User:Eryk (Wiki Ed)/Biographies

This page contains proposed text for a Wiki Education Foundation guide to editing biographical content on Wikipedia. Its goal is to provide student editors in higher education with an overview of policies and guidelines related to biographical content (including WP:BLP). This handbook will be distributed in print and/or pdf form (uploaded to Wikimedia Commons) to classrooms participating in Wiki Ed's Classroom Program in the US and Canada. Due to print constraints, the guide also directs these student editors to read more about relevant policies on Wikipedia through shortcuts.

Notices

Thanks to everyone who assisted in reviewing this page. The content has been laid out for print. While future comments or suggestions may be incorporated in future editions, the current draft is what will be printed (with minor adjustments for layout). Thanks again! Eryk (Wiki Ed) (talk) 20:54, 3 September 2015 (UTC)

A notice and request for review has been placed on the following noticeboards:

WikiProject Biography (Including individual outreach to listed and active members)
Education Noticeboard
BLP Noticeboard
Suggestions welcome!

Content starts below. Please leave any comments or suggestions on the talk page!

Page One (Front)

Editing Wikipedia articles: Biographies

Editing Wikipedia can seem challenging at first, especially as a student editor contributing to Wikipedia in a class assignment. This guide is for students assigned to add content related to biographies on Wikipedia.

Be accurate

Wikipedia is used by millions of people every day who want accurate information on many subjects. By writing accurate and objective content about historical or living figures, you will share compelling stories about human lives and achievements. Don't let our readers down! Make sure your work is well referenced from reliable sources.

Understand the guidelines

Take some time to read and understand the suggestions here to maximize the value of your contributions to Wikipedia. When articles don't meet these guidelines, fixing mistakes may take up valuable time that could have been spent improving content.

If you aren’t comfortable working within these guidelines, talk to your instructor about an alternative off-wiki assignment.

Engage with editors

Don’t wait until the last day to make a contribution, or you may miss out on important comments, advice, and ideas that could improve your work. Volunteers from the Wikipedia community might read, respond to, or ask questions about your article. You may not always agree with every edit, but the goal is to produce an accurate article that doesn't treat the subject of the biography as perfect or evil.

Watch out for close paraphrasing

Use your own words. Plagiarizing by copying-and-pasting, or close paraphrasing — when most of the words are changed, but the structure and meaning of the original text remains — is against the rules.

Plagiarism is a violation of your university’s academic honor code. Plagiarism on Wikipedia will be caught by other editors, and there will be a permanent record of it tied to your account. The best way to avoid this hassle is to make sure you understand your material, draw from several sources, and write in your own words –and never copy a source directly into Wikipedia.

It’s rare that you’ll need to use a direct quotation. If you do, be sure to set it off with quotation marks, and cite the source. Longer quotes, up to about six lines, are indented as block quotes and don’t take quotation marks.

Don’t be scared. Be bold!

Everybody on Wikipedia wants to make it the best it can be. Take the time to understand these guidelines, and soon you’ll be contributing important knowledge to a resource millions of people use every day!

Page Two (Interior left)

Choosing a person to feature

When choosing a biography to write, make sure to choose a person whose life and works have been described in journals or books written by reliable authors writing independently of your subject. Some Wikipedia biographies are short (and will remain so) simply because there aren’t enough reliable sources to expand them. If you want to write about someone, start by ensuring there's plenty of unbiased coverage to choose from — preferably corroborated by multiple, quality sources.

Starting a new biography article

You may want to write about a person who doesn't have a Wikipedia article yet. Only people who meet Wikipedia's "Notability" guideline qualify for an article. This defines people who should have a biography on Wikipedia as those who are "'worthy of notice' or 'note'– that is, 'remarkable' or 'significant, interesting, or unusual enough to deserve attention or to be recorded' within Wikipedia as a written account of that person's life." Simply being popular or famous does not make someone notable. Notability means the subject has received significant coverage, over a period of time, in multiple reliable sources independent of the subject.

For more on notability, type the shortcut WP:BIO in the Wikipedia search bar.

Expanding an existing biography article

There are many biography articles that are not already well developed on Wikipedia. These are what are known on Wikipedia as “stub” or “start-class” articles. To find a stub in a field that interests you, use the shortcut WP:STUBS in the Wikipedia search bar.

Writing about living people

Writing about living people is tricky. The best guideline to follow is simple. Ask yourself, “What makes this person notable, and what facts fill in that story?”

There are special considerations to determine if information about a living person is reliable enough to include in a Wikipedia article. First, consider the source. Texts published with good editorial oversight are preferred to authors who self-publish, whether that be a blog post or a book series. Primary sources aren’t often appropriate, especially for a biography of a living person. For example, something said by a witness in a trial transcript, or a police report, isn’t an acceptable source. Neither are self-published sources such as fanzines, Tweets, blog posts, or even books. If the subject of your biography has written this material, it can be referenced, but isn’t an ideal source. As always, look for reliable third-party sources that follow consistent and neutral editorial standards.

Second, consider the text itself. Let’s say you find a biographical detail in one source, such as a tabloid, but nowhere else. That’s a good indication to avoid it.

In general, avoid using any unsourced or poorly sourced statements about living people. Poorly sourced information about a living person will be removed immediately, and without discussion - and this applies to anything published on Wikipedia, including in draft spaces and Talk pages. You could even be blocked from editing. But don’t panic! Just pay extra attention to the advice in this guide. If you still have questions, type the shortcut WP:BLP into Wikipedia’s search bar to find out more.

Keep it neutral

Wikipedia’s neutrality guidelines encourage “representing fairly, proportionately, and, as far as possible, without bias, all of the significant views.” Articles should “indicate the relative prominence of opposing views.” Good contributions will incorporate these viewpoints, but cannot advocate for them. When coming across material that seems unflattering or contentious, pay very close attention to the source. Ask yourself:

Is it alone in making these statements?
Does it use “weasel words” such as “allegedly,” or allude to rumors, speculation, or unsourced claims?

These questions are especially important in articles about living people. If in doubt, err on the side of omitting details you’re uncertain about.

For more on Wikipedia’s Neutrality guidelines, see | shortcut WP:NPOV .

Page Three (Interior right)

Writing your biography article

Wikipedia’s encyclopedic tone may be different from your usual academic writing. Familiarize yourself with a few good biographies on Wikipedia before you begin. Good examples include Anne Frank, Charlie Chaplin, and Michael Jordan. For more about writing well — and some writing approaches to avoid — see the shortcut WP:WORDS.

What is the lead section? (pullout box)

The lead section is the first section of a Wikipedia article. A good lead will summarize the entire article in 1-4 paragraphs, providing context and briefly covering all important aspects of the topic.

For a biography article, the first sentence should include the name of the person in bold, followed by birthdate and date of death in parentheses, and a brief description of the person’s notability. For example:

Anna Anderson (16 December 1896 – 12 February 1984) was the best known of several impostors who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia.

For more advice on style, see the shortcut WP:MOSBIO.

Organizing your article

Every article will be unique, but here are some suggestions for what to include.

An article on a historical figure

Great examples of historical biography pages are the articles for Mary Wollstonecraft and Charles Darwin. These, like many good historical biography pages on Wikipedia, are structured as follows:

Lead section, highlighting key points in the article.
Career, actions, or defining experiences, provided chronologically and with historical context.
Legacy: major contributions to their fields.
Publications or other works.

An article on a contemporary scientist or academic

Important scientists and academics make noteworthy contributions to society, which makes them notable figures (see the shortcut WP:NACADEMICS for the specific notability guidelines for academics). Much of their articles will be related to their major discoveries, publications, or research. Here’s a good outline to follow:

Lead section.
Academic credentials, naming universities and degrees.
Research contributions, with a brief description of their impact on the field.
A section for awards and honors.
A list of their most notable (or most referenced) papers and publications.

Page Four (Back Cover)

As you start writing, keep these guidelines in mind:

Be sure to write impersonal, fact-based encyclopedic content, not an essay or blog post. Even if you’re a big fan of or passionate about your biographical subject, remember that a nuanced, balanced biography is far more beneficial than a glowing or condemning one. See the Editing Wikipedia brochure linked from your course page if you need a refresher on the difference in tone.
Give appropriate weight to all details available in the literature.

Final thoughts:

Don’t procrastinate! Writing good, reliable Wikipedia biographies takes time. Don’t wait until the last minute. If you get stuck, always ask your instructor for extra time, rather than adding content to Wikipedia that doesn’t meet these guidelines.
If you have additional questions about contributing to Wikipedia, you can ask the Wikipedia Content Expert listed on your course page, or post a question at the Teahouse. To find the Teahouse, type the shortcut WP:TH into the search bar.
Check back on your page! Not only can it be interesting to see how your article grows, you may also have comments and suggestions from other editors, and want to get involved in new directions and developments.