Guide to Wikipedia Editing

Wikipedia aims to present content as objectively and accurately as a traditional encyclopedia would. Consequently, the tone and language used in an article is assessed by Wikipedia volunteers who can flag an articles as inappropriate, or even delete it, if they believe it does not adhere to Wikipedia’s standards.

• The tone should be formal, ‘objective’ and descriptive. 
• Write in the third person, in a dispassionate, factual manner.
• Avoid making judgements or assessments, although you may refer to sources that include assessments.
• Don’t use jargon; remember that your writing is aimed at a general readership.
• Refer to your reliable sources for an indication of the tone appropriate to the subject area.

Content in Wikipedia articles is arranged into thematic sections within related headings and subheadings. Content varies widely, so there is no set
required structure for Wikipedia articles, but there are common structures and strategies for different kinds of entries, including biographies.

Most Wikipedia articles start with a ‘lead’, which provides the reader with a brief overview of the subject. Once the lead is written:

• Use section headings that will help your readers understand the content.
• Remember that your section headings are also used in the index box at the top of the article to help readers navigate longer articles.

Suggested headings
The following headings may assist with structuring content.

• Overview – lead in. (Note the lead paragraph doesn’t need a heading)
• Education
• Professional Career
  • Practice
  • Government
  • Professional advocacy
  • Education
  • Publication
• Work
  • Competitions
  • Public discourse
  • Writing
  • Publications
  • Research
• Recognition and awards
• Selected appointments
• References
• External links / Further reading

For other headings and subheading suggestions. refer to Wikipedia Manual of Style: Headings.

Getting started
Follow these steps to create an article in the Article Creation Wizard.

1. Read the disclaimers. 
2. Click the blue ‘create new article draft’ button. This takes you to the ‘Create Draft: [article name]’ page, where you can save the page to create a draft.
3. Activate Visual Editing (if you wish to use it) using the instructions on the previous page.
4. To return to your draft, click ‘Contributions’ (in the top right corner of the page). Your draft you have just created will be at the top of the list.
5. Click on your article and select ‘edit’ in the tool bar. Paste in your text and use the tool bar along the top to add formatting.

Adding citations

It is important to properly cite all sourced information used to write your article. This helps establish the notability of the topic and helps to avoid plagiarism.
Citations are semi-automated in the Visual Editing mode. In the Wikitext editing mode you need to manually cite your sources and compile a reference list at the end of your article.
Adding citations in Visual editor

1. Highlight the text that you wish to cite and click the ‘Cite’ button in the toolbar.
2. Select one of the three options for adding citations: ‘Automatic’, ‘Manual’ and ‘Re-use’.

• Automatic uses the URL.
• Manual provides a list of source formats–including Website, Book, News, Journal and other via Basic form–which prompt you to add the relevant information before automatically generating a correctly formatted citation.
• Re-use is for citing sources that have already been added to the article – you simply select this from the list of existing references rather than resubmitting the details.

3. To insert a reference list for the citations, scroll to the end of your typed text and select ‘References list’ from the ‘Insert’ drop-down list in the toolbar.

For more citation information, visit the LibGuide at: https://researchguides.library.syr.edu/citationstyles

Adding external links

In addition to citing information, it is useful to add external links within the body of your article.
Adding external links in Visual editor

1. Highlight the text that you wish to turn into a link and click the link icon on the toolbar.
2. Select the ‘external link’ tab, paste the URL address, then click done.

Adding external links in wikitext
To add external links in Wikitext, refer to Wikipedia External links

Adding Further Reading

The ‘Further Reading’ list at the end of an article reading allows you to provide links to other websites relevant to the subject, that may or may not be included in the reference list.
For instructions on how to format a ’Further Reading‘ list and criteria for suitable material, refer to Wikipedia: Further reading.

Adding internal links

Internal links allow your article to be found on, and link to, related Wikipedia pages. It is important to link to as many Wikipedia pages as possible to avoid your article being disconnected from others.
Adding internal links in Visual editor

1. Highlight the text that you wish to hyperlink.
2. Click the ‘link’ icon from the toolbar. From here you can search and select relevant Wikipedia pages and content based on the term selected.

Adding internal links in wikitext
For instructions on linking to another Wikipedia page in wikitext, refer to Wikipedia Manual of Style: Linking

Adding images

Images are an important complement to Wikipedia articles. To add an image to your article, you first need to upload it to Wikimedia Commons.
Remember to ensure that you have copyright clearance on any image you upload. : See Guide 2: Selecting and
researching a topic/subject.
Adding images in Visual editor

1. Click the ‘insert’ button on the toolbar and select ‘media’ from the drop down list
2. Search using the title of the saved image
3. Select the image and review it's details before clicking 'Use this image'
4. Enter caption details and specify the format of the image in General and Advanced settings
5. Drag the image into position. Clicking the image brings up the editing options if you wish to adjust the caption or format attributes.

Adding images in wikitext
To add an image in Wikitext : Refer to Wikipedia Picture tutorial