උදවු:හැඳින්වීම/සියල්ල

Welcome to Wikipedia! Anyone can edit almost every page, and millions already have.

This page takes you through a set of tutorials aimed at complete newcomers interested in contributing. It covers all the basics needed to navigate, comment on, and write Wikipedia articles. We're glad you're here — good luck in your journey to becoming a proficient Wikipedian!

Starting introduction

Policies and guidelines

Content

Conduct

Editing

Formatting

Links and wikilinks

Saving your changes

Creating new articles

Referencing

Verifiability

"Wikipedian protester" by Randall Munroe, xkcd. Wikipedians famously demand citations for facts!

One of the key policies of Wikipedia is that all article content has to be verifiable. This means that reliable sources must be able to support the material. All quotations, any material whose verifiability has been challenged or is likely to be challenged, and contentious material (whether negative, positive, or neutral) about living persons must include an inline citation to a source that directly supports the material. This also means that Wikipedia is not the place for original work, archival findings that have not been published, or evidence from any source that has not been published.

If you are adding new content, it is your responsibility to add sourcing information along with it. Material provided without a source is significantly more likely to be removed from an article. Sometimes it will be tagged first with a "citation needed" template to give editors a chance to find and add sources, but often editors will simply remove it because they question its veracity.

This tutorial will show you how to add inline citations to articles, and also briefly explain what Wikipedia considers to be a reliable source.

Inline citations

Inline citations are usually small, numbered footnotes like this. They are generally added either directly following the fact that they support, or at the end of the sentence that they support, following any punctuation. When clicked, they take the reader to a citation in a reference section near the bottom of the article.

While editing a page that uses the most common footnote style, you will see inline citations displayed between <ref>...</ref> tags.

If you are creating a new page, or adding references to a page that didn't previously have any, remember to add a References section like the one below near the end of the article:

==References==
{{reflist}}

Note: This is by far the most popular system for inline citations, but sometimes you will find other styles being used in an article. This is acceptable, and you shouldn't change it or mix styles. To add a new reference, just copy and modify an existing one.

References

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RefToolbar

This screencast walks through how to use RefTools

Manually adding references can be a slow and tricky process. Fortunately, there is a tool called "RefToolbar" built into the Wikipedia edit window, which makes it much easier.

To use it, click on  Cite at the top of the edit window, having already positioned your cursor after the sentence or fact you wish to reference. Then select one of the 'Templates' from the dropdown menu that best suits the type of source. These are:

• {{cite web}} for references to general websites
• {{cite news}} for newspapers and news websites
• {{cite book}} for references to books
• {{cite journal}} for magazines, academic journals, and papers

A template window then pops up, where you fill in as much information as possible about the source, and give a unique name for it in the "Ref name" field. Click the "Insert" button, which will add the required wikitext in the edit window. If you wish, you can also "Preview" how your reference will look first.

Some fields (such as a web address, also known as a URL) will have a icon next to them. After filling in this field, you can click it to handily autofill the remaining fields. It doesn't always work properly, though, so be sure to double check it.

Often, you will want to use the same source more than once in an article to support multiple facts. In this case, you can click Named references   in the toolbar, and select a previously added source to re-use.

Reliable sources

Wikipedia articles require reliable, published sources that directly support the information presented in the article. Now you know how to add sources to an article, but which sources should you use?

The word "source" in Wikipedia has three meanings: the work itself (for example, a document, article, paper, or book), the creator of the work (for example, the writer), and the publisher of the work (for example, Cambridge University Press). All three can affect reliability.

Reliable sources are those with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy. They tend to have an editorial process with multiple people scrutinizing work before it is published. Academic and peer-reviewed publications are usually the most reliable sources. Other reliable sources include university textbooks, books published by respected publishing houses, magazines, journals, and news coverage (not opinions) from mainstream newspapers.

Self-published media, where the author and publisher are the same, are usually not acceptable as sources. These can include newsletters, personal websites, press releases, patents, open wikis, personal or group blogs, and tweets. However, if an author is an established expert with a previous record of third-party publications on a topic, their self-published work may be considered reliable for that particular topic.

Whether a source is usable also depends on context. Sources that are reliable for some material are not reliable for other material. For instance, otherwise unreliable self-published sources are usually acceptable to support uncontroversial information about the source's author. You should always try to use the best possible source, particularly when writing about living people.

These are general guidelines, but the topic of reliable sources is a complicated one, and is impossible to fully cover here. You can find more information at Wikipedia:Verifiability and at Wikipedia:Reliable sources. There is also a list of commonly used sources with information on their reliability.

Try it! Take a quiz on reliable sources

Images

To use an image (or video, or audio file) on Wikipedia, it must first be uploaded. However, there are some important restrictions on what images Wikipedia can accept. This tutorial introduces you to the relevant rules and guidelines.

To upload images, you will need to register an account. It's quick and free, and has many benefits.

Sign up

Hopefully, your image will be improving an article very soon!

Uploading images

The best place to upload most images is Wikimedia Commons, where they become part of a collection that can be used by Wikipedias in multiple languages, as well as our sister projects and the general public.

To upload images to Commons you can use the Commons Upload Wizard tool, which will guide you through the process.

There is an important caveat: Commons accepts only freely licensed images. This means that you cannot upload most images found on the internet, as the vast majority of them are not free.

However, there are some circumstances in which Wikipedia can use non-free or fair use images. This is typically when an image's presence significantly increases readers' understanding of a topic, no free alternative is available, and its use does not negatively affect the commercial interests of its owner. Examples include movie posters, corporate logos, and screenshots of web pages.

To upload a non-free image, use the File Upload Wizard, which will help you add all of the required information. A link to the wizard can be found under "Tools" at the left of the screen.

Using an image

Durdle Door, a natural arch near Lulworth Cove

Once your image is uploaded to Commons or Wikipedia, you will probably want to use it in an article. Simply click Edit on the article you want to include the image in, then add the following where you want the image to appear:

[[File:Image name.jpg|thumb|Caption for the image]]

For example:

[[File:Durdle Door Overview.jpg|thumb|[[Durdle Door]], a [[natural arch]] near [[Lulworth Cove]]|alt=Beach with a large rocky arch over the water]]

The button also works. Notice that the caption can contain links.

The Colosseum in Rome

By default, images display on the right side of the article. You can place images on the left side of the article by including |left:

[[File:Colosseum in Rome, Italy - April 2007.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Colosseum]] in Rome]]

See Wikipedia:Extended image syntax for more details on adjusting the display of images, including their size.

Tables

Enhanced editing toolbar with table button highlighted

Tables are a common way of displaying data. This tutorial provides a guide to making new tables and editing existing ones. For guidelines on when and how to use tables, see the Manual of Style.

The easiest way to insert a new table is to use the editing toolbar that appears when you edit a page (see image above). Clicking the button will open a dialog where you define what you want in your new table. Once you've chosen the number of rows and columns, the wiki markup text for the table is inserted into the article. Then you can replace the "Example" text with the data you want to be displayed.

Tables in Wikipedia, particularly large ones, can look intimidating to edit, but the way they work is simple.

Editing tables

Expanding tables

Talk pages

User talk pages

Everyone contributing to Wikipedia has their own user talk page. On this page, anyone can leave a message for you. People can ask you questions or give you advice. There are also some automated "bots" that can add helpful messages.

Unregistered users on a shared internet connection, like school or home networks, get a shared talk page. If someone leaves you a message, you'll see a notification at the top of whichever page you're looking at:

You have new messages (last change).

When you receive a message, you'll get a notification at the top of your screen:

You can reply the same way you would at an article talk page: click the [reply] link after their comment and mention them with the icon to notify them.

Generally, you can find an editor's user talk page by following the link labelled "talk" in their signature, located at the end of their messages. You can always reach their user talk page by clicking on their name in the signature, and then clicking on the "Talk" tab, as you would with an article. You can also reach another editor's talk page by typing "User talk:" and the name of the user in the search bar.

Drawing attention

Navigating

Wikipedia is a big place!

For a start, there are currently 0 million articles, the most extensive encyclopedia in human history. If we printed them all out, they would take up about පරිශීලක:Tompw/bookshelf/volumes volumes, which would look something like this.

In addition to this, there are another 0.1 million supporting pages devoted to helping build the project.

This tutorial will help you to get your bearings, teach you how to find what you're looking for, and introduce you to a few of the most important pages.

Namespaces

Wikipedia's pages are divided into namespaces. Each namespace (except the main article space) has a prefix that is followed by a colon at the start of page names. Here are some of the namespaces you might encounter, along with an explanation and examples:

Each page in each of these namespaces, except for Special, also has a corresponding Talk page for discussion. So, for example, you can discuss the starfish article at Talk:starfish, or talk about Wikipedia:Neutral point of view at Wikipedia talk:Neutral point of view. You can switch between the normal page and the talk page by clicking the tabs at the top left.

Searching pages

The search box is at the top of every page. Start typing, and it will begin to suggest pages you might be looking for — you can click on one to go directly to that page. Alternatively, if you type in a complete page title and hit ↵ Enter, you'll be taken straight to that page.

If you type a word or phrase that isn't an article title and hit ↵ Enter, you will see a full search page, which lists articles where your search term occurs. You can also reach this page by clicking the magnifying glass, or by typing something into the search box, then clicking the "containing..." link at the bottom of the list of suggestions. For example, you might do this if you wanted to search for occurrences of the word "Fish" across Wikipedia, rather than be taken straight to the article Fish.

The search page also allows you to select which namespaces to search in. You can choose a preset option (Default, Discussion, General Help, or All) or add/remove namespaces individually.

Categories

Another useful way to find pages is by browsing categories grouping related pages, which are listed at the bottom of a page. They form hierarchy trees from generalized topics to more specific ones, so pages should have only the most specific applicable categories. For instance, do not add [[Cat:Musicians]] to an article already categorized under [[Cat:Irish musicians]].

Try it! Go to a random page needing more categories

Page histories

Every edit made to Wikipedia is recorded and (with rare exceptions) is publicly viewable in a page's history.

To access it, click the "ඉතිහාසය බලන්න" tab at the top of the article.

Page histories consist of rows, each representing a past revision of the page. Each line contains various elements with information or tools related to that revision:

To see the difference between two revisions, adjust the radio buttons and then click තෝරාගත් සංශෝධන සසඳන්න.

Redirects and shortcuts

Redirects

Some pages on Wikipedia are redirects — they don't have any content of their own, but just send you on to another page. For example UK is a redirect to United Kingdom. So, if you type UK in the search box, it will take you directly to the article on the United Kingdom. (There will also be a note below the article title saying "Redirected from UK".)

To create a redirect to a page:

• Via wiki markup: Click the button and type the destination page or use the code #REDIRECT [[Destination]].
• Via VisualEditor: Use the   menu and then click  Page settings to choose a destination page.

Shortcuts

Wikipedians often refer to internal Wikipedia pages by shortcut names to make typing quicker. The Wikipedia namespace prefix can also be further abbreviated as WP:. These shortcut pages are just redirects to the target page.

For example, Wikipedia:Neutral point of view can be written as WP:NPOV to link to it, or typed into the search bar. Shortcuts to a page are usually listed in a box in the top right of that page.

Useful links

At the top

If you are logged in, you'll also see some useful links at the top right of your screen:

• Your username takes you to your userpage, where you can add information about yourself.
• Watchlist () shows recent changes to pages you're watching (click the star at the top right of a page to watch it).
• Talk is your user talk page, where people can leave messages for you.
• Sandbox is a page in your user space where you can experiment with editing without worrying that you will cause problems on an actual Wikipedia page.
• Preferences allows you to change your password and customize your email and wiki software settings.
• Contributions has a list of all the edits you have made.
• Log out logs you out of your account.

On the left

There's an additional set of useful links on the left side of each page:

• Help is the entry point for Wikipedia's help pages.
• Community portal is the hub for editors, with news, discussions, and ways to help out.
• What links here shows you what other pages are linking to an article.
• Related changes lists any edits that have been made to pages that an article links to.

Yet more useful links

There are a few other pages on Wikipedia that are really handy to know about:

• You can ask questions at either the Help desk (using or editing Wikipedia) or the Teahouse (help for newcomers).
• The Village pump is a set of central discussion forums.
• The Task Center lists various tasks you can help out with.
• The Signpost is Wikipedia's community-written newspaper, a good way to keep up with goings-on.

Manual of Style

Article sections

Images and references

Linking

Consistency

Conclusion

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