How do I create or edit Wikipedia entries?
Answer
Do you have a contribution to make to global knowledge? Becoming a contributor to Wikipedia might be for you. Consider the following:
- Start reading Wikipedia articles.
- Think about your expertise and interests. What are you qualified to write about?
- Look for articles that are flagged by Wikipedia with "This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed" (June 2011).
- Look for articles where the information is incomplete, incorrect, or biased. Think of notable people or concepts that might have local impact but are not yet documented in Wikipedia.
Editing Existing Articles
- Once you have found an article to edit, click the "Edit" link above the article. Near the top, click the "Create an Account" link if you do not already have an account. Create a username and password. Click "Create Your Account."
- An interface will appear with simple edits you can make in the article, such as linking pages together, correcting spelling, or "improving clarity" of an entry by rewording the content. If you choose one of these options, Wikipedia will show you a tutorial.
- Find the part of the article you want to edit and click the blue "[Edit]" link to the right of that section. (If there is no [Edit] link for that section, click "Edit" at the top, then click "Save" at the bottom, which will then show the individual section Edit links.) You will see a text box where you will make your edits. Make your changes, click the "Preview Page" button. Double-check your work and click "Save Page."
The next time you want to edit an article, find the article, click the "Log in" link at the upper right and use the login you created. Click the "[Edit]" link to the right of the section you want to edit.
Use the Preview option often to make sure you like the results. Save often. Click "Cancel" if you don't want to save any changes. While editing, look at how the previous authors have "coded" what they have written. Explore the tools to add links. The more you look around, the more you will learn and the more confident you will feel in editing.
Adding Sources and Links to Articles
What is a Source?
We get that information from a source - often a book or an article written by an expert - to verify that what we write is accurate. We may get source information from websites as well, but we need to be critical of those sources because the author of the website may not be a reliable and verified expert in their field. In academics, we talk about "peer-reviewed, scholarly sources." Scholarly means that the author had credentials (often a Ph.D. or other certification) that qualifies him/her as an expert on that topic. Peer-reviewed means that other similarly qualified people read the work and deemed it worthy of publication.
Wikipedia and Sources
Wikipedia looks for scholarly or peer-reviewed sources to prove the facts that people add to Wikipedia. If the Wikipedia administrators don't see appropriate sources, they often flag the article and ask for more citations. One of the best ways to be a Wikipedia contributor is to find those sources and put them into the article.
Start by looking at the following websites:
Primary sources are also very important. Primary sources are original documents like letters, memoirs, or government documents. You may find these items at a local historical society, university, or college archives, or at an online source such as:
- www.archives.gov (U.S. National Archives)
- www.loc.gov (Library of Congress)
Adding Source Information (Referencing)
- Once you find a source you want to add to a Wikipedia article, log in to Wikipedia using your contributor login.
- Find the fact in the article that the source refers to. If you need to add the fact itself, go to the section where you will add it. If there is no [Edit] link for that section, click "Edit" at the top, then "Save" at the bottom, which will then show the individual section Edit links. Click "[Edit]" for that section.
- Click in the text where the footnote number should appear.
- Click the "Cite" button above the window. This adds a citation menu bar; click the drop-down where "Templates is displays," and select whether the source is a book, article, or website. A screen will pop up where you may fill in the source information.
Wikipedia provides a tutorial of the process of adding citations at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners.
Creating a New Wikipedia Article
Wikipedia has constructed a Wikipedia article on creating Wikipedia articles. Please consult their guide when you are ready to take the plunge and create a brand new article for the world to see.
- Wikipedia: Your first article
- Wikipedia: Article wizard: This wizard will walk you through the basics of creating an article.
- Wikipedia: An article about yourself isn't necessarily a good thing: If you're thinking about creating a Wikipedia entry about yourself, please consider Wikipedia's take on the subject.