Before you start

Key information before you start your Wikipedia journey.

Restrictions 

You cannot publish a new article on Wikipedia until you have had your account for four days and made at least 10 edits. Until four days has passed, any new article you make will be placed in the 'Articles for Creation queue for review by another editor'. 

The amount of edits you have made are shown in the preferences menu. You can edit any existing articles during this time. 

Guidelines and Policies

Five pillars of Wikipedia: 

  1. It is an online encyclopaedia.
  2. Written from a neutral point of view.
  3. Free content anyone can edit, use and distribute.
  4. Wikipedia editors should treat each other with respect and civility.
  5. No firm rules.

Be bold not reckless. 

You can edit any page but make sure you write neutrally, in your own words and back up what you write with citations from reliable, published secondary sources. 

'Manual of Style' guidelines

What Wikipedia ISN'T

Important Information

When creating a new page:

  • Your topic should meet Wikipedia's standards on notability.
  • Do not use original research.
  • Avoid conflict of interest. 

Learn more about:

You should also make sure that anything you write is verifiable. This means that you should use reliable sources, such as publications and trusted news agencies, and avoid untrustworthy sources such as tabloid newspapers. 

When writing about a living person, you should take particular care over the content of your article and make sure you closely follow Wikipedia's three core content policies:

Further resources 

© Ewan McAndrew and Hannah Rothmann, University of Edinburgh, 2020, CC BY-SA 4.0, unless otherwise indicated.

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