 | This is an essay on notability. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
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Significance is in the middle of a spectrum of coverage. That spectrum runs from a trivial mention to the main topic of a reliable source. Significant coverage is somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. Significant coverage is not just slightly more than a trivial mention. The general notability guideline defines significant coverage as discussion of a topic in a reliable source that is direct and in-depth. The guideline also requires that an editor should be able to determine notability from a source without using original research.
This essay proposes using a spectrum approach to determine whether a set of sources establishes notability. The spectrum approach recognizes that sources from the entire spectrum can be used to write articles, but that not all sources on the spectrum will contribute equally to the notability of a subject. Under this approach, at least some sources must contain significant coverage of a topic to establish that topic's notability.