Featured articles are supposed to be examples of Memory Alpha's best work, and are showcased on the main page and in the portals. They are especially well-written, informative, and comprehensive articles that cover all available information on a subject. This means that any article nominated to become a featured article should fulfill the following criteria:
- well-written: This includes both style and content. A featured article candidate should adhere to the guidelines as laid out in the Manual of Style and come at least close to a perfect article.
- comprehensive: The article should be as complete as possible, but without adding any unnecessary rambling. Completeness includes citing all sources.
- accurate: Memory Alpha only accepts specific resources. Candidates should strictly adhere to this and avoid any invalid resources.
- illustrated: where possible, visual (images) or auditory (audio files) illustrations confirm the appearance and nature of various references, in some cases, as part of a gallery.
- undisputed & stable: Any article whose content currently is under dispute is not a good candidate. If changes to the article leading up to and during the featured article nomination can not be agreed upon by a community consensus, the article will be considered invalid for FA status at that time.
While it may be possible to write a good article from scratch, it is highly encouraged to let other editors copyedit and comment on possible flaws before nominating the article.