Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon 2024

Creating a Wikipedia account is a quick and easy process!

1. Visit the Wikipedia Account Creation page and complete the form. You may want to check out the username policy before selecting a username. Please keep in mind your username will be public.

2. Once you have an account you are ready to edit. Please take a moment to add your user name to our event dashboard. This will help us track our collective impact and make sure we can all edit Wikpedia at the same time.

Turning on the Wikipedia Visual Editor

Wikipedia provides two editing viewers, the Visual Editor and the Markup Editor. By default the Markup Editor is enabled. To turn on the Visual Editor, log into Wikipedia, go to Preferences in the upper right corner, then Editing, and Editing Mode --Show me both editor tabs, hit Save. Now  you can use the Visual Editor to make edits or the Markup Editor.

Now you will see two editing options for each page:

• Edit is the Visual Editor
• Edit source is the Markup Editor

Resources for learning how to use the editors:

• Wiki Markup Cheat Sheet
• Learn the Visual Editor (Wikipedia tutorial)
• Learn the Markup Editor (uses HTML-like language Wiki markup) (Wikipedia tutorial)

It's important to keep in mind the fundamental principles of Wikipedia as you edit:

• Wikipedia is an encyclopedia
• Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view
• Wikipedia is free content that anyone can use, edit, and distribute
• Editors should treat each other with respect and civility
• Wikipedia has no firm rules

For more information visit Wikipedia: Five pillars

1. Neutral Point of View: All Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view, representing significant views fairly, proportionately and without bias
2. Verifiability: Material challenged or likely to be challenged, and all quotations, must be attributed to a reliable, published source. In Wikipedia, verifiability means that people reading and editing the encyclopedia can check that information comes from a reliable source
3. Conflict of Interest: involves contributing to Wikipedia about yourself, family, friends, clients, employers, or your financial and other relationships. Any external relationship can trigger a conflict of interest.
4. Reliable Sources: If available, academic and peer-reviewed publications are usually the most reliable sources. Other reliable sources include: university-level textbooks, books published by respected publishing houses, magazines, journals, mainstream newspapers
5. Notability and significant coverage: A topic is presumed to be suitable for a stand-alone article or list when it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject.