On Our Digital Mixed Race Wikipedia Entry
Some instructions for our wikipedia entry. Kindly take 20 - 30 minutes for this process. You may have to familiarize yourself with wikipedia and the process of creating an entry before you begin. Instead of a blog entry this Monday, you can opt to post your contribution or thoughts on process instead.
Reminder, our wikipedia draft entry is here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mrheeberkeley/sandbox#Request_review_at_WP:AFC
After completion, please record your entry contribution at this form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pSiz29zvbLisZedBGSFWqWugMdVm5fedJDiA1vr8BJM/viewform
DUE: Tuesday
Instructions
Try reading a few sample articles to get a sense of the form/format of wikipedia articles
Some recommendations:
- Multiracial
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiracial
- Asian American Literature
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian-American_literature
- Science Fiction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction
- Kip Fulbeck
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kip_Fulbeck
- Barbara Jane Reyes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Jane_Reyes
2. After you read through some sample articles, think about what kind of wikipedia article are you co-writing? Our wikipedia article on Digital Mixed Race is a term like Multiracial. It may have several different sections or sub-headings and may link to Multiracial as well.
3. Look at our in progress wikipedia article. What could you contribute and edit to make our entry stronger?
4. Read through the article below on starting an article by wikipedia. After you finish reading through
5. Gather your references. You may want to draw from Asian American Literary Review, Yes, Bay Area, news articles, academic articles and books, and other sources that are credible by wikipedia standards.
6. Then start editing the wikipedia article. Place your references and text in the article. Follow directions and guidance from the "on starting an article by wikipedia"
7. Congratulations you just helped create a wikipedia entry!
8. Now, fill out the form to record your contribution: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pSiz29zvbLisZedBGSFWqWugMdVm5fedJDiA1vr8BJM/viewform
Instructions on starting an article by wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Starting_an_article
One of the first things you should write in a new article is a list of the source(s) for the information in it. To be worth including in Wikipedia a subject must be sufficiently notable and that notability must be verifiable through references to reliable sources. For now, just enter them like this (and they will automatically turn into links):
(1) http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/books/12vonnegut.html(2) http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/space/space_shuttle.htmlLater, you'll learn how to format them to appear as footnotes.
These sources should be reliable; that is, they should be sources that exercise some form of editorial control. Print sources (and web-based versions of those sources) tend to be the most reliable, though many web-only sources are also reliable. Some examples include (but are not limited to): books published by major publishing houses, newspapers, magazines, peer-reviewed scholarly journals, websites of any of the above, and other websites that meet the same basic requirements as any print-based source.
In general, sources with NO editorial control are not generally reliable. These include (but are also not limited to): books published by vanity presses, self-published zines, blogs, web forums, usenet discussions, BBSes, fan sites, and the like. Basically, if anyone at all can post information without anyone else checking that information, it is probably not reliable.
To put it simply, if there are reliable sources with enough information to write about a subject, then that subject is notable and those sources can verify the information in the Wikipedia article. If you cannot find reliable sources (such as newspapers, journals, or books) that provide information for an article, then the subject is not notable or verifiable and almost certainly will be deleted. So your first job is to find references.
Once you have references for your article, you can learn to place the references into the article by reading Wikipedia:Citing sources. But do not worry too much about formatting them properly. It would be great if you do that, but the main thing is to get references into the article even if they are not well formatted.
Things to avoidMain pages: Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not and Wikipedia:Avoiding common mistakes
Articles about yourself, your friends, your website, a band you're in, your teacher, a word you made up, or a story you wrote If you are worthy of inclusion in the encyclopedia, let someone else add an article for you. Putting your friends in an encyclopedia may seem like a nice surprise or an amusing joke, but articles like this are likely to be removed. In this process, feelings may be hurt, which can be avoided by a little forethought on your part. So, just do not do it, please. The article might remain if you have enough humility to make it neutral and you really are notable, but even then it's best to submit a draft for approval and consensus of the community instead of just posting it up as unconscious biases may still exist of which you may not be aware.Non-notable topicsPeople frequently add pages to Wikipedia without considering whether the topic is really notable enough to go into an encyclopedia. Because Wikipedia does not have the space limitations of paper-based encyclopedias, our notability policies and guidelines allow a wide range of articles – however, they do not allow every topic to be included. A particularly common special case of this is pages about people, companies or groups of people that do not assert the notability or importance of their subject, so we have decided that such pages may be speedily deleted under our WP:SPEEDY policy. This can offend – so please consider whether your chosen topic is notable enough for Wikipedia, and assert (or preferably show!) the notability or importance of your article's subject if you decide it is notable enough. Wikipedia is nota directory of everything in existence.AdvertisingPlease do not try to promote your product or business. Please do not insert external links to your commercial website unless a neutral party would judge that the link truly belongs in the article; we do have articles about products like Kleenex or Sharpies, or notable businesses such as McDonald's, but if you are writing about a product or business be sure you write from a neutral point of view, that you have no conflict of interest, and that you are able to find references in reliable sources that are independent from the subject you are writing about.Personal essays or original researchWikipedia surveys existing human knowledge; it is not a place to publish new work. Do not write articles that present your own original theories, opinions, or insights,even if you can support them by reference to accepted work. A common mistake is to present a novel synthesis of ideas in an article. Remember, just because both Fact A and Fact B are true does NOT mean that A caused B, or vice-versa. If that is true, then reliable sources will report that connection, and you should cite those sources.A single sentence or only a website linkArticles need to have real content of their own.See also:
Some instructions for our wikipedia entry. Kindly take 20 - 30 minutes for this process. You may have to familiarize yourself with wikipedia and the process of creating an entry before you begin. Instead of a blog entry this Monday, you can opt to post your contribution or thoughts on process instead.
Reminder, our wikipedia draft entry is here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mrheeberkeley/sandbox#Request_review_at_WP:AFC
After completion, please record your entry contribution at this form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pSiz29zvbLisZedBGSFWqWugMdVm5fedJDiA1vr8BJM/viewform
DUE: Tuesday
Instructions
Try reading a few sample articles to get a sense of the form/format of wikipedia articles
Some recommendations:
- Multiracial
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiracial
- Asian American Literature
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian-American_literature
- Science Fiction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction
- Kip Fulbeck
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kip_Fulbeck
- Barbara Jane Reyes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Jane_Reyes
2. After you read through some sample articles, think about what kind of wikipedia article are you co-writing? Our wikipedia article on Digital Mixed Race is a term like Multiracial. It may have several different sections or sub-headings and may link to Multiracial as well.
3. Look at our in progress wikipedia article. What could you contribute and edit to make our entry stronger?
4. Read through the article below on starting an article by wikipedia. After you finish reading through
5. Gather your references. You may want to draw from Asian American Literary Review, Yes, Bay Area, news articles, academic articles and books, and other sources that are credible by wikipedia standards.
6. Then start editing the wikipedia article. Place your references and text in the article. Follow directions and guidance from the "on starting an article by wikipedia"
7. Congratulations you just helped create a wikipedia entry!
8. Now, fill out the form to record your contribution: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pSiz29zvbLisZedBGSFWqWugMdVm5fedJDiA1vr8BJM/viewform
Instructions on starting an article by wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Starting_an_article
- Try editing existing articles to get a feel for writing and for using the mark-up language in use at Wikipedia. Also, try reading some of our better articles, either those listed as featured articles or good articles.
- Consider creating the article on your user page first. If you have a user id, (which you must have if you are considering creating a new article), you also have your own area to start working on a new article; you can get it in shape there, take your time, and only move it into the "live" Wikipedia once it is ready for prime time. (Note: the Article Wizardhas an option to create these kind of draft pages.)
- Search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject, perhaps under a different title. If you find an existing article on your subject, it is best to redirect the name you were thinking of onto the existing article.
- Gather references both to use as source(s) of your information and also to demonstrate notability of your article's subject matter. References to blogs, personal websites MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, message boards, and the like don't count—we need reliable sources. Extra care should be taken to make sure that articles on living persons have sources—articles about living people without sources may be deleted.
- Please do not create pages about yourself or your friends, pages that advertise, personal essays or other articles you would not find in an encyclopedia.
- Be careful about the following: copying things, controversial material, extremely short articles, and local-interest articles.
- Academics
- Astronomical objects
- Books
- Events
- Films
- Music
- Numbers
- Organizations & companies
- People
- Sports and athletes
- Web content
One of the first things you should write in a new article is a list of the source(s) for the information in it. To be worth including in Wikipedia a subject must be sufficiently notable and that notability must be verifiable through references to reliable sources. For now, just enter them like this (and they will automatically turn into links):
(1) http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/books/12vonnegut.html(2) http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/space/space_shuttle.htmlLater, you'll learn how to format them to appear as footnotes.
These sources should be reliable; that is, they should be sources that exercise some form of editorial control. Print sources (and web-based versions of those sources) tend to be the most reliable, though many web-only sources are also reliable. Some examples include (but are not limited to): books published by major publishing houses, newspapers, magazines, peer-reviewed scholarly journals, websites of any of the above, and other websites that meet the same basic requirements as any print-based source.
In general, sources with NO editorial control are not generally reliable. These include (but are also not limited to): books published by vanity presses, self-published zines, blogs, web forums, usenet discussions, BBSes, fan sites, and the like. Basically, if anyone at all can post information without anyone else checking that information, it is probably not reliable.
To put it simply, if there are reliable sources with enough information to write about a subject, then that subject is notable and those sources can verify the information in the Wikipedia article. If you cannot find reliable sources (such as newspapers, journals, or books) that provide information for an article, then the subject is not notable or verifiable and almost certainly will be deleted. So your first job is to find references.
Once you have references for your article, you can learn to place the references into the article by reading Wikipedia:Citing sources. But do not worry too much about formatting them properly. It would be great if you do that, but the main thing is to get references into the article even if they are not well formatted.
Things to avoidMain pages: Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not and Wikipedia:Avoiding common mistakes
Articles about yourself, your friends, your website, a band you're in, your teacher, a word you made up, or a story you wrote If you are worthy of inclusion in the encyclopedia, let someone else add an article for you. Putting your friends in an encyclopedia may seem like a nice surprise or an amusing joke, but articles like this are likely to be removed. In this process, feelings may be hurt, which can be avoided by a little forethought on your part. So, just do not do it, please. The article might remain if you have enough humility to make it neutral and you really are notable, but even then it's best to submit a draft for approval and consensus of the community instead of just posting it up as unconscious biases may still exist of which you may not be aware.Non-notable topicsPeople frequently add pages to Wikipedia without considering whether the topic is really notable enough to go into an encyclopedia. Because Wikipedia does not have the space limitations of paper-based encyclopedias, our notability policies and guidelines allow a wide range of articles – however, they do not allow every topic to be included. A particularly common special case of this is pages about people, companies or groups of people that do not assert the notability or importance of their subject, so we have decided that such pages may be speedily deleted under our WP:SPEEDY policy. This can offend – so please consider whether your chosen topic is notable enough for Wikipedia, and assert (or preferably show!) the notability or importance of your article's subject if you decide it is notable enough. Wikipedia is nota directory of everything in existence.AdvertisingPlease do not try to promote your product or business. Please do not insert external links to your commercial website unless a neutral party would judge that the link truly belongs in the article; we do have articles about products like Kleenex or Sharpies, or notable businesses such as McDonald's, but if you are writing about a product or business be sure you write from a neutral point of view, that you have no conflict of interest, and that you are able to find references in reliable sources that are independent from the subject you are writing about.Personal essays or original researchWikipedia surveys existing human knowledge; it is not a place to publish new work. Do not write articles that present your own original theories, opinions, or insights,even if you can support them by reference to accepted work. A common mistake is to present a novel synthesis of ideas in an article. Remember, just because both Fact A and Fact B are true does NOT mean that A caused B, or vice-versa. If that is true, then reliable sources will report that connection, and you should cite those sources.A single sentence or only a website linkArticles need to have real content of their own.See also: