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Wikipedia:Invitation to edit

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The number of new editors is declining, while the number of readers is growing. To encourage more readers to edit, and to improve the quality of new editors' first efforts, it is proposed to insert an invitation to edit at the top of each unprotected article with a link to a brief, easy tutorial. Something like this medical article tutorial:

  You can edit this article Click "show" for simple instructions: 

Getting started

  • Click any of the [edit] links within the article and type into the box near the bottom.
  • If you add a claim, or substantially modify one, cite a scientific article or textbook that supports your claim. (See below.)
  • Spelling and grammar corrections or stylistic improvements are welcome and need no citations.
  • When you're finished, briefly describe what you've done in the "Edit summary" box and click "Publish changes".

The editors at WikiProject Medicine will happily answer any questions you may have.

Be guided by these important principles

No original research

  • Wikipedia does not publish original thought: all material must be attributable to a reliable, published source. Articles may not advance a new position using new analysis or synthesis of published material.

Reliable sources

Use your own words

  • Accurately reflect sources but do not copy chunks of copyrighted text. In terms of expression, your contribution should bear little resemblance to your source.

Citing sources

  • Content not accompanied by an inline "citation" (a footnote marker like this[14] linked to specified pages in a journal, textbook, etc.) that supports it might be deleted.
  • Copy the style of other references in the article and type your reference between <ref> and </ref>. When you publish your work, the footnote marker[14] will appear in the text where you typed the above, and the full reference will appear at the bottom of the article in the list of references.

A series of trials is proposed, to discover whether an explicit statement that the reader can edit the article will increase the number of new editors, and whether attaching a simple intro' tutorial makes that easier. The invitation was on 19 low-vandalism, low-quality, popular medical articles from Jan 20th 2011 until Feb 20th 2011, and the statistics are now being collected and analyzed. Further small trials on high-vandalism articles and articles already attracting a high number of newbies are proposed and, depending on those results, a larger trial on 500 medical articles over three months is proposed.

This is a study, a series of trials. This is not a template roll-out. If you see the template going viral, please mention it at the proposal talk page.

Discussion of this proposal commenced at Village pump (proposals), and continues at the proposal's talk page.