Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify/Drives/Instructions

Joining the drive

Joining instructions are on the log page, below the green update box.

How do you wikify an article?

Ten simple steps to thoroughly wikify an article

1. Check if the article is a copyright violation. Long segments of text without wikilinks can indicate that the text was illegally copied into Wikipedia (other red flags). Instructions for reporting violations are at Wikipedia:Copyright problems.
2. Add wikilinks. Where appropriate, make links to other articles by putting "[[" and "]]" on either side of relevant words (see WP:LINK for more information). Note that dates should not be linked purely for the purpose of autoformatting; in general, consensus is that there are very limited instances where linking of dates is desirable. Please do not link terms that most readers are familiar with, including common occupations (e.g., "writer"), well-known geographical terms (e.g., "United States"), or everyday items (e.g., "milk").
3. Format the lead. Create or improve the lead paragraph. It should "define the topic, establish context, explain why the subject is interesting or notable, and summarize the most important points".
4. Arrange section headers. Arrange section headers as described at Wikipedia:Guide to layout. Make sure that there are two blank lines between the stub template and the category links.
5. Replace html tags with wiki markup, where appropriate. The use of many html tags is discouraged where wiki markup equivalents are available: for example, replace <b>bold text</b> with '''bold text'''. However, this does not apply for all html tags: e.g., H<sub>2</sub>O. See Help:Wikitext examples for a useful list of common wikitext and non-deprecated html tags.
6. Add an infobox if applicable. Add an infobox if it is appropriate for the article.

Final checks

1. Add other maintenance tags. If the article needs any other work, add the corresponding tag(s) from Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup, or be bold and fix it yourself.
2. Remove the {{wikify}} tag. This will remove it from the list of tagged pages.
3. Enhance your edit summary. You can encourage others to help with the wikification backlog by using something like the following as your edit summary when you save your changes: Wikification; [[WP:WWF|you can help!]]
4. Save your changes!

Articles that can't be wikified

Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify

All articles

23,019

In some cases, articles cannot be wikified. In these cases, you can do one of the following:

• Nominate the article for deletion, if appropriate. Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion is a good guide. See Wikipedia:Articles for deletion if you think discussion is warranted or you aren't sure whether the article should be deleted.
• Tag for other problems. If you happen to notice that an article has problems beyond simple formatting and you can't fix it yourself, please add the appropriate tag from Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup to the article itself.

Procedures for the drive

1. Log completed articles on the log page. If you complete a wikification, don't forget to list it so that you can get credit for the edit. Also don't forget to remove the {{wikify}} or {{Dead end}} tag from the article itself.
2. No rubber-stamping of articles. Be thorough and complete in your wikifications, and make sure all the headings are correct and there are no mistakes in the syntax and coding.
3. Don't create extra work. Participants should not log any articles they themselves added a {{wikify}} tag to during the drive or in the month before the drive.
4. Have fun. We're here to help bring these articles up to their fullest potential and hence improving the overall quality of the encyclopedia. Have fun!

How to find articles to work on

CatScan

Some contributors enjoy taking a random dip in All articles that need to be wikified (or the monthly listings). Others prefer editing articles in a field they already know about. Such articles can be found using categories:

1. Go to the whimsically named CatScan. Don't be intimidated! It's easy to use.
2. Set the Depth to 5.
3. Write or paste All articles that need to be wikified in the box labelled "Categories".
4. Write the name of a category of interest on a separate line in the same box, eg Books.
5. Scroll down and click the button labelled "Do it!"
6. Be patient... For big categories the results might take a little while.

This example will find articles tagged with {{Wikify}} in Category:Books, as well as its sub-categories, sub-sub-categories, and so on down to sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-categories.