Difference between revisions of "Help:Quick guide to editing"

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| This page provides basic instructions for editing on '''[[SourceWatch]]''' and its '''[[Congresspedia]]''' component. For the full set of guidelines, policies and help, see the main [[SourceWatch:Help]] page. For Congresspedia articles see the [[SourceWatch:Congresspedia help|Congresspedia help]] page.
 
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Before you can edit, you'll need to quickly [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Special:Remotereg&returnto=Help:Quick_guide_to_editing register] with a valid email address, which is done to deter spammers and vandals. Once you've registered, editing a page is as easy as clicking the "edit this page" tab at the top of the window."
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<big><b>This page provides quick tips on editing.</b>  You may also wish to review the more detailed formatting guide.  Before you can edit, you'll need to quickly [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Special:Remotereg&returnto=Help:Quick_guide_to_editing register] with a valid email address, which is done to deter spammers and vandals. Once you've registered, editing a page is as easy as clicking the "edit this page" tab at the top of the window."</big>
  
 
==Editing cheatsheet==
 
==Editing cheatsheet==
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<div align="center">
 
 
''See [[SourceWatch:How to edit a page]] for more detailed explanations and advanced syntax.''
 
''See [[SourceWatch:How to edit a page]] for more detailed explanations and advanced syntax.''
 
{| style="border:1px solid #98400E; text-align:left; background:#ffffff"
 
{| style="border:1px solid #98400E; text-align:left; background:#ffffff"
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|-
 
|-
 
|Internal link<br />
 
|Internal link<br />
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(within Wikipedia)
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(within SourceWatch)
 
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|
 
<tt><nowiki>[[name of page]]</nowiki></tt><br />
 
<tt><nowiki>[[name of page]]</nowiki></tt><br />
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(to other websites)
 
(to other websites)
 
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<tt><nowiki>[http://www.example.org]</nowiki></tt><br />
 
 
<tt><nowiki>[http://www.example.org display text]</nowiki></tt><br />
 
<tt><nowiki>[http://www.example.org display text]</nowiki></tt><br />
 
<tt><nowiki>http://www.example.org</nowiki></tt>
 
<tt><nowiki>http://www.example.org</nowiki></tt>
 
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|
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[http://www.example.org]<br />
 
 
[http://www.example.org display text]<br />
 
[http://www.example.org display text]<br />
 
http://www.example.org
 
http://www.example.org
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[[Image:Sourcewatch.png|thumb|Caption text]]
 
[[Image:Sourcewatch.png|thumb|Caption text]]
 
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</div>
 
  
 
==Sourcing an article==
 
==Sourcing an article==
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''See [[SourceWatch:References]] for more detailed explanations and tips on sourcing.'''
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''See [[SourceWatch:References]] for more detailed explanations and tips on sourcing.''
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Every assertion made on SourceWatch or Congresspedia should have an outside source. In most cases this should be a webpage or online document that can be linked to (see [[SourceWatch:References]] for help on referencing offline sources). The easiest way to cite a source is to put a link between two square brackets after the sentence or paragraph that draws from it, which automatically turns it into an auto-numbered footnote (see the first "external link" example in the chart above). You should then add a citation to the source in the "Articles and resources" section at the bottom of the article, which serves as a bibliography in SourceWatch articles. To add the citation you will generally need this information:
 
−
 
 
−
* Name of the author (or organization that produced the source)
 
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* URL of the site where the information was taken
 
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* Name of the source
 
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* Name of the publication
 
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* Date the information was published
 
  
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You generally want to put the citation in a bullet and format it like this:
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Every assertion made on SourceWatch should have an outside source. In most cases this should be a webpage or online document that can be linked to (see [[SourceWatch:References]] for help on referencing offline sources). To reference a source, you'll first need to collect these bits of information about your source:
  
−
* Author, [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Help:Quick_guide_to_editing "Title,"] ''Publication, Date.
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# '''Author'''
 +
# '''Url''' - the full internet address of the webpage. The url of this page is <nowiki>http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Help:Referencing_sources</nowiki>
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# '''Title''' - Use the title of the post for blogs.
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# '''Publication''' - Use the name of the blog for blogs (e.g. the name of [http://atrios.blogspot.com this blog] is "Eschaton". For books, use the book title for the publication and skip the "title."
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# '''Date of publication''' - Using the format of "January 2, 2007".  
  
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To get this format, you enter
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Now format your source so that the title of the piece is in quotes and is a link and the publication is italicized, like this:
  
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{| style="border:1px solid #98400E; text-align:left; background:#ffffff"
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{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
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|+ An example of using the <nowiki><ref></nowiki> tag
 
|-
 
|-
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| style="background: #F1C9AF; padding: 0.3em; text-align:center;"|'''What you type'''
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! width="55%"|What you put in
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! width="35%"|What you get
 
|-
 
|-
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| <nowiki>* Jonathan Weisman, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/17/AR2006051701779.html "Ethics Panel Starts 3 Probes,"] ''Washington Post,'' May 18, 2006.</nowiki>
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| This is the sentence I'm sourcing.<nowiki><ref>Paul Hutcheon, "[http://www.sundayherald.com/53711 Sleaze probe into nuclear lobbying at Holyrood]," ''Sunday Herald'', January 22, 2006.</ref></nowiki>
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|-
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| This is the sentence I'm sourcing.<ref>Paul Hutcheon, "[http://www.sundayherald.com/53711 Sleaze probe into nuclear lobbying at Holyrood]," ''Sunday Herald'', January 22, 2006.</ref>
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| style="background: #F1C9AF; padding: 0.3em; text-align:center;"|'''What you get'''
 
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|-
 
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|
 
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* Jonathan Weisman, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/17/AR2006051701779.html “Ethics Panel Starts 3 Probes,”] ''Washington Post,'' May 18, 2006.
 
 
|}
 
|}
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Your source should show up as a nice numbered footnote. Make sure to click it after saving to see how the source is displayed and to make sure you formatted it correctly. Remember that the reference information is stored in the body text, so if you want to go back and change it, go back up to the section that contains the information you were sourcing and click "[edit]" there.
  
 
==If editing someone else's writing, leave a note==
 
==If editing someone else's writing, leave a note==
 
If you are editing or deleting someone else's writing, it's a common courtesy to leave a note on an article's discussion page (found by clicking the "discussion" tab at the top of the article) explaining your reasons why. It would probably then be a good idea to check back a little later  to see if other editors responded. Remember: be cool, be collaborative and talk things out. "Edit wars" are never fun and rarely productive.
 
If you are editing or deleting someone else's writing, it's a common courtesy to leave a note on an article's discussion page (found by clicking the "discussion" tab at the top of the article) explaining your reasons why. It would probably then be a good idea to check back a little later  to see if other editors responded. Remember: be cool, be collaborative and talk things out. "Edit wars" are never fun and rarely productive.
 +
 +
==Creating a new page==
 +
See [[SourceWatch:How to start a page]]. Remember to follow the [[SourceWatch:Naming conventions|naming conventions]] in titling the page.
  
 
''Acknowledgment: The first chart on this page was originally copied from Wikipedia's [[w:Wikipedia:Cheatsheet|Wikipedia:Cheatsheet]].''
 
''Acknowledgment: The first chart on this page was originally copied from Wikipedia's [[w:Wikipedia:Cheatsheet|Wikipedia:Cheatsheet]].''
 
[[Category:SourceWatch Help]] [[Category:Congresspedia help]]
 
[[Category:SourceWatch Help]] [[Category:Congresspedia help]]
 +
 +
==Articles and resources==
 +
 +
===Related SourceWatch articles===
 +
 +
===External resources===
 +
 +
===External articles===
 +
 +
===References===
 +
<references/>

Latest revision as of 21:52, 25 April 2013

SourceWatch Help

Start here:

Advanced tools:

More info:

Other help:


This page provides quick tips on editing. You may also wish to review the more detailed formatting guide. Before you can edit, you'll need to quickly register with a valid email address, which is done to deter spammers and vandals. Once you've registered, editing a page is as easy as clicking the "edit this page" tab at the top of the window."

Editing cheatsheet

See SourceWatch:How to edit a page for more detailed explanations and advanced syntax.

Description What you type What you get
Applies anywhere
Italicise text

''italic''

italic

Bold text

'''bold'''

bold

Bold and italic

'''''bold & italic'''''

bold & italic

Internal link

(within SourceWatch)

[[name of page]]
[[name of page|display text]]

name of page
display text

Redirect to another page

#redirect [[Target page]]

1. redirect Target page

External link

(to other websites)

[http://www.example.org display text]
http://www.example.org

display text
http://www.example.org

Sign your posts
on talk pages

~~~~

Username 06:59,
3 April 2025 (UTC)

Applies only at the beginning of the line
Headings

of different sizes

== Level 1 ==
=== Level 2 ===
==== Level 3 ====
===== Level 4 =====
====== Level 5 ======

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Bullet list

* one
* two
** two point one
* three

  • one
  • two
    • two point one
  • three
Numbered list

# one
# two
## two point one
# three

  1. one
  2. two
    1. two point one
  3. three
 
Thumbnail image

[[Image:Sourcewatch.png|thumb|Caption text]]

Caption text

Sourcing an article

See SourceWatch:References for more detailed explanations and tips on sourcing.

Every assertion made on SourceWatch should have an outside source. In most cases this should be a webpage or online document that can be linked to (see SourceWatch:References for help on referencing offline sources). To reference a source, you'll first need to collect these bits of information about your source:

  1. Author
  2. Url - the full internet address of the webpage. The url of this page is http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Help:Referencing_sources
  3. Title - Use the title of the post for blogs.
  4. Publication - Use the name of the blog for blogs (e.g. the name of this blog is "Eschaton". For books, use the book title for the publication and skip the "title."
  5. Date of publication - Using the format of "January 2, 2007".

Now format your source so that the title of the piece is in quotes and is a link and the publication is italicized, like this:

An example of using the <ref> tag
What you put in What you get
This is the sentence I'm sourcing.<ref>Paul Hutcheon, "[http://www.sundayherald.com/53711 Sleaze probe into nuclear lobbying at Holyrood]," ''Sunday Herald'', January 22, 2006.</ref> This is the sentence I'm sourcing.[1]

Your source should show up as a nice numbered footnote. Make sure to click it after saving to see how the source is displayed and to make sure you formatted it correctly. Remember that the reference information is stored in the body text, so if you want to go back and change it, go back up to the section that contains the information you were sourcing and click "[edit]" there.

If editing someone else's writing, leave a note

If you are editing or deleting someone else's writing, it's a common courtesy to leave a note on an article's discussion page (found by clicking the "discussion" tab at the top of the article) explaining your reasons why. It would probably then be a good idea to check back a little later to see if other editors responded. Remember: be cool, be collaborative and talk things out. "Edit wars" are never fun and rarely productive.

Creating a new page

See SourceWatch:How to start a page. Remember to follow the naming conventions in titling the page.

Acknowledgment: The first chart on this page was originally copied from Wikipedia's Wikipedia:Cheatsheet.

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

External resources

External articles

References

  1. ↑ Paul Hutcheon, "Sleaze probe into nuclear lobbying at Holyrood," Sunday Herald, January 22, 2006.
Retrieved from "https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Help:Quick_guide_to_editing&oldid=613941"