An Article Start to Finish: Finishing Touches
From Extension Collaborative Wiki
Week 6
This lesson on "Finishing Touches" has been built around the suggestions of the seminar participants. It's a work in progress. Feel free to add to it with more information as you learn it, or helpful hints and tips that you think might be useful to your peers.
Contents |
Learning Objectives
After completing this lesson the participants will:
- know how to properly include footnotes in their article
- be proficient in MediaWiki navigation
- be proficient in search and finding content
Introduction to the Lesson
When constructing or editing your articles, it is important to provide references for any information or fact, that your readers may question. In addition to providing verifiability, references assist readers by linking them to other sources of information about the topics discussed. (Keep in mind the lessons of Week One; search engines show a preference for articles with two or more links to outside sources.)
Demonstrations and Learning Activities
Footnotes
Footnotes are placed at the bottom of your page of text, to offer further information and/or the source of information within the text of the article. A number or symbol is used to connect the text to the footnote information at the bottom of the page. These are the basics:
- Place a <ref> Some text goes here... </ref> where you want a footnote reference number to appear. The text of the note you want to appear in your reference note should be placed between the "ref" tags.
- Place the <references/> tag in a "Notes" or "References" section near the end of the article— the list of notes will be generated there.
The way that you add a reference is pretty simple. Here is an example of how it works adding two references in the body of an article, and then having them automatically displayed in a section called "Reference":
Example Markup
According to scientists, the Sun is pretty big,<ref>Miller, E: "The Sun.", page 23. Academic Press, 2005</ref>
however the moon is not so big.<ref>Smith, R: "Size of the Moon", Scientific American, 46(78):46</ref>
== References ==
<references/>
The Results: Marking up the text in your article like shown above would result in the following:
According to scientists, the Sun is pretty big,[1] however the moon is not so big.[2]
References
- ↑ Miller, E: "The Sun.", page 23. Academic Press, 2005
- ↑ Smith, R: "Size of the Moon", Scientific American, 46(78):46
Hands-on Activity
- Locate a section of your article where you would like to add a comment for further clarification or a reference. This will require some minor research if you do not already have the material on-hand. Using the <ref> and </ref> tags add the reference material to the body of your article. Add a section at the bottom of your article for references; e.g. == Reference ==
Tour of the Collaborate Wiki
There are several features built into MediaWiki to help you find and organize content of interest. The Recording of the 30 Minute professional development session on the Collaborate Wiki will show you the primary mechanisms:
- My watchlist
- My contributions
- Recent contributions
- History
Hands On Activity
- Look through the Start to Finish Article Pages and add at least two articles to your watch page.
- Examine the history listing for your article and compare the 2nd version with the latest.
- Look at the most recent changes page and note which article was most recently edited. Who did the edit, and what was the nature of the changes? Note this on your own user page discussion area.
MediaWiki Search
There are two ways to use the search mechanism in MediaWiki. The first is if you know the exact name of the article you want to find. You enter that name in the search box and click on "Go". If you are searching for an article and you don't know it's exact name you would enter keywords you think would be in your article and click on "Search". This is the primary method you should use to find content within a wiki. Search has replaced browsing (surfing) as the tool of choice, and MediaWiki embraces this philosophy for organizing information. Think flat! MediaWiki places an emphasis on keywords that appear in the title first, followed by keywords appearing in the body of the text. Just like Google. This is why we placed so much emphasis on the importance of selecting your keywords in Week 3.
You'll find more reminders of proper wiki searching at Wikipedia Guide to Searching. Practice your searching and do the following activity.
Hands On Activity
- Using the search tool find an article that discusses MUVEs. Note the article title on your own user page discussion area.
