 | This is anessay on theWikipedia:College and university article guideline and theWikipedia:Notability (academics) guideline. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one ofWikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not beenthoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
Adapted fromWikipedia:College and university article guideline
This page is copied here for the express purpose of modeling anAcademic Communities essay off it and must, before this explanatory note is removed, have an attribution notice to that effect placed on its Talk Page
This article is intended to supply guidelines for what are here termedAcademic Communities (mostly notable university colleges, see the linked page for a fuller explanation). As a consequence of national differences of nomenclature and educational philosophy, appropriate terminology in theUnited States may differ significantly for that which is appropriate for articles relating toCommonwealth institutions, particularly those of theUnited Kingdom. However, these guidelines are intended to be universal and corrections should tend to inclusive language, easing reading and understanding. In particular, the unqualified term 'college' should generally be avoided, having substantially different, mutually exclusive connotations around the world.
| This section contains aWikiProject advice page onnotability, consisting of the advice and/or opinions of one or moreWikiProjects on how notability may be interpreted within their area of interest. An advice page has the status of anessay and is not a formalWikipedia policy or guideline, as it has not beenthoroughly vetted by the community. |
This is a topic of primary importance. Academic communities do not, by default, include allresidential colleges. No article should be included unless it is independently notable and any institution which is primarily a dorm, unless otherwise notable, should not be included (as pergeneral notability policy). The purpose of any comments regarding notability here is to provide a discussion point for a more precise definition of notability.
As with all college and university articles, special care is required for citingself-published sources. In particular, "the cited information must be authentic, not be self-serving (seeNeutral point of view), and not involve claims about third parties". This is generally harder in the case of Academic Communities, which are often able to maintain a far more insular existence than colleges (US) or universities, and may have an alumni body of hundreds, rather than tens of thousands. Nonetheless, most notable institutions will have some independent sources and these should be sought out for inclusion.
From the college and university guidelines, a partiuclarly useful point:
...colleges and universities do publish a wide variety of important and authoritative information that should be included in any article. The Common Data Set, a fact book/almanac, President's reports, course catalogs, and/or faculty handbooks are excellent and authoritative sources of information on the college or university and can commonly be found on the websites for the provost, registrar, or institutional research office. A university's library or archives office may have a list of published articles or books about the university's history that can be used as reliable sources as well.
University histories and promotional material may provide some useful comparative charts or summaries of standard statistics, particularly through their prospectus, but bear in mind that, at least in the case of university-owned institutions, this is still often, or is tantamount to, self-published material and, especially in the case of admissions literature, may be susceptible toboosterism.
As this is such a fundamental principle and so often the major flaw in Academic Community articles, particularly, the following is reproduced rather than linked:
Make sure to write from aneutral point of view. Wikipedia is not the place foracademic boosterism - do not praise an academic institution but describe it using neutral language and verifiable facts. Remember toAssert facts, not opinions,substantiate the basis for any opinions, anddon't tell the reader what to think...
Watch out for overly general and vague statements such as "there are many who think University of X's business program is great" or "Y College is widely recognized as a preeminent institution". Suchweasel words are not particularly factual and usually nothing but the author's opinions in disguise. Try to provide more specific information, and back the statement up withreferences to reliable, independent sources like books, magazines, studies, etc. In addition, the use ofpeacock terms and otherwords to avoid is strongly discouraged (e.g., "University of Z is a highly prestigious…" or "Z College is a renowned…") Remember, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not an admissions pamphlet and these pieces of fluff actuallylower the prose to an unprofessional level.
If you cite college and university rankings, be precise and honest. Refactoring rankings (71st nationally according to the source, but 2nd among colleges in the state) to boost the score constitutesoriginal research and is not permitted. Claims that an institution "ranks highly" or is "highly exclusive" are just as vague as claims that it is "prestigious" and "excellent." Rankings should be neutrally worded without modifiers or disclaimers, represent a comprehensive cross-section ofrankings by national and international publications, be limited to a single section in the article, and be reported as numeric values with years and verifiable sources. In the lead, do not use rankings tosynthesize an image of the institution, whether good or bad. Give one factual statement summarising overall "most recent" rankings obtained in key surveys (for example, "In 2010, institution 'A' has been ranked #3 by The Economist, #5 by The New York Times and #8 by Financial Times."). In the lead, do not give the sub factor rankings obtained in each survey (for example, details like "ranked #x in placements" or "ranked #3 in research" should not be given in lead at all).
The layout of an academic communities article is more variable than perhaps a college or university article. Where one institution may have an extensive and notable set of historic buildings, another may have a notable rare books library or public art gallery. Some may have particular widely-documented traditions, some may have particularly notable fellowships. However, the article will benefit by keeping disparity to a necessary minimum, through structuring standard elements in a standard manner. As such, where possible and where each is appropriate, the elements below are recommended in the given order.
For a more structured example, please see theSample article.
As always, inclusion of a society or tradition is dependent on notability and the availability of independent sources (for instance,Michael Palin, in his autobiography, discusses his experiences taking part inSelwyn College, Otago initiation activities as part of a documentary series; a useful source) Boat clubs or choirsmay (and often may not) merit their own article, as theymay be independently notable. Many boat clubs in Oxford and Cambridge act as significant financially-independent interests, though elsewhere, it is quite possible that only the university-wide boat club would do so.