User:Ryan (Wiki Ed)/Filmssandbox

Editing Wikipedia articles about Films (page 1)
Editing Wikipedia can be daunting for newbies, especially as a student editor contributing to Wikipedia for the first time in a class assignment. This guide is for students assigned to contribute to articles about films on Wikipedia.

Be accurate
Wikipedia is a resource millions of people use to inform themselves. Reasons for reading about a film on Wikipedia are as diverse as the films themselves. By documenting and sharing accurate and objective content about films, you will help to ensure that people around the world have access to a wider spectrum of human knowledge.

Understand the guidelines
Take time to read and understand the suggestions in this guide to maximize the value of your contributions to Wikipedia. If you post something that doesn’t meet these guidelines, resolving it may take up a lot of extra time and effort.

If you aren’t comfortable working within these guidelines, talk to your instructor about an alternative off-wiki assignment.

Engage with editors
Part of the Wikipedia experience is receiving and responding to feedback from other editors. Don’t wait until the last day to make a contribution, or you may miss important comments, advice, and ideas. Volunteers from the Wikipedia community might respond or ask questions about your work. If they do, make sure to reply. Thank them, and work with them to improve the article. They may also make changes to your work or, if it does not follow these guidelines, may remove it from the article. If this happens, don't just add it again! Ask the editor who made the change why they did so and what you can do to improve it. Discussion is a crucial part of the Wikipedia process. Repeatedly making a change that other people have undone is called "edit warring," and can easily lead to your account being blocked or banned.

Avoid close paraphrasing
Use your own words. Plagiarizing by copying-and-pasting or by close paraphrasing — when some of the words are changed, but the structure and meaning of the original text remains — is against the rules.

Plagiarism is a violation of your university’s academic honor code. Plagiarism on Wikipedia will be caught by other editors or automated plagiarism-detection tools. When that happens, some or all of your work will be deleted and there will be a permanent online record of the plagiarism tied to your account. Even standard resources or authors, such as textbooks, are under copyright and should never be directly copied. The rules for plagiarism apply everywhere on Wikipedia, including articles that you're working on in sandboxes.

The best way to avoid this hassle is to make sure you really understand your material, and write about it in your own words. If you aren’t clear on what close paraphrasing is, contact your university’s writing center.

Make a difference
Take the time to understand the rules and guidelines. They may seem intimidating now, but soon you’ll be contributing your knowledge and judgement to a resource you, and millions of other people, use every day.

Picking the right film
Wikipedia has strict rules about what films can have an article. If the film you want to write about doesn't already have an article, that may be because it doesn't meet Wikipedia's "notability" threshold, a set of criteria to determine which films can have Wikipedia articles. In general, you should only create articles on films that:
 * Have already been released
 * Have been the primary topic of at least two high-quality articles or reviews that meet Wikipedia's sourcing standards, as described below

For more detailed information to help you determine which films are notable, see this shortcut: WP:NFILM

What’s a shortcut? (Pullout box)
The text WP:NFILM is what’s known on Wikipedia as a shortcut.

You can type shortcuts like this into Wikipedia’s search bar to pull up specific pages that might otherwise be hard to find.

Structuring your article (page 3)
Articles about films on Wikipedia tend to follow a fairly standard format. Starting with these sections in mind can help you to organize your work, but keep in mind that it's very rare that an article will include all of them - you should add, remove, combine, or reorder sections as appropriate.

There's a lot of flexibility, but if you deviate significantly from the basic framework, your work may look less credible to other Wikipedians. When an article looks "wrong," it's easier to assume there are other mistakes, and easier to be more critical than one typically would. Of course, following the guidance in this handout doesn't mean you won't make mistakes or that you won't receive criticism if you make a mistake. Proper layout is never a substitute for accurate, well-written content supported by credible sources.


 * Lead section - At the top of every article is a lead section, which provides the most basic information about the film and summarizes the rest of the article's content.
 * Plot synopsis - A succinct, general outline of the plot, with no more than a few paragraphs. Don't add interpretations, analyses, or judgments to this section - just a straightforward summary. Don't write for dramatic effect - err on the side of dry description and don't try to avoid spoilers. Although the article should be based primarily on the reviews and other sources you find, basic elements of the synopsis can be sourced directly from the film itself if not properly summarized in the secondary sources.
 * Cast - List the film's main performing cast. Don't include extras and bit parts unless one of the performers is especially noteworthy.
 * Production - Who first came up with the idea to make the film? When did they announce the movie's cast and crew? Was anyone replaced during filming? Where and when did filming take place? Did anything noteworthy happen during production? Who wrote the film's score?
 * Release - When and where was the movie released? Was it edited differently or renamed for release in different countries? When did it have a wide opening to theaters? To home video/DVD? Was the movie screened at a film festival? Was there anything unusual about the marketing strategy? In some cases, marketing is significant enough that it even merits its on section, but only include information about marketing if there's secondary source coverage for it.
 * Reception - This section covers two areas: the film's critical reception and, if applicable, its box office numbers.
 * If the film was released to theaters, how much money did it make domestically and overseas? The websites the-numbers.com and boxofficemojo.com can be useful for box office information.
 * How was the film received by critics? Give priority to the most well-known critics or the most prominent or scholarly publications. What did reviewers think about the film? Try to provide a balanced picture of the film's reception. Be careful to avoid adding your own opinions or interpretations of the reviews - this part should be based only on comments made by the reviewers. Be sure to document any major awards or distinctions that it has received. While paraphrasing is generally preferred, the use of short quotes can be appropriate here where reviewers' words are particularly informative or interesting.


 * Others - If there's a lot to say about any of the above topics, a sub-section or additional section may be appropriate. For example, "sequels" if it spawned several sequels, "awards" if it received several awards and accolades, "themes" if many of the critics commented about similar themes, or "soundtrack" if a stand-alone soundtrack was released. Sections should be based on how prominent different aspects of the subject are discussed in the source material - if it's hardly mentioned in the sources, it shouldn't have its own section.
 * Categories - At the bottom of every Wikipedia article there should be a collection of categories that classifies an article into several different groups. Like the rest of the article, categorization must be based on sources rather than your own opinion. This also applies to classifications like genres elsewhere in the article.

For more detailed information about the structure and style of film articles, see the page at shortcut WP:MOSFILM

Infobox (pullout box)
An infobox provides a helpful overview of the film at a glance, with basic information. You've probably seen them in the top-right area of many articles on Wikipedia. Below is a sample of some of the fields you can use in an infobox template. Copy a blank version with all of the fields from the page Template:Infobox film and paste it at the top of your article. Fill in all of the fields you can, and leave blank the ones that don't apply or that you don't know.

Key points
As you start writing, keep these guidelines in mind:
 * Unlike most school assignments, Wikipedia doesn’t permit original research. Your article should cover what the sources say, not your own interpretations or opinions.
 * Write for a general audience. Don't assume people have seen the movie or are familiar with its subjects.
 * Summarize what the sources say in your own words. Aside from including a small number of short quotes from reviewers/critics, you should avoid copy/pasting text.
 * Stick to the structure presented in this guide, but use your judgment about when to rename, combine, add, or remove sections.
 * Be sure to write in an impersonal, fact-based, encyclopedic style. Don't approach a Wikipedia article like a blog post or personal essay. See the Editing Wikipedia brochure linked from your course page if you need a refresher on the difference in tone.
 * Don't be afraid to acknowledge your mistakes, as we all make mistakes. Just acknowledge and learn from them and move on.

Final thoughts

 * Don’t procrastinate! Writing good, reliable Wikipedia articles takes time. Don’t wait until the last minute. If you get stuck, always ask your instructor for extra time, rather than adding content to Wikipedia that doesn’t meet these guidelines.
 * Check back on your page. It can be interesting to see how your article grows, but you may also have comments and suggestions from other editors, and want to get involved in new developments.
 * Remember to link to other pages on Wikipedia so readers can learn more about topics you mention.
 * Give appropriate weight to aspects of the topic as the sources cover it.
 * If you're not sure what to do at any point, look for the "Get Help" button near the top of your course page on the Dashboard.