Wikipedia for mathematicians 3 / Some more advices
edit- As a first start, improve small things in an existing article: you might add a missing definition, an example, a generalization of some theorem, a reference to a book etc.
- When working on a well-developed article, it is sometimes helpful to talk to other editors before. The article talk page is the forum for specific questions etc. However, be bold, so don't hesitate to write something. Everything can be undone, so you cannot do any harm.
- Nobody owns an article, so your work can be improved (or made worse) by other people.
- Compared to the general Wikipedia ambiance, other math editors are typically easy to interact with. One small thing: try not to change the notation of an entire article. (e.g. replace x by y throughout without a particular reason. This is a safe way to cause frustration on both parts.)
- When you start a new article, some (usually only remotely interested) editors may question the notability of this topic. The easiest way to circumvent this for a math topic is adding a WP:reference to a scientific paper or book to document that the stuff is really worth an article. So, put
==References== Author, ''Title'', Year, ...
at the end of your new article. (See here some math specific information about referencing).
- As in all mathematical writing, keep in mind your audience! Addition, Product rule and Syntomic cohomology will have different readers. (This is an issue that is consistently showing up, e.g. Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Mathematics/FAQ).
- Even though it is not forbidden, it is usually advisable not to write an article about yourself or your own work (cf. conflicts of interest).