Quick-and-dirty guide to nominating DYKs

edit
1. Is your article eligible?
Did you either newly create the article, or expand it fivefold, within the past 5 days? Is it free of serious cleanup issues? Check the DYK rules if you're uncertain.
2. Nominate at T:TDYK
Open Template talk:Did you know, the nominations page, in a new window or tab. Find the correct date subheading (the date when you started your work on the article—either when you created it/moved it to mainspace, or when you started expanding it). Click the "edit" link for that section.
3. Find the {{NewDYKnom}} template
Open Template:NewDYKnom#Examples in a separate window or tab. Select and copy (Ctrl-C on Windows or Command-C on Mac, or right-click) whichever template is appropriate for your article (or scroll up for the full template, and read the documentation for an explanation of what the extra parameters mean).
4. Fill out the template

Paste the template into the T:TDYK edit window that you have open in the other tab. Fill out whatever parameters you can. |article=, |hook=, and |author= are always required; others are optional. In the |article= parameter, make sure the hook is a question beginning with "...that" and the title of the article you're nominating is linked and bold (should look like, |article=...that Foo did bar in 1986?). For extra parameters (such as listing more than one writer to get credit), see the template documentation. If there is any other special information (for example, letting the reviewers know if you moved the article from your userspace), use the |comment= parameter.

If you need help filling out the template, see the template documentation or follow the step-by-step instructions below.

Base template

Type in your article name into the box below, and click on the blue button to create your nomination.


This will open an edit box with the following template:

{{subst:NewDYKnomination
 | article       = {{subst:str right|{{subst:PAGENAME}}|25}} 
 |    article2   = 
 | status        = new / expanded / mainspace / redirect / GA
 | hook          = ... that ...? <small>Source: "You are strongly encouraged to quote the source text supporting each hook" (and [link] the source, or cite it briefly without using citation templates)</small>
 | ALT1          = ... that ...? <small>Source: "You are strongly encouraged to quote the source text supporting each hook" (and [link] the source, or cite it briefly without using citation templates)</small>
 | author        = 
 |    author2    = 
 | image         = 
 |    caption    = 
 | comment       = 
 | reviewed      = 
}}
You may wish to open this page in a separate browser tab so that you can read this guide while you are editing.
articles

Add the names of the articles you are nominating. You can skip this step if you are only nominating one article, and its name is the same as the one you typed into the input box above.

Add the name of the first article (no wiki formatting) to the parameter called |article=. For example:

 | article = French Revolution

If you are nominating more than one article, add the others to |article2=, |article3=, etc. Example:

 | article2 = Maximilien Robespierre
 | article3 = Guillotine
 | article4 = Cake
hook

Add the hook to the parameter called |hook=, following the hook guidelines at WP:DYK#The hook. Remember to begin the hook with "... that", to end it with a question mark, and to link the article title within the hook and make it bold. If you will be using an image with the hook, don't forget to put ''(pictured)'' in it. Example:

 | hook = ... that a lot of people died during the '''[[French Revolution]]''' ''(pictured)''?
status
If you created this article from scratch, make |status=new. If you expanded it from an existing article, make |status=expanded. If you newly source and expand a completely unsourced BLP, make |status=BLP expanded. If you moved it from non-mainspace to mainspace, make |status=moved. If the article passed a Good Article review, make |status=GA. If you converted the page to an article from a redirect or a disambiguation page, use |status=redirect.
contributors

Add the names of the editors who contributed to the article being nominated for DYK. You can skip this step if you are the main contributor, and there are no other contributors that need to be credited.

In the parameter called |author= add the name of the article's primary author (whoever did the work that's being nominated for DYK—either the person who originally created the article, or the one who expanded it recently). Type out the username in plain text with no formatting; do not use ~~~~. Example:

 | author = Jimbo Wales

Just like the article names, you can add more than one author if several people collaborated, using |author2=, |author3=, etc.

If you are nominating an article of which you are not an |author=, don't worry. The template knows that you are the nominator; you don't have to fill in anything extra.
image

If you are not nominating an image to go with your hook, skip this section.

If you are nominating an image, put its filename in |image=. Do note use File:, Image:, or any attributes like thumb and 100px, just use the bare filename, like this:

 | image = Prise de la Bastille.jpg

After that, add an appropriate caption in the |caption= parameter. This supplies both the tooltip (the text that appears when a reader leaves his mouse over the image for a moment) and the alt-text (the text that is used by screen readers or is shown to readers whose browser cannot display the image). It should be a physical description of the contents of the image, not a comment about the image. Please review WP:ALT to see the guidelines for how alt-text should be written.

Overall, the code for the image nomination should look something like this:

 | image = Prise de la Bastille.jpg
 | caption = A painting depicting the storming of the Bastille, 1789
comments

If you have any additional comments or explanation to add (such as "the source of the hook fact can be found on page 12"), add them in the |comment= field. If not, leave that field blank.

 | comment = Article created in my userspace on May 12, moved to mainspace on June 3.
review

If applicable, list the article that you reviewed, in accordance with the review requirement. Please provide the article name, or note that you still have to conduct a review.

 | reviewed = I still have to review another nomination and will post this here once it's done.
alternate hooks

If you have only one hook to suggest for your nomination, skip this step. But if you want to suggest more than one hook, you can put addition hooks in the fields |ALT1=, |ALT2=, etc.

 | ALT1 = ... that millions of high school students learn about the '''[[French Revolution]]''' ''(pictured)'' every year?
nominate

Now the template in the edit window should be nicely filled up. Mine looks something like this:

{{subst:NewDYKnomination
 | article         = French Revolution
 |    article2     = 
 | status          = expanded
 | hook            = ... that a lot of people died during the '''[[French Revolution]]''' ''(pictured)''?
 | ALT1            = ... that millions of high school students learn about the '''[[French Revolution]]''' ''(pictured)'' every year?
 | author          = Jimbo Wales
 |    author2      = 
 | image           = Prise de la Bastille.jpg
 |    caption      = A painting depicting the storming of the Bastille, 1789
 | comment         = Please save this nomination for a couple days so it can be on the main page for April Fools' Day!
 | reviewed        = Everlost (novel)
}}

(Your nomination does not necessarily need to have so many fields filled in. I just purposely filled in a lot to illustrate all of them.)

When you are ready, save the page. It should look something like this:


French Revolution

 

  • ALT1:... that millions of high school students learn about the French Revolution (pictured) every year?
  • Reviewed: Everlost (novel)
  • Comment: Please save this nomination for a couple days so it can be on the main page for April Fools Day!

5x expanded by Jimbo Wales (talk). Nominated by Mr. Stradivarius (talk) at 05:58, 1 April 2015 (UTC).

5. Save the page
Make sure to check back at least once a day to see if a reviewer has left comments.