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Thelemapedia:Where to start

(Revision as of 05:12, 19 Sep 2004)

Thelemapedia is a big site and it can be tough to know where to begin. This article is designed to get you started...

First, you will want to read these articles. They are pretty easy to get through, and they really will make your participation here much more productive:

  1. Contribute to Thelemapedia
  2. Thelemapedia Editorial Policy
  3. Thelemapedia Article Basics

Contribution strategies

There are several ways you can contribute to Thelemapedia:

  1. Write on a new topic. Find a red link or create a brand new topic and get writing. The beauty of the wiki is that you don't have to write a complete article. Just write as much as you know or have time for. If you do write something that has obvious omissions, just write that in the article, and someone will eventually get to it. If there is a section in your article that you know someone has more knowledge about, try leaving a note on the "discussion" page of their userpage. You can also leave a note in the Community Portal that your article needs more contributors.
  2. Edit existing topics. Click on a blue link of your choice and see if there is anything you want to add or change. Read Thelemapedia Editorial Policy to find out good etiquette in doing this. Oftentimes articles will have large chunks missing that you might be able to fill. Other times, you will see an article that is—let's face it—hideous. By all means clean up such entries. When you do, be sure to leave a note in the discussion page.
  3. Fact-checking. Comb through articles and make sure that things stated as facts really are.
  4. Correcting spelling and grammar. Pretty self-explainetory, huh?
  5. Formatting. You don't need to change content to make it more legible. Take what's there, move it around, add headers...do what you must to make it easier to read (please!).
  6. Adding citations and links. If you see quotes or statements that you know come from specific sources, help the article out by putting in a citation and links to relevant materials.

Sources of content

Remember, you cannot take material that is copyrighted (like in a book or on a personal website) and just copy it over verbatim. However, there are ways to use such materials without violating their copyrights. Note that copyright law governs the creative expression of ideas, not the ideas or information themselves. Therefore, it is perfectly legal to read an encyclopedia article or other work, reformulate it in your own words, and submit it to Thelemapedia.

However, distinct ideas should be cited at the end of the sentence, like this (Gates, 2004). Then put in a reference at the bottom of the article linking it to the site or book, like this:

For a complete list of citation and reference formats, see the Wikipedia page on Citing Sources (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Cite_sources).

Citing sources provide references that help the reader to check the veracity of the article and to find more information. If you consult an external source while writing an article, citing it is basic intellectual honesty. More than that, you should actively search for authoritative references to cite. If you are writing from your own knowledge, then you should know enough to identify good references that the reader can consult on the subject. The main point is to help the reader—cite whatever you think will be most helpful. This applies when writing about opinions, as well—beware the temptation to write weasel phrases like, "Some people say..." Who said it, and where and when?


Reference sites

Books

Google

You may think that you know enough about your topic, but chances are that others know more. Do a search on Wikipedias in other languages, on Everything2, look at the first couple of hits from a Google search, and read the relevant articles from an encyclopedia such as http://www.encyclopedia.com (free), http://reference.allrefer.com/ (free), or http://www.eb.com (free in most libraries). Don't shy away from visiting a good academic or public library to have a look at the standard references.

At the end, you may want to list some references you used and external links about the topic (unless of course your article is the best coverage of the topic on the internet, which is always the goal).

Don't neglect the External links and References sections. The most useful and accurate material you've found by searching http://www.google.com during your research might make good links for a reader too. And sometimes there is a standard work that is mentioned over and over in connection with your topic. Mention it, with its author and publication date.

References

Some materials on this pages were taken from:

Retrieved from "http://thelemapedia.org/index.php/Thelemapedia:Where_to_start"


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