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435:- is the article subject notable enough right now to warrant a page? As a simple notability check, can you find five sources that are all about the person/organisation/thing? They should be mainly about the subject, not just mentions, they should be independent rather than written by the subject/an employer/employee/member, and they should be published in a reliable source like a broadsheet newspaper, academic journal or magazine, etc. Can you find at least five sources that meet these criteria? If not, it's possibly
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566:, which means that you have the ability to move pages. Look for the Move button to the right of the edit button and click it: change the dropdown box to show Article instead of User or Draft, use the next box to enter a name for your new article, and then give a reason like "draft complete, moving to mainspace". Your new article will still be
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can add your opinion to an existing section by clicking the "Edit source" tab, or suggest a new improvement by clicking the "New section" tab. Editors sign their messages on Talk pages using four tildes: ~~~~ (this instantly adds your username and the time to the end of your message when you click the "Publish changes" button!).
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member or prizewinner, or check that events and organisations are mentioned in places if they are geographically specific. These mentions can then be linked to if/when your topic becomes notable and means that it will begin life as a more visible, better-integrated article. Also, these pages on broader topics might get more
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are where editors discuss what should or shouldn't be on a page. Talk pages are also where different
Wikiprojects (groups of editors) can claim a page as being of interest to them, and rate how good they think it is. Talk pages have their own History page, so you can see when a message was added. You
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are where you can see everything that has ever been done to a Wiki-entry, from tiny typo-corrections to huge additions, and when the change was made. You can also see the editor/IP address that made the change, and if you are logged in, you can click the "Thank" button to send them some encouragement
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Create a
Wikidata entry for your person/place/thing because this is how a lot of Wikiprojects source their redlists (lists of pages to aim to create). Wikidata is a database rather than an encylopedia and the criteria for inclusion are less stringent but it is a great place to gather key information
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You do not need to reveal any identifying information about yourself. As
Knowledge is volunteer-led, and ‘self-governing’ you should consider the community in a similar way to a public online forum. Feel free to edit anonymously. Just don't use the name of an organization because all accounts should
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The best place to draft a new article is in your
Sandbox. You can get to your Sandbox from any Knowledge page by clicking the link at the top right of the page. The first time you go to your Sandbox, you may be told it doesn’t exist yet so just click the button to create the page and start drafting
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Often, things are not notable because there are not enough independent sources that talk about them so think about what power you have to change this. Encourage journalists or editors of scholarly publications to commission articles or features on your topic, or draft an article yourself and submit
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Add links between
Knowledge pages. For example, a biography about the inventor of a vaccine could be linked to and from a Knowledge page about the disease. A biography that has no links to help people find it can be lost in Knowledge (these are known as ‘orphan pages’) so ensuring visibility of the
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Just because something doesn't warrant its own page yet, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be mentioned within another
Knowledge page. For instance, you could cite a researcher's work in a relevant article, add a sentence about someone into the article of an organisation of which they are a prominent
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Yes! Your
Sandbox (see the link at the top of any Knowledge page, near where you log in) is the place to practice. The first time you go to your Sandbox, you may be told it doesn’t exist yet so just click the button to create the page and start drafting your content. You can then copy your drafted
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Think about what sources you would trust for information on important topics – a peer-reviewed academic journal article from a trusted title is ideal. Books published by academic presses, broadsheet newspapers and scholarly society magazines are usually good sources. University news pages can be a
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and click the Cite button. You can often just paste in a URL or DOI and
Knowledge will generate a citation for you. Sometimes this doesn't work (or you may be using a physical reference!) so just click the Manual tab and fill in as many of the blanks as you can to help people to find your source.
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If you're editing the page of a person, don't use their social media (including LinkedIn). Instead, use articles others have researched and written about them. Use interviews and staff pages in moderation and in conjunction with sources written by others who are not the person themselves or their
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A Wiki user page tells other Wiki-editors about you (as much or as little as you choose). You can see what other people have on their user pages by clicking on a username on a history or talk page. User pages often include information about what topics people like to edit on, any languages they
477:. Once you've found a relevant Wikiproject, click on the "Talk" tab and then "New section" to create a message suggesting your topic - if you leave links to your five sources there, that will really help other editors to be able to get to work creating the page more quickly.
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Writing style on
Knowledge is supposed to be accessible, simple and clear. If in doubt, keep to short, factual sentences. The community helps each other with finding typos, editing grammar and re-structuring pages for clarity, so enjoy editing knowling that you have
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Trust is very important, and research from a few years ago suggests that
British people trust Knowledge more than the news. To keep this trust, we need to think about where the information we add comes from and what it looks like. A couple of simple pointers:
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You must press the big blue ‘Publish changes’ button to save. A good habit is to always write an edit summary, i.e. corrected a typo, added a citation. To resume editing, you can just click the ‘Edit’ button and start to add more information to your article.
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There should be a big blue button at the top of the page when you are not in edit mode. You can click this and follow the steps to have a random reviewer take a look. As with any peer review, there can be a bit of a wait for a review, so be prepared to be
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Telling people how long you have been editing is a very good idea because they then know how much or little information they might need to share with you to explain something - for instance, they might not use so many acronyms if they know you're new!
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Everything on Knowledge needs to have been said somewhere else first. Knowledge exists to make existing published knowledge more accessible. Knowledge is only as good as its sources, so help people to find useful further reading by summarising and
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Consider how else you can act as an ally, especially for underrepresented people or organisations that represent them. As well as trying to help improve press coverage you could also nominate them for awards (which can then generate articles as a
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Click on "Create account" at the top of this page. This helps you to keep track of your editing and helps others to communicate with you about your editing. Then start making contributions to pages - that's all it takes to become an editor!
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Internet access and curiosity are all you need to edit Knowledge! While a laptop is easiest, particularly for new editors, you can edit Knowledge from most devices with internet access, including iPads and mobile phones.
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The best way to create a new article is to use an existing page on a similar topic as a model. You could use similar headings and even copy chunks of a page such as templates to adapt the content to fit your subject.
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that means you will find it very hard to be impartial in your writing, and the article will likely sound promotional rather than encyclopedic - which is one of the most common reasons that a page will be nominated for
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It's totally up to you! Once you have an account you can edit whenever you like, ranging from adding an interesting fact you just read to long format writing where you work on an article over several days or weeks.
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If you haven’t pressed ‘Publish changes’, then no permanent changes have been made. Simply close the window or press back in your browser to go back to viewing the article as it was before you began editing.
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If you did not personally take the photograph then you cannot add it yourself. You could ask the person who did take it to upload it, or ask the place that has the archive, in the case of very old images.
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if you're not sure where to begin because she's a very interesting person from medical history!) and to take a look at the History page and the Talk page to familiarise yourself with how they work.
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If you have published the change and it is live, you can edit the page again and delete your mistake. You can also revert to a previous version by clicking ‘View history’ tab and then ‘undo’.
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If the article is about something you're interested in, but have no personal connection to, then you are a great person to write the article! Take a look at the next section to find out how.
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You can see all changes in the View history tab of any Knowledge page and see all your own edits by clicking the contributions link at the top of any Knowledge page, near where you log in.
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Articles must be neutral in tone. Avoid adjectives - rather than saying that someone was remarkable, use facts and citations to explain what they did and let readers decide for themselves.
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Publish changes often to save your progress: your article won't be public until it has been moved out of your Sandbox (see next question) so click Publish as many times as you like.
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content (whilst in edit mode, so Knowledge picks up all the handy formatting), go to the article where you would like to add it and click edit, then paste in your content.
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There are some they things to know before you begin editing Wiki but it's simple to get going. Editing Knowledge is as easy as creating an email or editing a Word document.
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First, get to know Knowledge with a quick tour of the buttons. On the left is a guide to "What's Where on Wiki", which explains some of the key parts of Knowledge.
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If you are not sure about the change you want to make to a page, you can share your suggestions and ask questions in the ‘Talk’ page that accompanies every page.
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A great way to learn how to edit, and what all the buttons in the editor do, is to create a user page. The guide on the right explains how to create your page.
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You should not create a Knowledge article about yourself, a relation or loved one, your employer, or any organisation that you help to run though - you have a
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Do not forget to write a short edit summary because this explains to other Wiki-editors why you are changing a page and makes edits much more likely to stick!
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It's always nice to have someone you know take a look at a draft and advise you of any improvements. You can always contact me by leaving a message on
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Read these summaries to get you started. If you have any questions or would like to arrange some training, you can also always get in contact via
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Knowledge is an encyclopedia. This sounds like an obvious thing to say, but it has some really important implications for when you are editing:
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for the subject to be notable (see the next question for suggestions of what to do now), but if you can find your five sources then read on!
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Do some copyediting. Fix typos, grammatical errors, and split overly long or complex sentences down to make information easier to comprehend.
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If you try to click and go to another page or close your tab whilst editing, you will be warned if your changes have not yet been saved.
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Use a variety of sources. If you keep referencing the same source (especially if you have a connection with that source, e.g. you work at
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The Knowledge community works together to review, edit and manage articles, and they will help to fix mistakes if and when they happen.
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by an experienced editor who will check that it meets notability criteria and who will probably also do a little tidying up of details.
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Now you know where to find things, and the key things to keep in mind when you edit, here are some options for what to do next:
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You can use your Sandbox as a place to make sure you are putting all of the information into your own words (so that you avoid
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where people can leave messages. Common messages you might see are to explain how things work or to thank you for your editing.
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Do not write your own biography or create or edit a page about someone close to you or organisations of which you are a member
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If you personally took a photograph of someone then you can add it to their Knowledge page: take a look at this guide to
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Avoid use of sensationalist tabloid sources and avoid using personal websites, blogs, or social media accounts. Check
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Knowledge takes care of the citation style and will place the references at the end of an article for you.
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When you are editing a page and want to cite a piece of information, make sure your cursor is placed
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articles), it looks like you are promoting your own content rather than generously sharing knowledge.
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If your account is four days old and you have done more than 10 edits on Knowledge, you will be an
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where groups of editors are often looking for pages to create and improve. For instance, check out
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Yes! There are lots of things you can do in the meantime to increase the visiblity of your topic:
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How to add a snazzy infobox (the summary box on the right side of many Knowledge articles)
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Now is a good time to find a Knowledge article of your choice (or just go to the page of
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page to find a variety of ways that you can contribute and develop your editing skills.
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Do not copy and paste chunks of text from elsewhere, write everything in your own words
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that trundles around Knowledge replacing paywalled links with Open Access alternatives?
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helpful starting point but must be supplemented with independent sources.
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Edit and expand existing pages by adding a fact and/or citation.
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If you're on a computer (not a mobile or tablet) you can take
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The five pillars of Knowledge and three core content policies
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because I love to help new editors and review new articles!
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it to a trustworthy publication to help generate sources.
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What can I reference? What sort of information can I use?
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Ask a friendly experienced editor to review the article.
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For any new page, the first thing to do is to check the
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You have three options when you have finished a draft:
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How to add a piece of information to an existing page
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Is there anything I can do if my topic isn't notable?
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How do I add a reference? What is the citation style?
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443:Next, figure out who should write the article...
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279:What are the easiest things I can do?
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