Listed below are some brief introductions containing all the basics you need to use, comment on, and edit Wikipedia. For the main article on how and where you can help, see contributing to Wikipedia. |
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Note: You can use the sandbox to experiment with page editing.
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As a new contributor, you may feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer size and scope of this project. Don't worry too much if you don't understand everything at first, as it is acceptable to use common sense as you go about editing. We encourage you to be bold in a fair and accurate manner.
The community portal is a central location to find collaborations, tasks, and news about Wikipedia. To find internal project pages of interest, see the department directory. If you do get stuck, there are volunteers available to answer your questions, see asking for help for more information.
Tutorials
- Wikipedia:Tutorial: an eight part tutorial to becoming a Wikipedian.
- Editing: introducing editing.
- Formatting: how to format pages.
- Links: how to insert links.
- Citing sources: how to create footnotes and external links.
- Talk pages: how to use talk pages.
- Keep in mind: introducing policies and guidelines.
- Registration: why you should register an account.
- Wrap-up and more info: some useful links.
- Tutorials from The Signpost. Click the 'Next Tutorial' link at the bottom for the next one.
Longer tutorials
- The Wikipedia Adventure: a guided tour with fun, interactive learning and practice
- Pictures tutorial: how to insert pictures in pages. A long tutorial, but the basics are simple.
- IRC tutorial: how to use Internet Relay Chat on Wikipedia.
- Wikipedia:Graphics tutorials: lots of links to graphics software tutorials.
- VisualEditor user guide: an manual for Wikipedia:VisualEditor.
Introductions
- Main introduction: the main introduction to Wikipedia, with many useful links.
- Introduction to navigating Wikipedia: a five part guide to navigating Wikipedia. Introduction. Namespaces. Searching and redirects. Useful pages. Summary.
Protocols and conventions
- Introduction to policies and guidelines: a four part guide to the rules. Policies and guidelines. Content. Conduct. Summary.
- Introduction to the Manual of Style: a five part introduction to the Manual of Style. Links. Layout. Images. Citing. Consistency. Stability. Nuggets.
- Introduction to the deletion process - discusses the guidelines and policies relevant to deletion, and the overall process.
Editing with Wiki Markup
- Introduction to editing: a five part guide to editing. Editing pages. Formatting. Links and Wikilinks. Saving your changes. Summary.
- Introduction to referencing: a five part introduction to referencing. Verifiability. Inline citations. RefToolbar. Reliable sources. Summary
- Introduction to uploading images: a six part guide on uploading images. Introduction. Free content. Non-free content. Wikimedia Commons. Using an image. Summary.
- Introduction to tables: a four part guide to putting tables in pages. Introduction to tables. Creating tables manually. Sortable tables. HTML and tables.
- Introduction to talk pages: a five part guide to using talk pages. Talk pages. User talk pages. Layout. Examples. Summary.
Editing with Visual Editor
- Introduction to editing with VisualEditor: a five part introduction to editing with VisualEditor. Opening the editor. Toolbar basics. Links and Wikilinks. Saving your changes. Summary
- Introduction to referencing with VisualEditor: a five part introduction to referencing. Verifiability. Inline citations. RefToolbar. Reliable sources. Summary.
- Introduction to uploading images with VisualEditor: a six part guide on uploading images. Introduction. Free content. Non-free content. Wikimedia Commons. Using an image. Summary
Training for student assignments
These self-guided trainings help users involved with student assignments to learn the basics of Wikipedia.
- Training for students: students start here! A four-part, 57-page, training intended for students doing assignments on Wikipedia, with more detailed introductions to core Wikipedia policies, editing basics, and more specific editing advice for students. Welcome (4 pages). The Core (14 pages). Editing (24 pages). Advanced and background (15 pages).
- Training for educators: educators start here! A five-part, 97-page, training for professors and other educators who want to run Wikipedia assignments for class, with introductions to core Wikipedia policies, editing basics, and an overview of best practices for designing and implementing Wikipedia assignments.
- Training for Wikipedia Ambassadors: Ambassadors start here! A four-part, 86-page, training for Wikipedia Campus and Online Ambassadors, with introductions to core policies and editing basics for those new to editing and an overview of best practices for Wikipedia assignments.
Guides
- Plain and simple: the basic mechanics of Wikipedia. There are similar guides for:
- Plain and simple conflict of interest guide: for editors with a conflict of interests.
- Plain and simple guide for medical editors: for editing medical subjects.
- Plain and simple non-free content guide - discusses how Wikipedia's copyright guidelines are probably the most complicated part of the whole site and breaks down what the rules are and what they mean.
Quick guides
- Edit toolbar: how to use the edit toolbar while editing.
- Media help: how to get media to work on your computer.
- Citations quick reference: a quick guide to using citations.
- Wikitext cheatsheet: a quick guide to wikitext.
Overviews
- 8 simple rules for editing our encyclopedia: describes some basics about contributing and interactions with others.
- 10 Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia: discusses some basic aspect of Wikipedia norms and practices.
- A primer for newcomers: an overview intended for new contributors.
- Avoiding common mistakes: discusses a few common mistakes everyone should try to avoid.
- Expectations and norms of the community: discusses the general social norms that Wikipedia editors are expected to follow.
- Everything you need to know: a quick overview of some of Wikipedia's most important policies.
- Learning the ropes: discusses how to learn about Wikipedia.
- Your first article: discusses some of the DOs and DON'Ts, then show you how to create an article.
Books and videos
- The Missing Manual: a comprehensive how-to book that explains everything about contributing for novice to expert editors.
- Wikipedia instructional material for a listing of screencasts, videos and books.
- The Bookshelf - A vast collection of high-quality, freely licensed, user-generated informational material about Wikipedia.
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| Editing Wikipedia | Illustrating Wikipedia | Evaluating Wikipedia |
Help resources and assistance
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Instructional videos on using Wikipedia.
- There is the Help Menu and Help Directory for a listing of help related pages.
- Wikipedia:Directory: a descriptive list of Wikipedia's directories and indexes.
- Wikipedia:FAQ index: for a list of Frequently Asked Questions.
- Wikipedia:Questions: discusses how to ask questions on Wikipedia.
- Wikipedia:Tips: how to use Wikipedia in bite-sized morsels.
- Wikipedia:Dos and don'ts: summarize some of Wikipedia's protocols in a bullet-point format.
- Category:Wikipedia information pages and Category:Wikipedia how-to are the main subcategories listing help pages.