User:Dystopos/Schools

Articles on schools should follow all of Wikipedia's existing policies on content, presentation and organization. Thought should be given to whether a proposed school article meets Wikipedia's core policies on article content. To assist with improving school-related articles, the following recommendations are made:

1. With respect to core policy "Wikipedia is an encyclopedia", all content should be composed as encyclopedia articles, not as directory or almanac data. Much information about individual schools is trivial in nature and should not be added. For Wikipedia's general audience, consider the aspects that make a particular school notable in comparison with similar schools. Is the building architecturally or historically significant? Was the school founded by a notable group or with a mind to a particular pedagogy? Have the faculty, athletic teams or academic teams attained significant achievements in competition? Have notable events taken place at the school? Was it used as a location for a notable film? Does it have well-known graduates? These topics will all carry more general interest than a mere recitation of typical school-board statistics.
2. With respect to the core policy "Wikipedia is not the place for original research", articles about schools should be compiled from verifiable sources and not from personal recollection. The degree to which a claim is controversial increases the need for citations to support the claim. (i. e. "Foo Valley is the most prestigious preparatory academy in North Foovia" would need a specific and authoritative citation, but "Foo Valley is situated on a broad knoll at the north terminus of Foo Road" is unlikely to be challenged). See Wikipedia:Reliable_sources for more information. A local library is likely to have much richer source material than the school's website.
3. With respect to the core policy "Wikipedia has a neutral point of view", no article should be written merely to promote a school. Information should be descriptive and balanced rather than selected and polished to improve a school's image. Those with strong ties to a particular school are often highly motivated to expand Wikipedia's coverage. Those persons should be mindful, however, of the temptation to write from an overly-supportive POV.
4. If there is not enough information available to write a complete article, consider expanding articles on the locality or school district to provide context before creating a new article. In these cases it is acceptable to create a redirect so that people searching for information about the school will find it. You may notice that other editors are quick to exercise boldness in merging stub articles to broader topics. This is usually the correct procedure for stub and substub articles on schools and can be discussed on the talk pages of affected articles.
5. For discussion on specific content and formatting issues pertaining to school articles, and for good examples, see the project page Wikipedia:WikiProject Schools.