Wikipedia Policies and How-to Resource Guide
edit- See: the GLAM-Wiki info booklet for comprehensive descriptions of fundamental aspects of Wikipedia policies, editing, and information for institutional partners.
- Wikipedia:GLAM/Beginner's guide to Wikipedia
- Also: see: Wikipedia: Getting Started
Creating a User Account
edit- Create a User Account (top right corner of any Wikipedia page). Tip: you should always be signed in to edit so that your contributions can be recorded and linked to your Username.
- * There is a person per account rule. Do not create an account for multiple people or an institution to share.
Anatomy of a Wikipedia Page
edit- Go to the 'Edit' tab of any article– this is where you can make changes
- Go to the 'View History' tab. This is where you can see a timestamped, revision history of the article. This page also links individual edits and edit reverts to individual Usernames. Every time you edit a page, a record will be made here.
- Go back to the 'Edit' tab of any article and make a few cosmetic changes. Click 'save' and the results will immediately appear.
- You are now ready to begin adding content and references!
Standards for ALL articles
edit- Wikipedia:The perfect article
- Name of subject bolded on first use
- General topic sentence stating the historical importance of the article's topic.
- References, and a reference section with at least 3 reliable references from publications considered notable in the field or subject area of the article.
- General Topic Headings – go to Wikipedia articles about similar topics to get a sense of topic heading standards for a particular type of Wikipedia article.
- Internal-Wiki links (blue links) linking to other Wikipedia pages.
- Categories (bottom of the page)
- Stubs - articles with incomplete encyclopedic information, but acceptable as articles.
Talk Pages
edit- * Your Talk Page is place where other users express concerns with edits you make, where users can have conversations, and where bots sometimes post to make sure you are using the proper Wiki conventions. You will receive a notification when someone writes on your talk page.
Wikipedia Markup
edit- Familiarize yourself with Wikipedia markup using: Help:Cheatsheet. Practice some of the markup in the Wikipedia Sandbox, a draft space located in the upper right corner of each page, when you sign in.
Core Policies
edit- Familiarize yourself with Wikipedia:Core content policies
- Wikipedia:Neutral point of view---> conflicts of interest—if you think you have a COI, don’t create the article, post that someone else should create it on a related talk page.
- Wikipedia:Verifiability and WP:No original research
- Wikipedia:Notability
Other Guidelines
edit- Guidelines explained -
- Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines: “common sense model” “principles not rules”
- Wikipedia: Copyrights
- Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources
Finding Help
edit- Help Pages
- How to ask for help on Wikipedia
Manual of Style
edit- Manual of Style: Explained:
- Wikipedia:Manual of Style
- Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Visual arts
- Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biographies
Editing Areas
edit- Links
- Categories
- Infoboxes - useful for GLAMs; some articles do not need infoboxes
- Tables / other templates
- Adding ISSN numbers
Copyrights
editReferences
edit- Citation Templates, or simply use ref tags (<ref>citation</ref>) and include bibliographic information within them, as follows: <ref>Author's Lastname, Firstname. [url "Title"], Title, Pagenumber if available, Publisher, Publicationdate, accessdate</ref>
- Example: <ref>Winter, Damon. [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/g/guggenheim_solomon_r_museum/index.html "Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 21, 2009, accessed March 7, 2012</ref> See WP:CITE.
How to Create a New Article
editIt is better to work on some existing articles over a number of sessions to learn your way around Wikipedia before creating your first article. When you are ready to start your first article:
- First search in Google and in Wikipedia to make sure the article doesn’t already exist by another name.
- Draft a complete article in your User Sandbox (top right corner of every Wikipedia page when you are logged in) before making a new, live, article.
- Create an article by making a red link in your sandbox,or searching for the exact article title you want in the searchbar, and then clicking on the red link. You will be prompted to create the article at the time. Upon your first edit, you will have created the page.
- Don't forget to add categories to the new article, and to make sure that other Wikipedia articles link or reference your new article, so it isn't an island.
More
Images and Wikipedia
edit- Wikimedia Commons is the image site for Wikipedia. If you want to upload a photograph to a Wikipedia page, you should upload it on Wikimedia Commons. Once you've uploaded, Wikimedia Commons will give you a file name that you can embed in a relevant Wikipedia article.
- All Images on Wikimedia Commons have some sort of public domain license. This is a requirement of all uploaded images.
- Use the same login and password that you would for Wikipedia on Wikimedia Commons, and all of the Wikimedia Foundation's sister sites.
- Use the Upload Wizard on Commons to upload photos.
- The most widespread Commons license is theCC0 (Creative Commons) ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, but you have options when you upload.
Locating Wikipedia Communities of Editors
editLocating Wikipedians
edit- Local Resources-
- Wikipedia:GLAM/US/Connect
- Mailing lists
Suggestions: Adding Institutional Materials to Wikipedia
editTable of Possible Tasks for GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) Editing Tasks
Task | Example 1 | Example 2 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1. Add references to your institution’s resources in Wikipedia articles. Alternately, add wikipedia links or references to your institutional webpage | Metropolitan Museum's Watson Library's project: a project which has been focused on the library adding external links and references that go back to the library catalog page. | Wikipedia citation code placed at the bottom of pages on the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum. | Wikipedia citation code at the bottom of pages on the Powerhouse Museum online catalog. | |
2. Edit articles on topics of interest to your institution, improving article quality | Create and update a list of articles that you want to edit on the GLAM page | host an editing contest with a prize awarded for the best article about an object in your institution | ||
3. Create discrete sections for collection information or independent articles for collections | See 'Collections' in Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art | List of works in Museum of Modern Art Department of Painting and Sculpture | San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Selected Collection Highlights Section | |
4. List "highlights of the collection” and create articles for the objects, books, or documents which you choose to highlight. Remember to search for those items first before making a new article to prevent duplication | British Library: Highlights of the collections | Collection of the National Gallery, London: Paintings Highlights | Highlights in the Collection: Frick Collection | |
5. Create Exhibition pages | The Portrait Now | The Prague Project | New Painting of Common Objects | |
6. Add images to Wikimedia Commons | Walter's Art Museum | Large volume uploading | ||
7. Authority Control Template made by Max Klein, Wikipedian at OCLC | Scroll down to the bottom of the Alexander Graham Bell article and find the authority control box |