As a general encyclopedia, Wikipedia seeks to describe as wide a range of topics as possible. It covers the subjects customarily found in traditional encyclopedias, as well as many cultural and technical topics often absent from such works or confined to subject-specialized references. In addition to the roughly exponential growth in number of articles, the average length of each article has increased steadily, as has the number of ""featured articles"" recognized for their high quality. However, significant gaps in the project's coverage remain, and many articles are not well-referenced in a manner consistent with Wikipedia's editorial policy.