Welcome to Wikinews

A nice cup of coffee for you while you get started

Getting started as a contributor
How to write an article
  1. Pick something current?
  2. Use two independent sources?
  3. Read your sources before writing the story in your own words?. Do choose a unique title? before you start.
  4. Follow Wikinews' structure? for articles, answering as many of who what when where why and how? as you can; summarised in a short, two- or three-sentence opening paragraph. Once complete, your article must be three or more paragraphs.
  5. If you need help, you can add {{helpme}} to your talkpage, along with a question, or alternatively, just ask?

  • Use this tab to enter your title and get a basic article template.
    [RECOMMENDED. Starts your article through the semi-automated {{develop}}—>{{review}}—>{{publish}} collaboration process.]

 Welcome! Thank you for joining Wikinews; we'd love for you to stick around and get more involved. To help you get started we have an essay that will guide you through the process of writing your first full article. There are many other things you can do on the project, but its lifeblood is new, current, stories written neutrally.
As you get more involved, you will need to look into key project policies and other discussions you can participate in; so, keep this message on this page and refer to the other links in it when you want to learn more, or have any problems.

Wikipedia's puzzle-globe logo, © Wikimedia Foundation
Wikipedia's puzzle-globe logo, © Wikimedia Foundation
  Used to contributing to Wikipedia? See here.
All Wikimedia projects have rules. Here are ours.

Listed here are the official policies of the project, you may be referred to some of them if your early attempts at writing articles don't follow them. Don't let this discourage you, we all had to start somewhere.

The rules and guides laid out here are intended to keep content to high standards and meet certain rules the Wikimedia Foundation applies to all projects. It may seem like a lot to read, but you do not have to go through it all in one sitting, or know them all before you can start contributing.

Remember, you should enjoy contributing to the project. If you're really stuck come chat with the regulars. There's usually someone in chat who will be happy to help, but they may not respond instantly.

The core policies
Places to go, people to meet

Wiki projects work because a sense of community forms around the project. Although writing news is far more individualistic than contributing to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, people often need minor help with things like spelling and copyediting. If a story isn't too old you might be able to expand it, or if it is disputed you may be able to find some more sources and rescue it before it is listed for deletion.

There are always discussions going on about how the site could be improved, and your input is of value. Check the links here to see where you can give input to the running of the Wikinews project.

Find help and get involved
Write your first article for Wikinews!

Use the following box to help you create your first article. Simply type in a title to your story and press "Create page". Then start typing text to your story into the new box that will come up. When you're done, press "save page". That's all there is to it!



It is recommended you read the article guide before starting. Also make sure to check the list of recently created articles to see if your story hasn't already been reported upon.


-- Wikinews Welcome (talk) 18:53, 12 March 2014 (UTC)Reply

Bill Gates pledges to donate US$50 million for research on Alzheimer's disease edit

Hi Ca2james, Thanks for taking an interest in Bill Gates pledges to donate US$50 million for research on Alzheimer's disease. I see the template: This article is actively undergoing a major edit on top of this wikinews story which I started and asked to be reviewed yesterday and I assume you are the editor who has taken over this task. Please continue development, but remember that at wikinews things get “stale” awfully fast, and I would like to improve my record of published articles. Thanks again, Ottawahitech (talk) 15:13, 15 November 2017 (UTC) Please ping me Reply

Hi @Ottawahitech:! I've already set the article back to requesting review status. I was editing the article much earlier to add a third source and to added some extra sentences (which I removed in my latest substantive edit). I didn't use the editing template earlier and acagastya asked me to please use it when I'm editing an article. When I decided to make my latest change, I added the editing template, made my change, and re-added the review template. Ca2james (talk) 15:23, 15 November 2017 (UTC)Reply

Thanks you, Ca2james edit

For your critical thinking and clarity in conveying the content in recent discussions, as well as in interpreting the contents of articles and what the words there mean, big thanks. For inspiration, here is a special thinking wallaby for you. I hope you like it:

 

--Gryllida (talk) 22:57, 31 October 2018 (UTC)Reply

Thank you for your holistic approach to discussions, Ca2james edit

 
Assembling a Staircase Disentanglement Puzzle step by step. That is how the final puzzle might look like. Image by Merkel.

Hi Ca2james

Thank you for your holistic approach to discussions, complemented with great attention to their history and detail, Ca2james. I really appreciate it, and I am learning several important aspects from you.

Cheers, --Gryllida (talk) 23:39, 21 March 2019 (UTC)Reply

Thank you @Gryllida:. Ca2james (talk) 18:24, 24 March 2019 (UTC)Reply