Difference between revisions of "Help:Contents"

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This page explains how to create an article on Wikipedia and provides a guide for some things you should know when creating an article.
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This page, '''Help:Contents''', gives guidance on how to use the UK LGBT Archive Wiki, and also how to create new articles and improve existing ones.
  
Articles may only be created by registered users. If you are not a registered user, you may either register now or ask for your article to be created at Articles for Creation.
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''For generic help on editing Mediawiki pages, see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Contents.''
  
Consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles - it is not required but will help you write a better article.
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==Finding information==
  
If you require a visual aid, there is a variety of tutorial videos available at Commons:Category:Instructional videos on using Wikipedia, including "How to create a Wikipedia article".
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To find information about a particular person, place or other subject, type the subject in question in the search box at the top right  and click "search". Note that the earch facility only finds whole words. To search for parts of words, use Google and include "site:http://www.lgbthistoryuk.org/wiki/" in the search box.
  
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Alternatively you could click "Random page" at the left to see an article chosen at random, or "Recent changes" to see which articles have been added or updated most recently.
  
== How to create a page ==
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You can also navigate between one article and another. Almost all articles have '''links''' to other articles. Links are shown [[Help:Links|like this]] - normally in blue, depending on your individual settings. If you click on a link it will take you to another article with more information about the subject in question. Links that look [[like this]] (normally red) point to articles that haven't been written yet: it's one of the aims of the project to turn all the red links blue by creating new articles!
  
Wikipedia already has a lot of articles. Before creating an article you should search to check that there is no suitable article that already exists. If an article on the topic you want to create is there, but you think people are likely to look for it under some different name or spelling, learn how to add a redirect with that name; adding needed redirects is a good way to help Wikipedia too.
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Every article is also linked to one or more '''Categories'''. So for example if you're looking at a page about a particular painter, you'll probably see [[:Category:Painters]] in a box at the bottom of the page. If you click on this it will take you to a list of articles about other painters. All the categories are arranged in a hierarchy below  [[:Category:Main categories]] which thus gives an overview of all the classes of information within this Wiki.
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==Becoming an editor==
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In principle, anyone at all should be able to create and edit articles on this Wiki. In practice we had problems with people who were creating spam articles unrelated to LGBT History. If you would like to contribute to the Wiki, you'll need to become a registered user. E-mail jonathan@lgbthistoryuk.org with your name, email address, and a chosen "Username" for this site and you'll be set up as a user.
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==Starting to edit the Wiki==
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Once you've been signed up as a registered user, it's probably best to spend some time looking at articles and improving them before you create an article of your own. If you find something wrong in an article, perhaps a spelling mistake, or something you know is factually wrong, click the "Edit" tab at the top of the page. This will show you the page in its markup form. Notice how this relates to the article as it's normally displayed. If you feel confident, just make the changes. To show what you've been doing, put a few words in the "Summary:" box at the bottom, to tell other editors why you made the changes. Once you're happy, click the "Show preview" box at the bottom of the screen and make sure that the article looks as you expect. If all is well, click "Save page" and the new version will be saved in the encyclopaedia.
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See also: [[LGBT Archive:Writing for this Wiki]].
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==Creating a new article==
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Once you've had some practice editing articles, you may want to create a new article from scratch. Maybe there's a person, place, club, pub, group, or event, that you know about that has an LGBT UK connection and is not yet included. Maybe it's one of the "redlinked" subjects listed at [[Special:WantedPages]], or maybe it's something we haven't even heard of.
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Before creating an article you should search to check that there is no suitable article that already exists. If an article on the topic you want to create is there, but you think people are likely to look for it under some different name or spelling, learn how to add a redirect with that name; adding needed redirects is a good way to help improve this Wiki.
  
 
Consider adding your information to existing articles that might include information about the subject of the article you propose. For example, if you want to write an article about a band member, you might search for the band and then add information to that broader article about that band member. This is the best thing to do if the subject of the proposed article has only limited depth.
 
Consider adding your information to existing articles that might include information about the subject of the article you propose. For example, if you want to write an article about a band member, you might search for the band and then add information to that broader article about that band member. This is the best thing to do if the subject of the proposed article has only limited depth.
  
If no suitable articles already exist or the subject has enough depth for an article of its own then you need to start a new article.
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If no suitable articles already exist, then you need to start a new article.
  
In the search box near the top right of a page, type the title of the new article, then click Go. If the Search page reports "You may create the page" followed by the article name in red, then you can click the red article name to start editing the article.
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In the search box near the top right of a page, type the title of the new article, then click Go. If the Search page reports :<tt>"There were no results matching the query. Create the page "[[xxx]]" on this wiki!"</tt> (where <tt>xxx</tt> is the name of your subject in red) then you can click the red article name to start editing the article.
  
The very first thing you should write in a new article is a list of the source(s) for the information in it. For now, just enter them like this (and they will automatically turn into links):
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To start a new page, write a first sentence introducing the subject. This should normally start with the subject title (in bold) and state what sort of person, thing etc the subject is, for instance:
  
    (1) http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/books/12vonnegut.html
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:'''Somerset Lesbian Network''' ('''SLN''') is a group for lesbian, bisexual and questioning women in Somerset.
    (2) http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/space/space_shuttle.html
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Later, you'll learn how to format them to appear as footnotes.
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In the case of a person, always include the dates of birth and death (if known), and what the person is noted for, for instance:
  
When you are done, press "Show preview" to take a look at how the page will appear. Try to fix any formatting errors, then press "Save page". Your article is now part of Wikipedia and may be edited by anyone.
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:'''Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill''' (1874–1965) was a British writer and statesman, who led Britain to victory in the Second World War.  
  
== Tips ==
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The other thing you should always include in a new article is the sources for the information in it.You should provide a source for any statement that might be contested. Add the reference immediately after the sentence, surrounded by <tt><nowiki><ref></nowiki></tt> and <tt><nowiki></ref></nowiki></tt>, for instance:<br>
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<tt><nowiki><ref>"Obituary: Sir Paul Latham", The Times, 26 July 1955, page 11.</ref></nowiki></tt><br>
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or<br>
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<tt><nowiki><ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/cinema/features/consenting-adults.shtml</ref></nowiki></tt>
  
The path to a Featured Article
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The references will appear as numbered footnotes at the end of the article.
Start a new article
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Develop the article
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Check against the featured article criteria
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Get creative feedback (Peer review)
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Apply for featured article status
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Featured articles
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    '''Try editing existing articles''' to get a feel for writing and for using the mark-up language in use at Wikipedia. Also, try reading some of our better articles, either those listed as featured articles or good articles.
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Later, you'll learn how to improve the formatting (and see [[Help:Editing]] for guidance on how to use the Wiki markup).
    '''Consider creating the article on your user page first.''' If you have a user id, (which you must have if you are considering creating a new article), you also have your own area to start working on a new article; you can get it in shape there, take your time, and only move it into the "live" Wikipedia once it is ready for prime time. (Note: the Article Wizard has an option to create these kind of draft pages.)
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    '''Search Wikipedia first''' to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject, perhaps under a different title. If you find an existing article on your subject, it is best to redirect the name you were thinking of onto the existing article.
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    '''Gather references''' both to use as source(s) of your information and also to demonstrate notability of your article's subject matter. References to blogs, personal websites and MySpace don't count—we need reliable sources. Extra care should be taken to make sure that articles on living persons have sources -- articles about living people without sources may be deleted.
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    '''Be careful''' about the following: '''copying things'''.
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When you are done, press "Show preview" to take a look at how the page will appear. Try to fix any formatting errors, then click "Save page" at the bottom. Your article is now part of the Wiki and may be edited by anyone.
  
== Gathering references ==
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==What subjects are suitable for the Wiki==
  
Notability
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In general, the Wiki covers any subjects related to LGBT life in the [[UK]] from the earliest times to the present day: remember today's current events are tomorrow's history. Each article should make it clear how it fits in: for instance if writing about a person, make it clear whether they are an LGBT person themselves (and provide references for this, we're not in the business of "outing" people!) or whether they're involved in some other way (for instance by speaking for or against gay equality) and what their connection is to the UK. In general every article should refer to a source of information, a book, newspaper or magazine article, or external website, that can back up the details you've provided.
Subject specific guidelines
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Academics
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Books
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Events
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Films
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Music
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Numbers
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Organizations & companies
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People
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Sports and athletes
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Web content
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See also
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Common deletion outcomes
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Why was my page deleted?
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Help (noticeboard)
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Gather sources to the information for your article. To be worth including in the encyclopedia a subject must be sufficiently notable and that notability must be verifiable through references to reliable sources.
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==Use your own words==
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Write the article in your own words. Do not copy more than a couple of sentences from a published source, and even then give a reference, as otherwise you are likely to be infringing someone's copyright.
  
These sources should be reliable; that is, they should be sources that exercise some form of editorial control. Print sources (and web-based versions of those sources) tend to be the most reliable, though many web-only sources are also reliable. Some examples include (but are not limited to): books published by major publishing houses, newspapers, magazines, peer-reviewed scholarly journals, websites of any of the above, and other websites that meet the same basic requirements as any print-based source.
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There's a particular issue with Wikipedia - some of the articles in this Wiki rely heavily on Wikpedia articles, and a few are direct copies (which is permitted under the [[LGBT Archive:Copyrights|CC BY-SA]] licence used by both Wikipedia and this Wiki, provided it's acknowledged). But ideally this is something to be avoided. as the balance of the article will probably be totally wrong. For instance the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill article on Winston Churchill] on Wikipedia is over 166,000 bytes long and still growing, but doesn't make any mention of any LGBT issues. The [[Winston Churchill|article about him on this Wiki]] is less than 4,000 bytes long and has only the briefest summary of his life, but mentions a number of points of LGBT interest.
  
In general, sources with NO editorial control are not generally reliable. These include (but are also not limited to): books published by vanity presses, self-published zines, blogs, web forums, usenet discussions, BBSes, fan sites, and the like. Basically, if anyone at all can post information without anyone else checking that information, it is probably not reliable.
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==Use a neutral point of view==
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Write all articles in the third person: don't say "I", "we" or "you" except in direct quotations (help pages like this are an exception). Each page should read like an encyclopaedia page, not an advertisement. Don't give people's ages - say when they were born (their age will be different next year), and don't use expressions such as "this year", or "last year".
  
To put it simply, if there are reliable sources with enough information to write about a subject, then that subject is notable and those sources can verify the information in the Wikipedia article. If you cannot find reliable sources (such as newspapers, journals, or books) that provide information for an article, then the subject is not notable or verifiable and almost certainly will be deleted. So your first job is to find references.
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== Gathering references ==
  
Once you have references for your article, you can learn to place the references into the article by reading Wikipedia:Citing sources. But do not worry too much about formatting them properly. It would be great if you do that, but the main thing is to get references into the article even if they are not well formatted.
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Gather sources to the information for your article. To be worth including in the encyclopedia a subject must be sufficiently notable and its notability must be verifiable through references to reliable sources. These principles are identical to those used in Wikipedia. However in practice, in this Wiki we aim to be comprehensive, and we're prepared to be a little less picky than Wikipedia would be. We won't normally reject an article as "not notable", provided that it relates in some way to British LGBT life, and that there is some information about the subject in a published source. A large proportion of our articles would not be considered notable enough for Wikipedia.
  
== Things to avoid ==
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The ideal is always to use reliable sources; that is sources that exercise some form of editorial control. Examples of reliable sources include books published by major publishing houses, newspapers, magazines, peer-reviewed scholarly journals, websites of any of the above, and other websites that meet the same basic requirements as any print-based source. In general, sources with NO editorial control are not generally reliable, for instance self-published zines, blogs, web forums, usenet discussions, BBSes, fan sites, and the like. Basically, if anyone at all can post information without anyone else checking that information, it is probably not reliable, but may be quoted if there is nothing better.
  
Main pages: Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not and Wikipedia:Avoiding common mistakes
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Once you have references for your article, you can learn to place the references into the article. But do not worry too much about formatting them properly. It would be great if you do that, but the main thing is to get references into the article even if they are not well formatted.
  
'''Articles about yourself, your friends, your website, a band you're in, your teacher, a word you made up, or a story you wrote'''
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== Things to avoid ==
    If you are worthy of inclusion in the encyclopedia, let someone else add an article for you. Putting your friends in an encyclopedia may seem like a nice surprise or an amusing joke, but articles like this are likely to be removed. In this process, feelings may be hurt, which can be avoided by a little forethought on your part. So, just do not do it, please. The article might remain if you have enough humility to make it neutral and you really are notable, but even then it's best to submit a draft for approval and consensus of the community instead of just posting it up as unconscious biases may still exist of which you may not be aware.
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'''Non-notable topics'''
 
People frequently add pages to Wikipedia without considering whether the topic is really notable enough to go into an encyclopedia. Because Wikipedia does not have the space limitations of paper-based encyclopedias, our notability policies and guidelines allow a wide range of articles – however, they do not allow every topic to be included. A particularly common special case of this is pages about people, companies or groups of people that do not assert the notability or importance of their subject, so we have decided that such pages may be speedily deleted under our WP:SPEEDY policy. This can offend – so please consider whether your chosen topic is notable enough for Wikipedia, and assert (or preferably show!) the notability or importance of your article's subject if you decide it is notable enough. Wikipedia is not a directory of everything in existence.
 
 
'''Advertising'''  
 
'''Advertising'''  
Please do not try to promote your product or business. Please do not insert external links to your commercial website unless a neutral party would judge that the link truly belongs in the article; we do have articles about products like Kleenex or Sharpies, or notable businesses such as McDonald's, but if you are writing about a product or business be sure you write from a neutral point of view, that you have no conflict of interest, and that you are able to find references in reliable sources that are independent from the subject you are writing about.
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Please do not try to promote your product or business. Please do not insert external links to your commercial website unless a neutral party would judge that the link truly belongs in the article; if you are writing about a product or business be sure you write from a neutral point of view, that you have no conflict of interest, and that you are able to find references in reliable sources that are independent from the subject you are writing about.
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'''Personal essays or original research'''  
 
'''Personal essays or original research'''  
Wikipedia surveys existing human knowledge; it is not a place to publish new work. Do not write articles that present your own original theories, opinions, or insights, even if you can support them by reference to accepted work. A common mistake is to present a novel synthesis of ideas in an article. Remember, just because both Fact A and Fact B are true does NOT mean that A caused B, or vice-versa. If that is true, then reliable sources will report that connection, and you should cite those sources.
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This Wiki surveys existing human knowledge; it is not a place to publish new work. Do not write articles that present your own original theories, opinions, or insights, even if you can support them by reference to accepted work.
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'''A single sentence or only a website link'''
 
'''A single sentence or only a website link'''
 
Articles need to have real content of their own.
 
Articles need to have real content of their own.
 
'''See also:'''''Italic text''
 
 
List of bad article ideas
 
    1000 things not to write your article about (humorous)
 
  
 
== And be careful about... ==
 
== And be careful about... ==
 
  
 
'''Copying things. Do not violate copyrights'''
 
'''Copying things. Do not violate copyrights'''
    To be safe, do not quote more than a couple of sentences of text from anywhere, and document any references you do use. You can copy material that you are sure is in the public domain, but even for public domain material you should still document your source. Also note that most Web pages are not in the public domain and most song lyrics are not either. In fact, most things written since January 1, 1978 in the United States are automatically under copyright even if they have no copyright notice or © symbol. If you think what you are contributing is in the public domain, say where you got it, either in the article or on the discussion page, and on the discussion page give the reason why you think it is in the public domain (e.g. "It was published in 1895...") If you think you are making "fair use" of copyrighted material, please put a note on the discussion page saying why you think so. For more information: Copyrights (including instructions for verifying permission to use previously published text) and our non-free content guidelines for text.
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To be safe, do not quote more than a couple of sentences of text from anywhere, and document any references you do use. You can copy material that you are sure is in the public domain, but even for public domain material you should still document your source. Also note that most web pages are not in the public domain and most song lyrics are not either.
  
 
'''Good research and citing your sources'''
 
'''Good research and citing your sources'''
    Articles written out of thin air are better than nothing, but they are hard to verify, which is an important part of building a trusted reference work. Please research with the best sources available and cite them properly. Doing this, along with not copying large amounts of the text, will help avoid any possibility of plagiarism.
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Articles written out of thin air are better than nothing, but they are hard to verify, which is an important part of building a trusted reference work. Please research with the best sources available and cite them properly. Doing this, along with not copying large amounts of the text, will help avoid any possibility of plagiarism.
  
 
'''Advocacy and controversial material'''
 
'''Advocacy and controversial material'''
    Please do not write articles that advocate one particular viewpoint on politics, religion, or anything else. Understand what we mean by a neutral point of view before tackling this sort of topic.
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Please do not write articles that advocate one particular viewpoint on politics, religion, or anything else. Understand what we mean by a neutral point of view before tackling this sort of topic.
  
 
'''Extremely short articles that are just definitions'''
 
'''Extremely short articles that are just definitions'''
    Dictionary definitions belong on Wiktionary. Try to write a good short paragraph that says something about the subject. We welcome good short articles, called "stubs", that can serve as launching pads from which others can take off. If you do not have enough material to write a good stub, you probably should not create the article. At the end of a stub, you should include a "stub template" like this: {{stub}}. (Other Wikipedians will appreciate it if you use a more specific stub template, like {{art-stub}}. See the list of stub types for a list of all specific stub templates.) Stubs help track articles that need expansion.
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Try to write a good short paragraph that says something about the subject. We welcome good short articles, called "stubs", that can serve as launching pads from which others can take off. If you do not have enough material to write a good stub, you probably should not create the article. You should mark the article with the "stub template" by including <nowiki>{{stub}}</nowiki> towards the end of the article. Stubs help track articles that need expansion.
 
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== While an article is being constructed ==
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If you know that your article will require multiple edits and/or a significant amount of time to properly list references and/or make presentable, it is recommended that you place the template {{newpage}} on top of the page to signify to other editors that it's a work in progress. Articles tagged with the new page template are still eligible for speedy deletion.
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Another option if you plan to take time to construct a page is to start creating the new article in a subpage of your user page. This allows you to take as long as you need to complete a presentable article. When you feel it is good enough to not be deleted, you can then move it to the main article space.
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== And then what? ==
 
== And then what? ==
 
  
 
Now that you have created the page, there are still several things you can do.
 
Now that you have created the page, there are still several things you can do.
Keep making improvements
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Keep making improvements.
  
Wikipedia is not finished. Generally, an article is nowhere near being completed the moment it is created. There is a long way to go. In fact, it may take you several edits just to get it started.
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Generally, an article is nowhere near being completed the moment it is created. There is a long way to go. In fact, it may take you several edits just to get it started.
  
 
If you have so much interest in the article you just created, you may learn much more about it in the future, and therefore, have more to add. This may be later today, tomorrow, or several months from now. Anytime, go ahead.
 
If you have so much interest in the article you just created, you may learn much more about it in the future, and therefore, have more to add. This may be later today, tomorrow, or several months from now. Anytime, go ahead.
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== Improve formatting ==
 
== Improve formatting ==
  
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Make sure there are incoming links to the new article from other articles (click "What links here" in the toolbox) and that the new article is included in at least one appropriate category (see help:category). Otherwise it will be difficult for readers to find the article.
  
To format your article correctly (and expand it, and possibly even make it featured!), see the following links:
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Remember that others can freely contribute to the article when it has been saved. The creator does not have special rights to control the later content.
 
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    Wikipedia:Tutorial to learn how to format your article
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    Wikipedia:Writing better articles
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    Wikipedia:The perfect article
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    Wikipedia:Lead section
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    Wikipedia:Drawing attention to new pages
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Also, make sure there are incoming links to the new article from other Wikipedia articles (click "What links here" in the toolbox) and that the new article is included in at least one appropriate category (see help:category). Otherwise it will be difficult for readers to find the article.
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Others can freely contribute to the article when it has been saved. The creator does not have special rights to control the later content. See Wikipedia:Ownership of articles.
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Additionally, before you get frustrated or offended about the way others modify or remove your contributions, see: Wikipedia:Don't be ashamed.
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[[Category:Wiki help]]
[hide]v · d · eWriting guides
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Starting an article
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Getting started Layout
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Visual structure of articles The perfect article
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A checklist of components
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Article development
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Suggested stages of an article Manual of Style
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Comprehensive style guide Writing better articles
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A collection of advice
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Latest revision as of 16:21, 29 July 2016

This page, Help:Contents, gives guidance on how to use the UK LGBT Archive Wiki, and also how to create new articles and improve existing ones.

For generic help on editing Mediawiki pages, see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Contents.

Finding information

To find information about a particular person, place or other subject, type the subject in question in the search box at the top right and click "search". Note that the earch facility only finds whole words. To search for parts of words, use Google and include "site:http://www.lgbthistoryuk.org/wiki/" in the search box.

Alternatively you could click "Random page" at the left to see an article chosen at random, or "Recent changes" to see which articles have been added or updated most recently.

You can also navigate between one article and another. Almost all articles have links to other articles. Links are shown like this - normally in blue, depending on your individual settings. If you click on a link it will take you to another article with more information about the subject in question. Links that look like this (normally red) point to articles that haven't been written yet: it's one of the aims of the project to turn all the red links blue by creating new articles!

Every article is also linked to one or more Categories. So for example if you're looking at a page about a particular painter, you'll probably see Category:Painters in a box at the bottom of the page. If you click on this it will take you to a list of articles about other painters. All the categories are arranged in a hierarchy below Category:Main categories which thus gives an overview of all the classes of information within this Wiki.

Becoming an editor

In principle, anyone at all should be able to create and edit articles on this Wiki. In practice we had problems with people who were creating spam articles unrelated to LGBT History. If you would like to contribute to the Wiki, you'll need to become a registered user. E-mail jonathan@lgbthistoryuk.org with your name, email address, and a chosen "Username" for this site and you'll be set up as a user.

Starting to edit the Wiki

Once you've been signed up as a registered user, it's probably best to spend some time looking at articles and improving them before you create an article of your own. If you find something wrong in an article, perhaps a spelling mistake, or something you know is factually wrong, click the "Edit" tab at the top of the page. This will show you the page in its markup form. Notice how this relates to the article as it's normally displayed. If you feel confident, just make the changes. To show what you've been doing, put a few words in the "Summary:" box at the bottom, to tell other editors why you made the changes. Once you're happy, click the "Show preview" box at the bottom of the screen and make sure that the article looks as you expect. If all is well, click "Save page" and the new version will be saved in the encyclopaedia.

See also: LGBT Archive:Writing for this Wiki.

Creating a new article

Once you've had some practice editing articles, you may want to create a new article from scratch. Maybe there's a person, place, club, pub, group, or event, that you know about that has an LGBT UK connection and is not yet included. Maybe it's one of the "redlinked" subjects listed at Special:WantedPages, or maybe it's something we haven't even heard of.

Before creating an article you should search to check that there is no suitable article that already exists. If an article on the topic you want to create is there, but you think people are likely to look for it under some different name or spelling, learn how to add a redirect with that name; adding needed redirects is a good way to help improve this Wiki.

Consider adding your information to existing articles that might include information about the subject of the article you propose. For example, if you want to write an article about a band member, you might search for the band and then add information to that broader article about that band member. This is the best thing to do if the subject of the proposed article has only limited depth.

If no suitable articles already exist, then you need to start a new article.

In the search box near the top right of a page, type the title of the new article, then click Go. If the Search page reports :"There were no results matching the query. Create the page "xxx" on this wiki!" (where xxx is the name of your subject in red) then you can click the red article name to start editing the article.

To start a new page, write a first sentence introducing the subject. This should normally start with the subject title (in bold) and state what sort of person, thing etc the subject is, for instance:

Somerset Lesbian Network (SLN) is a group for lesbian, bisexual and questioning women in Somerset.

In the case of a person, always include the dates of birth and death (if known), and what the person is noted for, for instance:

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874–1965) was a British writer and statesman, who led Britain to victory in the Second World War.

The other thing you should always include in a new article is the sources for the information in it.You should provide a source for any statement that might be contested. Add the reference immediately after the sentence, surrounded by <ref> and </ref>, for instance:
<ref>"Obituary: Sir Paul Latham", The Times, 26 July 1955, page 11.</ref>
or
<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/cinema/features/consenting-adults.shtml</ref>

The references will appear as numbered footnotes at the end of the article.

Later, you'll learn how to improve the formatting (and see Help:Editing for guidance on how to use the Wiki markup).

When you are done, press "Show preview" to take a look at how the page will appear. Try to fix any formatting errors, then click "Save page" at the bottom. Your article is now part of the Wiki and may be edited by anyone.

What subjects are suitable for the Wiki

In general, the Wiki covers any subjects related to LGBT life in the UK from the earliest times to the present day: remember today's current events are tomorrow's history. Each article should make it clear how it fits in: for instance if writing about a person, make it clear whether they are an LGBT person themselves (and provide references for this, we're not in the business of "outing" people!) or whether they're involved in some other way (for instance by speaking for or against gay equality) and what their connection is to the UK. In general every article should refer to a source of information, a book, newspaper or magazine article, or external website, that can back up the details you've provided.

Use your own words

Write the article in your own words. Do not copy more than a couple of sentences from a published source, and even then give a reference, as otherwise you are likely to be infringing someone's copyright.

There's a particular issue with Wikipedia - some of the articles in this Wiki rely heavily on Wikpedia articles, and a few are direct copies (which is permitted under the CC BY-SA licence used by both Wikipedia and this Wiki, provided it's acknowledged). But ideally this is something to be avoided. as the balance of the article will probably be totally wrong. For instance the article on Winston Churchill on Wikipedia is over 166,000 bytes long and still growing, but doesn't make any mention of any LGBT issues. The article about him on this Wiki is less than 4,000 bytes long and has only the briefest summary of his life, but mentions a number of points of LGBT interest.

Use a neutral point of view

Write all articles in the third person: don't say "I", "we" or "you" except in direct quotations (help pages like this are an exception). Each page should read like an encyclopaedia page, not an advertisement. Don't give people's ages - say when they were born (their age will be different next year), and don't use expressions such as "this year", or "last year".

Gathering references

Gather sources to the information for your article. To be worth including in the encyclopedia a subject must be sufficiently notable and its notability must be verifiable through references to reliable sources. These principles are identical to those used in Wikipedia. However in practice, in this Wiki we aim to be comprehensive, and we're prepared to be a little less picky than Wikipedia would be. We won't normally reject an article as "not notable", provided that it relates in some way to British LGBT life, and that there is some information about the subject in a published source. A large proportion of our articles would not be considered notable enough for Wikipedia.

The ideal is always to use reliable sources; that is sources that exercise some form of editorial control. Examples of reliable sources include books published by major publishing houses, newspapers, magazines, peer-reviewed scholarly journals, websites of any of the above, and other websites that meet the same basic requirements as any print-based source. In general, sources with NO editorial control are not generally reliable, for instance self-published zines, blogs, web forums, usenet discussions, BBSes, fan sites, and the like. Basically, if anyone at all can post information without anyone else checking that information, it is probably not reliable, but may be quoted if there is nothing better.

Once you have references for your article, you can learn to place the references into the article. But do not worry too much about formatting them properly. It would be great if you do that, but the main thing is to get references into the article even if they are not well formatted.

Things to avoid

Advertising Please do not try to promote your product or business. Please do not insert external links to your commercial website unless a neutral party would judge that the link truly belongs in the article; if you are writing about a product or business be sure you write from a neutral point of view, that you have no conflict of interest, and that you are able to find references in reliable sources that are independent from the subject you are writing about.

Personal essays or original research This Wiki surveys existing human knowledge; it is not a place to publish new work. Do not write articles that present your own original theories, opinions, or insights, even if you can support them by reference to accepted work.

A single sentence or only a website link Articles need to have real content of their own.

And be careful about...

Copying things. Do not violate copyrights To be safe, do not quote more than a couple of sentences of text from anywhere, and document any references you do use. You can copy material that you are sure is in the public domain, but even for public domain material you should still document your source. Also note that most web pages are not in the public domain and most song lyrics are not either.

Good research and citing your sources Articles written out of thin air are better than nothing, but they are hard to verify, which is an important part of building a trusted reference work. Please research with the best sources available and cite them properly. Doing this, along with not copying large amounts of the text, will help avoid any possibility of plagiarism.

Advocacy and controversial material Please do not write articles that advocate one particular viewpoint on politics, religion, or anything else. Understand what we mean by a neutral point of view before tackling this sort of topic.

Extremely short articles that are just definitions Try to write a good short paragraph that says something about the subject. We welcome good short articles, called "stubs", that can serve as launching pads from which others can take off. If you do not have enough material to write a good stub, you probably should not create the article. You should mark the article with the "stub template" by including {{stub}} towards the end of the article. Stubs help track articles that need expansion.

And then what?

Now that you have created the page, there are still several things you can do. Keep making improvements.

Generally, an article is nowhere near being completed the moment it is created. There is a long way to go. In fact, it may take you several edits just to get it started.

If you have so much interest in the article you just created, you may learn much more about it in the future, and therefore, have more to add. This may be later today, tomorrow, or several months from now. Anytime, go ahead.

Improve formatting

Make sure there are incoming links to the new article from other articles (click "What links here" in the toolbox) and that the new article is included in at least one appropriate category (see help:category). Otherwise it will be difficult for readers to find the article.

Remember that others can freely contribute to the article when it has been saved. The creator does not have special rights to control the later content.