This task force breaks the article improvement process into 5 distinct parts to assist in collaboration between editors with different skills. The 5 parts are brainstorming, research, accessibility editing, image generation, and review.
Brainstorming
editWhat is it?
editOne of the hardest parts of creating a new article is brainstorming and discovering sections that need to be added to or improved in the article. This step requires the most technical knowledge because in order to list something to be added or improved you have to first know it exists. A person can't research addition in set theory and category theory if they don't know set theory and category theory exist, or that addition is significantly different there.
How you can help?
editThis task force encourages those with knowledge of the subject to quickly read through an article (especially those in the brainstorming collaboration of the week) and list on the talk page a section, thought, or idea that could be included in the article. If you want to go ahead and research it and include it you're more than welcome to, but by just jotting it down on the talk page you allow others to research and write it when they might not have thought of it.
Brainstorming collaboration of the week
editThis week's brainstorming collaboration is commutativity and distributivity.
Research
editWhat is it?
editResearch is the core process of this article improvement task force. Research involves finding sources for a topic, figuring out what the essential facts of that topic are, and figuring out how to add those facts to the article in a referenced and cleanly written way. Most of these articles cover basic mathematical facts that many mathematicians know. As a result, a lot of these articles are lacking good sources because the editor was just writing what he knows. The challenges of research involve finding good sources and fleshing out the facts, writing the material in a presentable way.
How you can help?
editThis task force encourages anyone to pick a section or passage in an article that is poorly written, lacks sources, or nonexistent and research and improve it. Most libraries should have some basic math textbooks or some more advanced ones for you to use. If you don't know about the subject, then consider this an opportunity to learn!
Research collaboration of the week
editThis week's research collaboration is commutativity and distributivity]].
Accessibility Editing
editWhat is it?
editThese articles are the most basic and core articles in mathematics. They should be understood and accessible (at least to begin with) to a wide audience. Accessibility editing involves going through an article and simplifying it or explaining it in a way that still contains the same content but will reach a broader audience. Making technical articles readable is one of the challenges of Wikipedia and mathematics is no exception. For advice and suggestions, refer to the User:Weston.pace/Sandbox/Simple mathematics manual of style
How can you help?
editThis task force encourages editors to try and keep a general audience in mind when writing articles. Explaining complex topics to a general audience is tricky, because Wikipedia is not a textbook and our goal is not to teach. Yet many times explanations can be written in simpler ways without losing encyclopedic content. For example, some topics mean different things in different branches of mathematics, changing the majority of the topic to be consistent with one definition can tremendously improve readability. Also, providing an informal explanation before going into detailed math is an approved practice. Refer to The mathematics manual of style for help.
Accessibilitycollaboration of the week
editThis week's accessibility collaboration is commutativity and distributivity
Image Generation
editWhat is it?
editA picture is worth 1000 words, and great articles are accompanied by great images. Images can also be a tool for accessibility, and often a good image can explain a concept better than a good lecture. Image generation refers to the task of finding or creating images for mathematics articles. Images for mathematics articles can range from images of historic people to graphs and figures to illustrations.
How can you help?
editIf you have artistic skill then your skill could be greatly used in by responding to requests for images or by contributing to the image generation collaboration of the week. Even if you aren't a great artist, you could create compelling figures and graphs with math knowledge. If you have a good imagination then go to requests for images and describe an image that you think could contribute to an article or to the image generation collaboration of the week.
Image generation collaboration of the week
editThis week's image generation collaboration is commutativity and distributivity
Review
editWhat is it?
editPeer review is at the heart of Wikipedia. Articles are strong because many editors make small changes to them over time. Different editors have different skills and they can all contribute. In addition, by requesting a peer review, an editor can discover mistakes in an article, and can also learn where they can improve their editing style.
How can you help?
editBy responding to a request for review you can help find directions for improvement in an article, and if you're polite about it, this is a great way to help out your fellow Wikipedian and most reviews are received with thanks. This task force aims to provide feedback for editors in a number of ways.
- Accessibility peer review - An editor can request an accessibility review to try and find out how accessible their article is to a general audience. To find articles needing accessibility review or to list an article for accessibility review go here.
- Technical peer review - An editor can request a technical review to make sure that the material he has presented is factually accurate. Many basic topics have explanations and uses in different fields of math, and a technical review can get provide input from experts in those fields. To find articles needing technical review or to list an article for technical review go here
- Copyedit - An editor can request a copyedit to review the grammar, spelling, and prose of their article. This can help an editor ensure that their article is at the highest quality. To find articles needing copyediting or to list an article for copyediting go here
- Good article review - Articles in Wikipedia can only achieve good article status by going through the good article nomination process. Good article reviews ensure that the article meets the good article criteria. Producing good articles is the major goal of this project and we encourage you to nominate an article for good article review if you believe it's worthy. To see a list of mathematics articles up for good article review or to list a mathematics article for good article review go here
- A-class review - A-class articles represent some of the highest quality articles in mathematics. A-class reviews goes through WikiProject Mathematics to ensure A-class articles are factually accurate and expertly written. To participate in an A-class review or to list an article for A-class review go here
- Featured article review - Featured articles are the highest quality articles on Wikipedia. Bringing an article to featured article status is an extraordinary achievement and takes tremendous effort and collaboration. To see a list of basic mathematics articles up for featured article review or to find out how to list a basic mathematics article for featured article review go here.