Wikidata:WikiProject 1000 Women in Religion/Editing Wikidata

Guide to Creating a Wikidata Entry

Before you start: Create an account on Wikidata, just as you would Wikipedia. You can use the same user name as your Wikipedia name, and password. Then the system will link the two.

Step 1: Check Wikidata

Check to see if the person or item you are working on is already in Wikidata. Use the search box and type in the full name of the person or item. If they have an entry, you can still add them to our project. Skip to Step 8.

Step 2: Create new item

If there is no entry for that name, under the search box you will see this: “There were no results matching the query. You may create a new item for ‘your item name here’.” Click on the blue text.

Note: you can also click on the link in the left side menu that says “Create a new Item”.

Step 3: Create Label and Description

The Label should be filled in for the item (for a person this would be their name). If not, type it in. Then type in a description of the item (if easy to say, describe why they are notable. Ie: First person to do x). Skip the Alias section unless the person is well-known by another name. The click “Create new Item.”

Congratulations! You have created a new Wikidata item. You should see a new page, with the item name on top, and next to it, in parenthesis, a Q followed by a number. This is the item’s unique Wikidata identifier.

Step 4: Add Statements

Now you will start adding “statements” to the newly created item. The first statement should be “Instance of”. Type that phrase into the left hand box under “Statements” and click on the bold item that says “instance of” that shows up below. Then move your cursor to the text box to the right and enter “human.” Click “publish” to save your entry. (If your item is not human, enter the appropriate phrase, such as book, film, journal, nonprofit organization, ).

Step 5: Add Second Statement

Now click the blue link that says “add statement” to add another point of data. For example, add a statement about the person’s gender. In the left hand box that says “Property”, write gender and click the bold item that appears. In the right hand text box, type in the gender of the person, and select the bold item that matches. Then click “publish” to save.

Step 6: Add Statements with Sources

Continue to add statements, but now you should also include references with your statements. To add a reference for “occupation”, for example, type “occupation” into the left hand property box. Then in the values box (to the right) type in “writer” or “university teacher” or “activist” or “pastor” or “minister (religious occupation in Christianity - not the political role) or any other occupation. Now BEFORE publishing, click on the blue “add reference” link, situated below and to the right. Then in the new property box that appears, type in “Reference URL” if your source is a webpage. In the values box that appears to the right, add the url of your source. This should be a credible site with .edu, .org or .com extension. Ie: the university page for a professor that states they teach there. Now you can click “publish.”

Step 7: Add VIAF ID

Add the VIAF number for a person. This shows that they have published and are notable by Wikidata standards. Click on “Add statement.” Type “VIAF ID “ into the property box, and select that bolded item. Type in the VIAF number in the values box. Click “add reference.” Typed “stated in” in the new property box that appears. Type in VIAF in the values box and click on “Virtual International Authority File”. Click on “publish” to save. (look up numbers at viaf.org)

Step 8: Add Name to WikiProject 1000 Women in Religion

IMPORTANT! Add the person to the 1000 Women in Religion focus list. Add a new statement and type “on focus list” in the property box, and click on “On focus list of Wikimedia Project” when it pops up. In the values box, type in “1000 Women in Religion.” Click “publish” to save. You do not need a reference for this item.

Step 9: Add Multiple Values to Statements

For some statements, you can include more than one value. For example, some one may have more than one occupation, or more than one academic degree. Click on “add value” in the grey box of any statement you want to expand, and add the additional information, with a reference.

Step 10: Fill In Details

Continue to add statements for other pieces of information you may have, along with references. You can add as much as you want, but it isn’t necessary to do everything. Common statements include the following:

• Given Name
• Family Name
• Date of birth and/or death
• Place of birth and/or death
• Religion
• Country of Citizenship
• Library of Congress ID, or other unique identifiers.
• Employer
• Educated at
• Academic Degree
• Field of work
• Academic major
• Spouse
• father, mother, child

General Comments:

• You can add references after publishing a statement. Just go back into the statement and add the reference.
• You can add more than one reference to a statement if you want.
• Try to include at least two good references if possible, so others can use them to write bios on wikipedia.
• Don’t worry about the bottom portion of the editing window, where it mentions the other Wikimedia projects. That information will be added when a wikipedia article is added, or the person appears in one of the other Wikimedia sites.
• Adding authority control numbers (library of Congress, VIAF) is very helpful for establishing notability, so these are helpful items to include.
• You can add information to any Wikidata item by following the steps outlined above. So you can expand entries for people who already are in Wikidata.
• You can add “on focus list of Wikimedia project” to people who already have Wikidata items. So you can use this to add people to our project list. They will be included in our master list of red and blue links.

Helpful links on Wikidata

Guidelines for:

• Items
• Statements
• Sources
• Authority Control
• Notability

You can also check out Tours of Wikidata