User:Sykes20a/Guide for Creating your Wikipedia Article

Use this to help you add the required elements to your wikipedia article
''Please remember that the formatting for your article should be the last step of the article writing process. ''

To add all of your text onto the article page so that you can format the article, please follow these steps:

 * You will first need to write the article in a word document
 * Save your word document as "Wikipedia Article without Formatting"
 * In this document, delete any formatting in the article (no bolded,italic or underlined words, no headers)
 * Open up a TextEdit on your computer and create a new text editing document (.rtf file). .rtf files eliminate any hidden formatting code from word documents
 * Copy all of the words in your word document and paste the words into your TextEdit document
 * Make sure to save your .rtf file as "Wikipedia Article"
 * Open up Wikipedia
 * Sign into your Wikipedia account
 * Type the name of your article into the Wikipedia search engine. This will bring up the option to "Create this article" by clicking on the RED LINK of your article title. Click this link.
 * This should open up the create article window with the text editing box.
 * Copy the text in your TextEdit document
 * Paste this text into the article editing box.
 * It is now time to format your text to create a well structured page!
 * Remember to always preview page after each formatting edit you make, so that you can determine if it was done correctly. It is also advised that you save the page regularly so that you don't loose any of your work.

General Formatting Tips

 * ''Wikipedia has some guidelines about the structure of their articles,see this guide for specifics
 * To create a bullet or numbered list click the "Advance" section in the edit menu and select the icon that looks like a bullet list or a number list. Type what you want to be listed on that bullet or number after the * or # . Remember to press the list icon each time you want to add a new bullet or number to the list. Also, make sure to delete the default text that appear "Bulleted/Numbered list item" and replace it with your own text
 * To "Bold Text", highlight the text that you want to be bolded and press the "B" icon in the editing menu.
 * To "Italicize Text", highlight the text that you want to be in italics and press the "I" icon in the editing menu.
 * Use italics (not capitals) to denote emphasis
 * Use italics for the titles of works
 * Use italics for phrases or words in other languages
 * To create a new paragraph, press the left arrow icon (←) in the editing menu toolbar

Option 1:

 * First you need to find an image to upload that meets the strict Wikipedia guidelines. The image cannot be copyrighted, so must be a picture that you personally took OR one that has a creative commons (CC) license.
 * To search allowable images, go to: http://search.creativecommons.org/
 * Note: DO NOT use the "Advanced" option in your edit menu to insert a picture!
 * Click on the "Ebedded File" Icon (it looks like a picture) in your main edit menu. This will open a window where you can add information about your image.
 * Enter the name of the image file that you want to insert in the "File Name" box.
 * Enter a description of what the image is in the "Caption" box"
 * Press "Insert"
 * Save your page
 * Now, in the left hand column, under "Tools" click on "Upload File"
 * Follow the steps to upload a file to Wikipedia. Note: you must upload the file with the same name as the image file you provided during the "embedded file" stage otherwise your picture will not be displayed.
 * Once you go through these steps, and preview your article page, the image should appear on the right (as required)

Option 2:

 * Go to: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
 * In the search bar, type in key word(s) for the picture you want
 * Scroll through the available images, and click on one that you want to use. If you don't get any images, type in the word image as well as your key word in the search bar.
 * Click Use this File with the W (wikipedia) icon. This will display the thumbnail code. Copy this code and paste it into your article where you want the image to display. For example: [ [ File:Rat Terrier Image 001.jpg|thumb|Rat Terrier Image 001 ] ]
 * Edit the last part of the code above (the words after the last "|") to be the description you want below the image. For example: [ [ File:Rat Terrier Image 001.jpg|thumb|Rat Terrier Dog ] ]

To add a citation within your article, create a footnote:

 * Press the CITE button within the editing box
 * Then select the type of source you are using in the "Templates" drop down menu
 * Input all the information about the text that you know (author name, article title, pages, etc)
 * Make sure that you remember to add a Reference Name in the Ref Box so that you can quickly link to this source again when you need to in your article.
 * Click Insert and your footnote will be added, like it is here Click the link for a video about how to add citations via footnotes!
 * Please remember that you need to 'reference all of your sources, including your Wikipedia linked pages. To do this, make sure that after you insert a link, at the end of the sentence with that link that you also add a footnote by following the above steps.

To create Subtopics in your article use the Heading Tool

 * Use this to help organize your article, breaking the topic into easily readable and ordered parts
 * A Table of Contents will be automatically created once you have 4 Headings in your article
 * Highlight the text that you want to be a Heading
 * In the edit tool bar, click on the "Heading" drop down menu
 * Select from "Level 2", "Level 3", "Level 4", and "Level 5"
 * ''Remember to select the level that best matches where this subtopic belongs in your overall topic hierarchy:
 * {| class="wikitable"

! Subtopic Type !! Heading Level
 * Subtopic || Select Level 2.
 * Micro-topic|| Select Level 3.
 * micro-micro-topic || Select Level 4.
 * }
 * Check out this cheat sheet for some helpful hints.
 * micro-micro-topic || Select Level 4.
 * }
 * Check out this cheat sheet for some helpful hints.

To link to other Wikipedia articles or pages in your article, create a WikiLink

 * Remember, you need to have at least two links to other wikipedia articles in your article
 * Highlight the word or phrase that you want to have linked to another Wikipedia article
 * Click the Link Button in the edit tool bar (this looks like three links: ∞)
 * Copy and paste (or type in) the link to the specific wikipedia article page into the "Target Page or URL" box
 * Click Insert and your link will be added to the page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boldness_and_links_tutorial.ogv

To Publish Your Article
When you are ready to publish your page, follow these steps (this video is also a helpful guide Publishing your Article : You are now ready to transfer this draft page into the published article
 * Save your draft page
 * Review your draft page:
 * Is the formatting correct? Is it easy for the reader to navigate the content of your page?
 * Do all the links work? Click on each link to make sure that it links to other pages correctly
 * Are all my references and citations included? Read through your article and compare it to your final printed version of this assignment. Make sure that all quotes, paraphrases, and summaries are properly cited with footnotes
 * Are there any other writing errors that need correcting? Look for grammatical mistakes
 * Have someone else review your draft page for errors
 * Save any edits that you have made
 * Open the edit window of your draft page
 * Select all of the content within the edit window (left click and "select all" or press "command" "A")
 * Copy all of the content within the edit window. With all of the content highlighted, left click and "copy" or press "command" "C".
 * In the search bar of the Wikipedia Page, type in the your article title (as you want it to appear on Wikipedia)
 * Click on the red link that appears, asking you if you want to create this Wikipedia page
 * In the edit window for the newly created Wikipedia page, copy in the content from your draft page (left click and "paste" or press "command" "V")
 * Press "save" at the bottom of the page
 * The Wikipedia page is now published!