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 have the form "Place name, Library name, shelfmark", with names in the local language and commas separating the three elements. The names of some libraries (mainly national libraries and French municipal libraries) are abbreviated. Shelfmarks should be consistent with existing articles. Sometimes, catalogue numbers are added for the sake of clarity. 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 as part of the lemma, but the library page should always give the full name (e.g. Alençon, BM). For details, see our Conventions on referencing manuscripts.

Language

As stated here, articles in all major scholarly languages are welcome. As of 2025, the introduction, and headlines and the infobox are always in English, even if the rest of the article is not. If you improve an existing article, try to do so in the language it is written in.

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. For manuscript descriptions, the first section normally is codicological, the second concerns the content. The table of content is auto-generated. The longer an article gets, 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 question.

Links

All articles should contain links to other articles, and be linked to from other articles. Specifically, all articles on collections should be linked to from the Description of the collections page. Also, all 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 does 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 Guide the reader to 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}}, Clavis p. {{FM|12}} and {{Author|Kéry}}, Collections 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}}, Geschichte p. {{Maassen|12}} and {{Author|Kuttner}}, Repertorium 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.
• Following the 2005 Clavis handbook, literature is cited heavily abbreviated and in chronological order.

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 categories should always be used, no matter what other categories an article is placed in.

To place an articles in any category, you can use the Source editing mode and simply type (conventionally below the actual article text, but technically it does not matter where) [[Category:Manuscript]] [[Category:Latin Manuscript]] etc.; once you save your changes, the article will appears in the respective category. If you want to place an article in several categories, you may find it easier to use the Visual editing mode, which allows you to choose existing categories from a pull-down menu.

Articles on manuscripts should be in the respective categories indicating their content ([[Category:Manuscript of XY]] , where "XY" is either the Clavis key of the collection or, where no such key exists, the title as used in the article describing the collection). Articles on collections in turn should link to this category ("See [[:Category:Manuscript of XY]] " or the like; note the colon after the opening brackets).

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, or look at the source code of some articles for inspiration.

Infoboxes

General

Articles on libraries, manuscripts, and collections should contain an infobox. See the respective templates. If you are not certain how to use them, look at the source code of articles containing such an infobox and copy&paste the respective text; it is fairly straightforward. However, if you do not feel comfortable with these infoboxes, simply leave this to other users. If you insert information, make sure that the information in the infobox conforms to the categories the article is placed in (and vice versa).

Manuscripts

In articles on manuscripts, the following fields of the infoboxes are particularly important:

• Shelf mark: Always make sure that the article text, the infobox, and the page name (URL) display the shelfmark exactely in the same way. If you have to change the shelfmark, first change the article text and the infobox, delete the default sort key, and only then move the page; a new default sortkey will be assigned within 24 hours. If you do not feel comfortable with moving page, please contact Clemens, Christof, or Danica.
• Century: Please provide a rough date. For details, use the article text; the value in the infobox is used for quick orientation and statistical purposes.
• European region if origin: Enter one of the pre-defined regions here, most easily in the edit mode by selecting the appropriate region from the pull-down menue. If it is not possible to establish which of the regions a manuscript is from, use "general region" instead.
• IDs: As documented in the template page (Template:Infobox manuscript) there are a number fields to enter the respective numbers in standard works of reference (e.g. Bischoff numbers for Carolingian manuscripts) and IDs of major databases (e.g. Biblissima and WikiData QIDs). These numbers greatly help readers to look up relevant information, and also make our data more useful for other projects (matching entries is difficult, but greatly facililtated if two data sets contain the same identifiers).
• Provenance: If known, please provide here the medieval or early modern owner of the manuscript (often an ecclesiastical library).
• Author: If you have made a meaningful contribution to the article, please do add your name here. This greatly helps our readers, and any future contributor who may want to contact you before changing central parts of the articles. It is possible to name up to three authors of any given article.

For fuller documentation of all fields, see Template:Infobox manuscript.