Wikipedia:Ambassadors/Resources/Discussion 2

Goals: To introduce students to the basics of Wikipedia editing and Wikipedia policy.

Note: Students have previously created accounts and edited userpages.

Part 1: Five pillars

What are the five pillars and what do they mean?

Link to the 5 pillars presentation: https://prezi.com/secure/d276e9e6c9f7b717e430db0a836a87e754c2a203/

• WP is an encyclopedia
• WP has a NPOV (e.g. Evolution)
• WP is free content - they give up their rights to their work
• WPians should interact in a civil and respectful manner
• WP does not have firm rules

Part 2: Sourcing and no original research

Reliable sources

• Peer-reviewed, academic journals
• University presses
• Large presses
• Major newspapers (when is this primary?)
• White papers (when is this primary?)
• Government publications (when is this primary?)

When to cite?

• Controversial material (e.g. Homeopathy) The more controversial something is, the more citations it has.
• Likely to be challenged - In practice, most everything is cited. Wikipedia's legitimacy comes through citation.
• Material about living people
• Quotations
• Statistics
• "first", "best", etc.

No original research

• Wikipedia is a tertiary source - it summarizes secondary sources.
• Wikipedia is fundamentally conservative - it does not report NEW research or ground-breaking discoveries. It is not cutting edge. Everything in Wikipedia has already been reported/published elsewhere first.
• Verifiability, not truth: Wikipedia aims to report what has been published about a topic, not what is true.

Part 3: Editing skills

Prologue: Demonstrate WHERE TO FIND HELP

Sandbox

• Create a SANDBOX
• Add some text (lipsum.com) - 10 paragraphs
• Preview
• Edit Summary

Headers and signing

• Add HEADERS (level 2 and level 3) to organize articles
• Preview
• TOC generated automatically after 4 headings added
• Edit Summary

• Headers on TALK PAGES, also
• Use of talk pages…
• Leave message and SIGN NAME

Sections and lists

• Editing Page vs. Editing Section

• Edit section - make a list with 1 "enter" keystroke between items
• Preview - not a list - because of LINE BREAKS
• Edit - with 2 "enter" keystrokes
• Preview - looks good
• Edit Summary

• Turn that list into a BULLETED LIST
• Preview
• Remove extra spaces between some items to demonstrate
• Change bullets to NUMBERED LIST
• Edit Summary

Links

• Link to another Wiki page
• Preview - link displays blue
• Make a typo in the Wiki page name
• Preview - link displays in red
• Fix the typo
• Edit Summary

• Create EXTERNAL LINKS section at bottom (level 2 heading)
• Add a URL, no brackets
• Preview - see URL displayed
• Beneath that, add a URL in brackets with a label
• Preview - see label displayed
• Edit Summary

References

• Create a REFERENCES section above External Links section
• Add <references/> tag
• Preview - can't see the tag
• Go into text and make up a reference
• <ref>Reference details go here</ref>
• Preview - see "1" inline and listed in Reference section
• Edit Summary

• Shortcut for code and style: reference TEMPLATE
• My Preferences >> Gadgets >> Editing gadgets >> refTools >> Save
• In WYSIWYG editor, demo "Cite" tab

History

• Click "View History"
• Displays a list of the Edit Summaries - that's why they're valuable

If time....

• Adding image
• Adding infoboxes/navboxes
• Tables
• Indent
• Special characters