Talk:Edmund Plowden (colonial governor)

good information for a biographical article
I have been asked to provide some guidance on good information to put into a biographical article. First it is good to become familiar with WP:BLP, which is a guideline for writing biographies. I have more to say but I have to leave now, I'll list more suggestions a little later. H1nkles (talk) citius altius fortius 18:35, 20 May 2010 (UTC)
 * What is this about? How many colonial governors are still living? :-) Dougweller (talk) 19:06, 20 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Ah, the appropriate guideline is not our BLP one so much as Manual of Style (biographies). Dougweller (talk) 19:11, 20 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes that was my mistake, I forgot the minor detail that he is dead. My fault on that one.  Dougweller has given the correct MOS entry that should be followed.  Now on to other suggestions:

I hope this gives you some food for thought and input to help get you started. I wish you luck and please don't hesitate to give me a poke if you want me to review it. H1nkles (talk) citius altius fortius 21:49, 20 May 2010 (UTC)
 * 1) Make sure the sources are credible.  Peer reviewed university papers are the best.  I know many people rely heavily on journals published by the subject of the article.  Depending on the situation this can violate WP:PSTS, which is basically an injunction against primary source material.  This can be a bit counterintuitive but for encyclopedia articles primary sources are viewed as open to potential bias.  Secondary and tertiary sources review the primary sources and hopefully strip away any bias, leaving facts and information.  Ironically it is primary sources that are required for Masters level research but for an encyclopedia, use of primary documents are discouraged.  Not that it cannot be used and if this is the only information available then please write the article.  But if you have aspirations of having it reviewed and attaining good article status or higher, then the primary source issue would need to be addressed.
 * 2) The article must conform to the sources.  Editors sometimes look to add detail unsupported by the sources.  It is always best to leave sections out that do not have references.
 * 3) Please take a look at Æthelwig, which is a good article.  It gives some good information about the subject, discusses his early life, then goes into the details for which he is best known, then something about his legacy.  It's a fairly simple format.
 * 4) The sourcing in this article is also formatted correctly and consistently.

Article text
The Following is uncorrected ocr of The Pennsylvania magazine of history and biography", Vol.VII. 1883. (PD) I will correct this and make nice at a sister site, if someone requests it. The source is here cygnis insignis