How do I approach my article?

answered 2017-07-26 13:42:51 -0500

Ian (Wiki Ed)

updated 2017-07-26 13:47:30 -0500

Shalor (Wiki Ed)

If you're feeling unsure on what you should do with your article, the best thing to do is to review the article. What does the article do well? Is it missing any sources? Do any of its sources seem unreliable and/or biased? Does the article cover all of the major, important information? What is missing? Asking these questions will give you a good idea on how to begin with the article and editors should give the article a quick review before adding or removing information to ensure that their actions will result in an improvement.

It is also strongly recommended that you work on your changes, especially major and/or large changes, in your sandbox prior to posting them live, as this will give you a chance to see how it will appear in the article and ensure that the content is accurate.

Your timeline should have a module where you critique an article, however here is the text of that module:

• To start, read the article & consider some questions (but don't feel limited to these):
  • Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
  • Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
  • Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
  • Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
  • Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
  • Check a few citations. Do the links work? Is there any close paraphrasing or plagiarism in the article?
  • Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?

You should also review the module on evaluating articles and sources, as well as the brochure Evaluating Wikipedia.