Handout for attendees to Edit-a-thons (to be given before they leave)
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Thank you for coming to today's Edit-a-thon. If you're a newcomer to editing Wikipedia, we hope you enjoyed it. This could be just the start of an exciting journey of contributing to the world's greatest encyclopaedia! For some, it can become a life-long passion.
At the very least, we hope you will have gone away today with the following:
- A Wikipedia User account you can log in from. (Add it to our list before you leave!)
- A User Page saying a few lines about you and your interests in editing Wikipedia;
- Knowing how to edit and publish changes in your Sandbox or in Wikipedia articles;
- An idea of the kind of things you might wish to contribute to in the future;
- A sense that there's a community of helpful people who are keen to encourage you;
- Knowing there are two different editing tools you can use: Source editor or Visual editor.
- You might even have started to draft an article' on a notable subject not yet on Wikipedia.
So what happens next?
editOnce you get back home how do you edit Wikipedia articles, or draft a new page about a subject? How do you get that draft published? How do you get help when you're stuck?
This information sheet guides you though those next steps, and helps you find answers
(This sheet uses helpful abbreviations, all starting WP: which you can type in the "Search Wikipedia" box. These shortcuts take you straight to helpful pages. Don't miss off the colon! So, if you're stuck, type WP:HELP, or WP:TH to ask questions at the Teahouse.)
Take the Tour
editBefore you go any further, why not add to today's Edit-a-thon experience by taking a fun interactive tour with "The Wikipedia Adventure"? You'll even gain a badge for each section you complete. (Type: WP:TWA in the 'Search Wikipedia' box)
Editing on your own - can I break Wikipedia?
editNo! Editing an existing article is simple. Anyone can do it just by clicking the "Edit" tab, making the alteration, and clicking "Publish changes". New editors should start by making small improvements to gain confidence. All changes can be undone (reverted); so just be bold! Checking spelling and grammar is helpful on any page, whilst adding new facts is a bit more complex because each one must be supported with a reliable reference.
Remember, Wikipedia is not built by experts - it's built by people like you!
I want to create a new article
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Fantastic! But hold off a bit longer. Creating a new article from scratch is the hardest challenge on Wikipedia. It's best to draft a new article in your own personal Sandbox (see link at top of any page). Or use the Articles for Creation wizard. (type: WP:AFC in the Search Wikipedia box.) When writing about living people you must only include facts that are provable with good references. Unsourced statements will get swiftly removed! To get your draft accepted, it must meet certain requirements.
The subject must be:
- Notable (type WP:N in the Search Wikipedia box)
- Covered in depth by Reliable Sources (see: WP:RS)
- Referenced to show where factual statements have been sourced from (see: WP:CITE
- written about in a Neutral manner (see: WP:NPOV
Start by researching good sources. Collate them in your sandbox, then only write based on what the references say, not what you happen to know. Please read Wikipedia:Your First Article and how to submit a draft to "Articles for Creation" (shortcuts: WP:YFA or WP:AFC).
So what could I work on?
editWikipedia has over five million articles you could contribute to. Or you could create a new one. It's up to you! The trick is discovering what really interests you. Here are some ideas...
- Women in Red: (Shortcut:WP:WOMRED) During Women's History month why not browse the many lists of noteworthy women who don't yet have Wikipedia pages, and select one to work on? (Shortcut: WP:WIR/REDLIST). If you do create a new biography, please paste this text:
{{WIR-70}}at the top of the new article's Talk Page (It adds a helpful banner saying the article was created by a new editor during Women's History month.) Please also add your new article's title to the event page for today's Edit-a-thon at the University of Derby. (Shortcut:WP:Derby18) - Other WikiProjects: Women in Red is just one of two thousand "WikiProjects" - themed interest groups where editors with shared interests collaborate to improve content. See the full Directory listing (Shortcut: WP:PROJDIR). Many Projects show a table of articles by quality and importance - the shortest, articles are called "Stubs" - and you can list these articles by clicking on the number in that table.
- Categories: Alternatively, you could search for any article that interests you and click on one of the "Category" links at the very bottom of its page. This will list all related articles, so you could browse through to find ones to improve. Those in greatest need of attention often have big notices at the top of them, identifying what needs addressing. Once fixed, the templates can be removed.
- Fixing small stuff: Maybe you fancy just fixing grammar or spelling? This is best done in articles you find interesting (See: WP:COPYEDIT). It's even possible to monitor brand new edits and check for vandalism as it happens - It motivates some people, but turns off others completely (Shortcut WP:CVU). In fact, there are so many things you could contribute to, we even have a couple of pages dedicated to listing them all (Shortcuts WP:JOBS or CAT:BACKLOG)
- Adding new facts and references: Only add new facts to a Wikipedia article if you can support them with reliable references to a book, newspaper, authoritative website, journal etc. Wikipedia's editing tools have special "Cite" templates to help you easily add references within a sentence and quickly capture the key elements (author, title, date, url, etc). (Shortcut: WP:REFSTART). If you're unsure if the source is good enough, discuss it first on the article’s Talk Page to gain consensus from other editors. Working together is a key element of Wikipedia!
Still want more resources?
editHere are a few more pages in case you want to read further how things work:
- Wikipedia:Getting started (Shortcut: WP:GS)
- Articles for Creation (Shortcut: WP:AFC)
- WikiProject Women in Red (Shortcut: WP:WOMRED)
- WikiProject Women in Red: Resources page (Shortcut: WP:WOMREDRES)
- Ten Simple Rules for Creating Women’s Biographies (Shortcut: WP:WMN10)
- Wikipedia: Writing about women (Shortcut: WP:WAW)
- Lists of notable women with no Wikipedia article (Shortcut: WP:WIR/REDLIST)
- Future Women in Red online 'Events' and Edit-a-thons (Shortcut: WP:WIR/EVENTS)
- Editing Biographies of living persons (Shortcut: WP:BLP)
- Wikipedia: References dos and don'ts (Shortcut: WP:RDD)
- Teahouse for beginner questions (Shortcut: WP:TH)
- Wikipedia: Simple Manual of Style (Shortcut: WP:SMOS)
- Wikitext Cheatsheet (Shortcut: WP:CHEAT)