Wikipedia:WikiProject A Cappella/Article Guidelines

This essay is in development.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors.

Essays may represent widespread norms or minority viewpoints. Consider these views with discretion, especially since this page is still under construction.

This is an essay on style. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more WikiProjects on how to format and present article content within their area of interest.

This information is not a formal Wikipedia policy or guideline, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

Page layout

Suggested layout, adapted from WP:WPMAG for relevance to pages in our project. This is a guide only and editors are free to organize articles differently.

Lead – a summary of the article, as guided by WP:LEAD; infobox placed here
Others here – to do...
Discography – see below
Awards
See also
Notes – per WP:Inline Citations
References – per WP:CITE
External links – see below and WP:External links
Categories – an artist should only have their own category if they have at least 15 directly relevant articles (this includes album and single pages), 10 images and 10 musical samples

Personnel and current members

Only include if they are notable to the makeup of the group. A few different Wikipedia policies can help understand this position: WP:LISTBIO articulates that "the entries must have the same importance to the subject as would be required for the entry to be included in the text of the article according to Wikipedia policies and guidelines." WP:NOTDIRECTORY outlines that Wikipedia is not a directory. For example, it should not include "simple listings without context information" like a list of employees. If simple listings are to be made, it states, "information about relevant single entries with encyclopedic information should be added as sourced prose." Finally, WP:SOURCELIST reminds that core Wikipedia guidelines, especially "verifiability (through good sources in the item's one or more references) and No original research" still apply for lists, so list entries should generally be supported by reliable, independent published sources.

For some examples: The members of the Pentatonix belong in the article because they've each been individually covered by significant independent sources and their identities are important to the group's identity. To the extent that Deke Sharon was a founding member of The House Jacks, he should be on that page. Almost always, current members of collegiate a cappella groups are not notable enough to justify inclusion in their group's Wikipedia article.

Notable alumni or former members

To the extent that collegiate a cappella groups may lean on a blend of policy for musical groups and for higher learning institutions, a list of notable alumni may be well merited. All of the policies mentioned in the section above are still in effect; any list of notable alumni should support each entry with some encyclopedic information written in prose and supported by reliable, independent published sources referenced in-line.

For selection criteria, consider WP:LISTCRITERIA: each individual member of this list need not be so notable as to have their own Wikipedia article, but the inclusion of each member on the list should be supported by reliable sources. There should be sufficient references to support both (1) that they were in the group at some point and (2) their cliam to notability.

Discography

External links

According to Wikipedia is not a collection of links, and linking numerous interviews in an "External links" section is not useful to a reader. If you've found a useful (and non-self-published) source, try to integrate what it discusses into the article! If you aren't sure how to best do that, try collaborating with other editors and leave a message on the article's talk page with a link to the resource.