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Wikibooks help
Welcome to Wikibooks!
This page is your first step in getting
help to use Wikibooks
, whether you want to read books or contribute in some way.
See also
Shelf:Help
for books on Wikibooks and other MediaWiki help.
Wikibooks
overview
Welcome
gives a general Wikibooks overview.
What is Wikibooks?
explains the scope of content, but essentially Wikibooks is a collection of
free content
textbooks
hosted by the
Wikimedia Foundation
What is Wikijunior?
is an overview of the
Wikijunior
subproject, of non-fiction books for children; for the
Cookbook
subproject see
Cookbook FAQ
. Make sure to check out the
general disclaimer
FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions) may help with queries about Wikibooks. The
glossary
should be consulted for Wikibooks terminology. The book
Using Wikibooks
is a general guide to using Wikibooks. For an index of all project pages, see the
Wikibooks category
If you are familiar with other
Wikimedia projects
such as Wikipedia,
Wikibooks for Wikimedians
is a helpful page; the experience will be similar as all projects use the same
Mediawiki software
. See
Wikimedia
for the differences between the various Wikimedia projects. This project is in the English language, but see the
Wikibooks portal
for Wikibooks projects in other languages.
Readers'
help
For general help, see
readers' FAQ
, and
navigating
to learn how to navigate Wikibooks. You can
search for books
using the box below, or the box in the top right corner of every page; click on
to enter a
search dialog
Content is first divided into
departments
, which are broad subject areas that are further subdivided into
shelves
. Shelves are narrow subject areas containing
books
; click on a shelf to list its books. Shelves may contain
subsection
shelves. Books usually consist of multiple
chapters
on
pages
that can be edited.
A full breakdown of departments into top-level shelves can be found at the
Card Catalog Office
. The books believed to be the best can also be found at
featured books
. The
Cookbook
subproject is sorted separately.
For printing books and offline use, see
print versions
PDF versions
, and
collections
. For
mobile access
, press the
mobile view
link at the very bottom of every
desktop view
page.
Editing
Wikibooks
If you want to contribute,
be bold and go for it
using the "Edit" link at the top of a page. Make sure to include an edit summary, and please edit constructively—if you want to practise editing, try the
sandbox
. For substantial editing, it is recommended that you create and manage an
account
. If you are wondering how to help out,
maintenance
has many suggestions.
Contributing help
contributing FAQ
, and
editing FAQ
contain basic information on contributing. Before doing so, please be aware of the policies on
copyrights
media
, and
neutral point of view
The books
Using Wikibooks
and
Editing Wikitext
are highly recommended for contributors. Other help pages for editing include the following:
Editing
: the basics of Wikitext editing
Pages
: creating, archiving, moving, merging, and deleting pages, as well as namespaces and page discussions.
Importing
: how to copy works from one wiki to another
Styling
: how to style books
Categories
: the use of categories for sorting pages
Files
: using
media files
, such as images, audio, or video
Tables
: how to construct a table
Templates
: the use of templates in pages, which are listed at the
index
Variables
: the advanced use of system variables
Formulas
: how to include mathematical formulae
Quizzes
: how to include book quizzes
Tracking changes
: information on monitoring changes to pages
For additional help pages, see the
help category
Policies
and
guidelines
Wikibooks is governed by a series of rules, called
policies and guidelines
which apply to all contributors. They include the following:
What is Wikibooks?
What content is allowed
What is Wikijunior?
The policy for Wikijunior books
Copyrights
, the policy on copyright rights and obligations
Administration
, the policy on administrators
Naming
, the policy on naming of pages
Neutral point of view
, all books must adhere to this
Annotated texts
, the policy on inclusion of these
Featured books
, the process for nominating featured books
Be civil
no personal attacks
, and
profanity
policies
Using bots
, the policy on using bots for editing
Protecting pages
, the policy on protecting pages
Deletion
, the policy on page deletions
Media
, the policy on media file usage
Global rights policy
, the policy for
global groups
Strategy guides
, the policy for video game strategy guides
Be bold
...but please don't be reckless
Making decisions
, how to achieve community consensus
Please do not bite the newcomers
, please be kind
Pages in
Wikibooks draft policies and guidelines category
, and
useful Wikibooks pages category
, may also be helpful.
Starting a
new book
If you are starting a
new book
, check it will be within
scope
and
policy
, as otherwise it could be
deleted
. To determine whether a book is within Wikibooks' scope for content, see
what is Wikibooks?
for the general policy,
what is Wikijunior?
for Wikijunior books, and
Cookbook FAQ
for the Cookbook. If you are still unsure, ask at
projects reading room
Special consideration should be given to adhering to the
copyrights
media
, and
neutral point of view
policies, and new pages should adhere to the
naming
policy.
Also see the "Editing Wikibooks" section above, especially
contributing help
contributing FAQ
, and the book
Using Wikibooks
. Also of interest is
Wikibooks as an aid to teaching
, and
requested books
for new book suggestions.
When starting a new book, consideration should be given as to whether it is better to expand or update an existing book, to avoid redundancy; check the relevant shelves for existing books on the subject.
Newly created books are automatically sorted by the
Wikibooks Stacks
mechanism, provided the
book is added
by completing the
CCO Resources
. Newly created pages, and page edits, can be subject to
pending changes review
Queries
and
assistance
Queries
are answered, and
assistance
is given, at the various
reading room
forums. But first check whether your query is answered in
FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions), such as
problems FAQ
and
administration FAQ
. Also see
General
, for general queries
Proposals
, for suggesting improvement proposals
Projects
, to discuss book and book-related projects
General assistance
, to get assistance on various problems
Technical assistance
, if you encounter technical problems
Administrative assistance
, to request
administrative tasks
Bulletin board
, to share important news and announcements
Featured books nominations
, to nominate featured books
Deletion and undeletion requests
, to request book deletion or undeletion
Import and upload requests
, to request import from other Wikimedia projects, and request uploads of fair use media
Permissions requests
, to request
user rights
Wikibooks
To search for
help and project pages
, use this box:
To search for
books
, use this box:
You can
browse for books
by shelves, categories, alphabetical listings, completion status, or reading level:
Browse
Shelves
Categories
Alphabetical Listing
By Completion Status
By Reading Level
Wikibooks policies and guidelines
Project-wide principles
Administrators
Artificial intelligence
Copyrights
Decision making
Global rights
Protection
What is Wikibooks?
What is Wikijunior?
Book standards
Annotated texts
Naming
Neutral point of view
Behavioral policies
Be civil
Blocking
No personal attacks
Using bots
Behavioral guidelines
Assume good faith
Etiquette
Please do not bite the newcomers
Sockpuppets
Content guidelines
Deletion
Media
Ownership
Profanity
Strategy guides
User pages
Editing guidelines
Be bold
Contributing
Manual of Style
Pending approval. Discuss on
Wikibooks:Reading room/Proposals
Wikibooks editor navigation
Content
Stacks
Departments
Adding books
Alphabetical classification
Featured books
Criteria
Cookbook
Wikijunior
Department
Computing
Engineering
Humanities
Languages
Mathematics
Science
Social sciences
Standard curricula
Wikibooks and MediaWiki help
PDF versions
Requested books
FAQs
Wikibooks overview
Readers
Contributing
Editing
Administration
Problems
Help
Glossary
Navigating
Pages (Creating, Namespaces, Discussing, Archiving, Moving, Merging, Deleting)
Tracking changes
Account management
Contributing (Why and why not contribute? Starting a book)
Editing
Categories
Files
Tables
Variables
Formulas
Quizzes
Local manuals of style
Wikijunior
Collections
Importing
Editnotices
Database download
Development stages
Dialog
Assistant
Export
Print versions
Help books (
Using Wikibooks
Editing Wikitext
CSS
Templates
Template help
Template index
Book information
General
Sources
Links
Files
Media
Maintenance
Licensing issues notices
Deletion
Stubs
User messages
User notices
User pages
Discussion
Featured books
Policies and guidelines
Template categories
Making Templates A101
Templates Ready to Use
Reading room
General
Proposals
Projects
Featured books
General
Technical
Administrative
Deletion
Undeletion
Import
Permissions
Bulletin Board
Information pages
Accuracy dispute
Authorship
Autoblock
Book donations
Categories
Dealing with vandalism
Dewikify
How to obtain public domain books
Language Learning Difficulty
Licensing guidelines
NPOV dispute
Reading Levels
Render as PNG
Subject pages
Textbook standards
User groups
Wikibooks for course instructors
Wikibooks for Wikimedians
Wikimedia
Other
project pages
Welcome
Sandbox
Disclaimers category
CCO Resources
Shortcuts
Community Portal
Maintenance
WikiProject
Wikibooks essays
Essays category
Book sources
Wikibooks for teaching
Guidelines for class projects
List of class projects
WikiNode
Edit filter
CC-BY-SA License
GFDL License
See also:
Policies and guidelines
Category
Retrieved from "
Category
Help
Hidden category:
Wikibooks semi-protected project pages
Help
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