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) 13:42, 12 October 2016 (UTC)Reply

Hi. I reviewed this, finding it not ready for publication in its current form, and wrote up an extensive set of review comments explaining basic problems with it. It seems to me this article is probably too ambitious for your first submission to Wikinews; you'd need to start small, learn the ropes and accumulate a reputation here. I recommend you read WN:Pillars of Wikinews writing first, a compact overview of what we do here, giving a sense of the project; then WN:Writing an article is a great tutorial for getting started. --Pi zero (talk) 12:43, 15 October 2016 (UTC)Reply

  • Thank you very much for your time and detailed analysis. Your comments are very valuable. We will study them carefully and maybe submit a new article. --Spiritual Psychology 03:43, 16 October, 2016 (UTC)
It concerns me that you say "we".
  • This suggests your account may be a role account, which is not permitted on Wikinews; and
  • It sounds as if you may be grouping yourself together with the interviewee, which strongly suggests a COI problem (as I mentioned in the article review comments).
--Pi zero (talk) 15:22, 22 October 2016 (UTC)Reply
  • Dear Pi zero: Once again, thank you very much for your good assistance. My English is very bad. I can read and write only with a dictionary. It takes too much time. I understood everything. I'm working on my User page now. I would like to tell my story so that you can make a decision regarding my participation in Wikinews. --Spiritual Psychology (talk) 15:49, 22 October, 2016 (UTC)