User:Alvara14/sandbox

How Wikipedia Works:

Wikipedia provides a free, online encyclopedia that allows anyone from around the world, in almost any language with internet access to write and make changes to articles on just about anything as long as they follow the policies of the site and access to those articles. When going to wikipedia, in order to begin you must select a language. Then the main page will open up and on the top right of the website you can search a topic, title, or a subject you are looking for. The good thing about wikipedia is that anyone at anytime can edit anything on the website. Wikipedia is a worldwide collaboration created by people from various cultures, who are usually anonymous unless they want to be known or if they go by another name. Articles can be written and edited by whomever, unless there needs to be restrictions due to vandalism or to prevent disruption. It is the world’s largest reference website. Mistakes can easily be reversed on wikipedia since there are many experienced editors that will validate the information. To ensure that users are getting correct information, there is a list of references at the bottom of each page as well. Wikipedia is usually the first resource website that pops up when you search on google. This site attracts most people because it provides students and people worldwide an abundance of information that is FREE! People can make accounts, make a page, and or add information to another person’s page as long as it is not private or restricted for copyright reasons. There are almost 5 billion english articles on wikipedia. (Edmarie Alvarado)

•How are pages made?

Pages start with ideas that a creator then puts onto Wikipedia as a stub. A short, few sentence long “proto-article” that then gets developed into a full comprehensive article by the community over time. Pages are made by registered users. Before creating a page take the tutorial, and know the guidelines and policies of Wikipedia. One can create a page by clicking on the “edit” tab in an article. Most articles start out as “stubs” or short explanations but after different people contribute to it, it becomes a featured article. Once registered, a person may then create a page by clicking on “your personal sandbox” at the top of the page. After that, you may go to the Article Wizard to begin your first official article. Then look for a tab on the top right of the page that says “create source” and “create”. This will open up a blank section where one can start their page. Then, gather all your resources and make sure that your topic wasn’t already covered in wikipedia. If your topic was already covered, you are still able to write about it, just name your article something slightly different than what’s already there. Sounds easy right? Well in order for your article to even stay up on the site it must have none of the following; information about yourself or anything personal, copyright, or work taken from other websites or wikipedia articles with no given credit. In other words, be original and you’re article will stay published. One can create a page by clicking on the “edit” tab in an article. Once the editor has chosen a topic, they can request for an article to be written about it or they can do the research themselves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Your_first_article.(Edmarie Alvarado)

•How are they edited?

A user must click on the Edit tab of a Wikipedia page which takes them to a box with the page’s editable text. On the bottom before after editing, you should write a short summary on why you decided to edit the text so others will be able to understand your objective. Once, that’s done you can submit your changes. Some pages cannot be edited, so instead of an edit tab there will be a view source tab, and if the person really wants to edit the page, then they must submit an editing request. There are two editing environments; the first one is a wikitext, which is classical editing that looks like typing in a source and the second is a visual editor, which looks like the page itself while editing on it directly. After you’re done editing, you should click on the “show preview” button to see if there are any errors in your information. As long as the page isn't protected, anyone can edit a wikipedia page.  (Edmarie Alvarado)