FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Washington - Style and Guidelines

WikiProject Washington Style and Guidelines

Project Guidelines

These guidelines are for the Washington WikiProject, which is scheduled to end in October or November, 2013. Other contributors are encouraged to use these guidelines, but are certainly not constrained by them.

Style

The following styles have one major purpose—to help users decide whether to use the resources listed or not. Therefore:

1. Wording is clear and to the point.
2. Important resources are highlighted, not buried in long lists.
3. Dates of the records are given where appropriate.
4. Typical contents of the resources are briefly mentioned. Will this record help them?
5. Consistency from county to county to increase understanding with minimal reading.

Style includes but is not limited to:

• All Washington counties match in the look at the top, the wording and heading level of the topic headings,
• Headings (anything that would appear in a table of contents) match across all counties.
• Heading levels: use levels three, four or five; avoid levels one and two
  
• Order of presentation - matching other Washington counties
  
• Table of contents style or position - matching other Washington counties
  
• Image, table, or template positions or size; prefer sharp images relevant to the topic on the page
  
• Italic for titles of published books
  
• Bullets. Items under headings on county pages will be bulleted lists. Information describing the headings themselves will not be bulleted.
• image, table, or template style
  
• Internal link style: [[square brackets at each end around name of wiki page. Option: use a pipe | for shorter display for the link.
  
• External link style including brief annotation. Prefer http:// links over https:// links. (take out the "s" from FamilySearch.org urls)
  • For FHL links, use Template:FHL
    
• Use of standard Washington templates
  

Citations and Sourcing

• Please use the full Chicago Manual of Style footnote style (modified):

Author(s), followed by a comma

Title (book titles in italics)

Publication data in parenthesis:

- Publication place, followed by a colon

- Publisher

- Year of publication

- comma, and the the page number(s) followed by a period

Access information:

- link to free online copy, if any. IF a free online copy is available no further access data needs to be added.

- IF NO free online edition is available, then add:

- WorldCat template: {{WorldCat|#####|disp=At various libraries (WorldCat)}}.

- FHL template: {{FHL|####|item|disp=FHL Film ###; Fiche ###; Book ###}}.

- Brief annotation explaining the content, or why, or how a reader would want to use the source.

Example of bibliographic entry in article:
As it appears on the page:

• Carpenter, V.K. Seventh Census of the United States, 1850, Fentress County, Tennessee. (Huntsville, Arkansas: Century Enterprises, Genealogical Service, 1969). - Book online at Google books; FHL book 976.869 X2p 1850
  

In wikitext:

:*Carpenter, V.K. ''Seventh Census of the United States, 1850, Fentress County, Tennessee''. Huntsville, Arkansas: Century Enterprises, Genealogical Service, 1969. - [http://books.google.com/ Book online at Google books]; {{FHL|236168|item|disp= FHL book 976.869 X2p 1850}}

Example of bibliographic citation at the end of the article - using <R>: 

As it appears on the page:

P. William Filby, A Bibliography of American County Histories (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1985), 99–100. WorldCat 12356760; FHL book 973 H23bi

In wikitext:

P. William Filby, ''A Bibliography of American County Histories'' (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1985), 99–100. {{WorldCat|12356760}}; {{FHL|299450|item|disp=FHL book 973 H23bi}}

Links with Purpose

The Wiki is not a links repository. It uses links to support the genealogical educational purpose of a page or section of a page. Show and explain links with an educational purpose in mind. Annotate each external link briefly but well enough for the reader to realize what they will be getting if they click that link.

Seek out Local and Unique

Seek out local and unique genealogical search strategies, records, or repositories and explain them to readers.

Wording Changes

Before changing the saved wording of another team member who followed these rules you must get their consent (except for obvious minor typos).

Describe Each Edit - Summary

Describe each edit in theSummary field before clicking the Save button.

Family History Library (FHL); now called, FamilySearch Library (FSL)