Wikipedia:WikiProject Timeline Tracer/Guidelines

 Welcome to the WikiProject Timeline Tracer  Guidelines This is a sub/page of WikiProject Timeline Tracer   Reference information The ways to find or to decide which article to evaluate and help or where to find it are outlined at the Timeline Tracer Strategy page. The page below deals directly with how to work with an article that you have already found.  Main Guidelines  Our purpose:
 * Where dates or periods are mentioned that are important to the article's subject, those must be clear, accurate and must have citations to reliable sources
 * When an article's subject should have its origins and development described, the article must have a history section and this must be accurate and have reliable sources.

If you see an article needing corrections or missing information, the best thing to do is, of course, to be bold and fix it. Barring that, you have several options:


 * First and most important is to place inline calls tagging the problem lines. Enter Timefact in the body of an article as a request for other editors to find sources for verifying the chronology, timeline and dates provided as reference in the content. It will display:.

Usage


 * 1) Use Timefact to label a statement which lacks a source confirming or providing its chronology or timeline as per Citing sources

Examples


 * In the sentence "it was started by Lord Champs in 2001 and enhanced two years later ..."
 * You will place fact if you are simply requesting a source that says that it was started by Lord Champs in 2001
 * You will insert Timefact if what you are requesting is a source that confirms when it was started and its development after that.


 * In the sentence "that organization was founded in 1978 when the natural disasters had increased..."
 * You will place fact if you are simply requesting a source that says that the organization was founded in 1978
 * You will insert Timefact if what you are requesting is a source that says when the disasters increased in relation with the year of foundation


 * In the sentence "those celtic tribes survived more than one invasion...":
 * You will place fact if you are simply requesting a source that says that those tribes survived many invasions
 * You will insert Timefact if what you are requesting is a source that says when that happened


 * If you want to alert the authors of the article that there may be need for some more work, add the template at the article's talk page.


 * If you have specific ideas about what the article is missing, you can add them as a parameter:


 * An alternative is to place.

Placing any of these tags will add the article to the category Articles lacking chronology/history sources

Edit summary
 * When adding the histref template, you can use the following edit summary: This article needs sources for chronology/history verification. See WP:TIMETRACE.
 * When actually adding sources, you can use: Adding chronology/history sources. You can help!

Talk Page

Usually it is a good idea, even if not a must, to go to the article's talk page and leave a brief explanation as well as some suggestions in a helping tone.

You should also add to the top of the talk page, under other already existing scope banners.

If the banners are more than one, you can place and nest all the scope banners and ours in that shell, see  for knowing how to do that.

Reporting


 * If you will not assume the task of verifying and helping an article but just want to mark and add the article to the category Articles waiting for chronology/history evaluation, just add at the article's talk page.

Some guidelines about what to look after

To read about how to deal with sources can be found at WP:TIMETRS

Chronology and history of a subject are sometimes disregarded or lacking sources. Chronologies, history and references to these are often interrupted or inaccurate. Movements, religions, groups and organizations are many times named or linked to the subject of the article with incorrect or inaccurate links of lineage.
 * Articles in general

Many of these claim historical or cultural heritage, but lack sources verification. Many articles may reference self-produced online or offline references. WP:OR
 * Movements, modern religions, philosophies, traditions groups, martial arts

Roots and relationships are many times obscured or manipulated to satisfy specific interests.
 * Peoples and languages

Literary traditions are sometimes liberally attributed.
 * Literary traditions

May have parallel origins in more than one historical or geographical point.
 * Concepts (including scientific discoveries and schools of philosophy)

Many stubs need to be verified and cleaned in history references.
 * Organizations, large groups, nations

Sometimes appropriated because they have been orphaned by societies no longer existing. 
 * Older books, works of art, musical pieces, etc.

 Working with an article 

During evaluation and help of a given article
 * You must keep the tag in the article's page while it is undergoing edition.
 * To exchange opinions with other WikiProject Timeline Tracer editors, enter the article and comments at the Assignments Board

When the article has been improved sufficiently

When the article has been improved in a satisfactory manner, you must remove the tags and leave instead, at the article's talk page, which will add the to the category  Articles evaluated by WP Timeline Tracer.  Shortcut to this page is WP:TIMETGD