Wikipedia:Contents

Wikipedia's contents

There are  two ways to look things up in Wikipedia: by searching or  by browsing...

If you know the name of the topic you are  looking for, simply type it  into Wikipedia's search box and  press Go.

If you would like to look around the encyclopedia to see what's on it  use Wikipedia's Contents pages. Lists and  indices are  examples of contents for a published work, and  Wikipedia has many of each.  Links to all of Wikipedia's main contents pages are  presented below, and  they in turn link to the more  specific pages.

Wikipedia's reference lists

Overviews of Wikipedia

An overview is  a survey of what is  covered or  included in an  area. Overviews of Wikipedia's coverage include:

• List of overviews — key articles organized by subject.
• List of academic disciplines — Wikipedia arranged like a college course curriculum.

Featured content

Featured content represents the best Wikipedia has to offer. Wikipedia's editors use rigorous peer review processes to continuously improve its content. The Wikipedia's best pages can be found on the following directories:

• Featured articles — what we believe are  the best articles in Wikipedia.
• Featured pictures — images we find beautiful, shocking, impressive, and  informative.
• Featured lists — what we believe to be the best lists in Wikipedia.
• Featured portals — portals we regard as being particularly useful, attractive, and  well-maintained.

Lists of lists

Not only does Wikipedia have  thousands of lists of topics, it  also has many lists of those lists:

• Lists of topics — a comprehensive list of article lists, arranged by subject.
• Lists of basic topics — links to key topics on major subjects.
• List of reference tables — a comprehensive list of tables, lists and  other articles, arranged by subject.
• Category:Lists — a list of lists in the category system, arranged alphabetically.

Two of the broadest collections are:

• Lists of countries
• Lists of people

Glossaries

Glossaries are  lists of terms with their definitions:

• List of glossaries — a list of glossaries arranged by subject.
• Category:Glossaries — glossaries in the category and  subcategories, arranged alphabetically.

Portals

Portals are  pages that feature selected articles, images, and  news items about the Portal's theme subject. They also include topic lists, category lists, and  to-do lists for the use of editors. Portals can be found at:

• Portal:List — a list of active portals.
• Category:Portals — portals in the category and  subcategories, arranged alphabetically.

Timelines

Timelines are  lists of articles organized chronologically. These are  the top-level timelines and  lists of timelines:

• List of timelines— a list of historical timelines, arranges by subject.
• List of centuries — (e.g. 20th century)
• List of decades — (e.g. 1910s)
• List of historical anniversaries — (e.g. today)
• 2006 — major events this year. (frequently updated)
• Portal:Current events — featured current events and  related project activities.
• Recent deaths — notable recent deaths, by month.
• Category:Chronology — chronologies in the category and  subcategories, arranged alphabetically.
• Category:Graphical timelines — graphical timelines in the category and  subcategories, arranged alphabetically.

Wikipedia's indices

Categorical indices

Wikipedia's main categorical index, autogenerates from mark-up information (category tags) placed at the end of each article. The pages at the top of the category system hierarchy are:

• Wikipedia:Categorical index — an  index of all categories, plus a list of high-level categories, arranged by subject.
• Category:Categories — the highest level or  "root" category in Wikipedia.
• Category:Fundamental — the category into which all other article categories are  classified.

Wikipedia's other categorical indices are:

• Wikipedia:Outline of Roget's Thesaurus — articles organised into a system based on six classes, with thousands of branches. (under construction)
• Library of Congress Classification — this article provides a reflection of its own deep, link structure. (under construction)

Alphabetical indices

• Complete alphabetical index — Sorted by the first 2 letters of the title, e.g. "Aa Ab Ac ..."