This is a tutorial for all students/users who are interested in Wikipedia or are involved in the Wikipedia India Education Program. It is aimed especially towards students who are in the education program.
It is a step by step guide for students on how to get set up on Wikipedia plus some basic information about Wikipedia.
For problems, corrections or questions regarding this tutorial, please leave a message on the discussion page.
First step: creating a username
One of the First Major steps is to create your User Account. This is necessary since it is using this id, your professors will track you, your contribution on the article which will enable them to grade you.
So, How do you create a Wikipedia Username/user account??
Do not forget to add an Email Address even though it is not necessary.This will be useful for us to contact you, for you to recover your password.
You can create your Userpage now or do it at a later date.
Congratulations!!You are now a Proud Owner of a Wikipedia Username. Always remember to Login when editing editing Wikipedia.
Second step: filling out your information
Congratulations on registering your username. Now you need to tell the Wikipedia India Education Program who is using this username.
This step is one of the most important. If you make any mistakes here, please contact your Campus Ambassador personally or leave a message on their talk page.
Please select the link for your college below and complete the associated user identification form.
When you created your userpage, Wikipedia automatically created your personal user talk page. Go to to your talk page by selecting "My talk" at the top of the page. Edit the page and add the following tag:
{{WAP student|course=course page title}}
where course page title is the title of the Wikipedia page for the course you are enrolled in. This will let other editors know that you are a student editing Wikipedia on school assignments. For example if you are enrolled in Wikipedia:India Education Program/Courses/Fall 2011/Economics of the Social Sector Year 2 Group B you should add {{WAP student|course=
Wikipedia:India Education Program/Courses/Fall 2011/Economics of the Social Sector Year 2 Group B}} to your talk page. This tag would cause the following to be displayed on your talk page:
Student assignments should always be carried out using a course page set up by the instructor. It is usually best to develop assignments in your sandbox. After evaluation, the additions may go on to become a Wikipedia article or be published in an existing article.
Your user page is now done. Do let your friends know :)
Fourth step:learn basic editing skills
Now that you have a username and a userpage, the time has come to learn how to edit Wikipedia, the shortcuts and so on. Some of them will be covered in this section.
Editing wikipedia is not as tough as it sounds. It is actually very simple.
If you have followed the third step and created your user page, you have already learnt some editing skills.
We will now cover some important things to remember.
Always leave your signature when leaving a comment on anyone's talk pages or discussion pages for articles. Just add the following sign to leave a signature: ~~~~. (You can edit your signature by going into your preferences.)
New sections are creation using the = symbol based on heading size ==Section name here ==for heading size 2 and using === Section name here ===for heading size 3.
When leaving a comment on any talk or discussion page, always add it at the end of the page or the specific section. This makes it easier for the user to check your comment and reply.
To link to a Wikipedia article, use [[Article name here]].
For your first edits, please go to your friends' and Campus Ambassador's talk page and leave a comment. Do not forget to add your signature with ~~~~. :)
Resources
Getting started
Printable guides
These printable PDF documents have instructions related to the basics of Wikipedia.
Wiki markup quick reference – This one-page quick reference (included in theWelcome to Wikipedia brochure) helps you to remember the most frequently used wiki markup codes.
References – This handout explains why references are important, what the expectations for sourcing on Wikipedia are, where to place references, and the basics of adding "ref" tags.
Reference formatting – This handout explains in more detail how to create footnotes for citing sources, and how to cite the same source multiple times.
How to get help – explains the recommended way to get help and feedback. It also includes a glossary of additional help resources you can avail yourself of.
Plagiarism – explains what plagiarism is on Wikipedia—including "close paraphrasing"—in addition to why and how to avoid it.
