wikipedia-en-biography-writing git:20260523.02ea5d8A

Immutable. This exact content never changes and is served at /api/v1/blob/5ae923b56e198264.

---
name: wikipedia-en-biography-writing
description: Draft and edit English Wikipedia biographies following NPOV, verifiability, no original research, and biographies of living persons (BLP) policies
license: MIT
compatibility: opencode
---


## SOP: Notability Assessment

Before drafting, evaluate whether the subject meets English Wikipedia's notability criteria. If notability is unclear, flag it for the user rather than proceeding.

### General Notability (WP:GNG)
The subject must have received **significant coverage** in **multiple reliable sources** that are **independent** of the subject. Depth of coverage matters — brief mentions or directory listings do not count.

### Subject-Specific Guidelines
- **WP:ANYBIO** — Received a major award, or been inducted into a notable hall of fame.
- **WP:NACADEMIC** — Professor with major academic awards, highly cited research, a named chair, or editorial role at a top journal.
- **WP:NARTIST** — Work exhibited at major museums, significant critical attention, or representation in notable galleries.
- **WP:NCREATIVE** — Subject's creative work has been the subject of multiple independent reviews or major awards.

### When Notability Is Unclear
State: "This subject may not meet Wikipedia's notability guidelines. The provided sources should be checked for significant, independent coverage." Proceed only if the user confirms and supplies sufficient sources.

## SOP: Article Structure

Use this standard biography structure. Do not deviate from the section ordering.

```wikitext
{{Infobox person
| name          = 
| image         = 
| caption       = 
| birth_date    = 
| birth_place   = 
| death_date    = 
| death_place   = 
| nationality   = 
| occupation    = 
| known_for     = 
| alma_mater    = 
| awards        = 
}}
```

### Lead (unnamed, first paragraph)
- 2-4 paragraphs summarizing the subject's most important facts
- First sentence: **"[Name] (born [date]) is a [nationality] [occupation] known for [key achievement]."**
- Establish notability immediately
- No citations needed for facts restated from the body (WP:LEADCITE)

### Body Sections
```wikitext
== Early life and education ==
Early years, family background, schooling.

== Career ==
Professional trajectory, major achievements. For academics: research, publications, teaching. For artists: exhibitions, works, critical reception.

== Personal life ==
Only include if well-sourced and relevant. For living subjects, keep minimal — spouse, children, notable residences. Exclude private details (address, phone).

== Awards and honors ==
List with inline citations. Use a bullet list or prose depending on quantity.

== Selected works ==
For authors, filmmakers, or artists. Use a numbered list or a table.

== References ==
{{reflist}}
```

## SOP: Citations

### Citation Templates
Always use inline `<ref>` tags with the appropriate citation template:

```wikitext
<ref>{{cite web |url= |title= |last= |first= |date= |website= |access-date=}}</ref>

<ref>{{cite news |url= |title= |last= |first= |date= |work= |publisher= |access-date=}}</ref>

<ref>{{cite book |title= |last= |first= |date= |publisher= |isbn= |pages=}}</ref>

<ref>{{cite journal |title= |last= |first= |date= |journal= |volume= |issue= |pages= |doi=}}</ref>
```

### Per-Section Rules
- **Lead** — No citations needed (facts are cited in the body)
- **Body** — Every substantive claim needs at least one inline citation directly after the sentence
- **Controversial claims** — Require multiple strong, independent, reliable sources
- **Direct quotes** — Must have an inline citation with page number
- **Statistics** — Must be cited to the specific source containing those numbers

### Source Hierarchy
1. **Preferred:** Academic journals, major news outlets, government publications, peer-reviewed books
2. **Acceptable with caution:** Primary sources (for straightforward facts only), reputable magazines, documentaries
3. **Do not use:** Self-published sources (blogs, social media, personal websites), Wikipedia mirrors, paid or sponsored content
4. **Never use for BLP:** Tabloids, anonymous sources, rumor sites, user-generated content

## SOP: Policy Guardrails

### BLP (Biographies of Living Persons)
1. **Remove unsourced or poorly sourced contentious material immediately.** Do not leave it in the draft even temporarily.
2. **Never include** private information (home address, phone number, email, exact birth date without a source) for a living person.
3. **Give due weight** — do not overemphasize minor controversies, lawsuits, or personal matters.
4. **Use neutral language** — avoid loaded terms ("controversial," "alleged," "scandal," "rocky").
5. **Attribute negative claims** explicitly: "According to a 2020 investigation by The Guardian, ..."
6. **Harm principle** — If publishing a fact could cause harm and it is not essential to the biography, omit it.

### NPOV (Neutral Point of View)
1. **Avoid promotional language:** "renowned," "leading," "pioneering," "legendary," "world-class," "visionary."
2. **Present claims as claims,** not facts: "Smith argues that ..." not "Smith proved that ..."
3. **Attribute opinions:** "According to X, ..." or "X has described the work as ..."
4. **Give proportional weight** — major views get more space, fringe views get minimal or no space.
5. **Do not take sides** in disputes. Describe both sides' positions fairly.

### NOR (No Original Research)
1. **No synthesis** — Do not connect information across sources to imply a conclusion that neither source states.
2. **No analysis** — Every fact in the article must be traceable to a published reliable source.
3. **No interpretation** — Let the sources speak. Do not add your own reading of events.

### Verifiability
1. Use only published, reliable sources with editorial oversight.
2. For academic subjects, prefer peer-reviewed journals and university presses.
3. For current events, prefer major news outlets with fact-checking.
4. Primary sources (interviews, official documents) are acceptable for straightforward factual claims but not for interpretive analysis.

## SOP: Anti-Hallucination Rules

These are **strict** constraints — violating any of them produces a dangerously bad draft.

1. **Never fabricate a citation.** Every `<ref>` must point to a source the user provided or one you independently verified. If you lack a source, write `{{citation needed}}` and flag it.
2. **Never guess a URL.** Do not invent a URL for a citation. If the user provides URLs, use them. If not, provide the citation metadata without a link.
3. **Never assume a source supports a claim.** Read the source in the user's context. If you are unsure what a source says, ask the user.
4. **Never include dates, statistics, or quotes without a source.** These are the most commonly hallucinated content.
5. **When in doubt, omit.** If you cannot verify a detail, leave it out rather than inventing it.
6. **Flag gaps** with `{{citation needed}}`, `{{clarify}}`, or `{{when}}` instead of silently omitting needed citations.
7. **Review before output.** Before returning a draft, check every `<ref>` against the user's provided sources.

## Workflow: Drafting a Biography

1. **Gather** — Ask the user for: subject name, a short description to avoid disambiguation, and a list of reliable sources (URLs or full bibliographic detail).
2. **Assess** — Evaluate notability against WP:GNG or subject-specific guidelines. Flag issues before drafting.
3. **Outline** — Draft section headers based on what the user's sources cover. Skip sections with no source support.
4. **Write body first** — Build each section with inline citations before writing the lead. This ensures the lead is grounded in sourced content.
5. **Write lead** — Summarize the body's key points in 2-4 paragraphs. Do not introduce facts not in the body.
6. **Add infobox** — Use the appropriate infobox template with only fields supported by sources. Most infoboxes should use a small fraction of available fields. When in doubt about a field's accuracy, appropriateness, or formatting, leave it out.
7. **Review** — Check against BLP, NPOV, NOR, and every anti-hallucination rule. Flag any concerns to the user.

---

## Tooling

This skill includes helper scripts, reference docs, and templates:

### 🔧 Notability Checker (`scripts/check-notability.sh`)

Walks through Wikipedia's notability criteria and produces a structured assessment.

```bash
# Interactive mode — guides through each criterion
./scripts/check-notability.sh "Albert Einstein"

# Print the guide without interactive prompts
./scripts/check-notability.sh --guide
```

### 🔧 Citation Validator (`scripts/citation-check.sh`)

Checks a draft file for citation issues.

```bash
./scripts/citation-check.sh my_draft.md
```

Reports:
- Total citation count and missing reference list
- Templates missing URLs or access-dates
- Empty template fields
- Hallucination risk flags ({{citation needed}}, {{clarify}}, etc.)
- Section-level citation gaps

### 📚 Policy Reference (`references/policies.md`)

Full policy excerpts for BLP, NPOV, NOR, and Verifiability, with checklists
and source reliability guide. Read when you need to verify policy compliance.

### 📚 Notability Guide (`references/notability-guide.md`)

Deep reference on all notability guidelines (GNG, ANYBIO, NACADEMIC, NARTIST,
NCREATIVE, NSPORT) with examples, a flowchart, and common pitfalls.

### 🧩 Biography Template (`assets/biography-template.md`)

Complete article skeleton with:
- Standard section ordering
- Infobox template
- Lead structure guide
- Section-by-section guidance
- Pre-submission checklist

### 🧩 Citation Templates (`assets/citation-template.md`)

Ready-to-use templates for all citation types (web, news, book, journal)
with required/recommended fields and anti-hallucination rules.

### 🧩 Infobox Templates (`assets/infobox-templates/`)

> ⚠️ **Less is more.** The infobox templates list dozens of possible fields, but most articles
> should use only a handful — the ones the editor is confident in and that convey essential
> information. **It is better to leave a field out than to include one you are unsure about.**

Subject-specific infobox variants:

| Template | For |
|---|---|
| `person.md` | **Generic/default** — use when no subject-specific infobox fits |
| `scientist.md` | Academics, researchers, scientists |
| `writer.md` | Authors, journalists, poets |
| `artist.md` | Visual artists, sculptors, photographers |
| `athlete.md` | Athletes, coaches, sports figures |
| `officeholder.md` | Politicians, government officials, diplomats, judges |