How to add to an Existing Wikipedia Article

Wikipedia is an online open content encyclopedia that is a great source for information. Wikipedia is not considered a reliable source because anyone can change the information on the site. It is however, carefully edited and monitored to bring the most reliable information available on almost every topic under the sun. Improve the site and share your knowledge by adding accurate information to a Wikipedia page.

Instructions

1. Go to the Wikipedia website. Click the "Edit this Page" tab at the top of the page. The page will appear within a text area that is editable. It will not look the same since it is in XML format, although the words will be recognizable.

2. Make small additions such as one extra sentence or word in a paragraph. Locate the desired location in the text area and simply add the information within the type that is already there.

3. Locate the "Edit Summary" directly below the text edit area. Enter one to two words to briefly explain what was added, such as "comma added." This only needs to be brief since that actual changes can be viewed under the "History" tab.

4. Click the "Show Preview" button directly below the "Edit Summary" to see the changes before they are saved. Click the "Save Page" button right next to the "Show Preview" button once you are satisfied with the changes.

5. Follow the proper formatting conventions when making major changes. This will format the page correctly. A section header needs to have two equal signs before it and two equal signs after it. A subsection header needs three before and three after.

6. Remember to link to external URLs. The name of the website address needs to be listed as follows: [http://website.com Website]. Leave one space between the address and the name of the website.

7. Link to internal Wikipedia articles too. This needs to be done if any word used in the article has its own article. These need to be formatted as follows: [[Wikipedia]].