Help:Quick guide to editing

SourceWatch Help

Start here: The basics on contributing FAQ for writers and editors How to start an article Quick formatting tips How to cite sources Tips for style and consistency Advanced tools: Researching tools Detailed formatting tips Making articles easy to find Advice on structuring articles Adding a badge to an article More info: Policy and ground rules About SourceWatch FAQ for readers Disclaimer Other help: Wikipedia help (for reference)

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 16:57, 21 November 2024 (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	one two two point one 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.

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.