Wiki Monthly Art Edit at the Sloane Art Library: FAQs about Wiki Editing

Should I create a Wikimedia account for editing? What are the considerations? 

Anyone can edit Wikipedia, even without creating an account. All edits are linked to the user who made them.

• Edits made by unregistered users are identified by the IP address of the computer that was used.
• Edits made by registered, logged-in users are assigned to the username, not to an IP address.

Editing as a registered user can therefore increase your privacy, because your computer’s IP address will not be visible to others in the edit record.

Creating an account gives you access to additional functions beyond basic editing, such as: having your own user page with a sandbox for trying out edits, and the ability to track your contributions and apply custom preferences when viewing and editing Wikipedia.

• The Wikimedia Foundation Privacy Policy provides thorough and transparent guidance about considerations for creating an account:
• More details about advantages of a registered account: Wikipedia:Why create an account? 
• Tutorial about creating an account: Wikipedia:Tutorial/Registration

To create an account, you only need to provide a username and password. An email address is not required. 

I want to start with something simple. How can I just add a citation?

The instructions for the 1Lib1ref event is the best place to go for a quick overview of how to do this. Read the “Adding references” section on this page: The Wikipedia Library/1Lib1Ref/Help

What kind of resources are best to use, for the citations I add to Wikipedia? 

Wikipedia guidelines state that “articles should be based on reliable, published sources, making sure that all majority and significant minority views that have appeared in those sources are covered.” Even stated so clearly, this is a complex topic!

For just getting started, focus on the “reliable, published” aspect, and consider applying these guidelines, quoted from the Reliable Sources section in Wikipedia:Verifiability: 

• Base articles on reliable, independent, published sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy.
• Source material must have been published, the definition of which for our purposes is "made available to the public in some form".
• The best sources have a professional structure in place for checking or analyzing facts, legal issues, evidence, and arguments. 
• Be especially careful when sourcing content related to living people or medicine.
• If available, academic and peer-reviewed publications are usually the most reliable sources, such as in history, medicine, and science.
• Editors may also use material from reliable non-academic sources, particularly if it appears in respected mainstream publications, including:
  • University-level textbooks
  • Books published by respected publishing houses
  • Magazines
  • Academic journals
  • Mainstream newspapers
  • Editors may also use electronic media, subject to the same criteria.

Wikipedia Content Guidelines Pages provide comprehensive and in-depth guidance about evaluating sources in the context of Wiki editing:

• Wikipedia:Citing sources 
  • when and why to cite, and when not to cite
  • how to choose a citation method, and avoid cluttered citations
  • what information to include in a citation
  • working with different kinds of sources, with examples for each
• Wikipedia:Reliable sources
  • ​What are reliable sources, and how to identify them?  
  • definitions and examples: "sources", "published'
  • examples of questionable sources
  • The Talk section has an especially helpful FAQ, addressing detailed questions such as:
    • Do sources have to be free, online and/or conveniently available to me?
    • Do sources have to be in English?
    • Are reliable sources required to provide a list of references?

“Wikipedia favors sources that are Open Access, but it doesn't require them”, as the 1Lib1Ref citations project points out in their Tips for Sources.

Open access sources increase verifiability – they make it easier for other readers to assess whether information is backed by reliable sources. Referencing freely-available online sources allows more members of the public to find and access research materials.

Many arts resources exist in print form, however, such as books and magazines that may not be instantly accessible via the web, but are still invaluable resources for arts research, containing information that does not exist elsewhere. These are also verifiable sources! 

Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Cost

• helpful criteria for considering Sources that are Open vs.Restricted by time, location, and cost

Helixitta / CC BY-SA 

For software-specific questions such as details about using the Visual Editor and understanding wikitext markup, one of the best places to go is of course…Wikipedia itself!

Wikipedia:FAQ/Editing answers the most common editing questions. Check this out if you're stumped!