User talk:Alec1990
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[edit] What do I want to do on Wikipedia?
I want to definitely contribut to writing good articles and be able to help people by doing this. Im also intrested in this sort of thing, so i like doing it also. I have edited some Paramedic pages (UK Ones). Alec1990 15:54, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
- That sounds like a pretty noble goal. I'd suggest you simply find an article that interests you, and start adding to it, making sure to cite your sources. See WP:CITE, or if you're using a website as a source, simply add the URL in between two square brackets. [http://www.google.com]
Canæn 23:07, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
Ok will do. I often thought what them was. Ill start on one page for the moment then maybe you can see it is good or not?
Hey Canaen. Ive edited this page The_Mint_(game_show) and done some tweaks to make it better. I also took on the problem that is was to long so made two sub-pages for them. Hope its to good standard. :-) Alec1990 23:15, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
- Excellent Alec! The Games subpage was a wonderful idea. Just a few notes:
- In the Games section on the main Mint article, you linked like this: [[The_Mint_%28game_show%29_games|the Mint]]. When you're linking to an article (a Wikilink), you don't need to copy the URL fanciness. simply write in (or Copy the title of the article) [[The Mint (game show) games|The Mint]]. Much clearer for future editors!
- Again in the Games section on the main Mint article, instead of writing a lengthy explanatory note about where you should look for the games, you can simply use a template: {{Main|The Mint (game show) games}}. This will tell people that the main article for Games is at The Mint (game show) games, and give them a link. You might want to give a list of some of the more popular games on the main article, without going into detail, just so there's some content there. I've done this one for you (besides the summarizing), and I'll let you try it out on the "Extra Mint & The Mint Extra" section.
- On the Games subpage, you used a section header (== words in here ==) for the intro. You don't need to do that. Simply write that in at the top, so it shows up before the table of contents. I changed that one, and I'll let you handle that on the "Extra Mint & The Mint Extra" section.
- You're doing great Alec! Keep it up! You might want to have a look at Wikipedia:Article development. It's basically a run down of the article development process, and has lots of good links. Canæn 19:28, 14 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Ive took on a page and edited it.
Hello Canaen... This is the page ive edited > Birth_(film). If you look at the history and compare them you can see what ive edited and added. I enjoyed doing it. Please let me know how i did. Alec1990 23:00, 30 March 2007 (UTC)
- First, let me congratulate you on your consisten use of edit summaries! I have to admit not even I remember to use them every time!
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- Second, I'd like to point out the section that you labelled "Bath" is a fine introduction. The only thing about it is that we like to just have the introduction at the top of the page, with no section header.
- Third, have a look at the plot section. Next, have a look at Wikipedia:Spoiler warning. When we detail the plot of a book or movie or tv show, we like to add a warning so that people can skip over that section if they want to not spoil the plot. Please choose a suitable template from the Spoiler Warning page, and put it at the very top of the "Plot" section on the "Birth" article.
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- On citations and referencing: You've started using sources, which is wonderful. It's always good to cite as much of your additions as you possibly can. The way you're doing it, with the link inserted directly in the text, is just fine. But it's not officially the best way in the world. Let me first repeat, that the way you're doing it is just fine. If you'd like to bother yourself to do it in the fancier, more "proper" way, have a look at the template below: Canæn 04:19, 1 April 2007 (UTC)
- On citations and referencing: You've started using sources, which is wonderful. It's always good to cite as much of your additions as you possibly can. The way you're doing it, with the link inserted directly in the text, is just fine. But it's not officially the best way in the world. Let me first repeat, that the way you're doing it is just fine. If you'd like to bother yourself to do it in the fancier, more "proper" way, have a look at the template below:
[edit] Guide to referencing
Click on "show" to open contents.
| Using references (citations) |
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I thought you might find it useful to have some information about references (refs) on wikipedia. These are important to validate your writing and inform the reader. Any editor can removed unreferenced material; and unsubstantiated articles may end up getting deleted, so when you add something to an article, it's highly advisable to also include a reference to say where it came from. Referencing may look daunting, but it's easy enough to do. Here's a guide to getting started. [edit] Good referencesA reference must be accurate, i.e. it must prove the statement in the text. To validate "Mike Brown climbed Everest", it's no good linking to a page about Everest, if Mike Brown isn't mentioned, nor to one on Mike Brown, if it doesn't say that he climbed Everest. You have to link to a source that proves his achievement is true. You must use Reliable sources, such as published books, mainstream press, authorised web sites, and official documents. Blogs, Myspace, Youtube, fan sites and extreme minority texts are not usually acceptable, nor is Original research, e.g. your own unpublished, or self-published, essay or research. [edit] Simple referencingThe first thing you have to do is to create a "Notes and references" section. This goes towards the bottom of the page, below the "See also" section and above the "External links" section. Enter this code:
The next step is to put a reference in the text. Here is the code to do that. It goes at the end of the relevant term, phrase, sentence, or paragraph to which the note refers, and after punctuation such as a full stop, without a space (to prevent separation through line wrap):
Whatever text you put in between these two tags will become visible in the "Notes and references" section as your reference. [edit] Test it outCopy the following text, open the edit box for this page, paste it at the bottom (inserting your own text) and save the page:
(End of text to copy and paste.) [edit] Information to includeYou need to include the information to enable the reader to find your source. For a book it might look like this:
An online newspaper source would be:
Note the square brackets around the URL. The format is [URL Title] with a space between the URL and the Title. If you do this the URL is hidden and the Title shows as the link. Use double apostrophes for the article title, and two single quote marks either side of the name of the paper (to generate italics). The date after The Guardian is the date of the newspaper, and the date after "Retrieved on" is the date you accessed the site – useful for searching the web archive in case the link goes dead. Wikilinks (double square brackets which create an internal link to a wikipedia article) function inside the ref tags. Dates are wikilinked so that they work with user preference settings. [edit] Citation templatesYou may prefer to use a citation template to compile details of the source. The template goes between the ref tags and you fill out the fields you wish to. Basic templates can be found here: Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles/Citation quick reference [edit] Same ref used twice or moreThe first time a reference appears in the article, you can give it a simple name in the <ref> code:
The second time you use the same reference in the article, you need only to create a short cut instead of typing it all out again:
You can then use the short cut as many times as you want. Don't forget the /, or it will blank the rest of the article! A short cut will only pick up from higher up the page, so make sure the first ref is the full one. Some symbols don't work in the ref name, but you'll find out if you use them. [edit] ExampleYou can see refs in action in the article William Bowyer (artist). There are 3 sources and they are each referenced 3 times. Each statement in the article has a footnote to show what its source is. [edit] Next stepWhen you become familiar with the process, the next step is to have one section, "Footnotes", with links embedded in the text, and another, "References", which lists all of your references alphabetically with full details, e.g. for a book:
If you're ready to go into it further, these pages have detailed information:
I hope this helps. If you need any assistance, let me know.
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