Wikipedia:Reference desk

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Wikipedia reference desk

The Wikipedia reference desk works like a library reference desk. Ask a question here and Wikipedia volunteers will try to answer it.

Before asking a question, please try these search boxes to search Wikipedia as a whole or the reference desk archives. See also the reference desk guidelines.

Note: Legal or medical advice is prohibited. Further information is available at Wikipedia's legal and medical disclaimers. See also the medical advice guidelines.

For information on any topic, choose a category for your question:

Computers and IT

Computing, information technology, electronics, software, and hardware

Entertainment

Sports, popular culture, movies, music, video games, and TV shows

Humanities

History, politics, literature, religion, philosophy, law, finance, economics, art, and society

Language

Spelling, grammar, word origins, linguistics, language usage, and translation requests

Mathematics

Mathematics, geometry, probability, and statistics

Science

Biology, chemistry, physics, medicine, geology, engineering, and technology

Travel

Tourism, vacations, and travel Desk administered by sister project Wikivoyage (external link)

Miscellaneous

For questions that don't fit in any of the other categories

For help specific to the operation of Wikipedia:

Help desk

To ask general questions about using Wikipedia

Village pump

To ask about specific policies and operations of Wikipedia

Teahouse

A friendly place to help new editors become accustomed to Wikipedia culture

For Wikipedia reference information:

Help directory

To ask about specific policies and operations of Wikipedia

Citing Wikipedia

How to cite Wikipedia as a reference

Resolving disputes

For resolving issues between users

Virtual classroom

An advanced guide on everything Wikipedia

Further information Wikipedia department directory

The following images are being used under the GNU FDL and/or the CC-BY-SA license:
P computing.svg, P physics.svg, P mathematics.svg, P question.svg, P art.png, P literature.svg, P music.svg, P archive.svg, P Airplane.png

v t e Wikipedia help pages
*Visit the Teahouse* or the Help desk for an interactive Q & A forum. FAQs (?) Reference desks (?) Noticeboards (?) Cheatsheet (?) Directories (?)**
About Wikipedia (?)	Administration Purpose Principles Policies and guidelines What Wikipedia is not Disclaimer (parental advice) Making requests Who writes Wikipedia?
Help for readers (?)	FAQ Books Copyright Glossary Mobile access Navigation Other languages Searching Students Viewing media
Contributing to Wikipedia (?)	Advice for young editors Avoiding common mistakes Etiquette Simplified Manual of Style Simplified rule-set "Ignore all rules" "The rules are principles" Style-tips Tip of the day Your first article (article wizard)
Getting started (?)	Why create an account? Introductions by topic Graphics tutorials Picture tutorial IRC (live chat) tutorial VisualEditor user guide
Dos and don'ts (?)	Accessibility Biographies Biographies (living) Categorization Consensus Discussions Disambiguation Images Leads Links Lists References Tables Titles (of articles)
How-to pages and information pages (?)	Appealing blocks Article deletion Categories Citations/references Referencing for beginners Citation Style 1 Cite errors References and page numbers Convert Diff Editing Minor edit toolbar edit conflict Find sources Files Footnotes Image deletion Infoboxes Linking (link color) Logging in Merging Page name Renaming pages Redirect Passwords Email confirmation Reverting Simple vandalism cleanup Talk pages (archiving simple archiving) User contributions WP search protocol
Coding (?)	Wiki markup Barcharts Calculations Characters Columns Hidden text HTML Lists Magic words Music symbols Sections Sounds Tables Templates Transclusion URL Visual files
Directories (?)	Abbreviations Contents (Encyclopedia proper) Departments Editor's index Essays FAQs Glossary Guidelines Manual of Style Policies Tasks Tips Tools
Missing Manual Ask for help on your talk page (?)