articles?

Any member of the Wikipedia:WikiProject Environment is free to add—or change—the rating of an article. Editors who are not participants in this project are also welcome to assess articles, but should defer to consensus within the project in case of procedural disputes.

5. How do I rate an article?

Check the quality scale and select the level that best matches the state of the article; then, follow the instructions below to add the rating to the project banner on the article's talk page. Please note that some of the available levels have an associated formal review process that must be followed; this is documented in the assessment instructions.

6. Can I request that someone else rate an article?

Of course; to do so, please list it in the section for assessment requests below.

7. Where can I get more comments about an article?

Wikipedia:Peer review can conduct more thorough examination of articles; please submit it for review there.

8. What if I don't agree with a rating?

You can list it in the section for assessment requests below, and someone will take a look at it. Alternately, you can ask any member of the project to rate the article again. Please note that some of the available levels have an associated formal review process that must be followed; this is documented in the assessment instructions.

9. Aren't the ratings subjective?

Yes, they are somewhat subjective, but it's the best system we've been able to devise. If you have a better idea, please don't hesitate to let us know!

10. What if I have a question not listed here?

If your question concerns the article assessment process specifically, please refer to the discussion page for this department; for any other issues, you can go to the main project discussion page.

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

The following values may be used for the class parameter to describe the quality of the article (see Wikipedia:Content assessment for assessment criteria):

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

For non-standard grades and non-mainspace content, the following values may be used for the class parameter:

Note that lists are assessed using the same scale as other articles; however, they progress towards featured list rather than featured article status.

Importance assessment

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

{{WikiProject Environment| ... | importance=??? | ...}}

The following values may be used for importance assessments:

• Top - The article is about a core issue dealing with the Environment. Adds articles to Category:Top-importance Environment articles
• High - The article is about well-known issues. Adds articles to Category:High-importance Environment articles
• Mid - The article is about an environmental topic that may not be commonly known. Adds articles to Category:Mid-importance Environment articles
• Low - The article is about a topic that is highly specialized and is not generally common knowledge outside the community. Adds articles to Category:Low-importance Environment articles
• Unknown - Any article which has not yet been assessed on the importance scale is automatically added to the Category:Unknown-importance Environment articles.

Importance scale

Quality scale

Class	Criteria	Reader's experience	Editing suggestions	Example
FA	The article has attained featured article status by passing an in-depth examination by impartial reviewers from WP:Featured article candidates. More detailed criteria The article meets the featured article criteria: A featured article exemplifies Wikipedia's 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: well-written: its prose is engaging and of a professional standard; comprehensive: it neglects no major facts or details and places the subject in context; 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; neutral: it presents views fairly and without bias; 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; and compliant with Wikipedia's copyright policy and free of plagiarism or too-close paraphrasing. It follows the style guidelines, including the provision of: a lead: a concise lead section that summarizes the topic and prepares the reader for the detail in the subsequent sections; appropriate structure: a substantial but not overwhelming system of hierarchical section headings; and consistent citations: where required by criterion 1c, consistently formatted inline citations using footnotes—see citing sources for suggestions on formatting references. Citation templates are not required. Media. It has images and other media, where appropriate, with succinct captions and acceptable copyright status. Images 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 and uses summary style where appropriate.	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.[under discussion]	Global warming
FL	The article has attained featured list status by passing an in-depth examination by impartial reviewers from WP:Featured list candidates. 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) statements are sourced where they appear, and they provide inline citations if they contain any of the four kinds of material absolutely required to have citations. (c) 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. (c) Accessibility. It uses proper formating to be accessible to all readers. Bulleted and unbulleted lists and tables are structured correctly. Visual media, if included, utilize alternative (alt) text. 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.	None at the moment
A	The article is well organized and essentially complete, having been examined 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:Article development. 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 would typically find nothing wanting.	Expert knowledge may be needed to tweak the article, and style problems may need solving. WP:Peer review may help.	Cyclone Monica
GA	The article meets all of the good article criteria, and has been examined by one or more impartial reviewers from WP:Good article nominations. More detailed criteria A good article is: Well-written: the prose is clear, concise, and understandable to an appropriately broad audience; spelling and grammar are correct; and it complies with the Manual of Style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation. Verifiable with no original research: it contains a list of all references (sources of information), presented in accordance with the layout style guideline; reliable sources are cited inline. All content that could reasonably be challenged, except for plot summaries and that which summarizes cited content elsewhere in the article, must be cited no later than the end of the paragraph (or line if the content is not in prose); it contains no original research; and it contains no copyright violations or plagiarism. Broad in its coverage: it addresses the main aspects of the topic; and it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style). Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial 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 media such as images, video, or audio: media are tagged with their copyright statuses, and valid non-free use rationales are provided for non-free content; and media are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions.	Useful to nearly all readers, with no obvious problems; approaching (though not necessarily equalling) the quality of a professional publication.	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.	Invasive species
B	The article meets all of the B-Class criteria. It is mostly complete and does not have major problems, but requires some further work to reach good article standards. More detailed criteria The article is suitably referenced, with inline citations. It has reliable sources, and any important or controversial material which is likely to be challenged is cited. Any format of inline citation is acceptable: the use of <ref> tags and citation templates such as {{cite web}} is optional. 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 does not need to be "brilliant". The Manual of Style does not need to be followed rigorously. The article contains supporting materials where appropriate. Illustrations are encouraged, though not required. Diagrams, 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. 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 be considered if practical, and the article checked for general compliance with the Manual of Style and related style guidelines.	Recycling
C	The article is substantial but is still missing important content or contains irrelevant material. The article should have some references to reliable sources, but may still have significant problems or require substantial cleanup. More detailed criteria The article cites more than one reliable source and is better developed in style, structure, and quality than Start-Class, but it fails one or more of the criteria for B-Class. It may have some gaps or missing elements, or need editing for clarity, balance, or flow.	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 solve cleanup problems.	Ecological indicator
Start	An article that is developing but still quite incomplete. It may or may not cite adequate reliable sources. More detailed criteria The article has a meaningful amount of good content, but it is still weak in many areas. The article has one or more of the following: A useful picture or graphic Multiple links that help explain or illustrate the topic A subheading that fully treats an element of the topic Multiple subheadings that indicate material that could be added to complete the article	Provides some meaningful content, but most readers will need more.	Providing references to reliable sources should come first; the article also needs substantial improvement in content and organisation. Also improve the grammar, spelling, writing style and improve the jargon use.	ZENN
Stub	A very basic description of the topic. Meets none of the Start-Class criteria.	Provides very little meaningful content; may be little more than a dictionary definition. Readers probably see insufficiently developed features of the topic and may not see how the features of the topic are significant.	Any editing or additional material can be helpful. The provision of meaningful content should be a priority. The best solution for a Stub-class Article to step up to a Start-class Article is to add in referenced reasons of why the topic is significant.	1969 Santa Barbara oil spill
List	Meets the criteria of a stand-alone list or set index article, 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 literary movements

• Thin-film solar cell I'm requesting assessment for this article after significant expansion of the content and sources. Happy to receive other feedback as well! Fourmatter (talk) 19:10, 10 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Aptera (solar electric vehicle) has been significantly edited to improve neutrality and the quality of its links. I request an assessment and suggestions to improve its quality rating. Thanks. User:Fotoguru 12-March-2023
• 2023 International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan requesting an assessment, the article is complete and well written, the candidate of DYK on the main page. M.Ashraf333 (talk) 05:05, 22 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Recycling in Australia old article however I have completely rebuilt and expanded the article and it needs reassessment. HoHo3143 (talk) 6:51, 5 October 2022 (UTC)
• Stanley Spisiak new article about the person responsible for bringing attention to the pollution in Lake Erie. BuffaloBob (talk) 12:30, 16 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
• Conservation community requesting assessment after recent significant edits/clean up. Thanks! Rosenbergwrite (talk) 18:50, 7 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
• Litter in New Zealand requesting an assessment. I have recently added a significant amount of content to Litter in New Zealand. This article was originally a stub article with nothing except a lead section. I would appreciate it if the article were now assessed and given a class rating. Thank you! Isabel.miriam (talk) 04:47, 7 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
• Waste management in Russia - I am requesting an assessment of this article that I have and will continue to contribute to over the following days as part of an Australian University course. Looking forward to suggestions and criticism, thank you very much in advance! WriteOfMight (talk) 06:57, 3 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
• Veena Sahajwalla requesting an assessment. I have included many new sections amassing 2000 words. It has been significantly improved. Thank you in advance. mui3772 (talk) 01:30, 09 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
• Environmental finance Requesting assessment. The article has started as a stub but I have contributed signifacntly and believe it is at least a C class article. Thanks!
• I recently rewrote Oceana (non-profit group). I have put it as C instead of start, but I would appreciate an outside opinion. Toad02 (talk) 19:50, 8 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]
• Planet of the Humans needs assessment and improvements; particularly on the topics discussed in the film. Eternal Father (talk) 21:15, 25 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]