 | This is aninformation page. It is not anencyclopedic article, nor one ofWikipedia's policies or guidelines; rather, its purpose is to explain certain aspects of Wikipedia's norms, customs, technicalities, or practices. It may reflect differing levels ofconsensus andvetting. |
| Contributing to Wikipedia (Tutorial) |
|---|
| Policies and guidelines |
| Introductions |
| How-to pages |
| Writing advice |
| Community |
| Directories and indexes |
| Interactive help |
Our purpose is to create aweb-based,free contentencyclopedia of all branches of knowledge, in an atmosphere ofmutual respect andcooperation. Thegoal of a Wikipedia article is to create a comprehensive andneutrally written summary of existing mainstream knowledge about a topic. Editors are encouraged tobe bold in editing in a fair andaccurate manner with a straightforward,just-the-facts style. Articles should have anencyclopedic style with aformal tone instead of essay-like, argumentative, promotional, or opinionated writing. Thefive pillars is a popular summary of the most pertinentWikipedia principles.
As a new editor, or contributor, you may feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer size and scope ofthis project called Wikipedia. Don't worry too much if you don't understand everything at first, as it is acceptable touse common sense as you go about editing. Wikipedia not only allows you to create, revise, and edit articles, but it wants you to do so. You just need to remember that you can't break Wikipedia and although there are many protocols,perfection is not required, asWikipedia is a work in progress. Collaborative editing means that incomplete or poorly written first drafts canevolve over time into excellent articles.
To achieve our goals, a wide range ofhow-to and information pages are made available. Aside from this page, there are some other introductions (tutorials) to the project. Themodule introduction is a step-by-step guide explaining what this place is all about and how to contribute.The Wikipedia Adventure is a comprehensive 7-mission interactive guided tour, which covers all the essentials about editing and theexpectations and norms of the Wikipedia community. For an extensive textbook seeHelp: Wikipedia: The Missing Manual.
You do not have tolog in to read Wikipedia. You do not even have to log in to edit articles on Wikipedia.Just about anyone can editalmost any article at any given time, even without logging in. However, creating an account is free of charge and hasseveral benefits (for example, the ability to create pages, upload media and edit without one's IP address being visible to the public). To create an account in seconds, clickCreate account and fill out the few required fields. This will belogged, your account will be created, and you will be provided with a link back to this page.
Wikipediadoes not employ hard-and-fast rules, and there is no need to read any page before editing. However,some standards andbehavioural expectations may be enforced. Generalsocial norms should be followed by allWikipedia editors. TheWikipedia community is made up of people from different countries and cultures, with different views, perspectives, opinions, and backgrounds, sometimes varying widely. Editors should treat each other respectfully, work together collegially, and avoid behaviour that would be widely seen asunacceptable,disruptive,tendentious, ordishonest.
Policies,guidelines, andformatting norms are developed by the community to describe the best practices, to clarify principles, resolve conflicts, and otherwise further our goals.These rules are principles, not laws, on Wikipedia. To varying degrees, policies and guidelines exist as rough approximations of their underlying principles. They arenot intended as inflexible, controlling statutes on any set of norms or practices under all circumstances, nor to exhaustively define all matters within their ambit. They must be understood in context, usingcommon sense anddiscretion. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia and, as a means to that end, an online community of individuals interested in building and using a high-quality encyclopedia. Therefore, there are certain things thatWikipedia is not andcommon mistakes that should be avoided.
Behind the scenes of Wikipedia articles, there is a large community ofvolunteer editors working to build the encyclopedia. It is not uncommon for editors to disagree about the way forward. That is whendiscussion and attempts to reachconsensus should take place. Every article on Wikipedia has atalk page, reached by clicking theTalk tab just above the title (for example,Talk:Evolution). There, editors can discuss improvements to the content of an article. You can participate too! If you ever make a change that getsreverted by another editor, discuss the change on the talk page! TheBOLD, revert, discuss cycle is a popular method of reaching consensus and may be useful for identifying objections, keeping discussion moving forward and helping to break deadlocks. Some editors will see any reversion as a challenge, so be considerate and patient. While discussing matters, it is very important that you conduct yourself withcivility andassume good faith on the part of others.Edit warring (repeatedly overriding or reimplementing contributions) is highly discouraged. There is a bright-line rule called thethree-revert rule, the violation of which may lead someone to beblocked from editing to prevent further disruption.Disruptive editing is not always intentional, as new editors may simply not understandthe ins and outs of Wikipedia.
Most othertypes of pages on Wikipedia also have associated talk pages, including theuser page each editor is assigned once they sign up. When other editors need to contact you, they will usually do this by leaving a message onyour usertalk page. When someone has left you a message that way, you will see a notice the next time you log in or view a page on Wikipedia.
There are many other types of discussions that take place on Wikipedia. For example:Articles for deletion is where editors discuss whether or not an article should bedeleted (or kept,merged orredirected to another article, etc.);requested moves is the launching point for debating the retitling of pages; and thevillage pump is a centralized area for discussion where editors debate various aspects of the encyclopedia project, such asproposals for new features,policy changes andtechnical issues.
Wikipedia is the product of thousands of editors' contributions, each one bringing something different to the table, whether it be: researching skills, technical expertise, writing prowess or tidbits of information, but most importantly a willingness to help.Nobody owns articles, so if you see a problem that you can fix, do so. Everyone is encouraged tocopyedit articles, add content and create new articles if they have knowledge about the topic at hand or are willing to do the necessary research to improve it. Although you should use a broad vocabulary of regular, non-technical terms, do not use words or expressions that many readers may not know. If an article iswritten in a highly technical manner, but the material permits a more understandable explanation, then editors are strongly recommended to rewrite it.
Articles make up the bulk of Wikipedia'smainspace. Each article is on onetopic (rather than a word and its definition, which usually belong in Wikimedia's dictionary project calledWiktionary). Wikipedia does not publishoriginal research. An encyclopedia is, by its nature, atertiary source that provides a survey of information already the subject of publication in the wider world. Accordingly, and because Wikipedia is open to editing by anyone, we require that information beverifiable inreliable sources. Ideally, all information should becited to reliable sources and to evidence that is verifiable. However, we only mandate citations for quotations, material whose verifiability has been challenged or islikely to be challenged and contentious material, whether negative, positive, or neutral, about living persons. Sourcing requirements are significantly stricter in sucharticles on living persons. Please note though that we strongly discourage people from writing about themselves, their friends, bands, websites, companies or organizations, pet projects, personal vendettas, campaigns and any other topic in which they have aconflict of interest.
The quality of Wikipedia articles varies widely; many are very good, but some lack depth and clarity, contain bias or are out of date. In general, high-quality articles have the following elements: alead section that gives an easy-to-understand overview, aclear structure,balanced coverage,neutral content, and are based uponverifiable information found inreliable sources.
Wikipedia:Featured content represents the best of what Wikipedia has to offer. These are the articles, pictures, and other contributions that showcase the polished result of the collaborative efforts that drive Wikipedia. All "featured" content undergoes a thoroughreview process to ensure that it meets the highest standards summarized atfeatured article standards, and can serve as an example of our end goals. A "featured article" or "list" is indicated by the symbol (
) in the top right corner of a page. "Good articles" are those that are considered to be of fairly high quality, having undergone a similar but less rigorousreview process to meet thegood article criteria. The symbol (
) in the top right corner of a page indicates "good article" status.
Some of Wikipedia's most important topics are listed atWikipedia:Vital articles. You can look at the table of contents on that page to choose a subject category you know about or are interested in. Choose an article, try to improve it so it matches thegood article criteria or even better yet thefeatured article criteria, which provide models for ideal content and structure. An important way you can help is by creatingrequested articles.
| Note: You can use thepublic sandbox oryour private sandbox to experiment with page editing. |  |
Editing most Wikipedia pages is relatively simple. Wikipedia uses two methods of editing: classic editing throughwiki markup (wikitext) and through a newerVisualEditor (VE).
Wiki markup editing is chosen by clicking theEdit tab at the top of a Wikipedia page (or on asection-edit link – if these links are missing, click theEdit tab and remove the code__NOEDITSECTION__). This will take you to a new page with a text box containing the editable text of the page you were viewing. In this box, you can type in the text that you want to add, using wiki markup to format the text and add other elements like images and tables. You should then press theShow preview button to review your contributions for any errors. When you have finished editing, you should write a shortedit summary in the small field below the edit box describing your changes before you press thePublish changes button. This will help others to understand the intention of your edit. To avoid accidentally leaving edit summaries blank, you can select "Prompt me when entering a blank edit summary" on theEditing tab of yourpersonal preferences.
TheVisualEditor option is intended as a user-friendly,"What You See Is What You Get" (WYSIWYG) editor, allowing one to edit pages without the need to learn wikitext markup. Logged-in users can opt in throughpersonal preferences, see theVisualEditor user guide for more information. Anonymous editors get the classic editor by default, but can switch.
Some pages areprotected from direct editing, at differing levels of restriction. The three chief types, in order from most to least common, are:
When you are subject to any of these three levels of protection, you will see aView source tab instead of anEdit tab. You can still seek changes to these pages by submitting an "edit request" – a user with the ability to edit the protected page will respond to your request. You can submit a request by clicking on theView source tab on that page and using the "Submit an edit request" link at the bottom right. SeeHelp:Protection for more information.
This is an encyclopedia, so remember that it's a necessity to includereferences listingreliable websites, newspapers, articles, books and other sources you have used to write or expand articles. Please understand that these sources shouldverify the information but you must notcopy and paste text you find anywhere, except for short quotations, marked as such with quote marks and carefully cited to the source the quote was taken from. New articles and statements added to existing articles may be deleted by others ifunreferenced or referenced poorly or if they arecopyright violations.
Generally, sources are added directly after the facts they support at the end of the sentence and after any punctuation. Wikipedia permits editors to use any citation system that allows the reader to understand where the information came from, and strongly encourages use ofinline citations to do so. Common methods of placing inline citations includefootnotes,shortened footnotes andparenthetical references.
Inline citations are most commonly placed by inserting a reference between<ref> ...</ref> tags, directly in the text of an article. After publishing changes, it willdisplay in the article as a footnote (e.g.[1] [2]), and the source you keyed in will appear on the page in a collated, numbered list corresponding to the footnote numbers in the text, wherever a{{Reflist}} template or<references /> tag is present, usually in a section titled "References" or "Notes". If you are creating a new page or adding references to a page that didn't previously have any, don't forget to add a references section with this display markup.
There are a number of tools available to help with citation placement and formatting, some of which are internal tools and scripts, while others are available from external sites. For an example of the former,RefToolbar is aJavaScript toolbar displayed above the edit box that provides the ability to automatically fill out variouscitation templates and insert them in the text already formatting inside<ref> ...</ref> tags. For an example of the latter, theCiter converts adigital object identifier (DOI) orGoogle Books address (URL) into a filled-out{{cite journal}} or{{cite book}} template ready to be pasted into an article. SeeHelp:Citation tools for many others.
At the moment, there are over 561,184 articles that havestatements that need citations. The toolCitation Hunt makes referencing those statements easier by suggesting random articles which you can work on.
Complicated articles may be best modeled on the layout of an existing article of appropriate structure and topic.Wiki markup is the syntax and keywords used by theMediaWiki software to format a page. Wiki markup is used extensively throughout Wikipedia for such things ashyperlinks,tables andcolumns,footnotes,inline citation,special characters and so on. An"edit toolbar" (as pictured below) is provided just above the edit box, which will allow logged in users (by selecting the option inpersonal preferences) to automatically place and format various aspects of wiki code. ManyHTML tags can be used in wiki markup. You can check your HTML by usingmarkup validation.
Beforestarting a new article, please read and try to understandWikipedia's notability requirements. In short, the topic of an article must have already been the subject of publication inreliable sources, such as books published by major publishing houses, newspapers, magazines, peer-reviewed scholarly journals and websites that meet the same requirements as reputable print-based sources. Information on Wikipedia must be verifiable; if no reliablethird-party sources can be found on a topic, then it should not have a separate article. Wikipedia's concept of notability applies this basic standard to avoidindiscriminate inclusion of topics.
AnArticle Wizard is available to help you create articles — it is not required but will help you construct better articles. The ability to create articles directly in mainspaceis now restricted toautoconfirmed users, though non-confirmed can submit a proposed article through theArticles for Creation process, where it will be reviewed and considered for publication. Before creating an article, pleasesearch Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does notalready exist on the subject, and please also review thearticle titling policy for guidance of what to name the article. Further information is provided atWikipedia:Your first article andWikipedia:How to write a great article, and please consider taking a tour through theWikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article's content before creation.
Wikipedia pages can be renamed bymoving the page to a new title. This is done by clicking on theMove tab at the top of the page (you need to be registered and an'autoconfirmed' user to be able to do this). Before you do so, please carefully reviewthis checklist of things to consider before a page move. The main principles for choosing an article title are described atWikipedia:Article titles. Do not move or rename a page by copying and pasting its content to a different title. Doing so fragments theedit history andWikipedia's copyright licenses requires attribution of all contributors. You may not always be able to move a page yourself and should refrain from doing so even if there is no technical impediment, where the rename would be considered controversial and thus should be discussed first. Technical limitations restricting direct moves include where the page ismove protected, the target page is at a titleprotected from creation, or already exists and cannot bemoved over a redirect. In such cases, and to list potentially controversial moves for discussion, please seeWikipedia:Requested moves for more information.
While almost anyone can edit and move articles, to keep things manageable, onlyadministrators can delete them. Note that removing all text from a page does not delete it, it just leaves a blank page, which is discouraged as it is confusing to readers. For all the gritty details, see thedeletion policy andhow to delete a page. Please remember that the deletion process is about the appropriateness of the article forinclusion in Wikipedia. Therefore, please do not take it personally if an article you've contributed to or created iscurrently nominated for deletion or is already deleted. For the reasons why and the options available forretrieving data from deleted articles, seewhy was the page I created deleted? If the page is inyour own user space (for example, starts with "User:YourName/" or "User talk:YourName/"), then you can request immediate deletion of the page at any time. Simply edit the page while logged in and put the template{{db-u1}} at the top of the page. An administrator will see that you added the template to a page in your user or user talk namespace and will delete it in most cases.
Images, sounds, and videos enhance articles greatly. A file that is already hosted on Wikipedia or theWikimedia Commons can be inserted with the basic code "[[File:FILENAME|thumb|DESCRIPTION]]". ("Image:" can be substituted for "File:" with no change in effect; the choice between the two is purely a matter of editorial preference.) Using "thumb" generates athumbnail of an image (the most common placement option), which is typically sized differently from the original image. Several options can affect a thumbnail's placement and size, and there are other methods for placing images not in a thumbnail format, such as in a frame, table or "infobox", which this summary page does not delve into.
Onlylogged in users canupload files under anappropriate title. The first step in uploading a file is to determine itscopyright status. If a file is in thepublic domain, or bears a type of free copyright licensecompatible with the non-restrictive licenses we require for free reuse, then it can and should be uploaded to the Commons rather than locally to Wikipedia, so that all Wikimedia sites, including Wikipedias inother languages, have access to it. If the image isnon-free then it cannot be uploaded to the Commons, but you may be able to upload it directly here at Wikipedia, if it meets our stringentstandards for a claim of fair use in a particular article. Please ensure that the copyright status of any file you upload has been specified and we areallowed to use it on Wikipedia.
The Wikimedia Commons'File Upload Wizard and Wikipedia'sFile Upload Wizard, will guide you through the process of submitting media. All files uploaded aremirrored between Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, and searchable from either one. There are various file formats available. For images,SVG,PNG,JPEG,XCF,GIF andTIFF formats are recognized (other image formats may be as well). For audio, useMIDI, orOgg withFLAC,Speex, orVorbis codecs. For video, use Ogg with theTheora video codec.
Wikipedia has aGraphics Lab, which aims to improve graphical content already stored on Wikimedia Commons and English Wikipedia. There is alsoWikipedia:Requested pictures – a collection of wanted images. High-quality images may be submitted for consideration asfeatured pictures if they meet thefeatured picture criteria. To help with sounds, go toWikipedia:Requested recordings and see if you can fulfill any of the requests while trying to meet thefeatured sound criteria. There is alsospoken Wikipedia project, which aims to produce recordings of Wikipedia articles being read aloud.
Lists are essential to the organization and presentation of content on Wikipedia. Lists in articles andstand-alone lists are subject to Wikipedia's content policies and guidelines if they contain any of thefour kinds of material absolutely required to have citations.Outlines on Wikipedia are a specific type of stand-alone lists designed to help a reader learn about a subject quickly, by showing what topics it includes, and how those topics are related to each other.
Tables on Wikipedia are a commonly-used way of displaying information, particularly in articles that contain data. Tables are also subject toWikipedia's policies of verifiability and established facts. The simplest way to insert a table is with theediting toolbar. Although HTML table syntax also works,special wikicode can be used as a shortcut to create a table. The pipe (vertical bar) codes function exactly the same asHTML table markup, so a knowledge of HTML table code helps in understanding pipe code.
Templates are used throughout Wikipedia pages to promote consistency, display enriched content with ease, and avoid the necessity of duplicating material that is used over and over across numerous articles and pages. At its most basic, a template is a Wikipedia page created to be included in other pages. Common uses include to displaynotices,infoboxes,navigational boxes, standard warnings, special text formatting, unit conversions, calculations and many other purposes. The most common method of inclusion is calledtransclusion, where the wikitext of the target page contains a reference to the template, using the{{Template name}} syntax.
To help improve Wikipedia's lists, first find one that interests you atPortal:Contents/Lists of topics orPortal:Contents/Outlines and then help it match thefeatured list criteria. Ideas for creating a list may be explored atWikipedia:Requested lists. SeeWikipedia:Lists article alerts for details of ongoing tasks and talks about lists. To help with templates seeWikipedia:Template standardisation.
WikiProjects are social groups of contributors (anyone may join them), who work together as a team to improve Wikipedia. These groups often focus on a specific topic area (for example,women's history) or a specific kind of task (for example,checking newly created pages). WikiProjects function as a central hub for editor collaboration and the organization of specific topics. Many large WikiProjects have collected someadvice about how to apply Wikipedia's policies, guidelines, and essays to their specific subject area (for example,military history notability guide). The English Wikipedia currently has over2,000 WikiProjects and they all have a variety of tasks to get done (for example,Canadian articles to improve).
| Things to review |
|---|
Thecommunity portal is a central location to find (and list) collaborations, tasks, and news about the English Wikipedia. TheWikipedia Signpost is a monthly, community-written and edited newspaper that covers stories, events, and reports related to Wikipedia. Contribute your opinions tonoticeboards in order to have a say in decisions and help come to consensus on certain issues. Posting a message to a noticeboard can also be an appropriate early step inresolving disputes on Wikipedia. For a listing of ongoing discussions, see theWikipedia:Dashboard.
Helpful editorial maintenance tasks includereviewing new pages,creating requested articles,responding to edit requests and assisting withtranslation requests. Other maintenance tasks includefixing unreferenced statements,fixing original research,fixing vandalism,welcoming newcomers,categorization,fixing spelling and grammar errors, and numerous behind the scenes tasks likemoving free images to Wikimedia Commons andhelping others. SeeWikipedia:Maintenance for maintenance and related collaboration resources, and theTask Center for a newcomer-friendly list of tasks.
| Editing tools |
|---|
In addition to the previously mentioned editing aids andedit toolbar, there are many other "Gadgets", "Tools", "Scripts" and "Bots" intended to simplify, make more efficient, or provide additional functionality to Wikipedians. "Wikipedia Gadgets" areJavaScript and/or aCSS snippets that can be enabled by checking an option inyour preferences. Many of the "Wikipedia Tools" are hosted on external sites and perform a variety of tasks such asreFill, that edits references by adding basic information to bare URLs in citations. "Wikipedia User scripts" is a collection of JavaScript tools that, after installation in a user'scommon.js file, allow users to change Wikipedia's interface beyond the options available in preferences. "Wikipedia Bots" are automated or semi-automated programs that perform repetitive and/or mundane tasks; they requireapproval before they may operate.
Thehelp resource system of Wikipedia consists of a wide variety ofhow-to and information pages, written to differing levels of technical expertise and in widely varying styles. This variety, however, has its flaws: it is easy to navigate to a page that regurgitates the same information, contains concepts that have not already been covered, or is overly complicated for one's needs. In short, the effects can be quite frustrating at times. To browse help related pages see thehelp menu orhelp directory. Or you can use the search box atHelp:contents (accessed at any time by clicking "Help" displayed on the left side of all pages). As mentioned above there is also a copy of a comprehensive published book, atWikipedia: The Missing Manual.
Don't worry if you do get stuck, witness disruptive editing or are involved in a dispute; there are volunteers available to assist you. There are a number of help forums and services which allow users to ask questions, seek assistance, ask for administrative intervention and similar matters. For general matters related to using and editing Wikipedia, forums include thehelp desk, theTeahouse, posting the template{{help me}} to your talk page or to an article's talk page, as well as a live assistance IRC channel at#wikipedia-en-help. More specific help forums includeWikipedia:Media copyright questions,Wikipedia:Requested templates, andrequests for translation. To seek administrative assistance,Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents is for reporting serious incidents requiring administrative assistance andWikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism is for reporting continuing simple vandalism, afterappropriate warnings have been given without the conduct stopping. Finally, general knowledge questions (i.e., those unrelated to Wikipedia) are welcome at the various sections of thereference desk. SeeWikipedia:Requests for a listing of services and assistance that can be requested on Wikipedia.
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
