Wikipedia:Manual of Style (lists of works)

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This page is part of the Manual of Style, and is considered a guideline for Wikipedia. The consensus of many editors formed the conventions described here, and Wikipedia articles should heed these guidelines. Before making any major changes to these guidelines, please use the discussion page to ensure that your changes reflect consensus.

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Guidance on style
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Special article styles
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Other guidance
How to edit a page Guide to layout Captions Categorization Categorization of people Cite sources Explain jargon Footnotes Writing better articles Lead section Lists Music samples Naming conventions Overlinking Picture tutorial Proper names Sections Sister projects Technical terms and definitions Words to avoid

This style guideline aims to create a consistent method of displaying lists of works, such as bibliographies, discographies and filmographies.

1 Ordering
2 Linking years
3 List styles
4 Basic list style - examples
5 Notes
6 See also

[edit] Ordering

Items should be listed in chronological order of production, earliest first.^[1]

In the case of a complex series of works, items can sometimes be split into groups based on internal-series order, eg Isaac Asimov or based on series chronology.

[edit] Linking years

Years should either remain unlinked (preferred), or can link to their sub-topic year page if it exists.^[2] e.g. [[1989 in literature|1989]]

[edit] List styles

Basic unordered lists are used in the majority of articles, e.g. Henry James or Illuminatus! Trilogy or The KLF. It's also the easiest style to add to and edit, for wikicode-newcomers.^[3] See wikicode examples further below.

Advanced list styles

Where a series grows complex, tables can be used, e.g. Diane Keaton or Mandy Moore.

When artwork is available, a gallery form may be more suitable (combined with any of the options above), e.g. List of Oh My Goddess episodes or The Sopranos episodes. Please ensure that the use of images in such a gallery meets Wikipedia's fair use criteria, however.

[edit] Basic list style - examples

[edit] Bibliographies

These are included for authors, illustrators and other people who have a list of contributions to literature. Vital information is the title and year of first publication; ISBN and notes are optional. For ISBNs, give the most likely to be available edition, i.e. current paperback.

* Title (year) ISBN # - notes

e.g.:

Naked Lunch (1959) ISBN 0-8021-3295-2
The Soft Machine (1961) ISBN 0-8021-3329-0
The Ticket That Exploded (1962) ISBN 0-8021-5150-7

[edit] Discographies

These are included for musical acts (solo or group), composers and other people who have a list of contributions to music. Vital information is the title and year; label and notes are optional. Items may also be divided into sub-sections, e.g. singles, albums, dvds.

* Title (year), label - notes

e.g.:

Smeared (1993)
Twice Removed (1994)
One Chord to Another (1996)

[edit] Filmographies

These are included for actors, directors, producers and other people who have a list of contributions to film. Vital information is title, year and acting-role; notes are optional. When the person has different types of film-related jobs (e.g. acting and directing), the filmography can be split into separate subsections for each.