Help:Introduction

This is a general introduction to Wikisource, the free library. The links above lead to more specific introductory pages about particular aspects of Wikisource; if you're new, please read this page first.

About Wikisource

Wikisource applies the wiki approach to building a free library by letting volunteer contributors collect, organize, proofread, illustrate and annotate English-language source texts (Wikisources for other languages also exist). Wikisource, the free library, is a Wikimedia Foundation project and a sister site of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Like Wikipedia, Wikisource is a project that anyone can edit and is subject to the same terms of use. Primary sources found at Wikisource can often be used in conjunction with Wikipedia's encyclopedia articles for effective research.

Getting involved

Don't be afraid to contribute. If you make a mistake, someone else will correct it for you; we are a community of contributors and we will be glad to help you if you need help. You can add or edit source texts whenever you want, whether you are logged in or not. You can contact the community by posting a comment at the community page, the Scriptorium.

People are constantly improving Wikisource by completing current texts or adding new texts. The recent changes page lists some of the most recent of these edits. So far we have 1,075,838 pages of primary sources! Before adding your own texts, please review these introduction pages.

Wikisource's features

Tabs: At the top of every page, there are links that are called 'tabs' on Wikisource. These tabs give you access to pages related to the page you are viewing. Click on 'discussion' to see the talk page, where you can discuss the page with other editors. The 'edit' button lets you edit almost any page on Wikisource. You can see who edited the page before and even view older versions of the page from the 'history' tab. If you are logged in, you can move a page to a new title by clicking 'move'.

Along the side of the page are four sections.

Navigation menu: The 'navigation' section is the main menu for Wikisource, and leads to various important pages on Wikisource. The main page links to various important pages on Wikisource as well as displaying recent news or events. The community portal links to community pages, tasks that anyone can help with, and other community-related pages. The Scriptorium is the community discussion page, and is the place to post to if you need help or otherwise wish to contact the community. Recent changes lists the latest edits to Wikisource, Random page will choose a page to display at random, and Help leads to the help pages (including this one).

Search: The search form allows you to look for articles on Wikisource. If you know the exact name of an article, type it into the box and click [Go]. If you would like to search for an article using keywords, type in the relevant words and click [Search]. For advanced usage of the search bar, see Help:Search on the Meta-Wiki.

Toolbox: This menu lists various tools. What links here will display a list of pages on Wikisource that contain links to the page you're currently viewing. Related changes will list recent changes to pages the current page has links to. Upload file allows you to add an image or other media file to Wikisource. Special pages lists various pages automatically created and updated by Wikisource; these pages cannot be edited.

In other languages: This menu links to the equivalent page on Wikisource projects in other languages.