Myxomatosis. The Order of Canada. Noble gas. Catherine de' Medici. The History of Superman? Whether doing serious research on the Web or settling an argument, it's easy to get caught up in Wikipedia's 2,000,000 articles. That's not a bad thing. How'd all the information get there? How to tell it's reliable? If want to become a part of Wikipedia & make your own contributions where to begin?
In How Wikipedia Works, you'll learn the skills required to use & contribute to the world's largest reference work-like what constitutes good writing & research & how to work with images & templates.
With insight, anecdotes & tips from three Wikipedia veterans, you'll learn how to:
Find information. Evaluate the quality & reliability of articles. Copyedit existing articles. Write new material. Fact-check. Add new articles that conform to Wikipedia's guidelines & best practices. Communicate with other Wikipedians through talk pages, discussion forums, direct messaging etc. Understand Wikipedia's policies & procedures & how they're created & enforced. Resolve content disputes & deal with vandals & other malicious editors.
Wikipedia is made up of people like you: students, professors, experts & fans. With about 10,000 articles added weekly, there are plenty of opportunities to join this global community. How Wikipedia Works explains how you can make the Web's go-to source for information better. Instead of wondering where to begin, the question becomes "How far will you go?"