OKA/Instructions for editors

This page contains the instructions provided to OKA grant recipients for translating Wikipedia articles. For transparency, it is publicly available. OKA editors are usually new, with no prior experience in editing Wikipedia.

Disclaimer to OKA editors: OKA is not affiliated with Wikimedia. The information below is provided as advice only – Wikipedia policies will always have precedence. When editing Wikipedia, you should make sure to comply with Wikipedia policies. In case any guidance in this document contradicts Wikimedia guidelines, please flag it to your manager.

Terminology

In this document, the following terms are used:

• Source language: the language you are translating pages from (e.g., Spanish)
• Target language: the languages you are translating pages into, i.e., the languages in which you will be publishing articles (e.g., English)

These instructions are primarily written for translating into English Wikipedia. For publishing or editing articles into other languages of Wikipedia, please refer to this document.

Overall guidelines

Leverage Deepl as a starting point

Even in technical articles, Deepl.com will usually correctly translate >90% of the text. Most of your time should be spent on proofreading (in particular, specialized terms), formatting, adding links to other Wikipedia pages, and adding sources. If you are spending a significant amount of time translating whole sentences, you are likely doing something wrong.

We suggest that you also use Grammarly to help you improve the quality of your translations.

Using the built-in translation tool of Wikipedia is not recommended, as it usually causes more rework efforts (e.g., due to broken templates).

Perfect is the enemy of good

There are millions of articles to translate, more than we'll ever be able to accomplish. We focus our efforts on what will be most useful for Wikipedia readers. This means we sometimes decide not to translate certain articles because they are about a niche topic and would be too time-consuming, or that we sometimes publish an article even if we are not yet 100% satisfied with some of the content (as long as they meet quality standards for publication and have no incorrect information).

The articles we publish are not final. In many cases, other Wikipedia editors (or bots) may come to improve our articles or fix some of our errors, and that’s fine – that’s how Wikipedia is supposed to work. Occasionally having small typos in an article is ok since other readers can correct them.

Don’t wait until you know all the rules before publishing

Wikipedia editing guidelines are vast and complex, which can be overwhelming. You won't have time to read all of them. The instructions in this document are self-sufficient to publish your first article. As you gain experience, you will need to read more detailed guidelines.

Wikipedia rarely has a single standard. For example, the Spanish Wikipedia has different rules than the English Wikipedia. Every editor has its own style, so articles on similar topics may be written and presented in a totally different manner. Likewise, the instructions in this guide are here to help you, but you are also free to do things differently if you find it better. Aim for consistency with other articles on similar topics whenever possible, but achieving 100% standardization is not required.

Do not limit yourself to translations

The primary goal is to have an impact and improve the quality of Wikipedia, so you are encouraged to take initiative and edit any other thing where you feel there is potential (e.g., if you see something wrong on a page that you read, or feel like important information is missing on a page). When reviewing your work, OKA will look at it holistically, and taking initiatives is an important aspect of it.

Quality is more important than quantity. So it is ok if you spend more time on an article because you've made improvements to it. If you do so, just be transparent about it with your manager, so that (s)he knows why you took longer than other editors.

Our prioritization principles

When prioritizing articles to translate, we follow a value maximization principle, based on 4 criteria:

1. Quality. Prioritize articles that are already well-written and comprehensive in the source language.
2. Gap in Wikipedia. Prioritize articles that do not yet exist in the target language, or that have barely been started.
3. Value for society. Prioritizing articles on important topics and/or likely to generate the most interest for readers.
4. Personal interest. If you are personally interested in the topic that you are writing about, that’s even better!

Pageviews (interest) are not the best indicator of value:

• Some articles cover niche topics, but have a high value for society because they target decision-makers or help further creation of knowledge
  
• Some articles have high value in the source language (e.g., Spanish) but low value in other (e.g., English), because most of the potential readers already speak the local language (e.g., articles about local celebrities). It is better to prioritize articles that are universal, i.e., not language or region-specific

To make your life easier, admins have already pre-selected articles for translation here, filtered by priority (0 = highest priority; 9 = lowest priority). However, you are free to pick any article for translation, even if not listed there. You are also free to ignore priorities and pick articles that OKA has rated as low priority, if you are more interested in these topics.

Do not translate anything with priority 6+ without first checking with an admin. These are usually of low priority because we believe that they may not be accepted by the Wikipedia community (e.g., similar articles may exist, or considered as insufficient notability in English world).

If the priority of an article seems inadequate, please flag it to your manager

Step-by-step guide

In addition to the step-by-step guide, you can find a summarized checklist in Translations checklist

Before publishing your first articles, ensure that you have fully read this as well as the “Tips and best practices” section of the guide.

The ultimate reference for editing the English Wikipedia should be the Wikipedia:Manual of Style. As it is very long, we have summarized its key points in the “Manual of style” section at the bottom of this document. You should read this document after you have published your first articles, as it can take many hours to understand and absorb the content. Of course, learning will continue even after the first month, so it's okay to forget things and make mistakes.

Initial setup

Configure your Wikipedia account

Log in to Wikipedia. If you do not have an account yet, you can create one. This account will belong to you, not to OKA, so feel free to use any nickname or email address.

Before starting to edit, you should activate useful plugins.

• Go to “Preferences” at the top right corner of the page.

  

• Go to “Editing” and activate the following (see images below):
  • “Warn me when I leave an edit page with unsaved changes”
  • “Enable the editing toolbar”

• Go to “Gadgets” and activate:
  • "HotCat"
  • "refToolbar"

    

    

    

You can activate any other gadgets you want. These are simply the ones we recommend.

Disclose your affiliation with OKA

To comply with Wikipedia's requirement to disclose paid contributions, you must add a sentence in your account mentioning that you receive financial grants from OKA.

To do that on the English Wikipedia, edit your using page by clicking here. Then in the edit box, paste the following:

{{paid|employer=OKA.wiki}}

I receive a small stipend from the Open Knowledge Association (OKA) to support my work on Wikipedia. However, the contributions I make are my own.

OKA is a non-profit organization that seeks to improve the coverage of content from non-anglophone countries, which is typically underrepresented in Wikipedia. More information about OKA can be found here.

Then click the “Publish changes” button.

You need to do this for each Wikipedia property you work on. For example, if you are translating articles from Spanish to English, you should add this disclosure to both the English and Spanish Wikipedia (with a disclosure in Spanish on Spanish Wikipedia).

Tips:

If you can't access your user page, copy the following URL into your browser, replacing the underlined part with your username (this only works on the EN wiki; for other wikis you'll need to explore a bit):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:YOUR-USERNAME

Your profile is your personal page, just like the account you'll be publishing your articles to is your personal account. Except for this disclosure, you are free to write whatever you want there.

Add yourself to the list of OKA editors

Add your username to the list here, in the “Active editors section”, by pasting the following:

*[[:en:User:YOUR-USERNAME|YOUR-USERNAME]]

Then, click on “Publish changes”

Create a Clockify account to track your hours

Go to app.clockify.me and sign up, either by clicking the “Sign up” button on the top right or the “Continue with Google” button below the “Log in” box.

• If you received an email invitation to OKA's workspace, make sure you accept it after registering to the site.
• Also make sure to register with the same email where you got the workspace invitation.

Article selection and setup

Pick an article to translate

Select one from the list in OKA - Wiki pages tracker (oka.wiki/tracker). If you do not have a preference for which article to translate, you can pick the first one (as long as it is not marked as “in progress” or “published”).

Update the tracker row with your:

• Wikipedia username;
• Write “In progress” in the column “Status”;
• The working title of your article in the target language (it doesn't need to be final yet)

Always check and address the content in the “Notes” column. Usually they carry the possible following information:

• Lack of sources - you should check and add more references;
• Red link from another article - you should check if the red link turned blue and fix if not;
• Technical terms warning - only pick this articles if you are familiar with the area;
• Controversial information - understand the situation, reference information and improve the writing;
• Other important information.

Some articles are grouped under one row because they are similar, therefore there may be synergies if they are all translated by the same person. Once you have finished translating one of them, you should split them into separate lines.

Check for similar articles in English

You can do this through a quick Google search. If a similar article already exists in English Wikipedia, then the article should not be translated.

In that case, flag it in the articles’ list by clicking the cell where the article’s URL is and creating comment (shortcut “Ctrl + Alt + M”), then assign it to info@oka.wiki. The admin team will review the article and remove it if needed.

• Sometimes, English Wikipedia may not have an equivalent article, but some very similar ones that partially overlap. If the overlap is too great, the Wikipedia community will delete your article! If you have any doubt, please check with your manager or an admin.
• If the column “Type” says “Expand”, it means the article already exists in the target language but should be expanded with content from the source language. This is more complex, so not recommended for new translators with less experience in editing Wikipedia. Please refer to this section for more information about how to expand articles.

Check the quality of the writing

Sometimes, non-English Wikipedia articles are written in such a way that translating them into English becomes too complex. This may happen due to excessive use of localisms, overly flowery language, or any other reason that makes the translation process longer.

In these cases, it is better not to translate the article, and you should flag it to an admin for potential deprioritization.

Start time recording for your article

1. Log in to your Clockify account from a laptop or computer and select the correct workspace to record your hours. You can find all of your workspaces on the collapsible menu on the top right of the screen, next to your profile.
2. Begin tracking your hours by clicking the blue “Start” button below the notification bell.
3. Select the project that corresponds to the language you translate from (e.g.,  “ES to EN translation”).
4. In the description box, write the name of the article you are working on (in English).

Minor edits that take less than an hour (such as Wikipedia site tasks) can be bundled together with a generic description.

If you've spent a significantly larger amount of time on an article than expected, you should flag it in the "Notes" section of the Tracker with some description.

Find the best fitting name in English

In many cases, a literal translation might not be appropriate, so you need to check other sources to see if the same context exists under a different name in English.

In some cases, you may need to invest a bit of time before naming a page to find the right terminology. For example, “Edad Moderna” should be translated to “Early Modern Age” in English instead of “Modern Age”, because English historians have a different definition than Spanish historians of when the Modern Age ended.

The name of the page should be Anglicized, when an English name exists. For example, the English page of “Catedral de la Almudena” will be called “Almudena Cathedral”. If not possible, keep the local name.

Once you have decided on a title, add it in the “Name of page (en)” column of the list.

If you have any doubt about the title, check with other translators or your Manager or start a new question topic here, as this is the most important thing to get right and can be hard to change.

Setting a page for your article

The EN Wikipedia space has a special set of rules for publishing articles, so, in order to set the space you’ll use to work on a new article and then submit it for review, follow these steps:

• In your web browser, type the URL of the article you want to create, starting with “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Name_of_the_article” and followed by the name (in the target language, e.g. the final title for the selected Wikipedia) of the article you are working on.
• For example, if the article you picked is https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataille_de_Smara_(1979) and the English name of the article you want to create is “Battle of Smara (1979)”, then you should type:

  

• Click on “Create” or “Start the Draft:(...) page.” to open the “Visual editor” and start creating your article right under the title.

You can always publish your Draft as a way of saving your progress or simply save the wikicode in a separate document. To access and edit your Draft’s page, simply type the URL you picked in the first step.

If you want to, it’s also possible to work on a wikicode using the Sandbox environment. Remember that publishing inside your Sandbox won’t have any effect on Wikipedia. It’s just a test environment.

Exception: first time creating an article

When you are a new Wikipedia user with a brand new account, it is possible that you will see something slightly different from what was explained above. Click on “start creating” and follow the previous steps.

• You should see something like the image below. Click “Start editing”.

  

• It will lead you to the Source editor box with a few paragraphs of wikicode already written. You can publish the draft as a way of saving your progress, or save the wikicode in a separate document. Until the article is not yet finished, don’t publish incomplete work with the submission tag (without spaces): {{ subst:AfC submission/draftnew }} < !-- (...) – >.

  

Exception: modify or delete redirects (when needed)

In some cases, when trying to access the page you want to create, you may get redirected to another article.

Redirects are likely to have a page history. Click on “View history” and check whether there was previously content that was deleted. Sometimes, redirects are remnants of deleted pages, so we should first try to understand why the previous page was deleted before recreating it.

Another way to access this is to type "?redirect=no" at the end of the URL of the page with the redirect.

Once you are certain that you can delete the redirect, do the following:

• On the page with the redirect, go to “Edit mode”. It will show a menu like this:

  

• Delete the redirect by un-ticking the "Redirect this page" box and then "Apply changes". This should take you to a page where you can work on your article with the title you want.

Infobox

Adding the template

Many articles have an infobox on the top-right corner. Each language of Wikipedia has a different syntax and templates for it, so, unfortunately, we can’t simply copy-paste it.

Additionally, infoboxes have different templates depending on the topic (e.g., infoboxes for religious buildings are different from infoboxes for theaters, etc.). Therefore, the easiest way to create an infobox is to copy-paste one from an existing similar English Wikipedia article (e.g., through a Google search).

• In the case of our example article, we will take a random existing church article (e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_Cathedral), click on “Edit”, click on the infobox, and copy it (CTRL + C)

  

• We then go back to the new article and paste the infobox (CTRL + V).

  

Not every article will have an infobox. Sometimes, articles only have an image box. Since this is not an infobox there is no special formatting, so you can just add an image box through the “Insert > Template” tools. In case you cannot easily find the infobox you need, you can also try the method mentioned below.

Alternative method to insert an infobox

• In order to access the exact same infobox as in the original article (in case it exists in the English Wikipedia), edit the original article and select its infobox using the visual editor.

  

• Access the template’s page by clicking on the link shown in the pop-up above and switch the page language to English.

  

• Copy the code at the beginning (usually in the “Usage” section) and paste it at the beginning of your article’s code.

Filling the template

Click on the infobox in the new article and click on “Edit”. Do the best you can to put in the information from the original article into the new English infobox. As the fields are not the same, some information may not fit in - or require a different format.

It is ok not to have a perfect equivalence and to leave fields empty if needed, as long as you are not inputting incorrect information.

Main content

In the original article, click “Edit” to access the “Visual editing” mode. Copy one or two paragraphs into deepl to translate, then paste the translated result into the new article.

Use the Visual editor for most of your editing. Only use “Edit source” when required, for example, if you need to use advanced syntax or when the visual editor has bugs. You can also use the Edit source feature if you need to access the wikicode of your page.

• Do a read-through to make sure the translation makes sense, improving the English where needed.
• In the first paragraph of the article, bold the name of the article and its synonyms:

Tips:

We don’t recommend using bolding anywhere else in the article, but if there is something you think needs to be emphasized, it is better to do so by bolding the text - just try not to overuse it. More information about the correct use of bold type can be found here.

Non-Latin characters (e.g. Chinese, Russian, Korean, etc.) should not be bolded or italicized.

Once the article has an English name, you can also add the local name in parentheses:

• Commonly used text formatting styles (sub-headings, preformatted text, block quotes) can be found in “Paragraph”:

  

• Add internal wiki links where possible:

  

If you don’t find the matching page in English Wikipedia, it can be because the target language Wikipedia doesn’t have an equivalent page or because it is called differently.

To check, go to the article in the source language, click on the matching link - which will bring you to the equivalent page in the Wikipedia of the source language  - and check if the page has a version in the target language.

If the page doesn’t exist in the target language, you can still add an internal link to it. To do this, use the interlanguage link template. With this tool, your text will return with a red link and a small link to the original wiki article that already exists.

For example, if you want to link the IT article Arnolfingi in an EN article, it’ll be shown like this:

Red links are important, because they help identify gaps in Wikipedia, and automatically become blue links when someone creates the page.

Tip: For more details, see Overlinking and Underlinking.

• Italicize any text that is not in English (e.g., untranslatable words, name of books, names of places, etc.) as long as it's written in Latin characters. Non-Latin characters (e.g. Chinese, Russian, Korean, etc.) should not be italicized or bolded. More information on the correct use of italic type can be found here.
• Add images, templates, tables, and other elements manually, where needed, by using the “Insert” tool.

  

Tips:

• Do not copy-paste elements directly from the “Visual editor” of the source language to your English page, as in most cases this will not work and might break your formatting. Instead, you can either Google to find the right template or copy-paste the element (e.g., image block) from another English article.
• To find the name of an image you can double click on it in “Edit” mode, then copy the text on top of the caption - including the format (e.g., .jpg, .png, etc.)

Transposing citations & references

Overview

Add the citations and references that were present in the original article (if relevant). You should not translate the name of books/articles/pages, but should translate everything else (e.g., name of month if a date is shown, locations, etc.)

Tip: For simple citations (e.g., webpage), the “Automatic” tool can save you a lot of time by automatically pre-formatting the citation based on a URL (example below). It doesn’t always work, but it's worth testing.

Always check that references are reputable and link to an existing page. If that is not the case, you can use WayBackMachine to find archived pages, or look for new sources by doing a reverse search on Google. Do not publish articles with broken links (errors 404 or 502, for example).

Harvard citations

Sometimes while creating references for your articles, you will encounter this type of citation:

These are Harvard style citations, which come in handy when you need to reference the same item (book, journal, publication, etc.) several times. To add one to your article, follow these steps:

• Go to the "Cite" tool, create a "Basic" citation, and insert a template inside by going to “Insert > Template”.

  

  

• Find the template by its name, for example: "Harvtxt". Then add or insert.

  

• Fill in the format of the template. Make sure to write only one item per field.

  

Tips:

• For Harvard citations to link to your bibliography, you will have to compose a "Bibliography" section manually.
• Make sure that the author's name and year of publication match in both the "harv" template and the bibliography entry it targets (or add a reference if necessary).
• Once you publish the article, you will be able to test the links and check if they redirect correctly. You can also use your sandbox to test this and any other template.
• Another way to test these and any other template is by going to "Source editing" and activating "Preview".
• For more on this kind of citation, you can go here.

Bibliography

Within Wikipedia, bibliographies are specialized lists of books, journals and other references important to the topic of the article you are creating. For example: Bibliography of classical guitar is a list of works important to the study of Classical guitar. Bibliographies may also be a listing of published works of an author.

To create a “Bibliography” section you will have to do it manually using templates such as "cite book" or "cite publication", one by one. To do this go to “Insert” > “Template” > cite book/publication/journal/etc. for each one of the items.

Tip: as with regular citations, you don’t need to translate the titles of books/journals/etc. Simply add a “Language” field within the template.

External links

This section often contains a lot of spam (e.g., people who try to insert their personal blog posts). You should only keep the external links that provide a clear added value to the reader (e.g., official website related to the page) and ignore everything else. If you have a doubt, it’s ok to just skip them, as they are usually not too important.

Explanatory notes

This type of reference is used to add explanations, comments or other additional information relating to the main content but would make the text too long or awkward to read. They usually look like this:

To add a note to your article, follow these steps:

• Go to the Cite tool > Manual, then select the “Basic” type of citation.

  

• In the “Use this group” option type “note” (you can name it whatever you want but “note” is always preferable). Then write the caption of your note in the blank box above and click Insert.

  

• The note will show as a different set of references so you will have to create a new heading called "Notes" before the "References" section.

  

Tips:

• If you can’t see your notes at first, change from Visual editing mode to Source editing then back to Visual. They should show this way.
• For more information on explanatory notes you can go here.

Adding more references

Frequently, transposing all citations of the source article is not sufficient. This is because the requirements are not the same across Wikipedia languages: what may be considered adequately sourced in one language may not be another language. Therefore, a large part of the Wikipedia translation work consists in finding new sources to complement the existing ones.

• This article is an example of sufficient sources.
• This one is an example of insufficient sources.

The official policy for EN Wikipedia is to have “inline citations for any material challenged or likely to be challenged”. If your article doesn’t meet this requirement, it will likely be rejected when you submit it.

In practice, if a given paragraph has no in-line reference, it usually means that one should be added. The exception is the intro paragraph, which does not require these citations.

If after a reasonable amount of effort you cannot find a source, then you should delete the paragraph. If the information cannot be confirmed, then it’s ok not to translate it and to delete that paragraph or the unsourced statement. Do not spend too much time looking for sources; if it’s missing in the first place, it’s usually due to issues with the quality of the original article, not because of your work!

When adding or replacing sources, ensure they meet the requirements of reliable sources. Finding sources can be one of the most challenging parts of the work at OKA. If you do not feel yet comfortable with it, it is recommended that you pick articles that already have good sources and leave under sourced articles to more experienced OKA editors. If an article is particularly poorly sourced, please flag it to your manager so that we can deprioritize it.

Tips and best practices

Filtering rows in the pages tracker: how to use filter views

The OKA pages tracker can be complicated to use without filters, as it contains hundreds of rows, so you may want to use filters to personalize it to your needs (e.g., filtering to only show articles of your language). However, if you simply filter by clicking on a column, this will apply the filter to everyone else using the document. This is a problem, as it would make it difficult for multiple OKA users to collaborate at the same time.

Instead, you should use filter views. They work like filters, with the difference that they are only visible to you. Most likely, you will only need one filter view. Follow the steps below to create one.

1. Click on: “Data > Create filter view”
2. Your filter view is now created. At the top left corner, rename it with your Wikipedia username.
   Important:
   Filter views without a username specified will be deleted by admins!
3. When you are in a filter view, all the filters you apply to columns are only visible to you (however, changes to the cell continue to apply to everyone).
4. To edit a filter view, click on the three vertical dots next to the X (top right corner) and make the changes you want.
5. To leave a filter view, click on the X at the top right corner.
6. To re-access an existing filter view, go to “Data > Change view” and find the filter view with your name.

Saving your work in progress

You can save your progress by basically 2 methods: publishing and uploading your work as a draft or saving the wikicode in a separate document. It is important to regularly save a copy of your work in progress somewhere, until you publish the Draft.

1. Publishing Draft: simply publish your latest version of your work as a Draft.
   Important:
   Ensure that you do not submit your draft through AfC until it is finalized.
2. Saving your wikicode: click on “Create source” or go to “Source editing”, select all text (scroll or use CTRL + A), copy, and paste into a Google Docs.
   Tips:
   

   • To create an empty file, you can type doc.new in your browser.
   • You can find all your docs in Google Drive.

Important:
Do not copy from the visual editing, or you will lose your progress!
This is an example of how it should look like:

Good to know:
With your OKA professional account, you also get 30 GB of storage on Google Drive, as well as all the advanced functionalities included in Google Workspace (e.g., for Google Sheet, Google Meet, Gmail). Therefore, you shouldn’t need any Microsoft Office license or other software subscriptions, because Google Workspace already contains all of these functionalities.

Overlinking and underlinking

Appropriate links can be very helpful to increase readers' understanding of the topic at hand. To achieve this, it is important to find the right balance between what should and shouldn’t be linked.

What should be linked

• Relevant connections to the subject of another article that will help readers understand the article more fully. This can include people, events, and topics relevant to the article in question.
• Articles with relevant information.
• Articles explaining words of technical terms, jargon or slang expressions or phrases. If there is no appropriate Wikipedia article, a hyperlink to Wiktionary could be used.
• Proper names that are likely to be unfamiliar to readers.

If you feel that a link is relevant to the topic of the article, but does not belong in the body of an article, consider moving it to a "See also" section.

Typically, the following elements should always be linked (both blue links and red links):

• Name of specific places, institutions or companies
• Name of people

Note:

• You can also create links to potential articles that do not yet exist (called red links). Here is an example:
  
• You should add relevant red links to the backlog of published articles (as explained in section #6.9).

What should not be linked

• Everyday words understood by most readers in context (e.g., education, violence, aircraft, river).
• Common occupations (e.g., accountant, politician, actor).
• The names of subjects with which most readers will be at least somewhat familiar. (e.g., countries, geographic features, famous locations, languages, nationalities, ethnicities or descent, and religions). However, try to be conscious of your own demographic biases – what is well known in your age group, line of work, or country may be less known in others.
• Common units of measurement (e.g., units relating to time, temperature, length, area, or volume).
• Dates.
• Disambiguation pages. You should instead link to an appropriate choice on the disambiguation page.
• Red links about “subjectively defined” sub-aspects of the page you are translating. For example, if you translate the article “Paris”, it is ok to add a red link to “Paris Cathedral”, but you should not create red links to “History of Paris” or “Contemporary Art in Paris” as these are “optional” pages that some Wikipedia languages may not even find desirable to have.

To consider:

• Do not link to pages that redirect back to the page the link is on (unless the link is to a redirect).
• The purpose of linking is to clarify, not emphasize. Do not link solely to draw attention or as a mark of respect.

Using underline

In general, you should not use underline in your Wikipedia articles. If there is something that you feel like should be underlined, it is probably best to use bolding instead.

Improving the source article

If you make improvements to an article (e.g., adding sources, shortening sentences, adding sub-sections), you should ideally do it to both the original article and the translated article. The easiest is to first do it on the source article before starting your translation, to minimize efforts.

Expanding existing articles

Articles that are marked as “Type = Expand” already exist in the target language, but can be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the source language. If you are new to Wikipedia editing, it is easier to start with new articles than with expanding existing articles.

When doing so, the main guideline to keep in mind is: try to re-use as much of the existing content as possible. This is not only to minimize the amount of rework, but also to make sure that we don’t inadvertently delete valuable information.

This requires making some judgment calls. If a section is:

• Missing entirely in the target language: you can translate it

• Almost empty in the target language but very detailed and of much higher quality in the source language: you can completely replace the existing content with your translation.

• Reasonably detailed in the target language but more detailed in the source language: you can either skip the section entirely, or translate a few paragraphs that add the most value. It is best to avoid deleting any content that already exists.

Whenever replacing content that already exists, try not losing the sources (for example by moving them somewhere else), “See also” section, images, categories, etc.

Proofreading tool: DeepL Write

DeepL Write is a useful tool that provides suggestions to improve your writing. It helps correct mistakes and choose better words so that the text is clearer and easier to understand.

As an OKA translator, proofreading is a crucial aspect of your work. Here's how DeepL Write can help you:

• Improve clarity: it provides alternative words and suggestions for rephrasing sentences, making the text more concise and understandable.

• Enhance grammar: it offers grammar corrections, helping you avoid common grammatical errors.

• "Encyclopedic" tone: by using the "Academic/Technical Style" tool instead of the default settings.

• Assist non-native speakers: it can be particularly helpful in producing more natural-sounding text that will be better understood by English speakers.

While it is not advisable to depend entirely on this tool to proofread every translated paragraph (as you should be able to rely on your own skills and it will increase the time spent proofreading), there are some situations where we recommend using DeepL Write. These include:

• Complex articles/topics, (e.g.: Priority 0-1, Medical, Law, etc.)

• Confusing/poorly written original text.

• Addressing/removing "Copy Edit" tags from already published articles.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Can I also create new articles or improve existing ones, or only translate?

Our primary focus is on translation, but you are also free to create new pages from scratch if you feel they would add a lot of value (e.g., because an important concept related to a page you are translating is missing entirely).

You do not need to ask for permission, unless:

1. This is a significant amount of work (e.g., it is ok to create a stub, but if a topic requires significant research to create a page and find the relevant sources, then please ask in the chat first); or
2. You are intending to publish into the EN Wikipedia which would mean that you will have to use the “Articles for Creation” process as explained in number 7.2 of the Guidelines.

You are also encouraged to improve existing articles, even if they are not from OKA. Fixing issues and improving content is actually even more important than translating, because it increases the overall trust in OKA.

Add all pages you created or substantially improved to OKA - Wiki pages tracker, but in the “Type” column you should enter either “Create new” or “Improve”.

What should I do if I receive feedback on an AfC article?

You should implement the feedback and resubmit the article.

In some cases, reviewers provide feedback without declining your submission; in that case, you should still implement the feedback but you do not need to resubmit the article. You should respond to their comments, and sign your own comment by using ~~~~ (which will automatically add your signature).

The best way to respond to a reviewer's comment is going to the talk page of the draft and leaving a comment there. Tag the person who added the comment (and add some context so they’ll know what it's about).

Important:
Do not respond AfC revision comments on your talk page or on the reviewer’s talk page, because it may not be visible to other people looking at the draft

What should I do if someone raises an issue about an article I created?

Try your best to address the issue. If you are unsure about the right next steps, you can ask for help in the chat. If you expect the work to be significant, and you are not sure whether it is worth it, you can also ask in the chat whether you should continue to work on it.

If the issue puts you at risk of an account suspension, or if it could affect the reputation of OKA, then you should always raise it in the chat so that we can look into it.

Note:
If you have spent significant time addressing issues on an article, add it in the Notes column of OKA - Wiki pages tracker, so that we know why it took you longer.

Should I reply to messages posted on my talk page?

Not all messages require a response (and some messages are posted there automatically). But if a response is required, yes, you must reply. This is important in order not to have your account blocked in the case of a message being about an issue found in a specific article that you translated.

The account belongs to you, so you are free to interact with the Wikipedia community any way you wish, as long as you respect the Wikipedia guidelines and the law. However, you should never imply that your posts represent the position of OKA. In general, you should be careful about what you post, as people may misinterpret your personal opinion as being the official position of OKA.

How are articles prioritized for translation?

The prioritization (0 being the highest priority, 9 being the lowest priority) is indicative only and does not follow a set of strict rules. It is based on a quick assessment by the admins or managers.

Generally speaking, anything with priority 0-3 should eventually get translated. Things with priority 4 will likely get translated if budget allows for it. Articles with priority 5 may be reconsidered. Items with priorities 6 or higher are unlikely to be ever translated, unless it matches the personal interests of a specific translator or if OKA focus changes.

0. Highest priority

For critical articles on very important topics. For example:

• Good quality or critical articles about Law, Medicine, Mathematics, Computer Science

Note:
These articles are often more technical in nature due to the complexity and novelty of the topic.

1. Very high priority

For articles on important topics. For example, articles about:

• A mountain, valley, or other geographical feature covering a large physical area (e.g., Tagus Basin)

• A species of animal or plant (e.g., Pentapetalae)
• A major local historical event (e.g., Porongos Massacre) or major aspect of local politics (e.g., Governor of Rio Grande do Sul)
• A major site or location (e.g., Piratini Palace)
• A concept that is very widely used in popular culture, and therefore likely to attract high traffic (e.g., Tarzanesque)
• A concept that could be priority 0 but is of insufficient quality to meet the criteria of 0 (e.g., Geometric drawing)

2. High priority

• A historical building, a park or location of interest (e.g., Vallparadis Park, Colegio de Calatrava, Salamanca)

• A specific aspect of an important historical event (e.g., Battle of Brescia (312)) or of an important place/concept (e.g., Urban Planning of Barcelona, Mathematics of the Incas)
• Anything else that feels like a 1 but where there are doubts, e.g., due to insufficient quality

3. Medium priority

Will likely be translated, though with a lower priority.

• Deceased individuals (e.g., Félix Milliet) or defunct companies (e.g., Basque-Leonese coal mine).

Note:

If a person/company is still alive/in existence, it will usually receive a much lower priority.
This is because:

• His Wikipedia page is likely to continue to evolve; and
  

• The individual/company itself and people who interact with it will have interests to create/translate the page.
  

OKA is here to create articles that would otherwise not exist, so we try to avoid translating articles that would anyway have been translated if we didn’t exist (crowding out effect).

• Local events (e.g., Festa da Uva (Ponta Grossa))
• Model of vehicles (e.g., Renault Supercinco)
• Any article that is of generally high quality, even if the topic itself is relatively low in terms of importance

4. Low priority

Will be translated if budget allows for it. Pages in this category will often have less sources, less formatting (e.g., may lack an infobox). Example of pages include:

• Events that are notable enough to deserve a page, but not particularly important (e.g., Tropical Storm Erick (2007))
• Specific aspect of a topic (e.g., Faculty of Psychology (Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos) is a subtopic to the university itself)
• Buildings that no longer exist (e.g., Portal de Mar)
• Very small geographical areas or neighborhoods (e.g., Santa Terezinha)
• Alive individuals or companies with a significant enough influence (e.g., RecordTV Brasilia) but without much interest outside of the source language
• Historical ships (e.g., Araraquara)
• Articles that would normally fall in the above priorities, but where the quality of the text low or sources are lacking, requiring some additional work to meet the Wikipedia standards

5. Very low priority

Typically, the article will be a mix of low importance or low quality (e.g., lacking sufficient sources). It may still be worth translating but will require checking first whether the page is good enough. Example of topics:

1. Individuals or companies where notability is not evident without further investigation (e.g., Netos’s)
2. Specific movies, books, shows that may not be very popular outside of the source language (e.g., Floribella (Brazilian telenovela), MTV Live: Ivete Sangalo)
3. Roads (e.g., Augusto Montenegro Highway), or train stations (e.g., Estación Limache). The issue with these is they often change as they are dependent on urban planning. As a result, the translation is often unstable. And these articles are often written by transportation hobbyists, thus sometimes getting more depth than they deserve

6 or higher. Translation is not recommended

You can pick it up if the topic interests you, but you should be very careful and check with a manager before translating. Reasons for this rating include:

1. The topic is likely to be rejected in EN wikipedia due to lack of notability (e.g., a specific song, a character within a book, a person that is not relevant enough in their country of origin or would not be relevant elsewhere)
2. The topic is too specific to the source language and cannot easily be translated
3. The page is of very low quality or too short
4. The topic is already well covered in other articles in the target language
5. Topic is about a niche aspect of sport or a hobby (e.g., México en la Copa Mundial de Fútbol de 2010, Gol del terremoto). Sport articles are often written by fans and do not always justify the depth of coverage that they receive on Wikipedia

Manual of style (MoS)

Wikipedia has a style of its own, due to this, the Manual of Style (MoS) serves as the definitive style guide for English Wikipedia articles. It is very long and detailed, so you can find below a summary of the most important aspects of it for your work at OKA. Neverheless, you are encouraged to go deeper into the official MoS.

The MoS helps writers compose articles using clear, concise language, and to organize content with uniform, reader-friendly layouts and formatting.

Article titles, sections, and headings

Article titles

A title should effectively capture the essence of the topic with a recognizable name or description that is natural, adequately precise, concise, and aligns with related articles. In cases where these criteria may conflict, strive for a balanced approach that considers the interplay between naturalness, precision, conciseness, and consistency with related topics.

In article titles, capitalize the initial letter (except in rare cases, such as eBay), but follow sentence case (e.g., Funding of UNESCO projects) rather than title case (e.g., Funding of UNESCO Projects), unless title case would be expected in ordinary prose. Refer to Wikipedia's Naming Conventions (capitalization) for guidance.

For italicization, insert the following template near the top of the article:

{{italic title}}

In mixed situations, use, for example:

{{DISPLAYTITLE:​Interpretations of ''2001: A Space Odyssey''}}

It will appear as follows:

Interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey

Avoid using articles (a, an, or the) as the first word in titles unless they are an inseparable part of a name (e.g., The Hague) or title of a work (e.g., A Clockwork Orange, The Simpsons).

Prefer using nouns or noun phrases in titles (e.g., "Early life", not "In early life").

The final character in a title should not be punctuation unless it is an inseparable part of a name (e.g., Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) or an abbreviation (e.g., Inverness City F.C.), or when a closing round bracket or quotation mark is necessary (e.g., John Palmer (1814 schooner)).

Whenever quotation marks or apostrophes appear, create a redirect for the same title using the appropriate punctuation.

Section organization

The content of an article should commence with an introductory lead section, providing a succinct summary that is not divided into sections. The subsequent sections of the article are typically organized and presented in a structured manner.

Main tag: If the topic of a section is covered in more detail in a dedicated article, insert one of these immediately under the section heading:

{{main|page name}}

or

{{further|page name}}

Short description: Each article should have a short description. Add one with the following template:

{{Short description|description}}

If the article title already contains everything required, you can put “none”, but the tag should still be added.

Hatnote templates: these tags can be useful to help readers locate different articles with similar titles or articles connected to your subject.

Here are some examples:

{{Hatnote|description}}

{{About|text}}

{{For|text|page-name}}

Section headings

Section headings should generally adhere to the guidance for article titles, utilizing sentence case (e.g., Funding of UNESCO projects in developing countries) rather than title case (e.g., Funding of UNESCO Projects in Developing Countries).

For technical reasons, section headings should:

1. Be unique within a page to ensure accurate section links.
2. Avoid containing links, especially if only part of a heading is linked.
3. Exclude images or icons within the heading.
4. Exclude <math> markup.
5. Exclude citations or footnotes.
6. Avoid misusing description list markup (";") to create pseudo-headings.
7. Exclude template transclusions within the heading.

To maintain a consistent style, section headings should:

1. Avoid redundant references to the subject of the article, using concise titles like "Early life" instead of "Smith's early life" or "His early life."
2. Refrain from referencing a higher-level heading unless it results in a shorter or clearer title.
3. Avoid numbering or lettering headings in an outline format.
4. Frame headings as statements rather than questions; for example, use "Languages" instead of "What languages are spoken in Mexico?"
5. Steer clear of using color or unusual fonts that may pose accessibility problems.
6. Ensure headings are not wrapped in markup to prevent display and accessibility issues.