01-general-reference

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This is a list of Wikipedia's major topic classifications. They are used throughout Wikipedia to organize the presentation of links to articles in its various reference systems, including Wikipedia's overviews, outlines, glossaries, lists, portals, indices, and categories.

This page contains guidance on the proper use of the categorization function in Wikipedia. The central goal of the category system is to provide navigational links to pages in Wikipedia within a hierarchy of categories. Using essential, defining characteristics of a topic, readers can browse and quickly find sets of pages on topics that are defined by those characteristics.

Categories and articles serve different purposes in Wikipedia. Where articles are meant to be the main direct source of informative content that readers spend the majority of their time reading, categories are meant to be a navigational system that helps readers quickly move from one related article to another within a related subject area. Articles are meant to support detailed discussions on a particular topic, while categories are ideally streamlined indexes that can point readers to the discussions they want.

HotCat is a gadget that helps registered users easily remove, change, and add categories to Wikipedia pages. It has a suggestions list that will propose existing categories for auto-completion.

WikiProject Categories has been set up to help manage the categories of Wikipedia and improve them. The goal is to categorize all articles in a way that is consistent with the guidelines at Wikipedia:Categorization.

Wikipedia is a free, volunteer-created encyclopedia, consisting of articles written in a particular style. Wikipedia is a continuous process with no end. If you write something good, it could be around for weeks, months, or even years and read all over the world. It might also be improved or incorporated into new revisions by other editors. Part of the fun and challenge of editing here is watching what happens to your contributions over time.

This is the Styletips project, which gives useful advice to editors on writing style and formatting in bite-size chunks from the Manual of Style and related pages. For the complete schedule of Styletips, see below.

Wikipedia's policies and guidelines are developed by the community to describe best practices, clarify principles, resolve conflicts, and otherwise further our goal of creating a free, reliable encyclopedia. There is no need to read any policy or guideline pages to start editing. The five pillars are a popular summary of the most pertinent principles.

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[[Frog#Locomotion]] [[Frog#Locomotion|locomotion in frogs]] {{slink|Frog#Locomotion}}

This Simplified Manual of Style is an overview of commonly used style guidelines taken from the Wikipedia:Manual of Style and its subpages (together called the MoS). When a MoS guideline offers a choice of style, use only one alternative consistently throughout an article, and do not unreasonably alter a choice that has already been made. The MoS has too many suggestions to memorize, or even to consult regularly, but because they are based on consensual discussion, they often settle time-wasting arguments. Wikipedia has no firm rules, but these suggestions help create consistent articles. For a descriptive directory of the pages which make up the Manual of Style, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Contents.

This Simplified Manual of Style is an overview of commonly used style guidelines taken from the Wikipedia:Manual of Style and its subpages (together called the MoS). When a MoS guideline offers a choice of style, use only one alternative consistently throughout an article, and do not unreasonably alter a choice that has already been made. The MoS has too many suggestions to memorize, or even to consult regularly, but because they are based on consensual discussion, they often settle time-wasting arguments. Wikipedia has no firm rules, but these suggestions help create consistent articles. For a descriptive directory of the pages which make up the Manual of Style, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Contents.

This Simplified Manual of Style is an overview of commonly used style guidelines taken from the Wikipedia:Manual of Style and its subpages (together called the MoS). When a MoS guideline offers a choice of style, use only one alternative consistently throughout an article, and do not unreasonably alter a choice that has already been made. The MoS has too many suggestions to memorize, or even to consult regularly, but because they are based on consensual discussion, they often settle time-wasting arguments. Wikipedia has no firm rules, but these suggestions help create consistent articles. For a descriptive directory of the pages which make up the Manual of Style, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Contents.

Wikipedia is a free, volunteer-created encyclopedia, consisting of articles written in a particular style. Wikipedia is a continuous process with no end. If you write something good, it could be around for weeks, months, or even years and read all over the world. It might also be improved or incorporated into new revisions by other editors. Part of the fun and challenge of editing here is watching what happens to your contributions over time.

The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally. In coordination with a network of individual volunteers and our independent movement organizations, including recognized Chapters, Thematic Organizations,….

Wikipedia's policies and guidelines are developed by the community to describe best practices, clarify principles, resolve conflicts, and otherwise further our goal of creating a free, reliable encyclopedia. There is no need to read any policy or guideline pages to start editing. The five pillars are a popular summary of the most pertinent principles.

The reliability of Wikipedia and its user-generated editing model, particularly its English-language edition, has been questioned and tested. Wikipedia is written and edited by volunteer editors who generate online content with the editorial oversight of other volunteer editors via community-generated policies and guidelines. The reliability of the project has been tested statistically through comparative review, analysis of the historical patterns, and strengths and weaknesses inherent in its editing process. The online encyclopedia has been criticized for its factual unreliability, principally regarding its content, presentation, and editorial processes. Studies and surveys attempting to gauge the reliability of Wikipedia have mixed results. Wikipedia's reliability was frequently criticized in the 2000s but has been improved; it has been generally praised in the late 2010s and early 2020s.

Editors must take particular care when adding information about living persons to any Wikipedia page, including but not limited to articles, talk pages, project pages, and drafts.[a] Such material requires a high degree of sensitivity, and must adhere strictly to all applicable laws in the United States, to this policy, and to Wikipedia's three core content policies:

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia. The amount of information on Wikipedia is practically unlimited, but Wikipedia does not aim to contain all knowledge. What to exclude is determined by an online community committed to building a high-quality encyclopedia. These exclusions are summarized as things that Wikipedia is not.

The fundamental principles of Wikipedia may be summarized in five "pillars":

Wikipedia's content is governed by three principal core content policies: neutral point of view, verifiability, and no original research. Editors should familiarize themselves with all three, jointly interpreted:

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