Archive:What's Your Article?

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This is a new initiative proposal.

Your Articles

Listing format:

<your name>, link to article (on subpage of your user page)

One sentence expressing the main topic of the article. May be the first sentence of the article.

No articles listed yet--this very recently proposed.

What's Your Article?

You have an article in you--the best article you can write, introducing some subject. Maybe no one could write a better article on that subject; or maybe you're just very passionate about it.

The Citizendium is a wiki with unsigned, collaborative articles. What's Your Article? gives you the opportunity to give the world your one best article. Your name goes on it, prominently, at the top of the page. And no one can edit it. It is your work; it represents what you can do, and what you're passionate about. It doesn't matter if someone else has written on your topic. This is your take on the subject.

But you can only write one article for this program. That is a firm rule. So make it your best. Everyone's best will be collected together in one place--right here. How well will your article stack up against the others?

In time, as we get more and more editors on board, they will select the best of these articles to link to as "Signed Articles." This means your work will be held up as reference material and an official part of the Citizendium.

Why?

Why should you participate? Think about this: if you could write just one article, introducing one topic to the world, what would it be? There's something you know a lot about--something that excites or interests you, or that you care deeply about. We're challenging everyone: demonstrate your excellent writing skills by telling the world about it. Make the best possible article you can.

Why is Citizendium organizing this? Because we think the idea of collecting the world's best individual work is extremely compelling. The result will be a huge number of very good articles that both express our individuality, and enlighten the world. Furthermore, it's a compelling "hook" to draw people into the Citizendium project as a whole.

What kind of article is this?

The article should be an introduction to a topic. It should be expository, not argumentative. It should be written to inform, not to persuade. But, unlike collaborative, unsigned Citizendium articles, it can be written from your unique point of view. It is an informative article, but it can reflect your view. Of course, we prefer something objective.

If you want to write a deep, important argument aimed to persuade people of something, please see What's Your Message?

Placement and formatting

To begin with, you make your article a subpage of your Citizendium user page. If the project is adopted, we will probably put articles in a new, special namespace.

Here are some anticipated standard sections:

• Title
• Byline (your name, linked to your user page)
• "Rough draft" template, if applicable
• The main article text
• End matter (e.g., notes and bibliography)
• Special categories (see below)

Once you're done with a rough draft (at least), you can link to the article from this page. Won't this page get long? Probably. When necessary, we'll find ways to divide it up.

The Citizendium community hasn't adopted the initiative yet. But if you like, you can start writing your article now--consider this a test phase.

Special categories

Categories are used in MediaWiki software to group articles. What's Your Article? will the following special categories:

• Unfinished draft, rough draft, cleanup, or final draft. In other words, how far along the article is, in the opinion of the author. Example: Category:WYA Rough Draft
• Corresponding Citizendium workgroup. Example: Category:WYA Philosophy.
• Geographical location of author (U.S. states, countries, and other geographical entities that users list). Examples: Category:WYA Marylanders, Category:WYA Australians
• Month and year started writing. Example: Category:WYA 2007 October
• Language. We accept these articles in any language. Example: Category:WYA Français
• Citizendium availability. If your article can be used as a starting place for a Citizendium article, use Category:WYA CZ yes. If not, use Category:WYA CZ no.
• License. This category will, however, be generated by a template that you place at the bottom of the article. (Template list forthcoming.)

Talk page comments

Other Citizens may offer their own comments on talk pages. Such comments must, of course, conform to the Citizendium Professionalism standards. Such comments may offer advice, but generally they may not make demands. Since the articles are the personal, unedited work of a particular Citizen, the author is the final authority about his or her own article, and commenters must respect this.

If an article contains what others regard as errors that must be corrected, we may allow others to write formal comments in reply.

More essentials

• License. You specify the license.
• Can this article be used as a starting-point for a collaborative Citizendium article? You decide.

Page may need to be translated into other languages.