Help:Menu/Site map

Just go for it! — the easiest and fastest way to get involved is to click the edit tab at the top of an article that interests you and improve it in the editor that appears.

Keep in mind...: The Five Pillars (the core rules)

Tutorials

Main tutorial — will help anyone become a Wikipedia contributor.
Editing — almost every page has an "Edit" tab.
Formatting — the basics on coding.
Links — the basics on internal links.
Sources — the basics on adding references.
Talk pages — the basics on how to communicate with others.
Policies — there are some things to keep in mind when editing Wikipedia.
Registration — registering a username is optional, but encouraged.
Graphics — the basics on how to use graphics.
Images — the basics on how to use images.
IRC (live chat) — to access the freenode IRC servers, follow the directions here.

{{tutorials}} — place this on your user page to display a navigation box with helpful links

Overviews: Plain and simple — the basic mechanics of Wikipedia; Primer for newcomers — an overview for new contributors; Advice for parents

Where to next?

For comprehensive help, see The Missing Manual and the Help directory
If you wish to express an opinion or make a comment, Where to ask questions will point you in the correct direction.
If you're looking for things to edit, the Community portal has lists of open tasks, or you can join a subject-specific WikiProject.
If you would like to create a new article, Starting an article will explain how to create a new page, with tips for success and a link to Wikipedia's Article Wizard, which can guide you through the process of submitting a new article to Wikipedia.

Editing Wikipedia [Edit]

Basic editing

If you can't find what you're looking for on this page, you can ask questions at the Help desk or at the Teahouse. Volunteers will respond as soon as possible.

Be bold!

Introductory tutorial

Contributing to Wikipedia

How to edit a page

Experiment in the sandbox

Show preview to review your edits before you save

Editing sections

Creating links

Making categories

Saving your edits

"Show preview" — always use this to avoid errors

Edit summary — please explain your edits

Minor edits — check this for typos and small corrections

Edit conflict — what to do when another editor changes the page while you're editing it

How to write an article

Starting an article

Article Wizard

Name a page

Naming conventions in general

Full list of specific naming conventions

Your first article

Article development (advanced editing)

Layout

The perfect article

Writing better articles

Editing shortcuts

Contributing to articles outside your native language

Editing with a text editor

Special page types

Disambiguation pages

Creating subpages

Revert a page to an earlier version

Dealing with vandalism

Protect and unprotect pages (Administrators only)

Link together Wikipedia articles in different languages

Link words in articles to Wikimedia sister projects

Use page names

Use namespaces

Use headings as anchors to link to

Do a purge

Test edits and other things

Links

Help:Link

Types of links

Guidance

Wikipedia:Linking

Wikipedia:Embedded list

Wikipedia:Template messages/Links

References

How | Why | What is a reliable source?, info on citing sources

Category:Wikipedia resources for researchers

Wikipedia:Public domain resources

Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange

Wikipedia:Example requests for permission

Wikipedia:Citation tools

Images and media [Edit]

Overview of images

Creation and usage of media files

Upload an image to Commons (preferred) or to English Wikipedia.

Find

Finding images tutorial

Requested pictures

Graphics Lab

Image copyright tags

Help

File description pages

How to upload files to Wikipedia

Images and other uploaded files

Preparing images for upload

Visual file markup

How to insert and use pictures in Wikipedia articles

Use the Extended image syntax to place an image in an article

Sound file markup

Graphics tutorials

How to request images or media for deletion

Category:Wikipedia image help

Media copyright questions

Policy and guidelines

Image use policy

Guide to captions

Guide to use of logos

Guide to use of alternative text for images

Other

Featured pictures

Featured picture candidates

Public domain image resources

Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission

Wikipedia:Example requests for permission

Wikipedia:Moving images to the Commons

Category:Wikipedia images

Keeping track of changes [Edit]

Tracking with the Wikipedia interface

Edit summary

Minor edit

Recent changes (and the recent changes patrol)

Enhanced recent changes

Page history

User contributions pages

Talk pages

Recent changes page

Patrolling the recent changes

Watching pages

Public watchlists

Related changes page

Using "What links here"

Diff pages

Keyboard shortcuts

Special pages

Vandalism

Reverting a page to undo vandalism (and the Three-revert rule)

Reporting vandalism to administrators (urgent cases only)

How and when to report to administrators

Current vandalism

Persistent vandals

The Counter Vandalism Unit

Most vandalized pages

Don't provoke the vandals!

Fighting vandalism

Policies and guidelines [Edit]

The principles which the policies and guidelines are based on

Five pillars — statement of our principles

Jimbo's statement — historic principles

Simplified ruleset — synopsis of our conventions

Wikimedia principles — common to all projects

Principles — other essays on Wikipedia's principles

Tutorial on policies

Introduction to policies and guidelines — a quick introduction to the major policies and guidelines for very new users.

General policies

What Wikipedia is not

Procedural policies

Policies & guidelines — how policies and guidelines should be developed and maintained.

Mediation

Bot policy

Content policies and guidelines

Core content policies
Neutral point of view
No original research
Verifiability

Other content policies
Article titles
Biographies of living persons
Deletion
Image use

Content guidelines
Citing sources
Disambiguation
Do not create hoaxes
Do not include copies of primary sources
Identifying reliable sources
Notability
Patent nonsense

Behavioural policies and guidelines

Behavioural policies: Civility — Incivility is not tolerated; Child protection; Edit warring; Harassment; Legal threats; Personal attacks; Ownership of content; Sock puppetry

Behavioural guidelines
Assume good faith
Conflict of interest
Do not disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point
Etiquette
Gaming the system
Please do not bite the newcomers

Editing policies and guidelines

Editing policies Editing policy

Editing guidelines Be bold Article size Hatnotes Signatures Subpages Talk page guidelines User pages Vandalism WikiProjects

Style and formatting conventions

Classification guidelines

Categories, lists, and navigation templates

Categorization

Template namespace

First check these lists of frequently asked questions

FAQ main page — questions about using and contributing.

Administration — answers some questions related to Administrators.

Article subjects — what to do about specific articles.

Categories — about using Wikipedia's categories.

Contributing — answers to questions commonly asked by contributors.

Copyright — four most commonly asked questions about copyright.

Editing — answers the most common questions about editing.

Forking — how do I download and use Wikipedia content?

IRC (live chat) — about "chat rooms" – real-time discussions.

Organizations — editing without displaying a conflict of interest.

Problems — solving problems you may encounter when browsing or editing.

Readers — addresses concerns and questions readers may have.

Schools — questions that teachers, librarians and administrators might have.

Technical — answers some questions related to the technical workings of the site.

(Miscellaneous) — questions that do not fit into any of above sections.

If you can't find your question, then it's time to ask someone...

Where to ask questions

Where to ask factual questions

Reference desk — volunteers will attempt to answer any factual question you may have. They are organized into the following subject areas:

Where to ask help-related questions

Help desk — the volunteers here will help you with Wikipedia-related questions.

Wikipedia:Questions — another help page

Wikipedia:Teahouse — friendly place for new editors to become accustomed to Wikipedia culture, ask questions, and develop community relationships.

Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) — the place to ask technical questions about Wikipedia and all related technology.

Wikipedia:Media copyright questions — about images, audio files, and other media.

{{Help me}} — write a question or request on your user talk page, and place {{Help me}} with it, and someone will be by shortly to help you on it.

Live help — ask other editors questions in real time in a Wikipedia chat room.