Wikimecum:Wikis

A good Venipedia wiki article should attempt to reproduce as professionally as possible the highest caliber of entries that one finds in the best articles in Wikipedia. No holds barred. An example of a professionally finished biographical wikipedia article is the article about Attila the Hun. A good example of a complete and well-organized wiki article about a geographical place is the Wikipedia article about Venice itself.

In general, every one of our Venipedia articles should always include:

• An article Title that truly reflects the content of the article and includes terms that one is likely to search for. Avoid generic titles, especially if they already exist in Wikipedia.
• Many links to other articles in Venipedia or Wikipedia or to outside web sites
• Plenty of References to scientific, or academic, or otherwise authoritative sources for the information in the article.
• An appropriate number of images/figures/diagrams that "really" add to the article, with proper captions. Text should flow around the figures whenever possible.
• One or more maps, possibly "live" Google maps (as appropriate)
• On or more graphics, possibly even some "live" graphics (like a Motion Chart by Google) as appropriate
• On or more sidebars, as appropriate
• References or credits for all images/figures/diagrams/maps/graphics (reference your own IQP if needed)
• Every article must contain a "See Also", "References" and "External Links" sections at the bottom of the article
• All articles should start with a body of text, not with a header. There should never be two back-to-back headers
• Headers should be self-explanatory. They should succinctly, yet clearly, describe the specific content of the section, and should make specific reference to Venice as appropriate. Always think about the "competing" articles in Wikipedia.
• The articles should be well-designed and pleasant to browse.

If you want to produce a A-level wiki article, I recommend you take a close look at the greatest examples you can find in Wikipedia. Find something similar to your topic and pattern your entry to the highest standards of the articles in Wikipedia that YOU find to be the most professional. You need to look at your article with a “critical eye”.

Critical thinking is one of those skills that cannot be taught. It needs to be “developed” with practice. If I were to tell you what I thought it would take to make the page look most professional, I would be grading myself at the end of the day. An A grade signifies going beyond expectations, so you’d have to do that on your own in order to earn the highest grade.

It seems to me that many of you are only tweaking the existing entries, after I gave you some suggestions, but you are NOT seriously addressing the CONTENT of the article. You should make sure that the TITLE topic should be given prominence. That’s what someone who came to the page would expect to see. What could you add/change to make the entry more informative? What additional visuals could you add to illustrate the key findings relating to the topic of the article? Who else has studied your topic? Etc.

Here is what Wikipedia suggests: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents/Policies_and_guidelines

Good luck