Talk:Wikipedia@20
Latest comment: 5 years ago by Reagle in topic Suggestions for revising
Suggestions for revising
We hope you've received helpful feedback; please keep these guidelines in mind as you revise.
- Ensure that your first or second paragraph tells the reader your thesis (e.g., a novel argument or insight), don't leave it until the end.
- Ensure your thesis is connected to our theme of lessons learned, insights gained, or myths busted in Wikipedia's twenty years.
- Your prose should be lively, and you can use your own experience/history/journey to frame your thesis, but avoid being chatty or too informal.
- The internet journal First Monday has apt guidelines for accessible writing, in short:
- be specific;
- prefer shorter words, sentences (most 10–20 words), and paragraphs (most 1-3 sentences)
- delete extra words (e.g., "very"), jargon, and cliches;
- be careful of using "it" and "this," especially at the start of sentences;
- use the active voice and strong verbs; "she decided" is better than "a decision was made"
- if in doubt, delete;
- Tools such as Grammarly can help you identify grammar, style, and clarity issues.
- You must review the MIT Press Author Guidelines for the publisher's specific requirements.
- MIT uses the Chicago Manual of Style for prose and bibliography.
- we are using Chicago full notes; because they are full, no redundant bibliography is necessary;
- periods and commas go within quotations;
- use the Oxford/serial comma;
- spell numbers whole numbers at the start of sentences, from zero through one hundred and certain round multiples of those numbers including hundred, thousand, or hundred thousand;
- Go easy on notes: For bibliography, only cite when necessary and combine citations within a paragraph when possible. Avoid prose notes: if you need to say it, say it in the prose; otherwise, delete.
Feel free to ask questions on this page! -Reagle (talk) 19:05, 24 June 2019 (UTC)
Listing contributors
Would it be possible to add our other contributors (Melissa Tamani, Michael Mandiberg, and Jacqueline Mabey) to our byline? I've just added them on PubPub. Sorry and thanks!--Siankevans (talk) 18:24, 19 June 2019 (UTC)
- Siankevans, yes: in PubPub you can do that in Option/Attribution at the top of the page, whether they've created an account or not. I see you found it! I added it to the Meta project as well. -Reagle (talk) 19:00, 19 June 2019 (UTC)
Contributors' acknowledgments
Phoebe has acknowledgments at the end of her essay; that's a nice touch and though I hesitate to recommend everyone be as prolific 😄, folks should feel free to do so on PubPub. (I hope it'd be okay in the book, but that needs discussion.) -Reagle (talk) 20:02, 19 June 2019 (UTC)