Two learning moments around a newcomer's first edit, in surfaces Wikipedia already has. Step through as a newcomer would.
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the only one located entirely within the United States.
You have fixed a sentence. Now press Publish.
Three quick checks keep your edit from being undone.
The check informs. It never blocks Publish.
Your change shows on the page right away. The View history tab lists it under your name.
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the only one located entirely within the United States.
Most first edits stop here and stand. Some get undone. Step 4 shows what a newcomer sees when that happens.
I wanted to let you know that one or more of your recent contributions to Lake Michigan have been undone because they did not appear constructive. If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. If you think a mistake was made, you can leave a message on my talk page.
A paraphrase of the kind of template a newcomer typically receives today. No reason, no fix, no invitation back.
You added a fact without a source. Readers need to be able to check it.
Reopen the sentence, add the link or book where you found it, and publish again. This takes about a minute.
This happens to most people on a first edit. The edit itself was welcome.
Questions? Ask your mentor, or the Teahouse. Experienced editors answer newcomers there.
A source is anything a reader can check: a news article, a book, an official page. Here is how to attach one to the sentence you wrote.
No link? A book, a printed newspaper or a report works too. Give the title, the author and the year.
Still stuck? Ask your mentor, or the Teahouse. Experienced editors answer newcomers there.