User:Wugapodes/Linguistics quick start

This is a work in progress for an eventual essay/pamphlet on how new users can contribute to linguistics-related articles on Wikipedia. It will include tasks that are relatively simple as well as tips for more involved editing such as useful resources, essays, and policies.

Simple-ish tasks

 * Adding links.
 * Checking and editing alt-text of images in articles.
 * Checking and editing IPA transcriptions in articles.
 * Upload a photo of yourself (to which you hold copyright) to Wikimedia Commons so that it can be used in your biography article.
 * Use Ref ideas on article talk pages to suggest sources that editors can use to improve articles. See Help:Templates and Help:Citing sources.

Medium-sized tasks

 * Add examples from lesser-known languages to articles on linguistic phenomena.
 * Choose a random page from the linguistics stub category and and make sure that it's still a stub. has a super useful page on stub sorting that may be interesting as well.
 * Go through some pages in Category:Linguistics and remove pages unrelated to the topic, or add them to more specific categories (see Help:Categorization)

Add red links
Wikipedia's software allows you to turn any text into a link to an article just by adding two square brackets around the words like this. When Wikipedia doesn't have an article by that title, you get a red link. Many readers think that they shouldn't add red links, but the truth is that red links can help the encyclopedia grow! A wiki works best when many people make small changes because these small changes invite other people to make improvements. Some editors spend their time creating articles that have the most red links. Others look through red links and replace them with redirects to existing articles or sections on the topic. If you see a phrase that you think would make a good title for an encyclopedia article, put square brackets around it and hit save no matter what color the link turns out to be. If someone disagrees, they'll fix it.

Ask questions
Wikipedia has a number of templates that let readers ask questions about the article they're reading right in the article. These templates are related to citation needed, but ask specific questions about the text like How many?, according to whom?, and Like what?. When readers see this, it invites them to add the answer if they know it. Some editors spend their time looking through these questions and trying to answer them. By asking questions, you help improve the article and inform other readers about its current quality.