Basic Editing of Existing Entries

Tips for Editing using Wikipedia Code:

If editing using Wikipedia source editing (i.e., code) -- [[ ]]
Link to other existing Wikipedia pages.
  • To add links, use 2 brackets on each side of the words you want to link to an entry.  
    • For example: [[Cornell University]] automatically creates a link to the entry on Cornell. Be sure to doublecheck these links.
  • If you want to link to an entry from a word other than the title of the entry, use this format: [[title of entry | words in your text]].
    • For example, if I want to say "the university" and have it link to the Cornell University entry: [[Cornell University | the university]]
Link to external sites
  • For example: [http://cnn.com Breaking News] will link the words "Breaking News" to CNN's website.

Basic formatting:

  • To create a section, use = on each side of the title.  Different numbers of = affect weight/size of header in hierarchy.
    • If an article has at least 4 headings, a Table of Contents will be automatically generated.
  • To create a bulleted list, use * in front of each item.
  • To create a numbered list, use # in front of each item. Numbers will be automatically generated.

 

Adding References to Existing Entries

Worldcat: use this for linking in citations

OCLC Worldcat

Ideas for Editing

Ways to begin

  • The Community portal includes lists of editing tasks you can work on including adding images, fixing links, and more.
  • Template messages\Cleanup: These messages are used to notify other editors that an entry could use some work.

Like to write?

Like to do research?

Of Local Interest

Choosing Sources & Linking to Library Collections

"While primary source materials are not appropriate sources for Wikipedia, including references to archival collections in an article can be an excellent way to lead interested researchers to rich collections as further resources. However, care should be used when linking to archival collection descriptions or finding aids—if the editor is affiliated with the holding institution they should only include links to collections which would provide the best information about a topic. The editor should take care to include links to other important collections located at other institutions. Links to archival collections can be included in the 'External links' section of an article, and if there are enough links to archival collections, it might be appropriate to call attention to this group of links by adding a subsection titled 'Links to archival collections'"

Creating a New Entry

Tips:

  • To create a section, use = on each side of the title.  Different numbers of = affect weight/size of header in hierarchy.
  • To create a bulleted list, use * in front of each item.
  • To create a numbered list, use # in front of each item. Numbers will be automatically generated.

Tracking Changes

  • Watchlists: "Watching pages allows any logged-in user to keep a list of 'watched' pages and to generate a list of recent changes made to those pages (and their associated talk pages). In this way you can keep track of and react to what's happening to pages you have created or are otherwise interested in"
  • Follow Twitter accounts that track anonymous edits by IP addresses:
    • @congress-edits tweets anonymous Wikipedia edits that are made from IP addresses in the US Congress. 
    • @valleyedits tweetsanonymous Wikipedia edits from Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, and Wikimedia Foundation IP addresses.