Skip to Main Content
Banner Image

Learn to Edit Wikipedia

This guide cover the basics of learning to edit Wikipedia, including creating an account, editing text, creating references, and adding images. It was developed out of a workshop session by Michael Barera, a Wikipedian with over a decade of experience.

A Brief Introduction to Wikitext Markup

  • Before the creation of VisualEditor, Wikitext markup was the only way Wikipedians edited Wikipedia pages.​
  • Wikitext markup can still be used alongside VisualEditor, and it is sometimes easier to use for certain (typically advanced) applications.​
  • There is a Wikitext Cheatsheet on Wikipedia that is very useful. It starts with the basics:​
    • In Wikitext markup, bold text is coded '''like this''' (with three apostrophes on either side of the bold text).​
    • Italic text is coded ''like this'' (with two apostrophes on either side of the italic text).​
    • Links to other Wikipedia articles are coded [[like this]] (with two square brackets on either side of the linked text).

Here is an example of Wikitext markup, showing (in order) italic text, a link, and bold text. Above is the raw code, and below is how it appears when the page is saved.​