Checklist for good articles

The lemma

Every article has a title (the lemma), and in tune with other wikis, the URL is identical with the lemma. A certain consistency is helpful because it makes it easier for others to guess the correct lemma (especially helpful if one inserts redlinks) and to use categories to get an overview. The next paragraphs sketch what the lemmata for articles on manuscripts and collections should look like, please read them before you come up with a new lemma. However, the lemma question should not stop you from adding content; if you are uncertain about the lemma, you can flag this issue by placing your new article in the Category:Pages with non-standard title. This helps other users to see that there is a problem, and ultimately to solve it.

Naming manuscripts

The page name for an article on a manuscript should consist of "place name, library name, shelfmark", with names in the local language. The names of some libraries (mainly national libraries and French municipal libraries) are abbreviated. For details, see Conventions on referencing manuscripts.

Naming collections

The Clavis Wiki refers to canon law collections by their conventional names (normally in Latin). At the same time we try to be consistent and to avoid giving the same name to two collections. The three goals are sometimes difficult to reconcile. For details, see our Conventions on referencing collections.

Naming libraries

Libraries are referred to by their location and (current) official name, both in the local language; some library names are abbreviated. For details, see our Conventions on referencing manuscripts.

Headlines, ToC, and Intro

If the article exceeds a certain length, please use headlines to subdivide it. To do so, place the headline between two equation marks like this: == Headline ==, or use the pull-down menue in the visual edit mode. Conventionally, the sections containing links and literature come last. The table of content is auto-generated. The longer an article get, the more important it is to have a short introduction (before the first headline) stating the most important facts about the collection or manuscript in questions.

Links

All articles should contain links to other articles, and be linked from other articles. Specifically, all manuscript articles should be linked from the List of manuscripts, and likewise all articles on collections from the Description of the collections page; manuscript articles should link to all collections found in the respective manuscript and vice versa. In general, any manuscript and/or collection that is mentioned in any article should be linked to at least once. If the target article do not yet exist yet, you can still insert the link (a "redlink"); to get the link address right, make yourself familiar with the conventions on lemmata.

Literature

A select bibliography helps to document which scholarly literature you have relied upon for your work and to find additional information on the respective collection or manuscript.

• The Clavis bibliography gives full bibliographical information on many books and articles, refers to digital copies in many cases, and always has a short title you can simply copy&paste.
• In particular, please cite always the relevant pages in Fowler-Magerl's Clavis canonum handbook and Lotte Kéry's manual in the HMCL series; the best way to do so is the following form: {{Author|Fowler-Magerl}} p. {{FM|12}} and {{Author|Kéry}} pp. {{Kéry|123}}-124. Manuscripts not mentioned in these books should be placed in the respective categories [[Category:Manuscript not in Clavis handbook]] and/or [[Category:Manuscript not in Kéry]].
• Likewise, Maassen's Geschichte should always be cited for the pre-Carolingian collections and their manuscripts, and Kuttner's Repertorium for the post-Gratian works and manuscripts covered in this seminal work. Again, the easiest way is to use templates: inserting {{Author|Maassen}} p. {{Maassen|12}} and {{Author|Kuttner}} pp. {{Kuttner|123}}-124 in the "source edit" mode produces page-specific links to the digital copies of these books.
• If you can, add links to digital copies of any other works you cite, too. Preferably, use persistent and page-specific links to public resources; the Internet Archive in this respect is very good, and DOIs are always welcome. For standard works of references, templates make it very easy to insert page-specific links (see above); for other works, simply insert an external link.

Categories

Every article must be placed in at least one category. In the case of articles on manuscripts and collections, the most important categories are [[Category:Manuscript]] and either [[Category:Canonical Collection]] or [[Category:Letter Collection]], respectively. These two categories should always be used, no matter what other categories an article is placed in.

In addition, please add as many relevant categories as you can. As far as possible, articles should be placed in the respective categories for basic information on date and place of origin (for manuscripts and collections), on codicology, contents, holding institution, and digitization status (for manuscripts) or Clavis key, size, and its presence in the database (for collections). See Categories for a quick overview.

Some articles created semi-automatically in 2023 have a separate section "Categories" with a bullet-point list of categories. As articles are revised, this will be eliminated. Do not imitate this for new articles.