118Wiki:Tips to Contributing

I'd like to contribute to this Wiki. What should I do?

Make a list of everything you know. Strike through the things that are not verifiable or not supposed to be covered by Wikipedia. Then, find the proper places to write about the items remaining on the list. Use the go button, the search, or just navigate by following links. Click the "What links here" link on pages you visit.

Make improvements to the articles that already exist. Fill in the gaps by creating new articles on aspects of the topic that have not been covered yet. When creating new pages, please consider first if there will be enough material for a whole article. For instance, there might not be a lot to say about a character or place in a fictional universe, in which case the subject in question could be better covered in an existing article about the work of fiction, or in a new "aggregation article" such as Characters of Middle-earth that gives a sentence or two to each of many related subjects, and is linked to from redirects. If an entry in the aggregation article gets really long, you can split it out into its own article then.

When writing about controversial subjects, please write from the neutral point of view. In this way, people with different beliefs can work together productively. Pick your favorite city and build and expand pages about its best attractions. Find a big topic (like World War II or Chinese history) you enjoy and add more content to flesh it out. Write summaries of your favorite books. Pick your favorite actor and write articles for all of his or her movies.

Visit a random page. Improve that page, or find a link to an article on that page that hasn't been written yet. Links to non-existent pages are by default displayed in red (e.g. I don't exist). Click on the link, and add something about that topic. No, not this one!

Go to cleanup pages needing attention to find pages that have already been identified as needing help. Many of them just need to be "wikified", which means to add links to important words, create headings, apply the Manual of style etc.

Write about something you don't know about. Use this as an excuse to research a new topic. As you learn about it, write what you are learning here on Wikipedia. This is actually a good study aid because it forces you to take notes, to organize information, and to put what you've learned into your own words. You can take how to write a great article as a guide.

Don't be surprised if other people edit "your" pages to adapt them to our policies. It's OK to learn as you go along. Find something from a public domain resource, update it, add links to it, and put it here (but make sure it really isn't copyrighted).