Wikipedia FAQ – Page 2

What To Know About MLA Wikipedia Citations

If you have ever written or edited a Wikipedia article, you will know that properly citing all of your sources is essential. As an open-source encyclopedia of information, Wikipedia relies on citations to build credibility. One of the methods of citation you can use in your article is known as MLA style citations. This article will go over how and when to use them.

What are MLA Style Citations?

MLA stands for the Modern Language Association. They are a large scholarly body that aims to promote the study and teaching of language and literature. They created the MLA Style citation method in the 1950s in order to help writers demonstrate credibility in their work, as well as to help readers trust the source of information. MLA is one of many different types of citation that you can use in your research.

What Kind Of Citation To Use On Wikipedia

Wikipedia uses five different kinds of citations in its articles:

Full Citations are the most commonly used method of citing information in a Wikipedia article. It will show up in the article as a footnote, with full details of the source in the citations section.
General References are sources that are not directly referenced in the article, but support the information in general. Some articles have their own ‘General References’ section that is separate from other citations.
In-text attributions are used within sentences, especially to reference quotes, paraphrases, or statements of biased opinion.
Inline Citations include any citation that is added at the end of sentences or paragraphs, close to the information it supports. These can be done as footnotes or parenthetical citations. These should always be used after in-text attributions.
Short Citation is a type of inline citation that does not give the entire details of the source.

MLA citations are one of the types of short citations, along with APA Style, Harvard Style, and Chicago Style. You’ll be familiar with these if you have ever had to write an academic paper!

When To Use MLA Citation On Wikipedia

Even though full citations with footnotes are the most common type of citation seen on Wikipedia articles, there are still times that you should use short citations. Which style of short citation you use will depend on the subject matter of your article:

APA Style comes from the American Psychological Association and is used for topics related to education and social sciences.
Chicago Style, from the University of Chicago, is used for history, fine art, and business topics.
Harvard Style is generally used for scientific articles.
MLA style is used for the arts and humanities.

There are many other methods of referencing, but MLA and APA styles are the most popular styles. So, if you are writing an article about anything in the arts, humanities, and literature, use MLA style.

In a Wikipedia article, you should use MLA citations whenever you want to reference the specific pages of a source. You can use the MLA style to cite journal articles, books, and even web pages.

How To Do In Text Citations For MLA

MLA is a simple style where you include the author (by last name only) and page numbers inside a parenthesis. However, this can vary slightly depending on the way you structure the sentence and what kind of source you are referencing.

In general, when you use the MLA style, you will state a fact from a source, and follow it with the author’s last name and the page number. Ex. The sky is blue (Smith, 18).
If you use the author’s name in the sentence, only list the page number. Ex. Smith states that the sky is blue (18).
If there are multiple authors of a source, list all of the authors. Ex. The sun provides the earth with heat (Smith, Doe, and Johnson, 20).
When there is no author, you can use the article title or a shortened title if the title is too long. Ex. There are millions of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy (Space, 27).
When citing a web page with no page numbers, simply use the author’s name. Ex. There are eight planets in the solar system (Williams).

Always place the punctuation after the citation, as noted above. MLA citations should go at the end of sentences or paragraphs. when using them in a Wikipedia article, they should link to the full citation at the bottom of the article.

Full MLA citations can be formatted in a few different ways, depending on the source. If you can’t find a certain piece of information, you can leave it out. Take a look at these examples:

Books:

Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of the Book. Edition, Publisher, Year of Publication.

Journal Articles:

Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of the Article. Title of the Journal, vol. Volume, no. Issue, Month Year of Publication, pp. Pages, Link.

Webpages:

Author’s Last name, First name. “Title of Work.” Website, Day Month Year of Publication, URL.

What Is A Works Cited Page?

A ‘Works Cited’ page is a list of references to sources that you used directly in your research paper or Wikipedia article. In a long research paper, the list of citations can be several pages long. On a Wikipedia article, this will appear at the bottom of the page and can include hundreds of sources.

When you are writing a research article or paper, you will also need to include a bibliography. Bibliographies and works cited pages differ slightly. While works cited pages include sources that you directly referenced, a bibliography also includes sources you did not directly use. In a bibliography, you have to list all of the sources that you read in order to build your foundational understanding of the subject matter. This is why it is so vital to keep track of your research as you go.

In both works cited pages and bibliographies, references should always be arranged in alphabetical order based on the author’s last name.

Why Do I Need A Works Cited Page On

Wikipedia?

Doing all of this work may seem complicated, but citing your work is vital to writing Wikipedia articles. Writers and editors need to properly cite sources in order to back up information and avoid spreading misinformation to the public. Citations are also vital for readers so that they can trust the information they are being given as well as find resources for further information.

Citations build Wikipedia’s credibility, as well as make sure writers and editors are not plagiarising other people’s work. In fact, if you try to write an article or make edits without proper sources, they will get rejected.

Here are some tips for citing your Wikipedia article:

Be mindful to avoid citation overkill. Instead, only use the necessary amount of sources you need to cite the information.
Be consistent with the citation method that you use in the article to avoid clutter. If editing an existing article, maintain the same citation method that is already being used.
You do not need to cite something that is common knowledge. E.g. ‘Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America’.
Make sure that the sources you do use are credible.
Do not directly use Wikipedia as a source in your article, as this goes against Wikipedia’s policies.

How To Cite Wikipedia

If you are a student writing a research paper, Wikipedia articles will usually appear at the top of Google search results for your search term. This makes Wiki articles convenient sources of information. However, teachers and professors usually advise staying away from Wikipedia when doing research. You actually can, however, use Wikipedia as a port of call when doing research. Here is how to use Wikipedia in research papers:

Enter your search term on Google.
Click on the Wikipedia page and read over the information.
If you see any information you want to use in your research, click on the citation at the end of the sentence or paragraph. Clicking on this will take you to the works cited page at the bottom of the article.
If you want to browse through the citations, scroll down to the bottom of the page to the ‘References section. With larger articles, this section will be subdivided into ‘Citations’, ‘General References’, and sometimes a ‘Further Reading’ section.
Click directly on the links to the sources provided on the works cited page. If there is no link, that means the reference can not be found online, and you can try searching for it at your library.
Evaluate the reference based on your college, university, or research body’s guidelines.
Reference that source directly in your research paper instead of referencing Wikipedia.

In Closing

Knowing how and when to use citations on Wikipedia can seem complicated, but it is essential for writing Wikipedia articles. Follow these steps and tips for using MLA citations in your Wikipedia article, and get your article published! Browse our other articles if you need more information about creating Wikipedia articles.

How To Become A Wikipedia Administrator

Wikipedia Editing, Wikipedia Tips

With over 50 million articles and 370 million readers, Wikipedia is the fifth largest website in the world. It is also one of the most trusted resources for information. But behind every article and user account, there is an administrator who helps keep everything running smoothly.

These administrators are responsible for keeping vandalism to a minimum, monitoring activity on individual pages, and maintaining neutral guidelines by adding or removing content as necessary.

What is a Wikipedia Admin?

They are also known as sysops or admins in Wikipedia. These are editors granted the technical rights and permission to carry out particular actions on the Wikipedia page.

Some notable activities include blocking and unblocking IP addresses and user accounts. Wikipedia administrators are volunteers and must undergo a community review process before being granted the ability to perform their duties.

How to Become a Wikipedia Admin?

As for the English Wikipedia, there is no official requirement. However, before requesting a nomination, you should be an active and long-term Wikipedia editor. You should also understand the practices and procedures of Wikipedia while respecting the policies in place. Editors will also ask whether you have ever edited Wikipedia for remuneration. A discussion will happen for about seven days to determine whether you are suitable to become an admin.

Be An Editor First

As seen in the process of becoming an administrator, you must be an editor for Wikipedia first. From being an editor, you will easily learn the practices and procedures of Wikipedia. You will understand and appreciate its policies. The community will also trust you, which is a massive advantage of being an administrator.

Role of the Wikipedia Admin

Ultimately, an administrator on Wikipedia’s role is to uphold the platform’s guidelines. These responsibilities include:

Conduct

Administrators are expected to lead by example and behave respectfully. They should follow all the Wikipedia policies while performing their duties diligently. Even though mistakes are acceptable since no one is perfect, consistently poor judgment or lousy faith editing is not acceptable.

Accountability

Admins should be accountable for every action they take involving administrator tools. They should promptly respond to editors’ questions about their administrative activities. Administrators that act contrary to community and Wikipedia guidelines will have their administrator rights revoked.

Security

According to Wikipedia policies, Wikipedia administrators must have strong passwords. They must also adhere to appropriate personal security practices. That is because a single erroneous edit could cause massive damage to the site. All compromised admin accounts are blocked, and the admin rights are taken away due to site security.

In Closing: Becoming a Wikipedia Admin

Are you interested in becoming an administrator on Wikipedia? We hope this article helps you reach that goal. Browse the Wikipedia FAQ site for more tips on Wikipedia.

How to Contribute to Wikipedia

Wikipedia Tips

Do you want to create a Wikipedia page, but don’t know where to start? Having a Wikipedia page is a great way to increase your online presence and manage your online reputation for yourself or your business. It also helps add to the encyclopedia of free knowledge that the site is known for. If you have never edited or created a Wikipedia page before, it is pretty easy to get started.

How to become a Wikipedia contributor

Becoming a Wikipedia contributor is designed to be simple for people with knowledge about a particular subject to add to it. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation Inc, a non profit organization that believes in accessible knowledge for everyone. The website is designed in such a way that people from all over the world can contribute their knowledge to the website.

Can anyone edit Wikipedia?

Anyone in the world is allowed to edit pretty much any Wikipedia article. Even if you don’t have an account, Wikipedia will list your IP address if you make edits to an existing article. You will however need an account in order to create new pages and have edits credited to your username.

There are over 34 million people who are registered with Wikipedia, and about 100,000 of those make regular contributions to articles. You can be one of those people too!

How often does Wikipedia get updated?

Updates to information on Wikipedia are frequent. According to Wikipedia, there are over 6 million articles on the site, and information is edited by someone every two seconds. Information is constantly being added to the site, but some of that includes Wikipedia Vandalism, which you should be wary of.

How to get a Wikipedia Page

If you want to create a Wikipedia page about a certain topic that hasn’t already been written about, you just need to sign up and add your article. However, it is not advised to create a Wikipedia page for yourself, as this goes against Wikipedia’s conflict of interest guidelines. Read this article to learn about how to get your Wikipedia article approved.

Contributing to Wikipedia – A Step-By-Step Process

Create an account with Wikipedia.
Understand Wikipedia’s Five Pillars. This includes some guidelines to help you write your article and make edits. These are policies and not hard rules, but you must agree to the terms of Wikipedia.
If you are completely new to editing, try the Wikipedia Adventure. This is an interactive game that teaches you all of the editing basics. There is also a cheat sheet to help you learn wiki text.
In order to unlock all of the features of your account, you will need to have your account open for 4 days and make 10 edits to existing articles.
There are two ways to make edits to Wikipedia pages. You can use the classic editor, which uses wiki markup, also known as wiki text. You can also use VisualEditor for a more beginner-friendly option.
Since anyone is allowed to edit on Wikipedia, editors may at times disagree about updates to articles. If you want to discuss something with another editor, you can use the talk page.
One of the most important things when it comes to writing Wikipedia articles is citing your sources. Everything that you claim in your article has to be backed up by an outside, reliable source.

How to cite a Wikipedia Page

When you write a Wikipedia article, it is important to properly cite every piece of information you put into it. Without proper citations, your article may not get approved. Follow these citation tips when writing your article:

Articles have no credibility without the proper citation of outside sources. Everything you write in the article must be neutral and factual. Without sources, the information could be taken down by another editor.
Do not cite other Wikipedia articles as sources in your article. Wikipedia gains credibility from outside sources.
Do not cite self-published work. This is especially important when creating a Wikipedia article for yourself or your business.
Wikipedia articles should not be original research. The information needs to be sourced from previously published work.
Good examples of sources include books, articles, news stories, blog posts, textbooks, and documentaries.

How to cite Wikipedia In Text

Sometimes you find really good information on Wikipedia that you would like to use for your article or other research paper. Here are some tips for how to cite Wikipedia in text:

Colleges and universities do not recommend that their students directly cite a Wikipedia page. You also can not cite another Wikipedia page in your Wikipedia article.
Click on the footnote for the piece of information that you want to use. The page will scroll down to the source link.
Click on the link and read through the source to decide if you can use it.
Use that source directly for your in-text citation.

In Closing:

Wikipedia makes it really simple for people from all over the world to contribute to their free source of knowledge. By following these steps, you can get starting contributing to Wikipedia today. If you need help creating an article, a Wikipedia specialist could be a good investment for you or your business.

How To Get Your Wikipedia Article Approved

Wikipedia Tips

Having a high-quality Wikipedia page for you or your brand is so important for your online reputation. Wikipedia, a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, is considered a high-authority website. In the world of the internet, a Wikipedia page will give you online credibility and visibility, and help you rank highly in search engine results. A Wiki page can mean the difference between success and failure for your brand.

How To Get Your Wikipedia Article Approved WikipediaFAQ

How Long Does It Take To Get Approved?

If you want to create a Wikipedia page, there is an approval process that you have to go through. It could take anywhere from 3-6 months for the Wikipedia editors to evaluate your article. Due to the lengthy time investment, you want to make sure you go through each step carefully to improve your chances of approval.

What to Know About Wikipedia’s Guidelines

Here’s why most articles do not get published:

Too promotional. Wikipedia aims to be as unbiased as possible, so your article needs to be written in a neutral, almost dry tone free of any opinion. Just state the facts.
Conflict of interest. Creating a Wikipedia page about yourself, your own business, or other close relations is strongly discouraged. Even if you write in an unbiased way, Wikipedia will assume a tendency towards bias.
Lack of citations. Citing sources is key to Wikipedia page creation. Without proper citation of outside sources, the article would have no credibility.
No reliable sources. Everything you state in the article has to come from an outside reliable source, such as news articles, books, press releases, and web pages that are about you but not published by you.
Self-published sources. Not only do you have to cite your information, but you can not cite yourself. If you are writing a Wikipedia article about yourself and you claim a fact, the source can not come from a blog post you have written. The source has to come from someone else in order to be credible.
Content already exists. Always do a quick Google search to double-check that the article you want to create does not already exist. If the page exists, you can edit what is there. If it does not exist, the term will come up as a red link in Wikipedia.
Lack of notability. Wikipedia decides which subjects are noteworthy based on a few different factors. Subjects must have significant coverage and information from reliable, secondary sources. The subject should also have a long-lasting impact that surpasses a current event or news story.

Step-By-Step Guide on Getting Yor Wikipedia Article Approved

Step 1. Make sure your subject is notable, eligible, and doesn’t already have a Wikipedia page written about it.

Step 2. Create a Wikipedia account.

Step 3. Edit pre-existing articles. This will help you build credibility with Wikipedia before you make your own page.

Step 4. Collect all of your sources and create an outline for the information you are presenting. All information must be backed by reliable, third-party sources, so make sure to cite everything.

Step 5. Start writing a draft of your article. Remember to write in an impartial and unbiased manner. Just state the facts.

Step 6. Once you are done writing, use the Wikipedia Article Wizard to upload your draft. It is a good idea to proofread a couple of times before you submit your work. You can get someone else to check it over as well.

Step 7. Proofread your document, then submit the article to Wikipedia. You will have to wait a few months before you hear back from the editors.

Step 8. Make edits if your article gets rejected. Resubmit once you have made improvements. This may happen a couple of times before your article gets approved, so remember to be patient with the process.

Step 9. Once your article has been published, you still have work to do. Continually monitor your Wikipedia article to make sure all of the information is accurate.

Helpful Tips:

Don’t rush through the process of writing the article. You want to approach this as if you were writing an academic paper. Take the time to lay out all of the information and cite everything carefully. The higher quality your article is before you submit it for review, the fewer edits you will have to go through, and the quicker it will get published.
If you are stuck in the information outline or writing process, take a look at other similar Wikipedia articles to get an idea of how to write it. If you are a business owner, look up businesses on Wikipedia that are similar to yours.
Some Wikipedia users engage in what is known as ‘Wikipedia vandalism‘. This means that they will edit articles in a malicious manner. That is why you should check your article every so often to make sure this hasn’t happened to you.

In Closing:

Creating a Wikipedia page is a lengthy process, and can be especially challenging if you have never made one before. It can be hard to know whether you qualify for an article, how to write in an unbiased way, and how to properly cite all of your sources.If you have no experience with Wikipedia, it could be worth it to invest in a Wikipedia specialist who can help you through the process. They can help you create and delete Wikipedia pages, support you against libel and privacy invasions, and work with you to create a Wikipedia page today.

How Long Does it Take to Claim Knowledge Panel?

Wikipedia Tips

If you are looking to increase your online presence, improve your online reputation, and be seen at the top of Google search results, you may want to claim a Google knowledge panel. Having one will make it easier for people to find you, your brand, or your business when they search online.

Expected Timeframe

how long does it take to claim a knowledge panel claiming a knowledge panel how to get verified on Google knowledge panel

The Short Answer is …..

It depends. If you already have an approved Wikipedia page and verified social media presence, it may only take a few days. If you don’t the knowledge panel verification process could take a few weeks.

Google is the most commonly used search engine by far. There is always a high volume of people looking to get verified, which is why this can be a lengthy process.

What is Google’s Knowledge Panel?

A knowledge panel is the box of information that appears on the right side of the screen whenever you search for something. On mobile devices, the panel will appear in between other search results. These information boxes come from The Knowledge Graph, a technology developed by Google in 2012 in order to give people more immediate and tailored search results.

Claiming a knowledge panel means that you have ownership over the information about you that comes up in the search engine.

Depending on the search query, a knowledge panel will contain:

a short biography
birth and death dates
notable achievements
links to contacts and social media accounts
relationships
names of the founders of an organization
location

You can not create a knowledge panel on your own. Instead, Google decides to insert a panel depending on the search query’s online authority. Celebrities, corporations, and other highly-searched terms will have a knowledge panel. They are automatically generated, and so you will have to claim one once it appears.

How to Get Verified on Knowledge Panel

In order to get and claim a knowledge panel on the google search console, you will have to go through a verification process.

Step 1. Create a Wikipedia page for yourself or your business. Keep in mind that you will need to get a third party to create this page to avoid violating Wikipedia’s conflict of interest rules. This process is key to everything else, so make sure you follow the content guidelines and do everything properly.

Step 2. Verify your Wikipedia information through social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter.

Step 3. Create a Google account. You will need to use your phone number or another email address to complete the two-factor authentication.

Step 4. Enter the search term for you or your business. When the knowledge panel appears on the right, click ‘Claim this knowledge panel’.

Step 5. Once Google verifies you, you will be allowed to review the information. This is where you can make edits to the information. All of the information you enter will need to be backed by verified and reliable sources.

Step 6. Allow others to suggest edits or add information by entering their email address in the manage section.

Step 7. Continue to monitor your knowledge panel profile to make sure the information stays accurate and up to date.

Extra Tips

If you are a small local business, you can still get verified on Google. Just create a Google business profile to manage your results on Google Search and Maps.
Remember to be patient with this process. Be strategic and go through each step carefully. Every platform you use will need to be verified and credible. For instance, you could jeopardize the entire process by claiming a website or information that is not yours or is inaccurate.
Every piece of information you write in the article must be backed by an authoritative source.

In Closing:

Claiming a knowledge panel is a key aspect of online presence management. Carefully follow the verification process and follow all content guidelines. Once claimed, it will help you increase online visibility, credibility, and organic traffic to your website and social media accounts.

If you are new to marketing, Wikipedia, and Google Knowledge panels, hiring a Wiki expert could be a great investment in your business. Experts can help you create a Wikipedia page, remove a Wikipedia page, and support you against libel and privacy invasion.

How to Find Broken Links & Link Building Opportunities on Wikipedia

Wikipedia Tips

Some digital marketers choose to leverage link building strategies when working with Wikipedia. The large online reference library is a perfect target for link building, considering the millions of articles and the sheer number of external links that live on the site.

Link building is a strategy that allows individuals, brands, and companies to improve their backlink profiles, and thus their SEO efforts. With the help of Wikipedia, you can strategically recommend your preferred links be added to key articles that 1: pertain to your business and 2: provide additional, relevant information to searchers.

Today we’ll be discussing how to use Wikipedia for link building, how to find link building opportunities, and how to suggest links be added within Wiki articles.

How to Find Broken Links on Wikipedia?

Finding broken links (also called “dead links”) and suggesting they be replaced with your preferred link is a common strategy used on Wikipedia. It not only fixes a problem (a link that doesn’t work when searchers click on it) but it also helps you step closer to achieving your digital marketing goals.

For starters, a “broken link” is one that, for various reasons, does not open the intended content for those that click on it. You may experience long loading screens, a 404 error, or an error message that says the page doesn’t exist anymore.

To find these link building opportunities on Wikipedia, you should first think about what types of topics make sense for your link to appear in. For example, if you run a specialized french restaurant, maybe you could appear in articles discussing the history of French Cuisine or in a Wiki article about popular restaurants in your city.

Once you’ve figured out the topics that make sense for your brand, it’s time to develop your broken link strategy.

Strategy #1: Check the Competition

No matter what type of marketing you do, it’s always a good idea to check in on the competition. This is because knowing what kinds of links your competitors are getting will clue you in to what kinds of links you could expect to earn as well.

You can check your competitor’s backlink profiles through different marketing platforms like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and other free tools across the web. Take a look at your competitors’ broken links – are any of them from Wikipedia? These are good opportunities to seek out. Once you know which Wikipedia pages they are coming from, you can make a note to visit that page for other broken links and request edits.

The edits you suggest will replace any current broken links with active, working links coming straight from your page. You can suggest link changes be made in the “talk” section of the respective Wikipedia page on the upper right side. This method will not only boost the quantity of links in your backlink profile, but give your competition something to sweat over, too.

Strategy #2: Check Wikipedia

After checking for ideas from your competition, you can then find broken links directly from the source itself, Wikipedia. To do this, you can search for the phrase “dead link” that appears in the reference lists of Wikipedia articles.

Once you find the dead link, you can request the link be replaced with your page instead. You can even search Wikipedia’s dedicated page to all the broken links they have recorded at any given time.

Be careful though, because it’s not a good idea to mindlessly go editing your link into a bunch of random articles (or too many within the same article, either.) Wikipedia editors and admin will take note of this and will stifle your SEO efforts.

Strategy #3: Use a Search Engine

Lastly, you can use Google or other search engines to quickly find broken or dead link opportunities. In the search bar, use the search command: “site:Wikipedia.org” [your keyword] “intext:dead link”.

This will instruct the search engine to cater your results specifically to only broken links on Wikipedia that are centered around your keywords. You can do this search multiple times with a variety of keywords to give yourself a breadth of articles to choose from. Plus, if some don’t get approved, then at least you’ll have a few others to strive for.

This strategy is the quickest and most effective way to find and leverage dead links on Wikipedia.

How to Add Links to a Wikipedia Article

You might be wondering how to simply add links to Wikipedia, regardless of their status as broken or active. The good news about Wikipedia is that any user can suggest edits to any article.

As a registered user, you can create anonymous edits by clicking on the top right hand corner of any article where it says “talk.” On this tab, you’ll see directions for suggesting edits and this is where you’ll suggest your links be added. You may need to give reason as to why the link should be included.

When using Wikipedia for link building, you should keep in mind that Wikipedia does not tolerate spam and content should always follow the guidelines of being neutral in point-of-view and unbiased. Try adding links to Wikipedia articles and see how it works in addition to other strategies in your digital marketing plan.

Closing

Link building is one of several ways individuals, businesses, and brands use Wikipedia for their marketing efforts. If you don’t have a designated marketing professional on your team, or working on Wikipedia is outside your realm of comfort, speak to a Wikipedia expert who knows the ins and outs of the extensive database. It can help you get the results you’re looking for in a reasonable amount of time. Wiki experts can help you with all things Wikipedia page creation, Wikipedia page deletion, libel and privacy invasion, and more. Check out our other articles for more information on utilizing Wikipedia!