User:CT55555/Notability Search Tips

Some subjects require Sherlock Holmes type detective work

Sometimes articles about notable subjects are nominated for deletion in the Articles for Deletion process. Sometimes editors cannot create articles about subjects that seem notable due to not having sources that meet Wikipedia's notability guidelines. In both these scenarios there are advanced searches that can be undertaken in order to establish if a subject is notable.

Normal checks

Before proposing an article for deletion, editors should check the notability of a subject using searches recommended at WP:BEFORE. That includes:

1. a normal Google search
2. a Google Books search
3. a Google News search
4. a Google News archive search; and
5. a Google Scholar is suggested for academic subjects (it's worth doing for most types of articles, especially books)

Limitations to normal checks

The above rules, however, do not specify what search term to use, and imply that simply the name of the subject (e.g. "Jane Smith") should be googled. Increased likelihood of finding sources that establish notability will occur if logical combinations of search terms are deployed. For example, in the situation where Jane Smith is an actor, the following terms may help:

• "Jane Smith Award"
• "Jane Smith Emmy"
• "Jane Smith MovieName"

For biographical articles, also consider all versions of the way a name may be written. Repeat all the above and below searches replacing "Jane Smith" with "J Smith" and Jame Middlename Smith" and "J M Smith".

If you are getting too many results, identify a unique things associated with the topic. For example ""Jane Smith" and "FilmName"" (note the double quotation marks)

When the subject is a book, for example the book is called BookyWooky, the following terms may help:

• "BookyWooky review" (in google news, in google normal it will get non notable results)
• "BookyWooky award"

Literary Hub's Book Marks [1] can be a useful resource for book reviews

For science fiction articles, it is recommended to search the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

An even more advanced technique is to search string "[topic]" site:[website name, e.g. nytimes.com] (quotes included)

In addition to the recommended websites at WP:BEFORE, other websites that can be helpful include:

1. https://www.Newspapers.com
2. https://www.proquest.com/
3. The Wikipedia Library - most experienced editors can get free use of the library

Alternatives to Google

Some users find better search results on DuckDuckGo and report finding things on DuckDuckGo that they did not find in Google.

• https://duckduckgo.com/

Non-English subject searching

Other searching tips:

1. If the subject is more likely to be in a non-English language wikipedia, for example an Italian actor is more likely to be in Italian Wikipedia, search there and use google translate to identify sources. Often with older articles the citations are no longer live. Sometimes you can find them at https://archive.org/web/

Libraries

While many modern subject's notability can be established using online sources, analogue library resources and university libraries can be used. Editors without access to a traditional library can obtain support via Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request

Further reading

• Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red/Essays/Primer for creating women's biographies

• Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red/Biographical resources