Notability
Wikipedia isn’t meant to be a catalogue of everything that’s ever existed, so the Wikipedia community has standards for whether a topic can have its own article. Generally speaking, a topic is considered notable if it can be supported by 2-3 independent and verifiable sources. Wikipedia is only as good as the sources that comprise it. Emphasize that students should build citations into their text as soon as they start a draft, even if it's in a sandbox. Those who monitor new articles are sorting through a barrage of spam, joke pages, and self-promotion. They will quickly review a page for sources that establish notability. As long as citations to reputable sources accompany each claim, others are unlikely to challenge whether the article belongs.
Students need to compile a bibliography well before they do the bulk of the assignment. We strongly recommend you require students to identify sources early on. If the topic they originally selected isn't covered by at least three robust sources, they should revise their choice. The overwhelming majority of our students work on existing articles, and thereby do not need to address the issue of notability.
Wikipedia's notability requirements are often a topic of debate within the editing community. Wikipedia's notability policy often excludes traditionally under-represented and marginalized populations, thereby perpetuating knowledge inequities. Discussing Wikipedia's notability policies is a great way to engage your students and to help them think about knowledge construction, bias, and the limits of Wikipedia.