Help:Contents

Since LitWiki uses MediaWiki software, it borrows many of its how-to resources from Wikipedia. Therefore, many of the links below will take you to Wikipedia, but generally what applies there will be appropriate for this wiki, too. Before contributing, please read all the resources under Composition Help, especially “Neutral Point of View.” Even though LitWiki is a shared space, we must all use the formatting guidelines to give the space a sense of unity and cohesion. Your diligence is appreciated.

Policy

• LitWiki:Policies and guidelines

Getting Started

• Help:Introduction — This page takes you through a set of tutorials aimed at complete newcomers interested in contributing.
• Introduction to Editing with Wiki Markup — a tutorial outlining the basics of wiki markup.
  • Help:Wikitext — a more thorough overview of wiki markup.

Style

• Wikipedia Manual of Style — LitWiki uses the WP MOS, at least until we develop one of our own.

Editing Help

• Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia — A great resource. Consider going through the main resources in the menu on the right.
  • Editing Policy

Multimedia Help

• Help:Images — how to upload and using images in your articles.

Composition Help

• How to write a great article.
• The Perfect Article — a general guide to getting close to a perfect article.
• Neutral Point of View — always maintain a neutral point-of-view when writing on the wiki.
  • NPOV Tutorial — this tutorial provides a guide and examples in writing from a NPOV.

References

• Citing Sources — this is an extensive and general overview of referencing.
  • Help:Referencing for beginners is a basic guide to get the mechanics of referencing. See particularly the section on reliable sources. For a more extensive discussion, see Wikipedia:Reliable sources.
  • Help:Referencing for beginners with citation templates — you should always use citation templates on LitWiki.
• Shortened footnotes — LitWiki should use shortened footnotes along with a Works Cited § for most referencing.
• Explanatory footnotes — LitWiki may also use explanatory footnotes when necessary.

Layout and Design

• Article Template for study guides. This template gives a general idea about the sections that might be included when creating study guides about literary texts.

• {{Infobox book}} (also for novels)
• {{Infobox character}} (also see page template)
• {{Infobox film}}
• {{Infobox novella}}
• {{Infobox play}}
• {{Infobox poem}}
• {{Infobox short story}}
• {{Infobox song}}
• {{Infobox television}}

Additional Resources

• Wikipedia FAQ — This is the WP granddaddy FAQ, addressing all the questions you could ever have.
• r/LitWiki — Get help on our Reddit forum.