Gwickwire

Assistance request

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-- Wikinews Welcome (talk) 23:20, 1 October 2012 (UTC)

{{helpme}}

I really don't want to use this template... But here goes:

I'd love some help getting started here at Wikinews. I've been active on en.wikipedia for some time now, and I'd like to do more of this reporting style of writing. I noticed that there isn't a news report (article?) over the 2012 United States Grand Prix and I wanted to write one, but I'm not sure I fully understand the writing styles of Wikinews right now. Could anyone maybe mentor me for a while, or help me write this report? Thanks! Gwickwire (talk) 04:35, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

I'm generally around if you need some assistance. :) If you're on IRC, it makes things easier to do more real time collaboration. FileLWikinews Guide.pdf is a guide that may be a good starting point for getting things done. My main pieces of advice for Wikipedians here would be: Think of every article written as trying to write a Good Article in the space of a day, that needs to immediately be reviewed and passed within a day. (Ideally in a few hours.) Once the article passes Good Article, it does not get substantially edited again. It isn't quite like that, but close enough for beginners to get the idea. Going into reviewing, it is a collaborative process, where the primary writer and the reviewer are both working towards the same goal: Making sure the article meets all the criteria to get a legitimate story published.
Beyond that, once you realise that this isn't Wikipedia, it tends to become easier. :) Wikinews is written using an inverted pyramid style (most important at the top, least important at the bottom), uses active voice where possible, is neutral, and sources are required but not inline for WN:SYNTH articles. (Original reporting is more highly prized and there are a few more guidelines for.)
Hope that answers some questions and whatever mentoring you need, let me know. :) --LauraHale (talk) 11:02, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

• Okay, when I went looking for possible sources I was left with a 'puzzling' impression the race was more-recently than last Sunday. But, no; it's just due to no race in the US since 2007 there's a lot of 'post-mortem' on Austin holding the race.

There's quite a number of articles in Category:Formula One which may give you a feel for how to write a race report; but, as the race was Sunday and we're at Tuesday I'd lead with some of the responses to the race being held in Austin. This as such is the most-recent development.

Biggest mistake most people from Wikipedia make is overloading an article with sources. Put simply, sourcing policy is "at least two, independent sources". I'd suspect you may need three or four to cover both the race and results (from 2nd paragraph onwards) and open with the response to the venue (from visitors) and what people in Austin have said. That's what you lead with, as-said above 'most recent, most current new news'.

Opening paragraph is called a wikt:lede. Generally not more than three sentences, using active voice.

So, that said welcome to Wikinews, have a go. I've copyedited a lot of F1 submissions in the past and will have a look later on. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 17:34, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

I'll see what I can do.. I may have to wait and let someone else do this one because I'm busy preparing for a trip right now. Thanks for the advice all! Gwickwire (talk) 01:49, 21 November 2012 (UTC)