This is a quick reminder for students editing on Chinese Wikipedia, to help you avoid some common mistakes:
- Avoid using machine translation: Machine translations (e.g. Google Translate, DeepL Translate and ChatGPT) often result in inaccurate and unclear phrasing, leading to poor translation quality. This can make the text difficult to understand for readers and even lead to your article being deleted. Instead, rely on your own language skills to translate the article. You can also refer to the Translation Guideline and "Translationese" essay for further guidance.
- Use your own words: Copying and pasting text from other websites (e.g. Baidu Baike), with the exception of translating articles from other language versions of Wikipedia, can lead to copyright violations and plagiarism issues. Such problematic content will be removed by other editors immediately.
- Formatting (Wikification): The Manual of Style provides guidelines for formatting, layout, and writing style. For example, see Manual of Style/Layout, Manual of Style/Lead section and Manual of Style (Space). These guidelines help ensure that articles are written in a consistent and easy-to-read manner. You can also read Featured articles to see examples of well-formatted content.
- Using the Article for Creation (AFC) process: If you're unsure about how to creating a Wikipedia article, consider using the AFC process. This process allows you to create a draft article that experienced editors can review before it's published on Wikipedia. This helps you create a article that meets Wikipedia's standards.
- Pay attention to feedback and warning on your talk page: Other editors may leave messages on your talk page to provide feedback or highlight issues with your contributions. Please take the time to read these messages and address any concerns raised. If you have questions about the feedback, you can leave a message on the editor's talk page or discuss them with your instructor.
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