Wikipedia:United States Education Program/Courses/Plate Tectonics (Alex Webb)/Resources
Getting started
[edit]Printable guides
[edit]These printable PDF documents have instructions related to the basics of Wikipedia.
- Wiki markup quick reference – This one-page quick reference (included in the Welcome to Wikipedia brochure) helps you to remember the most frequently used wiki markup codes.
- References – This handout explains why references are important, what the expectations for sourcing on Wikipedia are, where to place references, and the basics of adding "ref" tags.
- Reference formatting – This handout explains in more detail how to create footnotes for citing sources, and how to cite the same source multiple times.
- How to get help – explains the recommended way to get help and feedback. It also includes a glossary of additional help resources you can avail yourself of.
- Plagiarism – explains what plagiarism is on Wikipedia—including "close paraphrasing"—in addition to why and how to avoid it.
On-wiki tutorials
[edit]- Wikipedia:Tutorial - General introduction to Wikipedia
- Wikipedia:Article wizard - Walkthrough of the requirements for articles, including notability and sources
- Wikipedia:Picture tutorial - Explains how to insert pictures into Wikipedia articles using wikitext
- Wikipedia:Graphics tutorials (advanced) - advice about advanced image editing
Tutorial videos
[edit]| Starting a sandbox article | Basic editing: bold and links | How to use a watchlist | How to use talk pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| How to start an a sandbox page to play around with wiki markup or start an article draft (2m 11s) | How to use the most basic features of wiki markup to create bold text and links to other pages (3m 37s) | How to use a watchlist to keep track of pages you are interested in or have edited (2m 10s) | How to interact with other editors using talk pages, including article talk pages and user talk pages (2m 30s) |
| Basic editing: citing sources | Citing sources with RefToobar | Uploading files to Wikimedia Commons |
|---|---|---|
| How to add citations using "ref" tags (2m 3s) | How to use the "Cite" tool for inserting automatically formatted references (2m 25s) | Uploading files such as images to Wikimedia Commons, using the upload wizard (2 min 48 sec) |
Writing articles
[edit]Printable guides
[edit]- Moving out of your sandbox – walks through how to move an article draft from a userpage sandbox into Wikipedia.
- Submitting an article to the Did You Know process – walks through how to submit a new or newly expanded article to the Did You Know process so that it will appear on the Main Page.
Tutorial videos
[edit]| Article creation | Article improvement | Article assessments | Article evolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| A demonstration, recorded live, of how to create a Wikipedia article (7 min 50 sec) | A look at how to assess the shortcomings of an article and improve it (4m 22s) | An exploration of the standard article assessment system, with examples of each quality level (11m 30s) | A trip through the history of an article, from humble beginnings to Good Article status (6m 25s) |
Analyzing your contributions
[edit]- Wikipedia article traffic statistics – a tool for charting how many hits any given article gets, great for comparing different kinds of articles at different times, e.g., Genetics (in the school year) vs. (in the summer), or YouTube (with weekend spikes) and Simpsons (with spikes when new episodes come out). Students can also use it to see how many people are reading their articles over the course of the class (and beyond).
- Edit counter – a tool for charting how many edits you've made over time, which types of pages you've edited, and which pages you've edited most.
Topic specific items
[edit]The category Category:Plate tectonics is like a tag that is likely to be used on many of the articles of interest or to be written by participants. Changes in the articles in the category can be found in [1]
A project WikiProject Geology has been organized for Wikipedia editors interested in Geology. People can sign up and discuss how to work together on the topic.
On the Wikimedia Commons there are images already drawn in these categories: Commons:Category:Plate tectonics Commons:Category:Maps of tectonic plates Commons:Category:Cratons Commons:Category:Maps of past tectonic plates Commons:Category:Laurasia and Gondwana Commons:Category:Earthquakes and many subcategories Commons:Category:Mid-ocean ridge Commons:Category:Mid-Atlantic Ridge Commons:Category:Ocean topography Commons:Category:Rifts Commons:Category:Orogeny Commons:Category:Oceanic trenches Commons:Category:Structural basins Commons:Category:Subduction Commons:Category:Structure of the Earth Commons:Category:Structural geology. Since these images are free, it is possible to use them as a starting point to make a derivative.