This page is a how-to guide detailing a practice or process on the English Wikipedia.

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If an article becomes too large or a section of an article has a length that is out of proportion to the rest of the article it is recommended that a split be carried out. In some cases refactoring an article into child or sister articles can allow subtopics to be discussed more fully elsewhere without dominating an article to which they are non-central (but only if the new articles are themselves sufficiently notable to include in the encyclopedia).

Contents 1 Article size 2 Procedure 3 Templates 3.1 For use on main page 3.2 For use on talk page 4 Articles needing splitting 5 See also

[edit] Article size

There are no hard and fast rules for when an article should be split, but the guideline suggests the following:

Readable prose size	What to do
> 100 KB	Almost certainly should be divided
> 60 KB	Probably should be divided (although the scope of a topic can sometimes justify the added reading time)
> 40 KB	May eventually need to be divided (likelihood goes up with size)
< 30 KB	Length alone does not justify division
< 1 KB	If an article or list has remained this size for over a couple of months, consider combining it with a related page.

Always keep in mind that many users use low speed services or must pay a fixed rate for each KB downloaded. As well, users frequently access Wikipedia through a mobile phone or smartphone, and these mobile browsers truncate pages at approximately 32KB. See the article size guideline for further information.

[edit] Procedure

If an article meets the criteria for splitting editors can be bold and carry out the split, although discussion on the article talk page or associated WikiProject is a way of seeking a consensus. Alternatively, adding one of the templates below will list it at Category:Articles to be split. This will bring it to the attention of editors who check this category. If a comment is added on the appropriate WikiProject talk page editors who can carry out the split would be advised.

To conform with Wikipedia's licensing requirements, which require that content contributors receive attribution, the new page should be created with an edit summary noting "split content from [[article name]]". (Do not omit this step or omit the page name.) A note should also be made in the edit summary of the source article, "split content to [[article name]]", to protect against the article subsequently being deleted and the history of the new page eradicated. It may also be helpful to place the {{Copied}} template on the talk page of both articles to make attribution clear and further safeguard against deletion.

If a section is split from the original article, a summary section should be left in the original ("main") article. At the top, it should contain a link to the newly created page, easily achieved with {{Main|Newly created page name here}} template.

[edit] Templates

[edit] For use on main page

• {{Split}} - used to convert the original page into a disambiguation page and all material added to the new pages

It has been suggested that this page be split into multiple pages accessible from a disambiguation page. (Discuss)

• {{Split2}}

It has been suggested that some content from this article or section be split into a separate article entitled [[{{{1}}}]]. (Discuss)

• {{Split-apart}}

It has been suggested that this page be split into multiple pages. (Discuss)

• {{Split section}}

It has been suggested that this section be split into a new page. (Discuss)

• {{Splitsections}} - can specify multiple destination articles

It has been suggested that some sections of this page be split into a new page entitled [[:Wikipedia:|]]. (Discuss)

• {{Split dab}} - for splitting disambiguation pages

It has been suggested that this disambiguation page be split into multiple pages. (Discuss)

• {{Move portions}} - for migrating portions of a section

It has been suggested that portions of this article be moved into [[{{{1}}}]]. (Discuss)

[edit] For use on talk page

• {{Copied}} - note for both source & destination

Some or all of the contents of [[{{{from}}}]] were copied into [[{{{to}}}]] with [difference of copying missing this edit]. [[{{{from}}}]] now serves to provide attribution for content in [[{{{to}}}]] and must not be deleted so long as [[{{{to}}}]] exists. For attribution and to access old versions of the copied text at [[{{{to}}}]], please see [{{fullurl:{{{from}}}|action=history}} this history].

• {{Split-to}}

Material included in the associated project or article page was split from another page; NOTE: please specify pagename when using this template on date of split missing. The page history of that page now serves as the attribution history for the contents of the associated project or article page.

• {{Splitfrom}}

Material from the associated project or article page was split to another page; NOTE: please specify pagename when using this template on date of split missing. The page history of the associated project or article page now serves as the attribution history for part of the contents of that page.

• {{SplitfromBannerShell}} - collapsing multiple {{Split-to}} and {{Splitfrom}} notes

	This article has been split multiple times:

[edit] Articles needing splitting

A list of articles that require splitting are at Category:Articles to be split.

Articles to be split
(refresh)
August 2008	192
September 2008	16
October 2008	6
November 2008	19
December 2008	27
January 2009	32
February 2009	14
March 2009	19
April 2009	59
May 2009	31
June 2009	34
July 2009	48
August 2009	47
September 2009	72
October 2009	63
November 2009	37
Undated articles	26
All articles	758

[edit] See also

• Wikipedia:Content forking
• Wikipedia:Merging
• Wikipedia:Summary style