User talk:Val Shinkle

Welcome!
Hello, Val Shinkle, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions, especially what you did for Miss Washington. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. I wanted to write to you because it looks like you are having some trouble with referencing, and I thought I might be able to help out. Obviously, the Miss Washington pagaent is an area in which you personally are extremely knowledgable, and given that, the easiest way for you to correct errors in the article is to simply draw on your own personal knowledge.

Unfortunately, if you choose that approach, it is likely that a lot of your very good changes will not survive scrutiny from other editors working on the page, and the reason for this is simply that Wikipedia only allows content from verifiable, published sources. So, you cannot create a reference in which you cite your own knowledge. If you want to cite something you have written, and which has been published in an objective source with editorial review (articles published by mainstream newspapers and magazines are good examples), then that is fine. These types of sources, Wikipedians refer to as "reliable sources", which is sort of a misnomer, because obviously the personal recollections of a longtime pageant director are also reliable. But, the point is more that the sources have to be:
 * objective (unconnected with the Wikipedia editor herself-- sort of like a peer-reviewed scientific journal)
 * verifiable (any other editor who wants to can read the source article and make sure it says what the article says)

When you quote such a source, you will also want to learn about the proper formatting of your reference tags. For example: Also, it is most helpful if you include a specific web address (also called a URL... such as http://www.missamerica.org/our-miss-americas/2000/2007.aspx) where the information is published, rather than just a website (such as www.missamerica.org). This makes it easiest on those wishing to perform verification later on. I almost always use a citation template in my references. You can read more about the whole process at Citing sources.
 * you must not put each reference on a separate line. Although tempting, because doing so makes the page markup language more readable, it means the references don't display correctly in the final article, which is all that most people see.
 * you must not separate references with semi-colons or spaces, for the same reason.
 * you can only include one cited authority per ref-tag-set, so for example, you must not include both www.misswashington.com and www.missamerica.com within the same set of ref tags.

One last thing-- you may notice that each article has an associated "talk" page. This is a place where you can post any thoughts or questions for other, more experienced editors. If you post on a talk page, remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes ( ~ ); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place  before the question. Again, welcome! --Rnickel (talk) 15:56, 11 January 2013 (UTC)


 * P.S. You may also find this article, Expert editors, provides some helpful advice, specifically targetted towards the common pitfalls for editors such as yourself who have personal expertise in the subject matter. Cheers! --Rnickel (talk) 16:58, 11 January 2013 (UTC)