Help:Growth/How to create help contents/Examples/Update a page

How to
Update a page requires to edit this page.

Updating a page can be done by anyone. This doesn't requires any supervision.

Adding more information is how Wikipedia grows.

Find information that needs to be updated
You can find articles that need updates by:


 * browsing the suggested edits available on your Homepage
 * browsing Wikipedia articles while reading or searching for an information
 * looking for pages with maintenance templates

Spot the information that needs updates on a page
The information needing updates has already been marked as updates by other volunteers. It can be done:


 * with a banner at the top of the article, that says that the information on the article is outdated
 * with an inline marker that said that a specific information needs to be updated

The information may also just be outdated without any highlight. You may be aware of a needed change because you heard about some new information in the news, or while reading a book.

Both informations are eligible to be changed.

New information
If the information is entirely new, you have to:


 * say were this information comes from, using citations,
 * present this information in a neutral way (only facts, with no personal comments or appreciation given).

For instance, an article about a band misses the release of a new album. You have to write that they have released this new album and add a citation to a press article that announces it. "The band released a new album in December 2019."No matter if you like or dislike the new album, Wikipedia is not the place to write it. But if some articles in newspapers gave an opinion about the quality of the album, you can summarize these critiques and use citation to say where they come from. "The new band album is quite good according to The Daily Planet, but it is not their best one according to the Daily Globe."

Update existing information
An existing information may be out of date and needs to be updated:

"As of May 2019, the band leader is no longer part of the band. The band looks for a new leader."

This information may not be accurate anymore. You have to change it to reflect the new status of the band, without ignoring that they were leaderless during a while:

"From May 2019 to January 2020, the band has no leader."