User:Philtweir/Academic communities articles and notability

Adapted from College and university article guideline

This page is copied here for the express purpose of modeling an Academic Communities essay off it and must, before this explanatory note is removed, have an attribution notice to that effect placed on its Talk Page

This article is intended to supply guidelines for what are here termed Academic Communities (mostly notable university colleges, see the linked page for a fuller explanation). As a consequence of national differences of nomenclature and educational philosophy, appropriate terminology in the United States may differ significantly for that which is appropriate for articles relating to Commonwealth institutions, particularly those of the United Kingdom. However, these guidelines are intended to be universal and corrections should tend to inclusive language, easing reading and understanding. In particular, the unqualified term 'college' should generally be avoided, having substantially different, mutually exclusive connotations around the world.

Notability
This is a topic of primary importance. Academic communities do not, by default, include all residential colleges. No article should be included unless it is independently notable and any institution which is primarily a dorm, unless otherwise notable, should not be included (as per general notability policy). The purpose of any comments regarding notability here is to provide a discussion point for a more precise definition of notability.

Reliable sources
As with all college and university articles, special care is required for citing self-published sources. In particular, "the cited information must be authentic, not be self-serving (see Neutral point of view), and not involve claims about third parties". This is generally harder in the case of Academic Communities, which are often able to maintain a far more insular existence than colleges (US) or universities, and may have an alumni body of hundreds, rather than tens of thousands. Nonetheless, most notable institutions will have some independent sources and these should be sought out for inclusion.

From the college and university guidelines, a partiuclarly useful point:

University histories and promotional material may provide some useful comparative charts or summaries of standard statistics, particularly through their prospectus, but bear in mind that, at least in the case of university-owned institutions, this is still often, or is tantamount to, self-published material and, especially in the case of admissions literature, may be susceptible to boosterism.

Neutral point of view
As this is such a fundamental principle and so often the major flaw in Academic Community articles, particularly, the following is reproduced rather than linked:

Article structure
The layout of an academic communities article is more variable than perhaps a college or university article. Where one institution may have an extensive and notable set of historic buildings, another may have a notable rare books library or public art gallery. Some may have particular widely-documented traditions, some may have particularly notable fellowships. However, the article will benefit by keeping disparity to a necessary minimum, through structuring standard elements in a standard manner. As such, where possible and where each is appropriate, the elements below are recommended in the given order.

For a more structured example, please see the Sample article.


 * Infobox — these should, at the least, be common to the university. As there are often substantial differences between academic communities within different universities, deriving off a university-wide communities Infobox is perhaps useful and allows future development. The Template:Infobox Otago college is designed to be fairly broad and may be useful for universities without particularly specific requirements (e.g. Oxford, Cambridge)
 * Lead — standard recommendations regarding the lead apply. Particularly, make sure any ambiguity is avoided in the type of institution. For a persuasive illustration of the consequent confusion, see the Oriel College talk page.
 * History — this is often essential in establishing notability (more fully than is possible in the lead) and should be as full of useful, relevant, well-structured information as possible
 * Buildings — may overlap, or be implicitly subsumed into history. However, if the buildings are themselves notable, this is best kept with a full description. Particularly, chapels, independently notable libraries, or notable residential facilities can be mentioned here.
 * Governance — if appropriate, include some past and present fellows, where notable, masters and and any significant points regarding the college's governance generally
 * Student life — notable traditions, where independent sources exist
 * Alumni — this is generally the appropriate term for an academic community. If in doubt whether the term is appropriate for the institution, double-check whether the institution really qualifies for inclusion under the description of academic communities. As ever, individuals who do not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline should not be included.
 * External links — link to the official website of the institution, preferably in the English language
 * Navigation Templates — often, there will be a university template including any academic communities by name

Student life
As always, inclusion of a society or tradition is dependent on notability and the availability of independent sources (for instance, Michael Palin, in his autobiography, discusses his experiences taking part in Selwyn College, Otago initiation activities as part of a documentary series; a useful source) Boat clubs or choirs may (and often may not) merit their own article, as they may be independently notable. Many boat clubs in Oxford and Cambridge act as significant financially-independent interests, though elsewhere, it is quite possible that only the university-wide boat club would do so.