Wikipedia:WikiProject Reader

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This is a proposal for a wikiproject; I'm going to open it up for discussion and consensus, so some of the ideas may change. Mozzerati 14:37, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

WikiProject Reader is simple; a project to read good sources and put into Wikipedia references to those sources, sometimes alongside facts taken from those sources. It aims to drive towards Wikipedia's goal of verifiability across a large range of articles.

For more information on WikiProjects, please see Wikipedia:WikiProjects and Wikipedia:WikiProject best practices.

Contents

[edit] Project Aim

The aim of this project is to add a large number of reasonable quality references to Wikipedia as quickly as possible, at the same time fact checking and lightly improving wide areas of Wikipedia.

One of the claims of Wikipedia is that it doesn't aim at truth, but instead at verifiability. Simply put,

  • if the reader can check for themselves, then mistakes and untruth become less important
  • if the other editors can check then they can ensure that the article represents the sources correctly
  • if the article represents the sources, and these are the main and important sources, then that tells you something useful, even if it isn't true.

However, Wikipedia is not yet delivering on that goal. As of 18 December 2005, 92% of articles have no references and the number of articles with more than five references (a reasonable minimum for a properly referenced article) is probably less than one percent[1]!

[edit] How?

  • Identify good sources
  • Read those sources
  • Check facts against those sources
  • update articles if needed
  • Fully reference all facts checked

[edit] Identify Good Sources

It's not possible to give a list of criteria which apply to all good sources, but here are some which will help identify those sources valuable in this project.

  • general sources rather than single theme papers
  • have good, detailed references themselves
  • have been well reviewed in a reputable source (newspaper / academic journal)
  • authored by someone widely considered to be an expert in their field

If you know any such sources which you don't think have been used enough in Wikipedia, add them to the list at the bottom of the page.

[edit] Read the sources

When reading a source, the aim is to identify valuable facts and sections which can be referenced. Make notes (on paper or local file) remembering page number and fact. Note down anything which seems interesting / strange or important. At this stage, probably you won't want to edit directly, though you might want to compare articles you already know with something you have just found out.

If a fact seems important, but your source does not cover it in enough detail to be used as a reference in this case, check the references given in your source. Hopefully you will find enough detail there.

[edit] Enter the references

The very first thing is to make a full citation of your source. The format of this should be as complete as possible and it's worth investing some time since you will be using the citation repeatedly. See WP:CITE and Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles#Citations of generic sources. Search for reviews of your source and include those in your citation. If your source is particularly famous, you might want to check if there is a good article about your source.

Next go through the topics which you have written down whilst reading. Find the articles which relate to them and enter the reference. Remember that if our topic is aubergine peeling you can both go to the egg plant article and the peeling article and add references to both.

Next, go through the table of contents and index of your book. Look through each concept there. Search for each concept in Wikipedia and again add references where they are useful.

[edit] Reference Formatting

There are several ways of formatting references. The most important thing is complete information being clearly linked to specific facts. It is also important to use some recognised reference templates so that others can automatically identify and improve your references later; e.g. linking them to new citation databases. As long as those goals are achieved formatting details are a secondary issue.

Having stated the above, project recommended format is footnotes. This provides managable and clear refernces which do not disturb readability much for the majority of readers and in a format which, from advertising and normal official forms is accessible to the majority of readers and not just academics. Other acceptable formats include Harvard style notes with templates (see footnotes.

[edit] Handling articles with existing references

Whilst most wikipedia articles have no references, about 4% have one or more. There is a reasonable chance of coming across such an article. Some considerations for this case

  • be very gentle about format changes
  • be gentle about replacing references

Whilst this project does support high quality references, which means specific page numbers and full details, people who are putting in any proper references at all are already on our side. Please don't upset them by getting into a revert war about some detail of formatting. Just include your reference information, in an invisible note if it must be, and move on.


[edit] Members

please add your name at the end of this list if you are joining the project.

[edit] Tasks

  • identify books/other sources for the reading lists
  • read sources and use them

[edit] Reading List

The reading list is a way to find interesting texts to read and to point others in a direction which you believe will be interesting for them. If you finish with a text, then please put your name next to it. If it seems like a text has given up most of its information, please move it to the archive.

[edit] Science

  • Physics
    • Introduction to Solid State Physics, Charles Kittel, ISBN 0-471-87474-4 (Undergaduate text book)

[edit] Humanities

[edit] Parentage

mother of this WikiProject is WikiProject Fact and Reference Check

[edit] Related WikiProjects

  • Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check - this project, a definite inspiration for WikiProject Reader works in the opposite direction, checking individual articles against multiple sources. One main hope is that WikiprojectReader will make the work of the Fact and Reference checking project easier by giving them sources to check from.
  • Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikicite / m:Wikicite - this project is working on a citations database functionality for wikimedia. Unfortunately it doesn't seem that much practical progress yet, but one to watch.

[edit] Related Policies and Guides

[edit] References

  1. ^ User:Kokiri/WQA2 provides the best survey of references although other general surveys are available at User:Mozzerati/Measuring Wikipedia
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