Wikipedia:Simple guide to creating your first article: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:45, 3 October 2013

Revision as of 10:46, 3 October 2013

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{{info|While this page explains a fast method you might find helpful, please note the caveats at the bottom. Thanks!For more detail, see [[Wikipedia:Your first article in more detail|here]]. And if you don't like the method described below, please try the [[Wikipedia:Article wizard|article wizard]].}}

{{Shortcut|wpWP:simpleintroYFA}}

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To create your first article, you can follow these simple steps. Copy and paste the following box of text into [[Special:MyPage/sandbox|your sandbox]] as a starting point – as long as you're [[Special:UserLogin|logged in]] with an account. You might need to click "Edit source" once at your sandbox to open the page for editing.</br>

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ClickRemove any potential spaces you have before the beginning of each line and click "Save page". It will appear as it does in the box below. Adapt it by adding info, sources, and by replacing "your topic" with the name/title of your new topic. When you're done, copy and paste everything except the link at the bottom into the page you want to create for your new topic. To get there, just 1) click on the red link then 2) paste the content in and 3) leave an edit summary like "new article", and click "Save page" at the bottom and you're done!</br>

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{{quotation|'''Your topic''' and then define it in the first sentence if you can.<ref>Add a reliable source people can find to verify your info here.</ref> Say something important about the topic.<ref>Add another reference here.</ref><ref>Add even another important looking reference here so people can see this topic is actually important and worthy of Wikipedia's attention.</ref>

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[[Your topic]]}}

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;It's really that simple most of the time! Please ensure the article doesn't already exist under an alternate title. Just create a redirect for the synonymous and specific title in that case (see the [[H:CHEAT|cheatsheet]] for further wikimarkup details on how to create redirects). Click [[WP:YFA|here]] for the detailed "your first article" version. Click [[WP:TOPRED|here]] for a list of ''possibly'' notable uncreated article topics. Click [[Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions|here]] then on "Ask a question" to ask a question about Wikipedia. Click [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:Your_first_article_simpleYour_first_article&action=edit&section=new here] to leave a question about or a recommendation for this page.

*'''A note''': You don't have to have three sources, it will just generally protect your article from being deleted if you have more than one. Just make sure you establish notability (keep reading). Once created, find other Wikipedia articles that should naturally link to your article to make sure it is integrated into the site (and not an "[[WP:Orphan|orphan]]"). You can also add a [[WP:Category|category]] or three at the bottom of the page with: <code><nowiki>[[Category:Whatever category it fits into]]</nowiki></code>. Usually, just copying a couple categories from the bottom of an article that is a similar topic helps.

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*'''Complications''': You don't have to make the beginning of your article an exact text match of your title. See [[electrical characteristics of dynamic loudspeakers]], for example. And the title you may type into the search bar ''might'' turn out to be a [[WP:REDIRECT|redirect]] that [[Wikipedia:Merge#Reasons_for_merger|should be]] a separate article. If you think it is best for the encyclopedia (see the arguments listed at the previous link on "should be") to turn a redirect like [[UK]] into an article, you need to click on the "UK" where it says "(Redirected from...)" Then you can paste your content in there after you click "Edit source". In this case, there really isn't a good reason to start an article off the redirect UK.

*''Yet another note'': Thanks for contributing to Wikipedia., =)and if you need more detail, see [[WP:Your first article in more detail]], thanks.

[[Category:Wikipedia how-to]]