Top 6 Practices for College Wikipedians
When in college, writing of any kind can be intimidating, let alone writing for a popular digital site such as Wikipedia. Writing for digital media is unlike writing for traditional sources because digital capacities are vastly different. These sites are available at the fingertips of everyone with internet access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with no space limitations. According to the text How Wikipedia Works: And How You Can Be a Part of It by Phoebe Ayers, Charles Matthews, and Ben Yates, as of 2008 there were more than two and a half million articles on Wikipedia. It is estimated that this number grows by nearly ten thousand every day. (5)
The most important thing to do before beginning to write on Wikipedia is to get to know the site itself. Know how it works and what the expectations are of anything that is posted. The aforementioned How Wikipedia Words: And How You Can Be a Part of It provides much of this information. Christine M. Tardy also lists many rules for writing on Wikipedia in her article “ Writing for the World: Wikipedia as an Introduction to Academic Writing”.
First it is important to understand that Wikipedia is a site of user generated material that any person on Earth has the ability to write on and edit. But this is not the traditional writing that many college students are used to. The first thing that needs to be understood is that there is a significant difference between academic writing and writing for a digital source such as Wikipedia. Academic writing consists of many long complex ideas and sentences while digital writing should be written simply for a generalized argument. Also, Wikipedia summarizes knowledge that already exists unlike academic writing which is all about new research.
So what are the important things to remember when writing on Wikipedia?
In their brochure “Editing Wikipedia”, Wikipedia explains the four main points to remember when contributing to Wikipedia pages and in Writing and Editing for Digital Media, Brian Carroll defines the last practice to follow. They are as follows:
Remain Neutral
Wikipedia is not meant to persuade readers, it is meant to provide facts with no bias. In order to do this it is also a good idea to avoid topics that may contain extreme partiality or controversy such as events from personal experience, companies worked for, religion, and politics.
Only Use Reliable Sources
How Wikipedia Works defines reliable sources as books published by academic presses, peer-reviewed academic articles, and international newspapers that fit under the rule of being verifiable. (13) When writing on Wikipedia a source must be provided for all information added.
No Original Research
You should not include your personal thoughts, opinions, or interpretations on Wikipedia. The information provided should only be a summary of research by experts in the field.
Avoid Plagiarism or Violating Copyright Laws
Plagiarism and copyright on Wikipedia is much different than in traditional media. It is important to summarize the information given, not just change words in the original sentence. Also, where long quotes are almost necessary in other writings, they are considered copyright infringement on Wikipedia.
“Write Good”
The most important thing to remember when writing for Wikipedia is the same thing that needs to be of upmost importance when writing for any form of media: the writing must be good. On pages 8–16 of Writing and Editing for Digital Media, Carroll lists the ideas to remember when trying to “write good”. They are as follows:
· Be brief by keeping all writing short and to the point.
· Be precise by saying exactly what you mean. If one word answers the question, do not use a sentence.
· Be active by keeping all writing in present tense.
· Be imaginative by avoiding clichés and keeping writing interesting.
· Be direct by saying exactly what you mean.
· Be consistent by using parallel sentence structure.
· Be aware by avoiding common mistakes such as plagiarizing, stereotyping, and not using reliable sources.
Revise and Then Revise Again!
It is always time to revise! Some questions to ask include: Is the information readable by a general audience? Is it clear and organized? When working on Wikipedia it is a good idea to check the talk page for the article to see if anyone else has left feedback regarding edits. If so, be sure to take those thoughts into consideration when working on future drafts.
If there is no feedback then the first step to revising work is to step away for a little while and then revisit the information later. It is hard for anyone to pick up mistakes if they have been looking at the same writing all day or for multiple days. Another good suggestion is to print off a paper copy to read and even ask for someone else to read over it for you. There may also be writing centers at local colleges that can help with revisions along with websites such as Grammerly and the Hemingway app.
The most important thing to remember is to go back to the information time and time again to ensure that all the information is correct, verifiable, and comprehensible to everyone that may read it.
Writing for Wikipedia is quite intimidating upon assignment, but it does not have to be. By just remembering these few simple practices it can be a rewarding experience.
