CIS-A2K/Train-a-Wikipedian/Syllabus

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Basic Wikipedia editing[edit]

A. Basic Wikipedia editing

1. Wiki-markup language: Here we'll train editors how to use basic Wiki-markup language such as formatting text in bold, italic, underline, color (or any other color), background color, supertext, sub-text, strikethough etc.

2. Common Wikipedia components: Here we'll teach to use these Wikipedia components.

Structure of a Wikipedia article: It'll discuss basic structure of a Wikipedia article. This will also include introduction to level 2, level 3 sections, red links, blue links etc.

Citations: Basic understanding of Wikipedia citations and verifiability, basic reference creation and modification method, basic understanding of reliable sources

Images: Uploading and using images on Wikipedia (or any other project, including Wikimedia Commons)

Infobox: Using existing infoboxes.

Templates: Using templates.

Categories: An introduction to categorization on Wikipedia

3. Sandbox Using user sandbox to make test edits or draft articles

4. Namsepaces: Basic understanding of different namespaces including CSS and Javascript pages.

5. Community structure: Basic idea of community structure, including: village pump, community portals, help desk, projects etc.

6. Policies: The following policies will be discussed:

1. Five pillars of Wikipedia: Five policies of Wikipedia include:

  1. What Wikipedia is not (or "What Wikipedia is"): It discussed "what Wikipedia is" and "what Wikipedia is not", such as Wikipedia is not a dictionary, Wikipedia is not a newspaper, Wikipedia is not a crystal-ball, Wikipedia is not a personal web-host or blog, and should not be used to like

Neutral point of view: Wikipedia articles must be written in a neutral point of view and must not be biased or push an opinion. Here we'll discuss this thing and

Copyrights policy: Copyright and copyright violation are taken very seriously in Wikipedia. Here we'll discuss on these things including fair use licenses, creative commons licenses, copyright violation checking and reporting

Etiquette and civility: it discussed expected behavior of editors, specially at the time of disputes or debates

Ignoring all rules (also what WP:IAR is not): It suggests if a rule prevents an editor from improving that should be ignored.

2. Core content policies The three core content policies are:

Neutral point of view: Wikipedia articles must be written from a neutral point of view (NPOV)

Verifiability: Wikipedia articles should be verifiable. Editors should try to add reliable secondary sources to verify the statement/information of articles.

Original research: Wikipedia is not a journal or a blog, and it does not publish original research, first-hand material.

3. Other policies We'll discuss a few other policies such as:

Copyright policy: Basic knowledge on Wikipedia copyright policy and copyright violation;

Image use policy: Basic knowledge on Wikipedia image use policy, including fair use;

Consensus: Understanding of consensus, how to build consensus;


Advanced Wikipedia editing[edit]

B. Advanced Wikipedia editing

All topics mentioned in Basic Wikipedia editing and. . .
1. Manual of Style: It'll train different manuals of style such as how to correctly use/write

  • Abbreviations
  • Dates and numbers
  • Pronunciation
  • Proper names
  • Spelling
  • Text formatting
  • Titles
  • Captions
  • Galleries
  • Icons
  • Images
  • Lists
  • Embedded lists

Etc.

2. Advanced knowledge of citations: This will include —

Detailed understanding of reliable sources, primary, secondary and tertiary sources, identifying reliable sources

Creating references in different formats such as full citations, short citations, parenthetical referencing, Harvard citations.

Understanding CS1 and other referencing errors

3. Tools, gadgets, scripts, bots: Here we'll teach about using tools, gadgets, scripts, bots, semi-bots

  1. Detailed understanding of gadgets
  2. Using user-scripts;
  3. Using AutoWikiBrowser;
  4. Using PyWikibt;
  5. Using Wikimedia Labs tools such as Quarry, reflink etc.

4. Policies: These are the policies we'll discuss. Of course not all of these will be applicable in each training.

Core content policies
  1. Neutral point of view
  2. No original research
  3. Verifiability


'Other content policies
  1. Article titles
  2. Biographies of living persons
  3. Image use policy
  4. What Wikipedia is not





Conduct policies
  1. Civility
  2. Consensus
  3. Dispute resolution
  4. Edit warring
  5. Editing policy
  6. Non discrimination policy
  7. No personal attacks
  8. Ownership of content
  9. Sock puppetry
  10. Username policy
  11. Vandalism
Deletion policies
  1. Attack page
  2. Criteria for speedy deletion
  3. Deletion policy
  4. Oversight
  5. Proposed deletion
  6. Proposed deletion (BLP)
Endorsement policies
  1. Administrators
  2. Blocking policy
  3. Protection policy



Legal policies
  1. Copyright violations
  2. Non discrimination policies
  3. Non-free content criteria
  4. Reusing Wikipedia content
  5. Terms of use