Wikipedia:WikiProject Castles
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Welcome to the Castles WikiProject on the English Wikipedia! We are a group dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of topics related to castles. If you would like to join us, please feel free to add your name to the list of project members!
[edit] Goal
- To improve all articles on Wikipedia on castles, particularly bringing stubs up to full article status.
[edit] Scope
- Defensive structures commonly known as castles in Europe, the Middle East, Russia and Asia.
- Some forts in New France with castle-like features are fine (eg Fort Senneville), provided they serve both a residential and defensive function.
- A number of castles in the Spanish Main can also be accepted (eg Fortaleza Ozama), but only if they were built before the 1588 fortification plan and are recognised as having medieval castle architecture and function.
- NOT Castles in the United States, as none can be described as true castles, and are instead primarily country houses or follies.
- NOT chateaux in the sense given at the head of the chateau page, though defensive French structures also called 'chateaux' are fine.
- NOT palaces and other nominal castles with little or no defensive purpose.
- Manor houses called castles (eg Stokesay Castle, Sleaford Castle) can be acceptable, provided they had some defensive role or architecture - this is currently under discussion on the talk page.
[edit] To do
- Establish Wikipedia:WikiProject Castles/Category Policy
- Expand coverage of castles and castle types (architectural modes) in a more global context.
[edit] Templates
[edit] Tag
{{WPCAS}}
[edit] User
[edit] Infobox
{{Infobox Military Structure}}
[edit] Parent Projects
- Middle Ages
- Military history, specifically technology, medieval and early modern taskforces.
- Architecture
[edit] Descendant Projects
[edit] Assessment
See Wikipedia:WikiProject Castles/Assessment
[edit] Featured article advice
This section provides a brief list of major points that should be addressed before an article is listed as a featured article candidate; some of them are general recommendations, while others are related specifically to common objections candidate articles encounter.
- Take advantage of the review process
- Articles nominated for featured status should already be of a superlative quality, as attempts to fix major problems during the featured article nomination itself are usually chaotic and unsuccessful. Thus, the article should be reviewed for potential problems before a nomination is made. A full review process is outlined below; while these steps are not required, they are usually quite helpful:
- Peer review: the peer review can offer exhaustive suggestions for improvement; it can be undertaken at any point, but is most useful once a majority of the article's content is present. This can run for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.
- A-Class review: the review for A-Class status is less flexible, and serves primarily to verify that the major criteria for featured article status are met; it runs for four days.
- Featured article nomination: the final step is the formal nomination for featured article status; it can run anywhere from a week to a month.
- Check your citations
- Perhaps the most critical flaw in an article—and among the few that serve to guarantee a failed featured article candidacy—is a lack of proper citations. An article should have copious inline citations, preferably from high-quality scholarly sources such as published historical works; for more information, see the project's referencing and citation guidelines.
- Ensure the article has been copyedited
- One of the most common objections that articles encounter is that the prose is too dense or poorly written. It is incumbent on editors to ensure that an article has been thoroughly copyedited before being nominated for featured status; while this can be done, to an extent, on one's own articles, asking someone unfamiliar with the text to review it is generally very helpful in catching less obvious stylistic problems.
- Find suitable illustrations
- While lavish illustration is not a requirement (but is nevertheless a good thing, where enough images are available), particular attention must be paid to cartography; in articles about battles or wars, the lack of a suitable map can result in numerous objections to a featured article candidacy. Many maps are available from public-domain sources; requests for others may be made here.
- Watch the length
- While editors are encouraged to expand articles, there comes a time when the overall length of an article becomes a potential problem for readers; if you find that an article is becoming too long, consider splitting it up or moving some of the information to other articles. More advice on recommended bounds for article size can be found here; note, however, that the numbers given are usually applied only to the prose of the article, and do not include additional material (such as footnotes or reference lists).
- Be mindful of resolution settings
- Higher monitor resolution settings can have the adverse effect of leaving large spaces between paragraphs if too many images or tables are present in one area or along one margin of an article. Consider alternating images from left to right to help prevent large spacing between sections, and leaving extra room below tables and images before adding any additional media to that side of the page. Other editors who use higher or lower resolution settings can help you identify any areas of an article that may need reformating to address this.
[edit] Showcase
The following is a list of articles within the scope of the project that have been noted for their outstanding quality. Project members are encouraged to peruse these at their leisure, as they serve as excellent examples of different writing and organizational styles that one may wish to emulate.
Please note that the project does not necessarily claim any authorship or credit for creating these. While many were written by members—sometimes with extensive input from the project as a whole—others were created by uninvolved editors, or predate the existence of the project itself, and are listed here merely because they fall within our scope.
[edit] Featured articles
Featured articles are considered to be Wikipedia's very best work; they must pass through a review process as featured article candidates before being selected.
[edit] A-Class articles
A-Class articles, while not as rigorously reviewed as featured articles, are nevertheless considered to provide a well-written, reasonably clear, and complete treatment of the topic; they pass through a review process within the project before being selected.
[edit] Did you Know?
- …that the Palanok Castle (pictured) in Mukacheve, Ukraine, was used as an all-European political prison after the fall of the French Bastille, and as a shelter for the Crown of St. Stephen, protecting it from Napoleon I's troops? -- 10 February 2007
- …that Sausenburg Castle (pictured) in Germany was destroyed in 1678 by the army of French Marshall Creque during the Franco-Dutch War? --14 February 2007
- …that Fort Senneville, built in 1671 by New France, included a stone windmill used as a watch tower with a machicolation and other castle-like features? --18 March 2007
[edit] Members
The full list of project members is located on a separate subpage; please feel free to add your name to it if you would like to join the project, and add yourself to Category:WikiProject Castles participants!
[edit] Project award
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The Military history WikiProject Distinguished Service Award (the WikiChevrons) is the project's official award, to be bestowed on anyone who has made significant contributions to Wikipedia's coverage of military history or to the project itself. It may be awarded by any user, and project members are encouraged to use it to recognize the outstanding work of others.
