If you are a 90s kid, you would remember those trips you took with your father to the library, just to find the best encyclopedia. That’s right! Only we, the kids of 90s would remember this. Why? Because the dawn of 15th January 2001 brought the launch of Wikipedia. Wikipedia came as a blessing for people thereafter as a one-stop platform to find answers for almost every question we had. If I were to give a better definition of Wikipedia, I would say that it is a free online encyclopedia which is available in various major languages and is open to modification. What makes Wikipedia stand out though is the chance it gives anyone and everyone to contribute their knowledge to create informative pages for the masses.

Image Source: https://media.giphy.com/media/GGfhQk4f0s86I/giphy.gif

As Wikipedia is an open source of information where you keep feeding data, many people are trying their hands at creating a Wikipedia page. This is the reason you will find pages about people, things, and organizations written by content writing agencies in India. But there is a catch to creating Wikipedia pages. Though it is an open source for writers and contributors, the articles and information that you submit should be up to the mark to be accepted by the Wikipedia editors. Yes! You heard it right. Wikipedia has its own set of editors who decide whether your information is appropriate for the platform or not. So, if you are one of those people who wants to enter the league of Wikipedia contributors by writing an exceptional article about anything, here are some things to keep in mind. Let us call them the 6 R’s to create the best Wikipedia page.

Research

If you plan to write a Wikipedia page, then I am assuming you might have done some writing in your life. If you have, then you may be well aware that no writing begins without a base for information. That base is found with the help of research. Research is very crucial before you write any article, especially a factual one. You need to have references for each claim you make in the Wikipedia page. So do a thorough research to back up all the information that you aim to provide.

Now that you have begun on your research for the Wikipedia spend some extra time and research a little about Wikipedia as well. Wikipedia has a set of rules and regulations that needs to be followed for every Wikipedia page, which cannot be ignored. So go through each guideline thoroughly and also view a few similar articles before starting your own. This will ensure that your article gets approved without any hassles once it is up.

Register

Wikipedia is an open forum, but that does not mean anybody can write Wikipedia pages. To write and edit Wikipedia pages and articles, you need to be a registered user. The registration is a fairly simple process like any other registration. The important details required by the Wikipedia team are your name and email address.

Rehearse

After registering as a user on Wikipedia, you now have access to the world of Wikipedia. Do not simply go ahead and upload your article. Instead, start with editing some other pages to get the hang of how things work on Wikipedia. Read a few pages every day and go through the information. If you find something to add to the page, go ahead and add it. Do not forget to provide a source to back your addition. Do this for a few pages. When you edit a few pages, you become an auto-confirmed user who gets access to some limited Wikipedia functions such as moving articles from private to public.

Refer

Wikipedia is the online replacement for an encyclopedia. This means that you cannot add any information on Wikipedia without having a valid third party reference to verify the information. Even if you are making minor changes to a page, you need to verify the information. So imagine the amount of source you will have to provide when you create a page of your own. You can make this task easy in your rehearsal stage. When you are exploring the various pages on Wikipedia, keep making a note of pages that may be relevant for your page and can act as a valid source of information. Apart from this, collect all the external source and verifiable data that you have and make sure you give reference to each point that you make. Keep this in mind, what cannot be verified by Wikipedia would be deleted by Wikipedia.

Record

When I say record, I am referring to the process of finally creating your Wikipedia page. It’s time you collect all the information you have, create a well-written Wikipedia page and add it to the records of Wikipedia. I would recommend that you first create a rough draft and then add it to Wikipedia. To add the page to Wikipedia, you could either use Sandbox or you can add it through the My Talk page. After adding your content to Wikipedia, you will have to format it as per the Wikipedia interface using the ‘Wiki code’. This is a little complicated process, and I would recommend that you take help from an expert who has the knowledge of formatting for Wikipedia.

Review

After finally uploading and formatting your page for Wikipedia, you now have to wait for it to be approved by the editors of Wikipedia. Generally, this process takes about a week or two. If even after waiting for two weeks you do not get a reply, go ahead and make your page public as it is a sign that your page was alright. Sometimes the editors may make a few changes after your page is public if needed. Do try to keep your page content updated by adding new additions as and when required.

Image Source: wikipediacommons.org

Writing a Wikipedia page is an experience in itself. From researching to reviewing, ensure that you follow the proper Wikipedia guidelines and only inform and not promote anything in your Wikipedia page. If you are one of those who want a Wikipedia page but are not confident enough to go ahead with one, do not drop the idea and instead hire a Wikipedia expert from content writing agencies in India.