Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikipedia's goal is to compile the sum of all human knowledge into a Web-based, free content encyclopedia. You can help complete this goal by contributing to Wikipedia in the ways that follow. If you would prefer to do more general maintenance tasks across many articles, please see Wikipedia:Maintenance. Articles of the most pressing importance can be found at Wikipedia:Backlog.
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Create an account
You do not have to log in to read Wikipedia. You do not have to log in even to edit articles on Wikipedia. Just about anyone can edit almost any article at any given time, even without logging in. However, creating an account is quick and free and provides several benefits, as listed at Wikipedia:Why create an account?.
What you can do
Articles
Articles make up the bulk of Wikipedia. The ultimate goal of each article is to reach featured article status. Wikipedia's most important articles are listed at Wikipedia:Vital articles. On this page are several categories. Choose a category you know about, or one you are interested in. Choose an article and try to get the article to match the featured article criteria, and then make it a featured article candidate. Another way you can help is by making requested articles at Wikipedia:Requested articles.
Lists
Lists are essential to the organization of content on Wikipedia. To help improve Wikipedia's lists, first find a list that interests you at Portal:Contents/Lists of topics and then help it match the featured list criteria. You can also create needed lists by going to Wikipedia:Requested lists.
Pictures
Pictures are another important part of Wikipedia. To help with pictures, you can go to Wikipedia:Requested pictures and see if you can complete any of the requests. If you can, try to meet the featured picture criteria.
Sounds
Sounds are a vital yet often forgotten ingredient in Wikipedia. To help with sounds, you can go to Wikipedia:Requested recordings and see if you can complete any of the requests. If you can, try to meet the featured sound criteria.
Portals
Portals help Wikipedia users find a gathering point for a certain topic so they can more easily find information. To help improve Wikipedia's portals, first go to Portal:Contents/Portals and find a portal of interest. Then see if you can improve it to meet the featured portal criteria.
Topics
Topics are a set of inter-related articles that are complete and of high quality. With some hard work and dedication, you can help earn Wikipedia another featured topic. To see the criteria that needs to be met for a featured topic, you can go to Wikipedia:Featured topic criteria.
