How to Find a Topic to Edit in Wikipedia

Not every Wikipedia topic can be edited. Some pages are completely protected. Others Wikipedia administrators watch closely because they have been vandalized. Follow these guidelines to find a page you can contribute to with your own Wikipedia account.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Open an account in Wikipedia

1. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page. You can also key in "Wikipedia" in search engines like Google or Yahoo.
2. Go to the top right corner of the page. Click on "Sign in/create account." Register yourself by providing a Username and Password. Once you've been added, your Username will appear in red on the top of the page.

Find a topic to edit through Wikipedia lists

3. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Protected_page for a list of protected articles. You cannot change these.
4. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_protected_pages#Semi-protection. These have been recently vandalized. Send administrators a note to request permission to add information or edit them.
   
   
5. If the subject you're looking for is not on the lists you create with the previous searches, you're ready to edit.
   
   

Find out topics to edit through by category

6. Enter the name of the topic you want in Wikipedia's search box on the left-hand side.
7. Click on "go" or press "enter."
8. Look for a padlock to determine if the article is protected or semi-protected.