Wikipedia:WikiProject United States/Help

Main pageTalkEmbassyRequested
ArticlesMembersPortalRecognized
contentTo doHelp

One of the best places to get started after reading this page is Wikipedia:Introduction. Also be sure to stop by our friendly Wikipedia:Teahouse

What would you like help with? Wikipedia Help Template Category

	Questions about using and contributing to Wikipedia Your question might already be answered in the Frequently Asked Questions, otherwise: Getting started is a page that lists some brief introductions on all the basics of Wikipedia. If you place {{helpme}} on your talk page, an editor will visit you there! Help Desk is the main place to ask a question and also where to turn when all else fails. Requests is a page that lists all the services and assistance that can be requested on Wikipedia. WikiProject United States talk and/or Editor assistance/Requests is a place to ask for help regarding content issues and disputes. Dispute resolution requests details the various different methods used at each of the various dispute resolution pages. The Village Pump is the forum for discussion of more complex project-wide technical issues, policies, proposals, and operations of Wikipedia. Media copyright questions covers the use of images and other media on Wikipedia. Need help starting a new article? The article wizard will help you through the process of submitting a new article to Wikipedia....Or Some pages of helpful information to get you started:   Introduction to Wikipedia   The five pillars of Wikipedia   Editing tutorial   How to edit a page   Manual of style   The basics of Wikicode   How to develop an article   How to create an article   Help pages   What Wikipedia is not Some common sense Do's and Don'ts:   Do be bold   Do assume good faith   Do be civil   Do keep cool!   Do maintain a neutral point of view   Don't spam   Don't infringe copyright   Don't vandalize   Don't get blocked             Tips
I.	The "Tips" page is a listing of all the "how to pages" on using Wikipedia. Use common sense, appropriate etiquette and assume good faith on the part of others. Edit in a fair and accurate manner, because perfection is not required. See Wikipedia:Editing policy for more information.
II.	Before starting a new article! - Notability is a concern that must be adhered to. See Wikipedia:Notability for more information.
III.	Use references. This is an encyclopedia, so remember to include references listing websites, newspapers, articles, books and other sources you have used to write or expand articles. New articles and statements added to existing articles may be deleted if unreferenced or referenced poorly. See: Wikipedia:Citing sources and Wikipedia:Verifiability for more information.
IV.	Keep it simple. Remember that the average reader should be able to comprehend the erudition. Although you should use a broad vocabulary of regular, non-technical terms, do not provide such a quantity of locutions as to impel those who aspire to derive serviceable information from the article to consult a dictionary or thesaurus. Stay on topic as many articles are criticized for length; sticking to the subject matter helps eliminate this. See: Wikipedia:Writing better articles and Wikipedia:The perfect article for more information..
V.	Use images if possible. Images enhance articles greatly, but only use them when they are necessary, and ensure that their copyright status has been specified and we are allowed to use it on Wikipedia. See: Wikipedia:Images and Wikipedia:Picture tutorial for more information.
	Tools & sister projects WPUSA automated pages Article alerts - List of deletions, featured & good article candidates, requests for comments, peer reviews etc. Article log - List of "Moved (renamed)" articles and recent assessments. Cleanup listing - List of articles that have multiple maintenance/cleanup tags Unreferenced BLPs - Articles of living people with no references. See BLPs New articles - Newly made articles that may need project tag and/or assessment Popular pages - Listing of the most viewed pages that should be improved (if need be) and watched over closely for vandalism. Recent changes - All recent activity for pages within this project's scope Tools Wikipedia:Tools - Contain various tools and tutorials intended to simplify, make more efficient, or provide additional functionality to Wikipedians. Google book tool - Converts bare URLs into {{cite book}} format.