Wikipedia:Benelux Education Program/Maastricht University/FASoS Wikithon Women’s Day 2022

At Maastricht University in the faculty of FASoS a Wikipedia Wikithon in honour of Women’s Day was organised on 8 March 2022.

Programme

Tuesday 8 March 2022 11:00-17:00

Announcement: Announcement in FASoSweekly ^{archived/archived}

How to Participate

Preparations

Editing Wikipedia can be done the best using an account. If you have an existing account, you can use it, otherwise it is strongly recommended to create a new account. When you create an account, you can use your real name, but you can also choose a pseudonym. Be aware that an account is visible to everyone and that it may get indexed by Google. If you like your privacy, choose a pseudonym.

This Wikithon is focused on creating new articles, but you are not required to do this. You can also expand an existing article or add missing references to articles who need them. In some articles you see in certain paragraphs the code [citation needed], which indicates that here a sources is needed (info). When you choose to expand an existing article, parts of the steps below are not relevant as they explain the steps for creating a new article, while other parts are also relevant for you.

Step 1: Choosing a topic

With writing an article, there are three things you need to know and sure of before you should start.

Before you start writing, it should be clear to you why this person (or other subject) is remarkable, significant, outstanding, somehow unique, et cetera.
You need to make sure there are sufficient independent sources available about this person.
Do not write about yourself, a colleague (in the same organisation), your boss, your organisation, a family member or any other subject you are (too) close related to. You need to make sure you have an outside perspective on any subject you write about. Avoid (the appearance of) a conflict of interest.

Independent sources are needed as the Wikipedia article needs to describe the subject from an outside perspective. Sources you cannot use are LinkedIn, Facebook, the website of this individual, the website of the organisation this person works for, et cetera. If an article is based on sources from written by that individual, the article is going to be deleted.

In Wikipedia, not every individual in the world should get an article. Wikipedia is not Facebook or LinkedIn. Only subjects that are considered to be notable should get an article. Information on Wikipedia must be verifiable; if no reliable independent sources can be found on a topic, then it should not have a separate article. In the article the reader (who hasn't any knowledge about this subject) should read why this individual is outstanding or remarkable. This means also that a Wikipedia article should not read like a résumé/CV, and it also should not read like this individual is just a person with a job.

Step 2: How to start

Start in the language version of Wikipedia that matches with the language you want to write in. Each language edition of Wikipedia is a separate website in what only articles of that language are allowed. If you want to write an article in English, you should do that in the English Wikipedia only (en.wikipedia.org). If you want to write an article in Dutch, you should do that in the Dutch Wikipedia only (nl.wikipedia.org). And so on.
Check if the subject you want to write about doesn't already exist. In Wikipedia, a subject should get only one article. A subject can sometimes be spelled in more than one way. Please check every spelling to ensure the subject has no article yet.
Start writing in your sandbox. In most Wikipedias logged in users have a personal sandbox (Dutch: kladblok, French: brouillon) in what you can work on your article, accessible through the top bar (next to your user name). The sandbox page is a public page in what you can take your time to work on the article and it does not have to be finished. It is not required to start in your sandbox, but it is highly recommended, because if you would immediately publish as an article, it needs to meet the (high) standards of Wikipedia, also if you are new to writing in Wikipedia. If you publish it first in your sandbox, you can ask others to give feedback to make sure it meets the requirements.
Write an article with the visual editor. Wikipedia has two editors: a visual editor and a source code editor. During editing you can switch between them with the pencil icon in the top right corner of the edit field. The visual editor has been developed a few years ago and doesn't always work perfect, but it has some extra functions that make it a lot easier to edit.

Step 3: Starting with writing

Go to your sandbox (Dutch: kladblok) in the top bar (on the right of your user name).
- If you see {{User sandbox}} , remove this in the edit field, click on the pencil icon in the right top corner of the edit field and select Visual editing.
- If you see a box with a text starting with "This is the user sandbox of ", click on the box + press delete. Click also on EDIT BELOW THIS LINE + press delete.
Add the header Biography. This you do by typing the word Biography, then you select this word and click on Paragraph in the editing toolbar and select Heading. When you write in Dutch, you add this header of course as "Biografie".
Add the header References. (Dutch: Referenties)
Add the template Reflist (in the Dutch Wikipedia: References). This you do by having the cursor on a newline below the header References, then you click in the editing toolbar on Insert > Template, and type in the box the word Reflist, click Add template + click Insert in the right top corner of the dialogue.
You can add more headings (depending on the subject you write about, see other Wikipedia articles as example), which should be added somewhere above the header References, as that is References is the last header. Under a header you can also add sub-headings, but please do not add too much of those!
Add the intro sentence of the article.
1. Place the cursor above the header Biography and type the subject of the article (name of the individual), followed by this person's nationality and profession. Example: Pietje Puk is a Dutch biologist and ecologist.
2. If you know the birth date (or year), add this in brackets behind the name. If the person has died, this should be added too. See as example the article of Albert Einstein.
3. Select the name and click A in the editing toolbar + select Bold. (This is the only place in the article where we use bold as text style.)

Step 4: Writing your article

Some things to keep in mind during the writing:

All the information you add to the article must have a source where it is coming from! Use for adding sources the Cite button in the editing toolbar.
- If you use the same source more than once, please select the tab Re-use (after clicking Cite) to add the same source again.
- Only use independent sources, and thus do not use Facebook, LinkedIn, the website of this individual, the website of the organisation this person works fo, et cetera.
- Do not use Wikipedia as a source.
Add to Wikipedia only knowledge that is suitable for an encyclopedia.
Do not copy text from other sources in the article (unless the material is available under a free license), but describe the information in your own words.
Describe the knowledge from a neutral point of view.
Do not describe new theories, new insights that have not been published widely.
Look at comparable subjects as examples of how it is done.
Use internal links (links to other articles on Wikipedia in that language). (We do not link to Wikipedia articles in other languages.)
Do not use external links inline in the text, but only as reference or sometimes at the bottom of a page under the header External link.
Avoid qualifications like "the best", "the most", "great".
Write time specific (not: "last century", "last year", "coming month", etc., but: in the 20th century", "in 2021", "on 10 April 2016").

If you are writing in your sandbox, you can save your sandbox page (not as article but as sandbox page), by clicking on the blue button in the right top corner saying Publish page of Publish changes. "Publish" means does not mean it will be an article, it only means that other users can see now the sandbox page so you can ask them for feedback. (See next step.)

Step 5: Check your article

Before getting your article published as article, please check your article for the following things:

All the information you add needs to be sourced. Has about every two or three sentences you added an inline reference that says where it comes from?
- Please make also sure that at the end of every paragraph a reference has been added.
Have some internal links been added to pages in the English Wikipedia?
- Please note: usually we link in an article only once to a certain other topic, unless the article has some length.

Now it is a good time to ask other people for feedback on your article. You can have me have a look at it by sending me an e-mail at romaine@wikimedia.nl

Step 6: Publication of your article

The publication as an article (instead of a sandbox page) can only take place if it is sufficiently ready and when all requirements are met. The publication requires some experience, but this is what Romaine can help you with. If you are ready with your (sandbox) article, let me know!

Contact info

Romaine - romaine@wikimedia.nl

Contributions

Aline Sierp (new)
Data Feminism (new)
Disability (expansion)
Huis Soiron (new)
Ingrid Shikova (new)
Little Simz (new)
Lore Kutschera (expansion) (upcoming)
Martha Hayne (new)
Nan Bray (new)
Nelly Oudshoorn (new)
Sophie Vanhoonacker - Kormoss (new)
Stella Dysart (new)
Suchan Kinoshita (expansion)
Tara Hernandez (expansion)
Vera Gulikers (new)