LitWiki:How to write a great article
From LitWiki
Suppose you want to write a first-rate or even perfect LitWiki article. Here's how.
Contents |
Research
Once you have decided on a topic, use LitWiki’s search engine to find out what related material is already here. That way, you get a feel for the environment and will later be able to create good links to other relevant articles.
You may think that you know enough about your topic, but chances are that others know more. Do a search on Wikipedia, on Everything2, look at the first couple of hits from a Google search, and read the relevant articles from an encyclopedia such as Encyclopedia.com (free), All Refer (free), or Encyclopedia Britannica (free in most libraries). Don't shy away from visiting a good academic or public library to have a look at the standard references; for LitWiki, see especially the MLA Database from Firstsearch, available in most college libraries.
If you are creating a brand new article (see starting a new page), there are a couple of naming conventions that you should follow.
Writing
Start your article with a concise paragraph defining the topic at hand and mentioning the most important points. The reader should be able to get a good overview by only reading this first paragraph.
Then start the article properly. See our editing help for the format we use to produce links, emphasize text, lists, headlines etc. Make sure to link to other relevant LitWiki articles. Also, where appropriate, add links in other articles back to your article.
You cannot simply cut-and-paste from one of the external resources mentioned above. This is called plagiarism. Be sure you cite where the information comes from when you paraphrase and quote directly. As a general rule: anything that is not common knowledge must be cited. At the end, you should list all references you used and external links about the topic. Don't neglect the “External Links” and “References” sections that should appear at the bottom of every page. The most useful and accurate material you've found by searching Google during your research might make good links for a reader too. And sometimes there is a standard work that is mentioned over and over in connection with your topic. Mention it, with its author and publication date.
It's often a good idea to separate the major sections of your articles with section headlines. For many topics, a history section is very appropriate, outlining how thinking about the concept evolved over time.
If different people have different opinions about your topic, characterize that debate from the neutral point of view; i.e., do not take a particular side, but present the information as objectively as possible.
Try to get your spelling right. LitWiki does not yet contain a spell checker, but you can write and spell-check your article first in a word processor or text editor (which is more comfortable than the LitWiki text-box anyway) and then paste it into said text-box. Some browsers, like Apple’s Safari, contain a built-in spell checker; be sure it’s turned on.
Finishing Touches
Top it all off with a nice relevant image or graphic. Tons of copyright-free images are listed on Google. Please do not link to images on other servers; instead use the upload page.
One way to get a good article is to bounce it back and forth between several other members of LitWiki. Use the Talk pages to refine the topic, ask for their confirmations, note their doubts: it is usually interesting to discover that, perhaps from another class or from the other side of the planet, after a while, some other contributors can check other sources, or propose different interpretations. The composition of a commonly agreed interpretation is the most important ingredient of a serious LitWiki article.
Keep the article in an encyclopedic style: add etymology or provenance (when available), look for analogies and eventual comparisons to propose. Be objective: avoid personal comments (or turn them into general statements, but only when they coincide), don't use personal forms (I found that...).
Don't neglect the External Links and References sections. The most useful and accurate material you've found by searching Google during your research might make good links for a reader, too. And sometimes there is a standard work that is mentioned over and over in connection with your topic. Mention it, with its author and publication date. Even better, obtain a copy and use it to check the material in the article. All strong articles will contain a list of references.
Later Editing
On the LitWiki, there's a tendency for articles to become somewhat bitty as contributors dip in and out and contribute individual sentences or paragraphs. This can lead to redundancy or a wandering train of thought. Even if you don't contribute new content to an article, it's still helpful to rearrange, rephrase, condense and generally improve the readability of a LitWiki article. This is especially useful where an article has become somewhat lengthy without being suitably sub-divided into sections.
