INDIANPEDIA · HELP
How to edit IndianPedia
A beginner's guide to creating, editing, sourcing, and improving articles.
Welcome to IndianPedia
IndianPedia is a collaborative encyclopedia. Anyone with an account can help improve the project by correcting errors, adding reliable sources, improving article structure, creating useful pages, and maintaining existing content.
You do not need to be an expert to make a useful edit.
The most important principles are:
- Write clearly and accurately.
- Use reliable sources.
- Keep a neutral point of view.
- Do not copy copyrighted material.
- Treat other contributors respectfully.
- When in doubt, discuss the issue before making a controversial change.
Before making your first edit
Before editing an article, consider:
- Is the information accurate?
- Can it be supported by a reliable source?
- Is the information relevant to the article?
- Is the wording neutral?
- Am I copying someone else's copyrighted text?
- Would another contributor understand why I made this change?
For important or controversial subjects, take extra care with sourcing.
Editing an existing article
Open the article you want to improve.
Depending on the editor available on IndianPedia, you may see:
- Edit — visual editing interface.
- Edit source — direct wikitext editing.
Make your changes and review the page before publishing.
Use the edit summary field to briefly explain what you changed.
Examples:
Fixed spelling and grammar
Added source for population figure
Updated information from official government source
Creating a new article
Before creating a new article, search IndianPedia to make sure the subject does not already have an article.
A good article should generally:
- Have a clear subject.
- Contain useful encyclopedic information.
- Be written neutrally.
- Use reliable sources.
- Avoid promotional language.
- Meet IndianPedia's applicable notability requirements.
To create a page, use the search box and search for the desired title. If the page does not exist, follow the Create this page option.
You can also use:
Basic wikitext
IndianPedia uses MediaWiki markup (wikitext).
Headings
Use two equal signs for a section heading:
== History ==
A subsection uses three equal signs:
=== Early history ===
Do not use a single equal sign for normal article sections.
Bold text
Use three apostrophes:
'''Important text'''
Result:
Important text
Italic text
Use two apostrophes:
''Italic text''
Result:
Italic text
Internal links
Link to another IndianPedia article using:
[[India]]
You can display different text:
[[Republic of India|India]]
Result:
External links
External links can be written as:
[https://example.com Example website]
Use external links when they provide useful additional information.
Bullet lists
Use an asterisk:
* First item * Second item * Third item
Numbered lists
Use a hash:
# First item # Second item # Third item
References and citations
Reliable sources are an important part of IndianPedia.
When adding factual information, provide a citation whenever appropriate.
A basic reference can be inserted using:
<ref>Source information</ref>
Then place:
== References == <references />
at the end of the article.
Example
India became independent in 1947.<ref>Source title, publisher, date.</ref> == References == <references />
Whenever possible, use reliable sources such as:
- Government publications
- Official institutional websites
- Academic publications
- Books from reputable publishers
- Established newspapers
- Reputable news organisations
- Other reliable secondary sources
Do not cite search-engine results themselves as a substitute for the underlying source.
Writing neutrally
IndianPedia articles should be written from a neutral point of view.
Avoid language such as:
This is the greatest political party in India.
Prefer:
The party is one of India's major political parties and has formed governments at both the national and state levels.
Avoid promotional claims such as:
- Best
- Greatest
- Number one
- World-class
- Revolutionary
- Unmatched
unless such wording is directly relevant and supported by reliable sources.
Adding information about living people
Take particular care when writing about living people.
Avoid:
- Unsourced allegations
- Defamatory statements
- Gossip
- Private information
- Sensational claims
- Unverified social-media claims
Use reliable published sources and write biographies carefully and neutrally.
Images and files
Only upload images and other media when you have a lawful basis to use them.
Before uploading a file, check:
- Who created it.
- Where it came from.
- Its copyright status.
- Its licence.
- Whether attribution is required.
- Whether IndianPedia permits its use.
See IndianPedia's copyright policy.
Templates
Templates can add consistent formatting and functionality to articles.
For example:
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Example
| office = Example office
| term_start = 1 January 2020
}}
Do not modify an important template without understanding how it affects pages using that template.
Categories
Categories help readers discover related articles.
Add relevant categories near the bottom of an article:
[[Category:Indian politicians]] [[Category:People from Assam]]
Avoid adding unrelated or excessive categories.
Article talk pages
Every article has a talk page where contributors can discuss improvements.
Use a talk page when:
- You disagree about an article's wording.
- You want to propose a major change.
- You need clarification about a source.
- An article has a neutrality or sourcing problem.
- You want to discuss a controversial edit.
Sign your discussion comments with:
~~~~
This automatically adds your username and timestamp.
Edit summaries
An edit summary helps other contributors understand your change.
Good examples:
Corrected spelling
Added government source
Expanded early life section
Removed unsupported claim
Avoid vague summaries such as:
Changes
or:
Fix
when more information would be useful.
Preview before publishing
Whenever possible, use Show preview before publishing an edit.
Check:
- Formatting
- Links
- References
- Templates
- Spelling
- Paragraph structure
- Categories
- Infoboxes
Previewing helps prevent accidental errors.
Reverting mistakes
If you make a mistake, don't panic.
You can usually edit the page again and correct it.
If another editor makes a clearly unhelpful change, an appropriate revision may be reverted. However, repeated reversions can become edit warring.
For disagreements, use the article's talk page and seek consensus.
What not to do
Do not use IndianPedia to:
- Advertise products or services.
- Promote a business.
- Publish personal attacks.
- Spread misinformation.
- Upload copyrighted material without a lawful basis.
- Publish private or sensitive personal information.
- Impersonate another person or organisation.
- Manipulate articles for political campaigning.
- Create duplicate pages unnecessarily.
- Add unsupported allegations.
- Use multiple accounts to manipulate discussions or evade legitimate restrictions.
Getting help
If you need assistance:
- Ask on the relevant article's talk page.
- Visit the Community portal.
- Review Policies and guidelines.
- Contact an administrator for administrative matters.
For technical issues, include the affected page and describe what went wrong.
Useful links
- IndianPedia Main Page
- Policies and guidelines
- Copyrights
- Disclaimers
- Users
- Administrators
- Community portal
- Recent changes
- Upload file
- Create a page
Start contributing
The easiest way to begin is to find an article that needs a small improvement.
Fix a typo. Add a reliable source. Improve a sentence. Create a useful link.
Every constructive contribution helps improve IndianPedia.
Remember: IndianPedia is a collaborative project. Be accurate, be neutral, cite reliable sources, respect copyright, and treat other contributors with respect.
IndianPedia · Knowledge of India, for everyone.