World History/Operation: Blank Check
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Operation: Blank Check is the title of the current stage of development for World History. The scope of this portion is divided into two major categories, as follows:
- Finalization of structure
- Basic articles in place (See: The Rise of Dictatorship and Totalitarianism)
Finalization of structure
[edit | edit source]This goal encompasses the final chapter listing (World History) and the structure of the articles themselves. Currently, there are 32 chapters. The scope of World History indicates that there will be more, probably at least 5, especially since one of the goals is to include little-known parts of history, like the Kush Empire (near India, no relation to the one south of Egypt) and the Parthian Empire. Also, more mainly, there are a few gaps in the history chain; the one between the Industrial Revolution and World War I is the most prominent. At this time however, we hope to concentrate on the 30 we have down. On the main page, each will have a brief summary, such as already exists for several. Eventually the broad date of the topic will be added to the summary. In naming, chapter titles should have any important words capitalized. Note the differences to this convention in Internal Article Structure (IAS).
Internal Article Structure (IAS)
[edit | edit source]IAS is in full swing at this point. It has been applied to several articles and is still evolving, and therefore varies slightly from article to article. For instance, see the Ancient Civilizations structure versus that in The Rise of Dictatorship and Totalitarianism. There are subtle differences. Because the latter article is almost complete, dates have been added to the subtitles and structural denotations in this article already. We hope to have a brief timeline someday to help expedite the dating process. IAS stipulates the following:
Each article is broken down into broad categories (see Precolumbian History of the Americas for an example) which are further divided into individual cultures/civilizations/events. Structure is to follow this basic method: 1)If the topic is better done by region, such as in the Americas example, then the subcategories must correlate to individual parts of that region, 2) If the topic is better done "by topic", such as in the Dictatorship example, then is is helpful to break the broad categories into time periods within it, such as the rise of Hitler. Also, when a single person has an inordinate influence on an event and enough information is available, text should be devoted to the development of this individual's thought, such as early life, political philosophy, etc. (again, see the Dictatorship example), 3) Under no circumstances should there be any divisions smaller than second level (as in ===Title===). Namewise, make sure that only the first word and the proper words are capitalized if possible. It's odd, but in main chapter titles, all words other than "the", "and", and the like being capitalized is pleasing, but not in article categories and subcategories. Please try to stick to this especially.
So, the guidelines are broad, and much leeway is given. Please feel free to do a little experimenting, but try not to move things around too much that already have substantial topical information in them. Follow the Golden Rule and Have fun!
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