User:AutomaticStrikeout/Adopt/Five Pillars of Wikipedia

Introduction

Welcome to your adoption program. I hope that as you go through the lessons and tests, you will develop a much better understanding of how Wikipedia works and what role you can play in it. My talk page is always open should you have any questions. In your first lesson, you will cover three things: The Five Pillars, How articles should be written and Reliable sources. The informaiton on the Five Pillars was copied-and-pasted from Wikipedia:5P on May 14, 2013. Please make sure that you understand all the material before attempting to take the test.

The Five Pillars

The fundamental principles by which Wikipedia operates can be summarized in five "pillars":

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia.: It combines many features of general and specialized encyclopedias, almanacs, and gazetteers. Wikipedia is not a soapbox, an advertising platform, a vanity press, an experiment in anarchy or democracy, an indiscriminate collection of information, or a web directory. It is not a dictionary, a newspaper, or a collection of source documents, although some of its fellow Wikimedia projects are.
Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view.: We strive for articles that document and explain the major points of view, giving due weight with respect to their prominence in an impartial tone. We avoid advocacy and we characterize information and issues rather than debate them. In some areas there may be just one well-recognized point of view; in others, we describe multiple points of view, presenting each accurately and in context rather than as "the truth" or "the best view". All articles must strive for verifiable accuracy, citing reliable, authoritative sources, especially when the topic is controversial or a living person. Editors' personal experiences, interpretations, or opinions do not belong.
Wikipedia is free content that anyone can edit, use, modify, and distribute.: Since all editors freely license their work to the public, no editor owns an article and any contributions can and will be mercilessly edited and redistributed. Respect copyright laws, and never plagiarize from sources. Borrowing non-free media is sometimes allowed as fair use, but strive to find free alternatives first.
Editors should interact with each other in a respectful and civil manner.: Respect your fellow Wikipedians, even when you disagree. Apply Wikipedia etiquette, and avoid personal attacks. Seek consensus, avoid edit wars, and never disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point. Act in good faith, and assume good faith on the part of others. Be open and welcoming. If a conflict arises, discuss it calmly on the nearest talk pages, follow dispute resolution, and remember that there are 6,907,126 other articles on the English Wikipedia to work on and discuss.
Wikipedia does not have firm rules.: Wikipedia has policies and guidelines, but they are not carved in stone; their content and interpretation can evolve over time. Their principles and spirit matter more than their literal wording, and sometimes improving Wikipedia requires making an exception. Be bold, but not reckless, in updating articles and do not agonize about making mistakes. Every past version of a page is saved, so any mistakes can be easily corrected.

How articles should be written

The articles on Wikipedia are designed to represent the sum of human knowledge. Each article should be written from a neutral point of view. Personal opinions such as right and wrong should not appear, nor should an editor make changes based solely on personal experience. To ensure that the information in an article is correct, Wikipedia has adopted a policy of verifiability. Our readers should be able to confirm anything they read on Wikipedia by looking at the associated reliable source. Wikipedia should not include anything that cannot be verified elsewhere; in other words, it should not contain anything original.

Reliable sources

Information on Wikipedia should be based on reliable sources. So, what is a reliable source? Wikipedia uses the word source for three interchangeable ideas – a piece of work, the work's creator or the work's publisher. In general, you would expect a reliable source to be one of the following: a published material with a reliable publication process, an author who is regarded as authoritative in relation to the subject, or both. This doesn't mean that a source that is reliable on one topic is reliable on every topic. It must be regarded as authoritative on the topic you are writing about. MLB.com is certainly a reliable source on matters related to Major League Baseball, but that does not make it a reliable source for information about NASA. It is certainly possible that a source could provide accurate information on a matter that it is not generally associated with. However, the best method is to use sources that are clearly related to the subject.

A source that is self-published is usually considered unreliable, unless it is published by a recognized expert in the field. This is a very rare exception, so self-published sources should generally not be used. This means that anything in a forum, blog and even most websites will be considered unreliable by default. One interesting sidepoint is on self-published sources talking about themselves. Obviously, a source talking about itself is going to be authoritative, but be careful that the source is not too self-serving. For the sake of neutrality, an article really should not be entirely derived from a direct source.

Mainstream news sources are generally considered reliable... but any single article should be assessed on a case by case basis. Some news organizations have been known to check their information on Wikipedia, so be careful not to get into a cyclic sourcing situation!

There's a lot more about what makes a source reliable here.

Questions?

Do you have any questions? If not, please let me know when you are ready to take the test. AutomaticStrikeout ?