Welcome!

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Hello, Xaarontacox, and welcome to Wikipedia! My name is Ian and I work with the Wiki Education Foundation; I help support students who are editing as part of a class assignment.

I hope you enjoy editing here. If you haven't already done so, please check out the student training library, which introduces you to editing and Wikipedia's core principles. You may also want to check out the Teahouse, a community of Wikipedia editors dedicated to helping new users. Below are some resources to help you get started editing.

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  • You can find answers to many student questions on our Q&A site, ask.wikiedu.org

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me on my talk page. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 01:02, 15 February 2016 (UTC)Reply

Sourcing on WP; Vincent Schilling article etc.

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Hi! Please check the fixes I've made to the reference you've been adding. The author is not "theresa" and some template parameters are missing. Please also take care not to past-tense living cultures. Here's the fixed ref: <ref>{{Cite web | url = http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/10/28/our-brothers-and-sisters-6-sacred-animals-and-what-they-mean-native-cultures-157563 | title = Our Brothers and Sisters: 5 Sacred Animals and What They Mean in Native Cultures | last = Schilling | first = Vincent | website = [[Indian Country Today Media Network]].com | date = 2014-10-28 | access-date = 2016-02-27 }}</ref> - CorbieV 03:54, 27 February 2016 (UTC)Reply

I understand you are new here, but you need to understand Reliable Sources. Please do not add just any "source" you find online. You need to be able to evaluate whether the source is Reliable. Do not keep adding these sorts of things until you familiarize yourself with the policy and standards. - CorbieV 04:27, 2 March 2016 (UTC)Reply

sorry, thank you for helping me with it, I am sorry I caused problems! I am still trying to figure it out. Thank you! Xaarontacox (talk) 04:34, 2 March 2016 (UTC)AaronReply
You're welcome. For sourcing Native articles, some of the suggestions here might prove useful: Essential Readings in Indigenous and American Indian Studies, syllabus by Julia Good Fox. - CorbieV 16:40, 2 March 2016 (UTC)Reply
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  Hello Xaarontacox, and welcome to Wikipedia. All or some of your addition(s) to Totem pole has had to be removed, as it appears to have added copyrighted material without permission from the copyright holder. While we appreciate your contributing to Wikipedia, there are certain things you must keep in mind about using information from your sources to avoid copyright or plagiarism issues here.

  • You can only copy/translate a small amount of a source, and you must mark what you take as a direct quotation with double quotation marks (") and cite the source using an inline citation. You can read about this at Wikipedia:Non-free content in the sections on "text". See also Help:Referencing for beginners, for how to cite sources here.
  • Aside from limited quotation, you must put all information in your own words and structure, in proper paraphrase. Following the source's words too closely can create copyright problems, so it is not permitted here; see Wikipedia:Close paraphrasing. (There is a college-level introduction to paraphrase, with examples, hosted by the Online Writing Lab of Purdue.) Even when using your own words, you are still, however, asked to cite your sources to verify information and to demonstrate that the content is not original research.
  • Our primary policy on using copyrighted content is Wikipedia:Copyrights. You may also want to review Wikipedia:Copy-paste.
  • If you own the copyright to the source you want to copy or are a designated agent, you may be able to license that text so that we can publish it here. However, there are steps that must be taken to verify that license before you do. See Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials.
  • In very rare cases (that is, for sources that are public domain or compatibly licensed), it may be possible to include greater portions of a source text. However, please seek help at the help desk before adding such content to the article. 99.9% of sources may not be added in this way, so it is necessary to seek confirmation first. If you do confirm that a source is public domain or compatibly licensed, you will still need to provide full attribution; see Wikipedia:Plagiarism for the steps you need to follow.
  • Also note that Wikipedia articles may not be copied or translated without attribution. If you want to copy or translate from another Wikipedia project or article, you can, but please follow the steps in Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia.

It's very important that contributors understand and follow these practices, as policy requires that people who persistently do not must be blocked from editing. If you have any questions about this, you are welcome to leave me a message on my talk page. Thank you. — Diannaa (talk) 14:15, 9 March 2016 (UTC)Reply

  Please stop making test edits to Wikipedia, as you did to Totem pole. It is considered vandalism, which, under Wikipedia policy, can lead to being blocked from editing. If you would like to experiment again, please use the sandbox. I strongly suggest you speak to your course adviser before continuing to edit Wikipedia. You are continuing to add tangential content and inadequate or improper sourcing to established articles. This is creating too much cleanup work for the editors here and it is not fair to the WP community. If you keep this up we are going to have no choice but to block your account. - CorbieV 00:11, 16 March 2016 (UTC)Reply

I have also added this to the talk page for the course this editor is editing for: "Who is the course teacher or adviser here? Are you keeping an eye on your students' edits? People have had to warn at least one of your students for inserting copyvios, tangents, and improper sourcing, which has also created unappreciated cleanup work for editors here. I am asking you to please make sure they use talk pages and their sandboxes, rather than just adding anything they find on google to stable, established articles. Reading the articles thoroughly before attempting to edit them is also a basic requirement that I am concerned is not always being met."[1] - CorbieV 00:20, 16 March 2016 (UTC)Reply