Update, 18 October 2008 edit

Project ratings are now as follows:

  • FA, FL, GA when one of those statuses have been awarded
  • A, B by short written assessment
  • C not in active use by the project
  • Start nominal (unwritten) assessment
  • Stub when the article has a Stub template

Quality scale edit

Article progress grading scheme
Label Criteria Reader's experience Editor's experience Examples
  FA
{{FA-Class}}
Reserved exclusively for articles that have received "Featured article" by satisfying the Featured article criteria at Featured article candidates Definitive. Outstanding, thorough article; a great source for encyclopedic information. No further editing necessary, unless new published information has come to light. Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Claudio Monteverdi
  FL
{{FL-Class}}
Reserved exclusively for articles that have received "Featured list" status by Featured list criteria at Featured list candidates Comprehensively covers the defined scope, usually providing a complete set of items, and has annotations that provide useful and appropriate information. No further editing necessary, unless there is new published information. List of sculptures of Ludwig van Beethoven
  A
{{A-Class}}
Provides a well-written, reasonably clear and complete description of the subject, as described in How to write a great article. It should be of a length suitable for the subject, with a well-written introduction and an appropriate series of headings to break up the content. It should have sufficient external literature references, preferably from the "hard" (peer-reviewed where appropriate) literature rather than websites. Should be well illustrated, preferably with free media rather than fair use ones, which are only to be used as a last resort. At the stage where it could at least be considered for featured article status, corresponds to the "Wikipedia 1.0" standard. Scholarly analysis of the topic is aptly summarised. Inline citations are essential. Very useful to readers. A fairly complete treatment of the subject. A non-expert in the subject matter would typically find nothing wanting. May miss a few relevant points. Minor edits and adjustments would improve the article, particularly if brought to bear by a subject-matter expert. In particular, issues of breadth, completeness, and balance may need work. Peer-review would be helpful at this stage.
  GA
{{GA-Class}}
The article has passed through the Good article nomination process and been granted GA status, meeting the good article standards. This should be used for articles that still need some work to reach featured article standards, but that are otherwise good. Good articles that may succeed in FAC should be considered A-Class articles, but being a Good article is not a requirement for A-Class. Useful to nearly all readers. A good treatment of the subject. No obvious problems, gaps, excessive information. Adequate for most purposes, but other encyclopedias could do a better job. Some editing will clearly be helpful, but not necessary for a good reader experience. If the article is not already fully wikified, now is the time. Karlheinz Stockhausen, F. Andrieu, Ferruccio Busoni
B
{{B-Class}}
Has several of the elements described in "start", usually a majority of the material needed for a completed article. Such articles should be neutral and devoid of original research. If free images are used, this is a bonus. The article is referenced to reliable sources (such as Grove), possibly using inline citations. Useful to many, but not all, readers. Expansion is still needed, usually scholarly analysis being the lacking element. Aaron Copland, Charles Gounod, Reynaldo Hahn
Start
{{Start-Class}}
Start-Class articles should contain a decent level of contextual information (including a modicum of criticism). The article could contain more information, but most will find it moderately useful. Substantial/major editing is needed, most material for a complete article needs to be added. This article usually isn't even good enough for a cleanup tag: it still needs to be built. Notker the Stammerer, Pietro Taglia
List
{{List}}
Meets the criteria of a stand-alone list. An article that contains primarily a list, usually consisting of links to articles in a particular subject area. 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 composers by name, List of major opera composers
Stub
{{Stub-Class}}
The article is either a very short article or a rough collection of information that will need much work to bring it to A-Class level. It is usually very short, but can be of any length if the material is irrelevant or incomprehensible. Minimally useful. Provides a basic introduction. Any editing or additional material can be helpful. Gobin de Reims, Queldryk

Points scale for articles edit

Elements Points
Origins/family background/studies 5
Early career 10
Mature career 25
List (or lists) of works (as far as current scholarship allows) with dates/catalogue
numbers. (This may exist on a separate page.)
20
Critical appreciation 15
Illustrations and sound clips. (Assuming these are in existence.) 10
Inline references, sources and bibliography 10
Clear structure (WP:LEAD, etc.), compliance with WP:MOS, project guidelines, etc. 5
Note: articles to which this point scale is not applicable - in the case of composers for whom information is limited, and whose articles have been expanded to the maximum extent possible using easily available sources, a "B" class rating is acceptable, providing the writing, citation, and NPOV qualities of the article are up to "B" class level.

The points for each element would be the most that can be allocated. Elements that are present but brief or incomplete would earn part-scores. The maximum total points for any article would be 100.

Users performing reviews of composer pages should use the Model Review page as a basis for their review.

Points translated into classifications edit

Points would translated into classifications as follows:

  • 0-29: Stub
  • 30-59: Start
  • 60-89: B
  • 90+: A

(Note that GA and FA classes are assessed and awarded independently, so do not figure in the above).

2008-2009 B-class article review edit

All B-class articles are being reviewed in the fall of 2008 and early 2009. The progress and results of the reviews can be followed here.