Wikipedia:Readers' FAQ

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How do I search Wikipedia?

There should be a small search box at the top and bottom of the screen. Just type in what you're looking for and press enter. See Wikipedia:Searching for more details.

You can also use Google to search Wikipedia by following this link (http://www.google.com/custom?sa=Google+Search&domains=wikipedia.org&sitesearch=wikipedia.org). Google index will be somewhat outdated, however.

User:AxelBoldt has created some bookmarklets for Wikipedia searching. You can get them here (http://math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/bookmarklet).

Finally, if you would like to search for Wikipedia articles in multiple languages, you can try the little-known but very cool multi-lingual Wikipedia search tool (/tools/wikisearch.php).

Are Wikipedia articles open content? What is the license agreement on the contents of Wikipedia?

Yes, Wikipedia articles are all open content and are covered by the GNU Free Documentation License. See Wikipedia:Copyrights.

Can I mirror entire sections of the Wikipedia to my site? (Perhaps edited a bit) How much can I quote?

You may mirror or quote as much as you wish, as long as you maintain the text under the GNU Free Documentation License.

If I link a word from my site to the Wikipedia, am I required to use the GNU FDL for my site? What if I use a small quote (3-4 sentences)? What if I quote entire articles?

The answer to the first two is "no", since it is covered by the fair use doctrine. For the third, check with your lawyer.

Can I get Wikipedia on CD, or download it for offline use?

There are no CD images currently available. The database can be downloaded here, but you'll need to set up a web server, PHP, MySQL and our wiki software to make use of it. A CD version of Wikipedia has been discussed many times, but no solid plans have been made yet.

However, several Wikipedians have made various Wikipedia databases available in TomeRaider format for offline reading. See Wikipedia:TomeRaider database for more details.

How do I cite a Wikipedia article in a paper?

Cite it as you would any other web page, including the full URL to the article, in accordance with the normal citation practice the publication you are submitting the paper to follows. It would be a good idea to also include the date of the article revision you are quoting (for the current revision this is shown at the bottom of the page: "The page was last modified .."), and possibly the date you viewed it on. Citing the individual authors is not necessary.

Why are the background of some pages light yellow and others white?

Encyclopedia article pages have white backgrounds, while dynamically generated 'special' pages, talk pages, user pages, and about-wikipedia pages have yellow backgrounds. This is intended as a visual cue that you're not in the encyclopedia per se.

When I use the random page link, I get generic articles about obscure US cities a lot more often than I'd like. What can I do about it?

Yes, there are a lot of these pages, and they're going to come up fairly often on random. If they just don't interest you, hit the random button another time or two until something that does interest you comes up.

But if you would like to help flesh out these census-based stubs and build Wikipedia membership, please consider spending a few minutes recruiting: look up the town on google (http://google.com/) and see if there's a city web page or local historical society. You can E-mail them and ask for "real information" about their town's history.

Overview FAQ -- Readers' FAQ -- Contributing FAQ -- Editing FAQ -- Administration FAQ -- Technical FAQ -- Problems FAQ -- Miscellaneous FAQ -- Help page