Wikipedia:WikiProject WikiFundi Content/Help:Write a Wikipedia article about a settlement

This reference serves as advice for writing about settlements (cities, villages etc.) on Wikipedia.

The suggested sections and headings are intended to serve as a starting point for writing a good article on settlements or places; they are not meant to enforce a single, binding structure on all such articles, nor to limit the topics a fully developed article will discuss.

The order and range of sections will vary according to needs, although it is strongly recommended that articles conform to the basic structure of a lead section with infobox if appropriate, followed by a history section, main section(s) as appropriate, then finishing with See also (if appropriate), References, External links, and Nav boxes. References are required for every article.

Which articles in Wikipedia ?

Notability on Wikipedia is an inclusion criterion based on the encyclopedic suitability of an article topic. Per Wikipedia's Five pillars, the encyclopedia also functions as a gazetteer; therefore, geographical features meeting Wikipedia's General notability guideline (GNG) are presumed, but not guaranteed, to be notable. Therefore, the notability of some geographical features (places, roadways, objects, etc.) may be called into question.

This guideline summarizes the existing overall consensus for geographical feature notability and provides guidance on inclusion of information about geographic features into Wikipedia.

Scope

For the purpose of this guideline, a geographical feature is any reasonably permanent or historic feature of the Earth, whether natural or artificial.

This guideline does not apply to geographical features in fictional works or to the features of other astronomical objects.

Micronations are not covered by this guideline and are subject to the general notability guideline, even if they are geography-based.

Sources

This guideline specifically excludes maps and census tables from consideration when establishing topic notability, because these sources often establish little except the existence of the subject. Still, they do contribute to the satisfaction of the requirement of verifiability.

On the other hand, sources that describe the subject instead of simply mentioning it do establish notability.

Unreliable sources such as Facebook and most blogs or YouTube videos should be avoided when establishing the verifiability or notability of a geographical feature.

Geographic regions, areas and places

• Populated, legally recognized places are typically presumed to be notable, even if their population is very low. Even abandoned places can remain notable, because notability encompasses their entire history. One exception is that census tracts are usually not considered notable.

• Populated places without legal recognition are considered on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the GNG. Examples may include subdivisions, business parks, housing developments, informal regions of a state, unofficial neighborhoods, etc. – any of which could be considered notable on a case-by-case basis, given non-trivial coverage in multiple, independent reliable sources. If a Wikipedia article cannot be developed using known sources, information on the informal place should be included in the more general article on the legally recognized populated place or administrative subdivision that contains it.

• Disputed regions are generally considered case-by-case. Their notability for Wikipedia is independent of the validity of their claims. Sometimes it may be more appropriate to merge these articles to ones on a broader conflict or political movement, or to merge articles on multiple disputed names for the same region into one article.

• Named natural features are often notable, provided information beyond statistics and coordinates is known to exist. This includes mountains, lakes, streams, islands, etc. The number of known sources should be considered to ensure there is enough verifiable content for an encyclopedic article. If a Wikipedia article cannot be developed using known sources, information on the feature can instead be included in a more general article on local geography. For example, a river island with no information available except name and location should probably be described in an article on the river.

Buildings and objects

Many artificial geographical features may be mentioned in plenty of reliable sources, but they may not necessarily be notable. The inclusion of a man-made geographical feature on maps or in directories is insufficient to establish topic notability.

• Artificial geographical features that are officially assigned the status of cultural heritage or national heritage, or of any other protected status on a national level and which verifiable information beyond simple statistics are available are presumed to be notable.
• Buildings, including private residences and commercial developments may be notable as a result of their historic, social, economic, or architectural importance, but they require significant coverage by reliable, third-party sources to establish notability.
• Artificial features related to infrastructure (for example, bridges and dams) can be notable under Wikipedia's GNG. Where their notability is unclear, they generally redirect to more general articles or to a named natural feature that prompted their creation, e.g., to an article about the notable road it carries or the notable obstacle it spans.

Roadways

International road networks, Interstate, national, state and provincial highways are typically notable. Topic notability for county roads, regional roads (such as Ireland's regional roads), local roads and motorway service areas may vary, and are presumed to be notable if they have been the subject of multiple published secondary sources which are reliable and independent of the subject.

No inherited notability

Geographical features must be notable on their own merits. They cannot inherit the notability of organizations, people, or events.

Structure of an article about a settlement

Lead

The lead section (also known as the lead or introduction of a Wikipedia article is the section before the table of contents and the first heading. The lead serves as an introduction to the article and a summary of its most important contents. It is not a news-style lead or lede paragraph.

The lead is the first part of the article that most people will read. For many, it may be the only section that they read. A good lead section cultivates the reader's interest in reading more of the article, but not by teasing the reader or hinting at content that follows. The lead should be written in a clear, accessible style with a neutral point of view.

The lead should stand on its own as a concise overview of the article's topic. It should identify the topic, establish context, explain why the topic is notable, and summarize the most important points, including any prominent controversies. The notability of the article's subject is usually established in the first few sentences. Like in the body of the article itself, the emphasis given to material in the lead should roughly reflect its importance to the topic, according to reliable, published sources. Apart from basic facts, significant information should not appear in the lead if it is not covered in the remainder of the article.

As a general rule of thumb, a lead section should contain no more than four well-composed paragraphs and be carefully sourced as appropriate.

It will typically include an infobox or at least an image. Consideration should be given to the benefits of having both an InfoBox and an Image in the lead section, and in which order they would appear. If there are no compelling reasons to do otherwise, the usual practice is for an InfoBox to be alone in the lead, but if there are both, then the InfoBox is placed above the image. An InfoBox is not required.

The infobox to use for a settlement is Infobox settlement. Use it in simply copy pasting {{Infobox settlement}} in your article page.

For a settlement, the lead will typically include

• Context (what and where),
• summary of the article,
• total population,
• name origin

Etymology

If there is sufficient material on the origin and meaning of the settlement's name to justify a section or subsection header, then it may be titled as Etymology (most common), Toponymy, or Name (least common). Etymology is a branch of linguistics that deals with origin and historical development of names and reconstructing their meaning where possible. It may be a distinct section rather than dealing with the name within the history section. When there is a section, it is either a sub-section of History or a distinct section placed above the History section.

History

When material in this section becomes large enough, split out per summary style, using a {{Main}} template as:

Main article: History of FooCity

This section provides a narrative of the settlement's history. Topics that can be covered include, but are not limited to:

• original inhabitants
• original settlements
• occupying powers/transitions of power
• population spikes
• recessions
• reasons for settlement/growth
• dominant activities
• events that shaped the community
• A note on the earliest known history of the settlement (any Bronze Age or Roman artefacts for example), and the earliest known mentions of the settlement.
• Consider prose (or subheadings) on Industrial history, Social history or Political history where appropriate.
  • If a settlement has a name in another recognized regional or national language, this can be presented here.
• Avoid using headings that arrange the history of a settlement according to century or decade.
• Avoid organising prose into timelines. If these exist (or are developed), consider placing them in a History of FooCity or Timeline of FooCity article.
• Consider a note on the origin of the settlement's name; if details are lengthy, complex or technical, it may be appropriate to create an Etymology section or subsection (see above). As etymology is a branch of linguistics rather than a part of the settlement's development through the ages, it is more appropriate to place this info the Etymology section than part of the History section.
• Libraries may have books on local history. Be wary of loose interpretations, especially when using internet or promotional sources.

Geography

Would include geographic setting, geographical features, subdivisions, climate

Governance

Details about governing body of the settlement such as the council and the mayor, administrative bodies, political representation, etc. Placement of this section varies - articles on American towns and cities tend to place it low down in the section list; articles on UK towns and cities tend to place it in second or third place; articles on towns and cities in other parts of the world vary, but on the whole tend to be closer to the top of the section list than articles on American settlements.

Demographics

Population info, census data, ethnicity, language, religious affiliation. This section may also be titled Population.

Economy

Main article: Economy of FooCity

Dominant industries, agriculture if applicable, major employers, breweries, exports, etc. Sub-sections may be created for particularly important local economic groups - coffee production, tourism, steel manufacturers, etc, or particularly important local businesses or companies.

Culture

Cultural venues, arts, artifacts, festivals, cuisine and significant cultural events

Attractions / Amenities

Museums and other points of interest, parks (local, regional, provincial parks), recreation venues, pubs, restaurants, etc

Sometimes may be termed Landmarks, or Points of interest or may be included in a Culture / Arts and culture section; perhaps under a subsection such as Tourism, Museums, or Pubs.

Sports

Sport teams and significant athletic events

Infrastructure

Transport, utilities, health care, security/safety, amenities

Education

Schools, colleges, responsible organizations

Media

Local newspapers, TV, and radio stations.

Notable people

Names of notable people born or residing in the locality.

Footers

See also

Related Wikipedia articles, if not already detailed in other sections

Contents: A bulleted list, preferably alphabetized, of internal links to related Wikipedia articles. The links in the "See also" section might be only indirectly related to the topic of the article because one purpose of "See also" links is to enable readers to explore tangentially related topics.

Editors should provide a brief annotation when a link's relevance is not immediately apparent, when the meaning of the term may not be generally known, or when the term is ambiguous.

References

Citations per Verifiability. Use {{Reflist|30em}}. A list of sources used is a form of definition list, which is placed below the reference section, separated with a ";" which creates a related but minor subsection. Texts which are suggested as further reading, but haven't been used as source material in the article, are placed in a separate section termed Further reading.

Further reading

The further reading section of an article contains a bulleted list, usually alphabetized, of a reasonable number of works which a reader may consult for additional and more detailed coverage of the subject of the article. It is one of the optional standard appendices and footers. These appear in a defined order at the bottom of the article.

The section may include brief, neutral annotations. The annotations are not original research since they are based on a Reliable Source—the work itself. Some articles may also or instead have an External links section; editors will occasionally merge the two if both are very short. When an article contains both sections, some editors prefer to list websites and online works in the External links section. Works listed in a Further reading section are cited in the same citation style used by the rest of the article.

Like the External links appendix, the inclusion of a Further reading section is optional, and many good articles, and more than half of all featured articles, omit it entirely. This section is present in fewer than 3% of Wikipedia's articles.

External links

Wikipedia articles may include links to web pages outside Wikipedia (external links), but they should not normally be placed in the body of an article. All external links must conform to certain formatting restrictions.

Some acceptable links include those that contain further research that is accurate and on-topic, information that could not be added to the article for reasons such as copyright or amount of detail, or other meaningful, relevant content that is not suitable for inclusion in an article for reasons unrelated to its accuracy.

Some external links are welcome, but it is not Wikipedia's purpose to include a lengthy or comprehensive list of external links related to each topic. No page should be linked from a Wikipedia article unless its inclusion is justifiable according to this guideline and common sense. The burden of providing this justification is on the person who wants to include an external link.

Last elements

Navigation box templates : A navigation template is a grouping of links used in multiple related articles to facilitate navigation between those articles. Editing of a navigation template is done in a central place, the template page. There are two main varieties of navigation template: navigation boxes (or navboxes), designed to sit at the very bottom of articles, and sidebars, designed to sit at the side of the article text. The two are complementary and either or both may be appropriate in different situations. Navigation boxes are optional.

Categories - don't over-categorize

Some examples of articles about settlements, villages, cities etc.

• White Deer Hole Creek
• El Hatillo Municipality, Venezuela
• Ambohimanga
• Cameroon
• List of World Heritage Sites in Africa

See more

• Guidelines and ideas for teachers
• Help:How to write your first Wikipedia article