Wikipedia talk:WikiProject University of San Francisco
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Class project edit
Questions about the class? Contact me: phoebe / (talk to me) 20:01, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
- Could project members please show some restraint and judgment? The article isn't a guide for new students. For example, it's not necessary to describe the surrounding area because we already have many articles on San Francisco. It's not necessary to describe the menu at the cafeteria. Every detail of every dorm isn't necessary either. Is all of this new material verifiable from reliable sources? Rather than focusing just on the campus and the school, which are already well-described, how about writing new articles on notable alumni members? ·:· Will Beback ·:· 02:31, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
Quality & Wikipedia policies edit
If this is a class assignment then editors should contribute the same level of material as they'd write in a term paper. In the context of this article, that means a couple of things. First, please make sure that all text is in complete sentences. For example, someone added this text: "Named after USF alumnus James D. Phelan, former U.S. Senator from California and mayor of San Francisco." Second, do not copy text from other websites or sources, unless that text is cited and placed in quotation marks. For example, someone added this text: "Lone Mountain is located one block north of the main campus in a charming and historic facility that captures the true spirit of old world European splendor." That is almost a verbatim copy of text here: [1].
That brings us to the matter of Wikipedia policies. Everyone should read the core policies of this website, found here: WP:5P. One of those policies says: "Wikipedia has a neutral point of view, which means we strive for articles that advocate no single point of view." Adding text that promotes USF is appropriate only if that viewpoint is attributed. So the copied text above would be OK if we wrote, "According to the universities website, campus buildings 'capture the true spirit of old world European splendor'." However we cannot adopt that viewpoint as our own. WP:NPOV also requires that we include all significant viewpoints. If there are reliable sources that call campus buildings eyesores, we'd need to include that view as well, attributing it the same way.
Wikipedia has a manual of style, WP:MOS. While it's not necessary to master every detail, every contributor should at least review the main page. One recurring style problem is that section headings should be in sentence case, not title case. ("Financial aid", not "Financial Aid").
It's important that everything be verifiable with no original research. For example, someone added: "One of the most popular stations in the Cafeteria." In addition to being an incomplete sentence, there's no source for this information. Furthermore, we need to remember that this is an encyclopedia article, not a guide. We're not trying to tell freshmen which dorm is the best, or seeking to entice prospective students to attend.
This article should follow the outline at Wikipedia:WikiProject Universities/Article guidelines. Examples of high quality university articles may be found at Wikipedia:WikiProject_Universities/Accomplishments. I'm sure that everyone in this project would like the WP article on USF to be among the finest examples of WP articles, not a mess that other editors need to clean up after the class is over. ·:· Will Beback ·:· 19:12, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
Comment on the WikiProject X proposal edit
Hello there! As you may already know, most WikiProjects here on Wikipedia struggle to stay active after they've been founded. I believe there is a lot of potential for WikiProjects to facilitate collaboration across subject areas, so I have submitted a grant proposal with the Wikimedia Foundation for the "WikiProject X" project. WikiProject X will study what makes WikiProjects succeed in retaining editors and then design a prototype WikiProject system that will recruit contributors to WikiProjects and help them run effectively. Please review the proposal here and leave feedback. If you have any questions, you can ask on the proposal page or leave a message on my talk page. Thank you for your time! (Also, sorry about the posting mistake earlier. If someone already moved my message to the talk page, feel free to remove this posting.) Harej (talk) 22:48, 1 October 2014 (UTC)
WikiProject X is live! edit
Hello everyone!
You may have received a message from me earlier asking you to comment on my WikiProject X proposal. The good news is that WikiProject X is now live! In our first phase, we are focusing on research. At this time, we are looking for people to share their experiences with WikiProjects: good, bad, or neutral. We are also looking for WikiProjects that may be interested in trying out new tools and layouts that will make participating easier and projects easier to maintain. If you or your WikiProject are interested, check us out! Note that this is an opt-in program; no WikiProject will be required to change anything against its wishes. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!
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