GSCSurvivalGuide:Help
From GSCSurvivalGuide
This article is intended to help you figure out how to get started writing and editing entries for the Vanderbilt Survival Guide Wiki.
Contents |
Posting Guidelines
Before you start editing or adding content, please read the following posting guidelines.
- This should go without saying, but please use your clearest writing when creating an article. Use complete sentences, proper grammar, and paragraphs. This wiki is a reflection on the graduate students of Vanderbilt, so it would be good if we don’t appear illiterate.
- Whenever possible, provide web links or other citations to support statements made in the article. If you mention a restaurant, link to its website (if it has one). If you state that the restaurant was voted “Best Cuisine in Nashville”, link to a news article or provide some sort of citation.
- Both positive and negative information are helpful. If a dentist provided fantastic service at a reasonable price, mention that; if the dentist charged you thousands of dollars and didn’t even provide Novocain, mention that instead. However, keep in mind that while opinions are welcome, ad hominem attacks are not. Libel is not your friend.
- If you are writing a review of a particular entry within the article, please keep it brief (a few sentences). Also, you may attach your name, email, or Survival Wiki user name to the review if you wish, but anonymity is fine.
- Please try to stick to local services where applicable. For example, it is not necessary to put Chili’s and Applebee’s in the restaurant section as almost every community has those available and they vary little from location to location. An exception is franchises (as opposed to chains), where service can be very different depending on the owner. Consider the potential utility of the information when including items that are available in other communities.
- Be specific! If you write an article about malls, include a list of anchor stores. If writing about hair salons, mention if they cater to a particular group (men, women, people with long hair, etc). The content of an article should be more than a list of names, places, or links.
- Please follow the general formatting guidelines. However, each article will have its own peculiarities when it comes to content, so don’t worry about making alterations as necessary. This is why it’s a general format.
Editing Language
The Survival Guide is based on the format of Wikipedia. The formatting rules are the same, so please refer to the excellent guides to wiki article formats available here (short version) and here (long version). If you have never written or edited a wiki-style article before, please take a moment to look at the guides.
Format
You can copy and paste the following section into the editor box of a new article to get started. The area between the equal signs are headers; replace the text as appropriate. The area under each header is the appropriate content for the section; again, replace as necessary.
Listing Page
These pages, generally linked from the Table of Contents, list all locations of a specific type (i.e. Apartments or Dentists). With the list, you should include for each location the phone #, address, website, and a brief review. The location name should link to a new wiki page to contain more detailed information about the location.
First, list the category from the Table of Contents, which will help with navigation. The category for Apartments, which is in Housing would look like:
[[Category: Housing]]
Neext, include a general statement about what you are listing. It should comprise no more than a few sentences.
__TOC__ <!---Do not edit this line. It inserts a Table of Contents into the article.--->
==Category/Subsection Title==
Examples of subsections include Apartment Locating Services and Apartment Complexes for the Apartment listing. Entries should look like:
* [[Listing Name]]
** Phone
** Address
** [URL Website Name]
** Review: Brief summary
==Miscellaneous Information==
Any information that does not seem to fit anywhere else goes here.
==See Also==
This section is to link to other relevant articles within the wiki. For example, if writing an article on malls,
you could link to the pages on specialty stores and neighborhoods.
==References==
The links or other citation information for anything referenced within the article. We're grad students,
so I'm sure we've gotten the hang of this one by now.
==External Links==
Any external websites that, while not explicitly cited within the article, could be useful.
For instance, if you're writing a page on restaurants, it could be helpful to link to the Nashville Citysearch guide.
Finally, to help out with navigation, insert a template with the category name.
Using the apartments example again, in the Housing category, the template will look like:
{{Housing}}
Location Page
These pages contain detailed information about a specific location, and are linked to from listing pages (i.e. a specific apartment complex or dentist).
Like the listing pages, we want to again list the category. For example, a specific apartment would have the following:
[[Category: Apartments]]
Next, include a general statement about the location. It should comprise no more than a few sentences.
__TOC__ <!---Do not edit this line. It inserts a Table of Contents into the article.--->
==Contact Information==
Include the address, phone number, building name, anything you need to find the physical location.
==Website==
We all like to see websites, so include the URL if you've found it.
[URL Website name]
==Graduate Student Comments==
This is the most important part of the page - we want to know details about your experience with the location. Sign your name at the end, or leave an anonymous review.
* I love this place! -Alli
* It was really expensive.
==Miscellaneous Information==
Any information that does not seem to fit anywhere else goes here.
==See Also==
This section is to link to other relevant articles within the wiki.
==References==
The links or other citation information for anything referenced within the article. We're grad students,
so I'm sure we've gotten the hang of this one by now.
==External Links==
Any external websites that, while not explicitly cited within the article, could be useful.
For instance, if you're writing a page on restaurants, it could be helpful to link to the Nashville Citysearch guide.
Finally, to help out with navigation, insert a template with the category name.
Using the apartments example again, in the Housing category, the template will look like:
{{Housing}}
For existing articles (i.e. entries that already contain text, not just those with pages), you shouldn't need to do any major editing to the format. Do not edit more than content unless you have a need to.
