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Wikipedia:Ambassadors/Resources/Discussion 2

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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

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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

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  • 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?

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  • 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.
  • 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

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Prologue: Demonstrate WHERE TO FIND HELP

Sandbox

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

Headers and signing

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  • 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

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  • 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
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  • 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

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  • 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

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

If time....

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