Wikipedia Guide

Materials to help students, staff, and faculty edit Wikipedia

Wikipedia's Content Policy

 

Wikipedia editing stands on three Core Content Policies:

  1. Neutral point of view: No promotional materials, no bias, no opinions.
  2. Verifiability: Cite it! Make sure that your source is both reliable, published outside of Wikipedia, and can be checked by other editors.
  3. No original research: There can be no new analysis in Wikipedia. Wikipedia is  not a publisher. If you have done original research and it has been published in an academic journal, feel free to cite that. But do not publish unpublished analysis for the first time on Wikipedia.

The Basics: The Five Pillars

What is Wikipedia?

Wikipedia prides itself on it's fundamental principles, also called the Five Pillars. These pillars are meant to act as a guidebook to help you determine what you can and cannot write about. 

Book and Globe clipart Wikipedia is an encyclopedia Wikipedia is not a soapbox, and definitely no advertising.
Scales Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view Don't be biased. Must be verifiable!
Puzzle Piece Clipart Wikipedia is free content that anyone can use, edit, and distribute But Don't plagiarize (you will be kicked out when you are caught). 
Talking word cloud Wikipedia's editors should treat each other with respect and civility R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Lightbulb clipart Wikipedia has no firm rules But it does have some policies and guidelines.