250:. A Wikiproject is a community of editors interested in a single topic area. The discussion pages for these projects are a good place to ask about the details of writing articles for that topic area, for finding other editors to help fix problems you've found, and to find out about articles in need of work. For longer lists of WikiProjects that might be relevant to your interests, see the
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309:. A topic generally cannot be included in Knowledge (XXG) unless the topic is the subject of multiple published works that are independent of each other. By providing published sources about the topic, you can convince other Knowledge (XXG) editors that it's an important enough topic to include in the encyclopedia, and forestall them from trying to delete your content.
118:. If you've written excellent Knowledge (XXG) content in your field, it attests to your expertise. In most cases the fact that you've contributed to an article is invisible to most readers, so it's not going to do much for making you more famous, or win you custom, but it may earn you respect in your field.
106:. When you write about a topic, you learn about it yourself; you may well find this knowledge useful in your off-wiki work. Also, when you carefully survey a topic, you are likely to find out about what is not known as well as what is known, and this could help you get to know your field even better.
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You may find that there is a lack of reliable sources for your field. Some valuable human knowledge, which really ought to be included in
Knowledge (XXG), may not have the sources to meet the notability and verifiability requirements. There are several ways to remedy this.
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You may be accustomed to learning from your own experience, or from more experienced experts in your own field. Sadly, "X, who is the world's leading authority on Y, told me so, in person" is not sufficient backing for including a statement in
Knowledge (XXG). Nor can you
317:, an external publication that says the same thing as what you've written. In very short articles, you may be able to get away with leaving all the sources for a separate reference section at the end; for longer articles, the text of the article should have inline
90:. You've probably already found some important topics that you know about are missing from Knowledge (XXG), or worse, described incorrectly. Since people who have an academic education are more likely to edit Knowledge (XXG), there are
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is allowed, even if they are not your own work. However, licenses prohibiting commercial use or derivative works are not compatible with
Knowledge (XXG) (Knowledge (XXG) is used commercially, and is itself a derivative work).
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Citations must provide enough information that others can figure out what source was used, and look it up to read it themselves. Knowledge (XXG) is not too fussy about citation formats. Any functional format can be used.
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Communication on
Knowledge (XXG) is by text only. It's easy for editors to mistake one another's meaning, and even easier to hear a friendly comment as hostile; tone of voice is invisible. To avoid needless conflict,
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just put something up on your blog and cite that. If you have already published on the subject, and are widely acknowledged by reliable publications to be an expert in the field, others may be able to cite your blog;
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Do not go into
Knowledge (XXG) for the purpose of boosting its coverage of your business, or yourself as a person. It is almost never OK to create or edit an article about yourself. If you develop a reputation as a
84:. As a Knowledge (XXG) reader, you are benefiting from a vast collection of articles written by the Knowledge (XXG) community. Why not reciprocate and help improve the existing articles by sharing your knowledge?
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Ideally, every paragraph of a
Knowledge (XXG) article (outside of the initial summary paragraph) should have at least one footnote or other source, and in many cases every sentence will have its own source. See
100:. To write well on Knowledge (XXG), you have to learn some extremely useful general skills, such as expressing yourself clearly to non-experts. These skills may help you in your professional and personal life.
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of all the editors who are interested in the subject (and by some complicated bureaucracy if that fails). So in particular, some of the changes you make are likely to be undone by other people, who may well
112:. You can work with other editors from around the world who share your interests. Even in the unlikely even that you learn nothing from one another, you may find working together on Knowledge (XXG) pleasant.
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First, you can encourage third-party publications like trade, hobby, and specialist magazines to publish articles containing the information. You might even write something for them yourself.
374:; Knowledge (XXG) tries to exclude advertising). You can also interview publication-acknowledged experts in your field, and write up or publish the interviews on third-party-reviewed sites.
301:. A reader with some level of layman's knowledge but without your specialized training should be able to tell whether what you wrote is true by comparing it against the sources you cite.
566:, published material in magazines, books, newspapers, etc., that says what you want the article to say. Knowing a lot about the topic will help you find sources and convince others.
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Subject experts have a lot to contribute to
Knowledge (XXG). Experts include people skilled in a trade, people who've worked in a field for decades, and passionate hobbyists and
340:, the rules for citing are much stricter: articles without citations and controversial unsourced statements within an article will both be quickly deleted, to avoid the risk of
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superior knowledge. Telling other editors that you are an expert isn't going to help. To win a dispute over the content of an article, you need to back up your opinion with
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is allowed. You can always post about your publications on the talk page of the article, and ask other editors to judge if they should be used as sources in the article
78:. You may wish that people understood your field better. Knowledge (XXG) is a great way of writing about your field in a way that can be found and read by the public.
189:). Click the "Edit" tab, top right; if you are not logged in to an account, a popup will offer the choice. If you have logged in, you can set your editing mode at
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and find social interactions difficult to understand. Conscientious effort to communicate without ambiguity helps prevent misunderstandings.
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Knowledge (XXG) has rules around when and how you can copy information. Some of them are based on giving credit where credit is due; these are
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The review process on
Knowledge (XXG) can be harsh. Your edits may be reverted by automated tools designed to rapidly remove large volumes of
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63:. Editing Knowledge (XXG) is itself a skilled job, and while you can just learn as you go, a bit of training might help you get started.
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This is a guide for subject experts who have never worked as an academic or researcher. Experts with an academic background may prefer
251:
601:. Seek more constructive reviews from other editors. Remember that removed content can be put back with almost no effort (but avoid
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based on your own knowledge and experience, without the need for citations, although you cannot cite your book on
Knowledge (XXG).
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If you intend to edit
Knowledge (XXG) more than once or twice, and especially if you ever intend to create new articles, there are
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so they can be used to illustrate articles. Good technical photos of objects, techniques, methods, and processes are very useful.
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shows that, sadly, a lot of good would-be contributors disengage rather than discuss when their contributions are rejected.
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of an article and vet changes by others. Instead, disputes over the content of an article are handled by
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Citing offline sources, such as print handbooks, professional guidelines, and manuals, is entirely OK.
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the conflict is to discuss it on the article's discussion page. Knowledge (XXG) cannot check editors'
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If you can take photographs or draw diagrams to convey your expert knowledge, please do, and then
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One way to stay connected to the greater Knowledge (XXG) community is through subject-specific
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It explains concepts or processes used by the Knowledge (XXG) community. It is not one of
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in Knowledge (XXG)'s content. Experts from other backgrounds can help fill these gaps.
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Why should you use your valuable time and hard-won expertise to edit Knowledge (XXG)?
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may be ok (but you should state where you've copied it from in the edit summary).
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It is rarely necessary to type in the full citation information. Entering only the
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Unlike some other sites, Knowledge (XXG) does not permit any one editor to
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When you create or make significant changes to an article, you may want to
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from established members of the community. You can ask for help at the
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Help:Knowledge (XXG) editing for researchers, scholars, and academics
458:, citation information is entered by pressing the "Cite" button; in
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are crucial in Knowledge (XXG) writing. Citations are used for:
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for more guidance on what does and doesn't need a source, and
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can tidy your citations, as long as they are comprehensible.
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If you disagree with someone's edits, the proper way to
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editors with high-functioning autism and Asperger's
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474:to the publication will usually be enough to let
418:sections, even if you can't use them as sources.
321:that refer to the list of references at the end.
482:complete your citation. Failing that, another
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331:Knowledge (XXG):Identifying reliable sources
313:Everything in Knowledge (XXG) should have a
286:. This prevents he-said-she-said arguments.
226:apprentice yourself to an experienced user
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637:- Tutorials for Visual Editor and Markup
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452:two short "Referencing" tutorials
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646:Knowledge (XXG):Manual of Style
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370:(this avoids accusations of
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