Guidelines for Contributors
From Entrepedia: The Entrepreneurship Wiki
When you contribute to Entrepedia, you can, for the most part, add any information that you want to the site. However, there are some guidelines for contribution that you should be aware of. Keep in mind that if your articles or changes to existing articles do not follow these guidelines, there is an increased chance that your information will be removed.
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Content Guidelines
The most important guideline to remember when contributing is that it is best for everyone if your information is accurate. Entrepedia is designed as a means of sharing information within the entrepreneurship community, which means that we want all information to be relevant and useful to users.
When contributing it is also very important that you make sure the information you are providing does not infringe on any copyright laws. If you are unsure whether contributing certain information is copyright infringement, then the best idea is to get in touch with the source or author if possible. If you would like to include a quotation or reference from a source, please make sure that you cite that source in some way, either by using a citation template or by linking to the source itself.
Style Guidelines
There are some style guidelines which may not seem as important, but can help you provide information that is as clear, and therefore helpful to other users as possible:
- Avoid personal references unless article is a Case Study
- Ensure that the information you would like to provide doesn't already exist – if there is already an article, expand or edit the information provided rather than creating a second article
- Add links to existing information wherever possible; consider the linking in Wikipedia as an example
- Please do not advertise directly in Entrepedia articles; you can provide information about or links to your venture if it is directly relevant to the article, but otherwise please keep all advertising limited to your user profile
- Please do your best to use proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar in all articles
In addition to this, please remember that formatting is important, but not as important as the information itself. When you edit an article you will be able to insert basic formatting (i.e. italics, bold font, internal and external links, and the general Level 2 heading - an example of which is the "More Guidelines" heading in this article) by selecting the text that you wish to italicise, link, etc., and then clicking on the desired formatting button from those provided at the top of the editing box.
Remember, if you are not comfortable formatting beyond this, or if you are having trouble with formatting, then add the information in plain text format. You can always return to edit it later when you are more comfortable; it may also be formatted by another user when they contribute to the article!
Citing Sources
In order to ensure compliance with copyright laws and encourage accuracy of information, we have created a template which you can use when contributing to cite the source that you are quoting or paraphrasing. These templates may seem difficult to master, but they really aren't. When you wish to cite specific piece of information or quotation, simply follow it with the following:
<ref name="insert reference name here*"> Name of author, Title of Publication or Source, Name of company or website that produced source - date if applicable [insert link to source here**]</ref>
* You don't need to come up with a reference name here, but it can be very useful. If you just come up with a shortened version of the website or author's name and insert it in the quotation marks, whenever you want to use that same source again, you only have to type <ref name="insert reference name here"></ref> without re-writing the citation information.
** Please link any web resources so that other users have the opportunity to see the original source. Also, if you are referencing a book or article, you may want to put a link to a website such as Amazon or Questia where users can purchase the source for themselves if they are interested.
- Once you have used the citation template, you will need to check the bottom of the article to see if it already has a "References" section. If it does, then your citation will be listed here automatically. If it does not, then you will need to create one. No worries - this is very easy! Just create a heading by typing ==References==, and then, two lines down, type in <references />
- Please note that you may find using this template a bit tricky if you are not used to using wiki syntax. Don't worry - everyone makes mistakes! Make sure to use the Show Preview function as much as you need to before saving. If you are not comfortable using this template then just add the citation information in some way (just using a link following the paragraph, for example) and mention the need for citation formatting in the article's discussion page. Someone who is more familiar with the template can always edit it later!
If you find our guidelines or advice on formatting unclear, or if you feel that the guidelines are too strict (or not strict enough) we would very much want to know! If you ever have any questions or comments regarding the formatting and contribution guidelines, or Entrepedia in general, you can contact the editors by e-mail
