Psychology Wiki For Beginners

'''How does this Work? '''

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Everyone is a part of the Psychology Wiki!


When you first see a wiki, it doesn't seem like it could possibly work. If anybody can come along and change things, then how can the information be trusted? Doesn't it just get vandalized, or fall into chaos?

Once you start participating, you see that that "weakness" is actually a wiki's greatest strength. Sure, anybody can add anything - and then everybody else gets to proof-read it, and fix mistakes. Information that looks suspicious can be verified. Vandalism is almost always fixed within minutes. It's possible for someone to post errors, or nonsense - but over time, the best wins out. If you don't believe me, take a look at the Wikipedia.

A Wiki works in a similar way to connectionist and neural network models of the human mind/brain. As you explore the Wiki, you will find most information is linked together. If you don't understand some terminology on one page, it is often the case that that term will be defined elsewhere in the Wiki. If you change that word to a link, then future readers of that page will be less confused. Wiki's EVOLVE. Many random contributions are made, some good and some bad, but eventually the good ones are kept and the bad ones are removed.

If you're reading these words, then you're a Psychology Wiki editor. If you see a problem on one of the pages, don't roll your eyes and complain about it. Just click the 'edit' page button and fix it!

Create a user name
Log in and create a user name -- it helps you (and everybody) keep track of your contributions, and it makes it possible to communicate with other contributors.

You're also invited to post your name on your user page -- either your full name, or just a first name and an initial. It's not required, but it helps everyone get to know you and trust you.

Once you've done that, post your name on the Community Portal Talk Page, by editing the page and typing 3 or 4 of these tildas (~&#126;). That way, people will know that you are active and contributing, and you can join the discussion of what we are trying to achieve.

Neutral Point of View
Articles on the Psychology Wiki should be written from a neutral point of view (NPOV), representing all views fairly and without bias. Post facts, not opinions. Opposing viewpoints and perspectives on a subject are encouraged, but should be written as such. Don't try to make out that a point of view you agree with is the be-all and end-all of the subject, as you will quickly find that another Psychology Wiki editor will change what you have written.

Reference your sources
Other readers should be able to verify the information that you post. You should always cite authors and papers (or books) wherever possible, as well as giving sources for quotes. Imagine that the Wiki is like an essay or paper that requires proper referencing. If you find information in a book or on a website, tell us the title or the URL.

If it's clumsy to put that information in the article, then add a "References" heading at the bottom of the page. . If you are unsure as to the reference or source of your information, please discuss it first on the 'talk page' for that article, it is possible that other contributors will be able to find a reference for you.

See also: Referencing and APA style referencing


 * For example, you would reference Richard Dawkins like this:
 * Dawkins, A (1976) The Selfish Gene . Oxford University Press.
 * One wonders how his theories of evolution of ideas, such as memetics, would apply to this project.
 * Will the poor quality contributions be removed and the good/suitable quality contributions remain?
 * One only has to look at Wikipedia as an example.

Talk pages
Sign talk posts with four tildes ( ~ ) which automatically adds your user name and a date stamp. When you reply on a talk page, put a colon at the front of your post to indent it.

When you post a question on an article's talk page, you can list it in Active Talk Pages by adding a talk box. Just add this template to the top of the article page: -- that'll automatically add a box pointing people to your question, and it'll list you on the Active Talk Pages. You can browse through that list to find other ongoing discussions.

For example; the talk page for the author of this beginners guide is here: Mostly Zen.

See How to use Talk pages for more details.

Fancy signatures
Here's how to make a fancy signature for your talk posts:

Click on the "preferences" tab at the top right of your screen.

On the Preferences page, put this in the Nickname box, with your User name and real first name plugged in:


 * --  Firstname  (talk )

Then check the "Raw signatures" box underneath, and hit the "Save" button at the bottom of the page.

Then, when you sign your talk posts, you just have to type the four tildes, and the new signature will appear. You can tweak that code in a bunch of different ways; feel free to play around with it!

Link sanity
Only link a name or word the first time it's used on a page. Please don't link every single capitalized word - it makes the page confusing and messy.

The exception is on lists - if some of the items in a list are linked, then go ahead and link all of them, even if they're repeated elsewhere in the article.

How to upload pictures
Click on "Upload file" on the left navigation bar to upload pictures. You can add your image to any page using this code:
 * [[Image: yourpicture.jpg |thumb|300px|Caption for your picture. ]]

Images should not exceed 300 pixels wide for article tidyness and copyright adherence.

If you upload an image in error, or do not intend to use it, tag the article with so that an administrator can remove the file from the wiki. Images are subject for deletion if they are not used.

How to add category tags
You can put an article into a category by adding this code:. You can change the way the article is alphabetized within the category like this:.

Before you create a category, check the Category list to see if there's a similar category that already exists. If the category doesn't exist yet, then adding that code will create the category. You'll need to add some text to the new category page to make it work properly.

History tab
Nothing is ever lost on a wiki! You can see all of the changes that have been made to a page - and who made them - by clicking on the "History" tab at the top of any page.

Setting your preferences
There's a lot of useful stuff on your Preferences page.

You can change your display so that links show up without the underlining. You can also change your time zone, and the number of items you see on the Recent Changes page or the Category list.

Keyboard shortcuts
There's some helpful shortcuts to navigate around within a page.

Alt-T : Talk Alt-E : Edit Alt-H : History Alt-R : Recent Changes

Dealing with vandalism
Vandalism isn't much of a problem on a wiki, because everybody has the power to fix it when they see it. See the Vandalism help page for instructions on how to fix vandalized pages, and how to discourage the vandals.

Contact administrators
The Psychology Wiki administrators are currently Lifeartist and Mostly Zen.

We may eventually have a.

If you have questions or comments about the wiki, you can leave a message on our talk pages.

Now you know what you are doing, find an article that you are interested in and make a contribution...

Time to Start
OK, now that you know all that, have a look at the Community Portal to see what is currently happening. The Community Portal Talk Page is also a good place to look.