WWII Archives:WWII Archives Manual of Style: Difference between revisions

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===Warnings/notes in articles===
The following are warnings/notes for readers/future editors of an article to notify them of something
====Hidden comments====
Hidden comments are only displayed when you're editing a page. To use them
====Source dump articles====
A Source dump articles is an article where you don't really have the time to fully develop an article that is related to the one that you're working on, so you dump all the sources that relate to that subject for the next person to find. Try not to do this excessively, and at least try to develop some of the article so it makes it easier for future users to flesh out. In any case you are to use the "Source dump" template:
{{Source dump}}





Latest revision as of 14:22, 27 May 2024

Welcome to the official WWII Archives Editing Guide (formerly called WWII Archives Manual of Style or WAMoS). The WAMoS is divided into different sections, the first being about the proper mentality of historical analysis, the second being about sources and citing them.

For anything that has to do with Multimedia (uploaded files), see the Multimedia Guide.

Principles of the historical process and debating on the WWII Archives

In order to participate on this project, the reader must at least have a basic understanding of the historical method, mindset, and debates. Therefore read and understand this carefully. This applies to writing about and doing anything on the site. Here are the rules:

1 - Keep the conversation civil

Even if you disagree with them, speak and debate peacefully, civilly, and respectfully to one another.

2 - Our understanding of history changes

Through new interpretations, questioning, and new evidence, we have arrived at the current consensuses in history today. However it isn't perfect, so history will keep changing

3 - We are all biased

Every person who has ever lived is biased. Therefore every human record and artifact is biased. So also are interpretations/history books biased. You must also take your own bias into account!

4 - Question things

The best way to find the truth and get around dogmas and such is to ask, is this true? Whenever you hear a claim, interpretation, etc it is good to ask yourself this question to never get stuck in a certain way of thinking.

5 - Be skeptical about sources and interpret them

Following the previous point, you must be skeptical and critical about the sources you read, no matter how true they sound. Ask questions about their origin, motivation for being created, what they don't depict, its context, what was their audience, what was its purpose, what is their bias, etc.

6 - Back up your claim with good evidence, sources, and reasoning

When using sources to back up your claim, it is good to provide reasoning as to why the source supports your claim.

7 - Acknowledge contradictions

You must acknowledge contradictions within what you're reading and what you are saying. Is there evidence against your/their claim? You must acknowledge the contradictions, sources going against your claim, etc and provide why they might be at least somewhat right, or totally wrong, no matter how "bad" the source is.

8 - Be open-minded, willing to listen, and neutral

To not get into dogmas and get stuck on an idea, you have to be willing to be open minded and willing to listen and potentially accept at least some of the opposition's arguments and criticisms.

Therefore the best way to do this is to try and be neutral and mitigate your bias, viewing things from different perspectives and questioning yourself.

9 - Be clear about your argument/message

Try to be clear and concise when making your arguments/claims and citing your sources. Read before you publish

10 - Make sure the sources support your claim

Make sure that the sources themselves that you're citing actually back up your claim and aren't just a bad misinterpretation

11 - Reach a compromise to see which argument is best

The goal of the historical process is to see which interpretation of the historical subject in question is the best. Through these mentioned ideas, analyzing arguments, claims, contradictions, sources, evidence, etc, the people doing such will have to reach a compromise to see the best interpretation with the least contradictions and problems.

Writing articles

This section deals with how articles are to be written.

How to edit an article

In order to start editing, you either need to click "Edit" or "Edit source". "Edit source" will bring you to the wikitext editor to edit the article or page manually. It is suggested not to use this for most cases but instead the "Edit" option. This option brings you to the VisualEditor to edit or create the article, which visually shows how the article looks before publishing.

How articles should be written

  1. Write about every detail that could be found about the subject in question.
  2. Write in a chronological order kind of matter. Unlike an encyclopedia, articles on the Archives will be written chronologically how the subject of the article existed.
  3. Write in an objective manner with the least amount of bias. Also write in a neutral language. That is, do not use "you", "I", "me", etc unless if you are quoting something that uses those kinds of pronouns in reference to you or you and a group. Instead use things such as "He", "she", "they", "It is __ that…", "One might __ that…", etc, or just use names.

General structure of an article

For the general article layout:

  1. Summary
  2. Index table (automatically created)
  3. Main information template box to the right
  4. Article content
  5. Citations
  6. Bibliography
    1. Works Cited
    2. Other Sources (if necessary)

Types of articles