ExtremeWiki:Write News

From ExtremeWiki

Anyone, including you, can write news for ExtremeWiki! All you need is an Internet connection, access to a web browser (which we can assume you have if you're reading this), your time, effort and willingness to learn a few easy skills.

[edit] Before you begin

[edit] Is your story news?

Check that the story you have in mind is appropriate material for ExtremeWiki to publish. Generally, if it is event report, person or team achievement, significant product release or nature event that is important for extreme sports enthusiasts, it is ExtremeWiki News.

[edit] Has your story already been covered?

First, check the Main Page Latest News section to see whether the story you have in mind has already been covered in a published article.

If you do find a story covering the event you were planning to write about, you should just add your knowledge to it.

[edit] Starting out

• Type a headline to left hand side Search box and click Go. If article does not exist, it offers you "Create article" to begin writing the article. Click it.
• News articles are written using the "wiki markup" for formatting and presentation. You can see Help:Editing for guidance on using the Wiki markup or use the toolbar above the editing box to add formatting.

Even if you are not familiar with the markup, you can still write the article in plain text and someone else will do the markup - Collaboration!

• News must be written with the neutral point of view — that is, the article must represent all sides of a story fairly and in an unbiased way.
• News articles should not infringe on the copyright of any other work. So copying portions of text from other sources into a ExtremeWiki News article is usually not acceptable, and in some cases, even rewriting the content of another source is not sufficient.

It is best to gather information from multiple sources and put them all together in your own words in the article you write. See Fair use for more information. Please do not publish an article until it has multiple sources, or there is agreement among editors that more sources are not available and article is not a copyright infringement or that article includes original reporting.

[edit] Write in 'news' style

News reports are typically written in a certain way in the majority of the English language news media. These "style" conventions stem from common sense, tradition, evolution and research. ExtremeWiki, too, follows such conventions, which are listed in the Wikinews Style guide. Try to ensure that an article meets these guidelines.

Some news events are easily comprehensible only to those who are familiar with its background and context. ExtremeWiki has a global audience. To ensure that anyone, anywhere can understand the report, include such background and context as is necessary.

[edit] List your sources

The sources you have used for the article must be listed in a separate section at the bottom of the article. (You can create such a section by adding the following line at the bottom of the article -
==Sources==

A cited source will appear like this:

• Ravi Nessman "Barghouti to Run for Palestinian Leader". Guardian, 13 November, 2004

To format your source in the above style, use this template:

*{{source
 |url    = insert_url_here
 |title  = insert_title_here
 |author = insert_author_here
 |pub    = insert_publisher_here
 |date   = insert_date_here}}

To be clear, the fields are url, title, author, pub(lisher), and date.

Per the style guide, multiple sources should be listed newest to oldest. If any source is missing one or more of the template's fields, leave a blank space after the "=".

[edit] Original reporting?

If you are writing your article using notes you took yourself "in the field" rather than using other published sources, read Wikinews:Original reporting for guidance. Then add the tag {{Original}} at the bottom of a page, and leave detailed notes about the original reporting on the discussion page.

[edit] Add categories

Every article needs to be listed under News category. Besides News you should add it to one or more categories, for it to be easily found even after it has dropped off the Latest news pages. Categories also enable articles to be listed on appropriate sports section, such as Mountain Biking, etc.

You can add Categories to News once you have first saved it. So click Save and you will see Category + logo in the bottom of the article. Click + and Write category name. If category all ready exist, use that. Avoid creating new categories, if existing ones are close to correct.

[edit] Publish the article

Once you have saved article and added Categories, News will automatically appear on ExtremeWiki front page.

[edit] Continuing coverage

Have a look to see if there is a suitable Infobox that could be used on your story.

You might also find a suitable template to add to your story on Template:Issues. These will automatically put appropriate graphics on your story and place it in the right categories.

[edit] See also

• Add Image
• Add Youtube videos
• Add Google Maps
• Add PDF, Word, Excel, etc. documents Scribd