Wikipedia:WikiProject History
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the past of the wiki-based free content encyclopedia, see History of Wikipedia
- For revision history (also called "page history" or "edit history"), see Wikipedia:Page history
Wikipedia:History has been put up to resolve a number of issues which occur with great frequency when writing articles about history for Wikipedia. As usual with Wikipedia please extend and expand these brief outlines as you uncover them.
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[edit] Basic topics
The list of basic history topics is intended to provide an overview of the coverage of history on Wikipedia. It is rapidly becoming one of the best history browsing tools on Wikipedia. You can help to improve it further:
- The "history by field" section, which is set up to parallel the Lists of basic topics page and provides a history link for every subject for which there is a list on that page, still has some redlinks. Some of those redlinks can be edited to point to existing article sections (in the main article for the corresponding subject), while the rest need articles or sections created so that they can be pointed to them. I've fixed most of the redlinks, but could sure use some help.
- The basic concepts section is just a jumble. The terms covered elsewhere on the page need to be removed from this section, and the rest of the terms need to be sorted, or categorized and sorted.
--The Transhumanist 22:22, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
- See also: Wikipedia:Timeline standards
[edit] List of history topics
The page List of history topics currently redirects to the list of basic history topics. The latter list is not intended to be a comprehensive treatment of the subject, but rather an overview, so the redirect to it is temporary. The Lists of topics are intended to be comprehensive and to include links to every article related to the subject on Wikipedia. See List of mathematics topics and List of psychology topics as examples.
--The Transhumanist 22:22, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Projects
Lists A number of lists and meta-lists are maintained in Wikipedia:
- Battles or wars should be listed in List of battles or War.
- Saints should go into List of saints.
- Lists of incumbents are becoming increasingly popular (see List of French monarchs; List of German Kings and Emperors); list those lists in Lists of incumbents.
Regions
- History of the world
- History of Europe
- History of Africa
- History of Asia
- History of the Middle East
- History of the Americas
- History of Australasia (Australia, New Guinea, Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia)
- Native American culture
Religion
[edit] Child projects
Places
Subject specific
[edit] Searches
A search for "History" via google of wikipedia can give you a variety of articles that may be relevant. Alternatively, editors can search for "Timeline".
These articles will almost certainly not be of a standard sufficient to write an encyclopedic article about a historical subject. The correct standard of material to generate encyclopedic entries about historical subjects are:
- Peer reviewed journal articles from a journal of history
- Monographs written by historians (BA Hons (Hist), MA, PhD)
- Primary sources
[edit] Sources
The goal of Wikipedia is to become a complete, accurate encyclopedia. Verifiability is an important tool to achieve accuracy, so it is strongly recommended to check facts. However, don't be too keen to remove unverified information at the cost of completeness.
[edit] Levels
- "Piece of information or evidence that was created by someone who witnessed first hand or was part of the historical events that are being described".
These are sources which, usually, are recorded by someone who participated in, witnessed, or lived through the event. These are also usually authoritative and fundamental documents concerning the subject under consideration. This includes published original accounts, published original works, or published original research. Physical objects can be primary sources.
Wikipedia would not ordinarily be considered a primary source (see Wikipedia:No original research). Over time, however, this situation may change as researchers may use, for example, analyses of Wikipedia edits and reversions as evidence of shifts and changes in attitudes and approaches.
- "Piece of writings which were not penned contemporaneously with the events in question".
These are sources which, usually, are accounts, works, or research that analyze, assimilate, evaluate, interpret, and/or synthesize primary sources. These are not as authoritative and are supplemental documents concerning the subject under consideration. This includes published accounts, published works, or published research.
Wikipedia would be considered a secondary source on some occasions.
These are sources which, on average, do not fall into the above two levels. They consist of generalized research of a specific subject under consideration. Tertiary sources are analyzed, assimilated, evaluated, interpreted, and/or synthesized from secondary sources, also. These are not authoritative and are just supplemental documents concerning the subject under consideration.
Wikipedia would be considered a tertiary source on some occasions.
[edit] Types
- [todo] various types of sources
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The letters after an item describes generally the type it is (though this can vary pending the exact source). P is for Primary sources, S is for Secondary sources, and T is for Tertiary sources.
[edit] Sourceberg
See Wikisource for original text (or primary sources). Wikisource (i.e., "Sourceberg") is a repository of source texts in any language which are either in the public domain, or are released under the GFDL.
See also : Wikipedia:Informative, Wikipedia:Verifiability, Wikipedia:Public domain resources, Wikipedia:Don't include copies of primary sources
[edit] Style issues for history
Main article: Wikipedia:Manual of Style (general style issues)
In historical articles, the past tense is strongly preferred. While history can be written in the present tense, the general audience of Wikipedia will usually expect the past tense on historical subjects and events that occurred in the past. The present tense in English is only correctly used to describe past events in a work of fiction. This is referred to as the "historical past tense".
Remain objective as possible. The point and ideal of Wikipedia is to create an encyclopedic neutral body of knowledge. Avoid using the first-person point of view (emphasising the facts; not the editor). Explain the evidence (from the links and references) and explain the reasons of any conclusions.
[edit] Article names
See: Wikipedia:Naming conventions, Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English)
Convention: Use the form most familiar to English speakers. Name pages in English and place the native transliteration on the first line of the article unless the native form is more commonly used in English than the anglicized form.
[edit] Biography
See: Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies)
[edit] Names and titles
For naming articles See: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (names and titles), for use in article content See Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies)
[edit] Dates
See: Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers)
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar currently used in the Western world. If dates used are from the Julian calendar, please make a note as to any differences.
- I suggest we should expand previous dates like 11th millenium BC because Upper Paleolith is event but not a timeline. Igor Skoglund
[edit] Link references
See: Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#Link_titles
The following is a suggested formatted reference link for external links and references.
Appearance:
Source:
- * Last name, First name, "''[http://www.url.org Linked article name]''". Source publisher, Location. [[Month Day]], [[Year]].
See also: Wikipedia:Cite your sources, Style guides (for more detailed and formal styles), Wikipedia:External links, Wikipedia:Links
[edit] Categories
Every article on a historical topic should be assigned to as specific a sub-category under the Category:History as possible, as well as to any non-history categories to which it belongs. Since Wikipedia has tens of thousands of articles on historical subjects, they shouldn't all be placed directly in Category:History; there is an elaborate hierarchy of historical categories, described here, and only the lowest-level category need be assigned.
[edit] Organization of Category:History
Category:History contains only the most general articles, such as History and History of the world. Other historical articles appear in one or more of these sub-categories:
- Category:History by nation contains the histories of modern nations. It should contain one category for each modern nation, for example History of the United Kingdom.
- Category:History by region contains the histories of regions larger than a nation, for example Category:European history.
- Category:History by period contains histories organized by chronology, for example Category:Ancient history.
- Category:History by topic contains histories not organized by geography or chronology, for example Category:History of science.
- Category:Historiography contains articles about the study of history and historians.
see also Wikipedia:Auto-categorization
[edit] Category names
The category for the history of the modern nation X should be called "History of X" or "History of the X" and included. Similarly the history of subject Y should be categorized under "History of Y". But the alternate name "Xish history" is acceptable.
When a country no longer exists, there's no need to have a separate "History of" category for it. For example, since we have Category:Ancient Rome, there's no need for a category "History of Ancient Rome".
When "History of X" becomes large (more than fifty articles, say), create sub-categories and move articles to them. Standard sub-categories include:
- "Political history of X"
- "Economic history of X"
- "Religious history of X"
- "Legal history of X"
- "Cultural history of X"
- "Military history of X"
- "Presidents/Prime ministers/Monarchs/Heads of State/Rulers of X" (delete as appropriate)
Don't create sub-categories until you have enough articles to populate them. As a rough guide, it's not worth creating a sub-category unless you have five articles to put in it.
"Y history of X" should be a sub-category of both "History of X" and of "History of Y". For example, Category:Military history of the United Kingdom is a sub-category of both Category:Military history and of Category:History of the United Kingdom.
[edit] Organization of national histories
Few nations have neat histories: most have changed name, constitution and boundaries over their history. This section gives advice on creating sub-categories to reflect these changes, using the United Kingdom as an example:
- Have separate history categories for each major geographical part and historical predecessor of that nation: Category:History of Wales, Category:History of England, Category:History of Scotland, Category:History of Great Britain, Category:History of Northern Ireland, etc.
- Use the common names where possible even if this creates ambiguity. For example, England is both a historical nation and a geographical region: logically speaking we might prefer a category named like "History of England (1066-1707)", but unfortunately no-one is likely to use such a category name unless they are familiar with the categorization scheme. So Category:History of England must do for both.
- A geographical subdivision includes the categories for its parts; a historical subdivision includes the categories for its predecessors. This might create loops in the categories, for example Category:History of Ireland is in Category:History of the Republic of Ireland by the historical rule, and the latter is in the former by the geographical rule. This does no harm.
- The category "History of X" always belongs to the category for "X", if it exists. So Category:History of England belongs to Category:England.
- Put events in the most specific categor(ies) to which they apply. So the Wars of Scottish Independence go in both Category:History of England and Category:History of Scotland, but Category:Seven Years' War goes in Category:History of Great Britain.
Here's an incomplete diagram showing these historical categories and how they relate in the category system:
History
|
.---------+------------------.
| |
History by nation History by period
| |
.----------+-----------+ .--. |
| | | | |
United Kingdom Republic of Ireland | Ancient history
| | | | | | |
.----------+-------+ | | `------------+----+ | |
| | | | | | | .----+-----.
| Great Britain | | `-------. Ireland <-------' | |
| | | `------. | | | |
+----------+-------+---. | `----+--' | Ancient Rome
| | | | | | |
| England Scotland | Northern Ireland | |
| | | | |
`-+--------' `-----------+----------------+--. |
| | | |
Wales Ancient Britain Roman Britain
(This diagram is far from complete: there is a Category:British Empire, not shown. Category:History of the United Kingdom is in Category:United Kingdom and so on. And there are many sub-categories. But it illustrates the principles.)
[edit] Don't over-categorize
Having added an article to, say, Category:Military history of the United Kingdom, there's no need to also add that article to Category:Military history, Category:History of the United Kingdom, Category:United Kingdom or Category:History. The category hierarchy expresses the fact that every article about the military history of the UK is an article about military history and an article about the UK.
[edit] Time bias
Some topics, in particular those of ancient mythology (e.g. egypt), represent only their contents as they stood at the most recent significant moment in history. However, many of these things have evolved over time
- e.g Zoroastrianism is a prime example, only really describing the religion as it is now, when it had substantial evolution over its long history: it was originally Mazdaen, then it went through a phase (during the late Achaemenid era) where it was fairly polytheistic, and a later phase (during the Sassanid era) in which Ahura Mazda was not the prime god, but one of the two lesser aspects of the prime god - see Zurvanism. Present-day Zoroastrianism is Mazdaen again.
- e.g. Egyptian Mythology (multiple links), only really describing the state of the 3000 year spanning religion at two points (the greek period right at the end (in which there was just Horus, Osiris, Seth, and Isis) , and a period about 750 years before that (in which the main god was Amun Ra)), and unfortunately confuses the two somewhat in places (e.g. at Osiris). Whereas the mythology evolved substantially, including at one point Osiris having a more pro-active role that was later taken by Horus, and at an earlier point Seth being the hero, as well as missing out the early period.
Really, to fix this you need articles or sections like the History of the Horus myths. This situation probably occurs in non-mythological subjects as well, although it is not quite so obvious.
[edit] Participants
Participants can add a userbox to their page, {{User WPH}}.
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This user is a member of the History WikiProject. |
- XylyX | (talk)
- Ctifumdope
- New Rock Star
- User:Neddyseagoon
- User:Kyriakos
- UnDeadGoat
- User:PaxEquilibrium
- Ragesoss -- especially late-19th and 20th century American history and the history of science
- Phnx2ashes --Classical, Medieval, Colonial-American History, and Mythology.
- Aldous Hooplah
- Litany
- Wootking
- Great Legacy
- SteveMcCluskey -- History of science; Medieval history
- Oggy -- British and a bit of German history
- Baseball,Baby! take a swing -- mainly American biographies, but also Tudor England
- PerfectStorm
- S.Skinner I'm a History Student from the UK. My main areas are European and Russian History from 1000 to present and Scottish History from 700-present.
- LordAmeth I'm a graduate student in Japanese history, though I hold a strong interest in Southeast Asia and Polynesia as well.
- - KB 06:05, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
- Ghostexorcist -- I am primarily interested in Asian and Persian history, but I love reading about the Crusades and the Civil War.
- Balin42632003 -- Mostly Medieval, Colonial America, British History, and Military History.
- The Transhumanist -- Overviews and surveys of history, List of basic history topics, timelines, and history's representation on other reference pages.
- Rob C (Alarob) -- The "Atlantic world" of the early modern period, especially the American South and Caribbean. Also, everything else.
- SatuSuro -- Australian Maritime History project, Tasmania, and Central Java.
- Sir james paul I LOVE history.
- AMK152 00:05, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
- Zaparojdik 20:22, 24 December 2006 (UTC) I'm interested in Turkish and formely Ottoman countries histories. Also period of rising Islam.
- sm8900 Hope to help to track and record various historical events.
- Patricknoddy
- CrnaGora
- Sideshow Bob
- J. D. Redding Most Western and Middle East; Weak on Asian
[edit] Templates
The banner {{WikiProject History}} should be added to the talk pages of all relevant articles.
[edit] Sister projects
History on Wikiquote 
History on Commons 
History on Wikisource 
History on Wikibooks
[edit] History pages needing attention
Articles which have been flagged for improvement are automatically added to these lists:
- Wikipedia:Pages needing attention/History, which has a "Miscellaneous" section at the bottom coming after transcluded copies of these subpages:
