Wikipedia:Set index articles
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This page documents an English Wikipedia editing guideline. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though it is best treated with common sense, and occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page. |
A set index article (SIA) is a list article about a set of items of a specific type that share the same (or similar) name. For example, Dodge Charger describes a set of cars, List of peaks named Signal Mountain describes a set of mountain peaks, and List of ships of the United States Navy named Enterprise describes a set of ships. Being of a specific type means that they share a common characteristic in addition to the similarity of name. A list is only a SIA if inclusion of an item in the list is due to the name of the item—e.g. every entry in a list of earthquakes may include the word "earthquake", but that does not mean the list is a SIA.[contradiction]
A set index article is not a disambiguation page: A disambiguation page is a list of things, possibly of different types, that share the same (or similar) name, formatted for best navigating the reader to the sought topic. A set index lists things of only one type and need not follow the formatting rules for disambiguation pages; however, many do by convention. A set index article is meant for information as well as navigation: just like a normal list article, it can have metadata and extra information about each entry. It may contain red links to help editors create articles on notable entries.
Fundamentally, a set index article is a type of list article. The criteria for creating, adding to, or deleting a set index article should be the same as for a stand-alone list. The style of a set index article should follow the style guidelines at Wikipedia:Stand-alone lists. A set index article can be tagged with {{Set index article}}.
Sometimes there will be a disambiguation page and a set index article for the same term. If the disambiguation page carries the name of the term (as with Signal Mountain), then the set index article should be named "List of XXXs named YYY" (as in List of peaks named Signal Mountain). Normally, if there is a choice between pointing the term at the set index page or the disambiguation page, the term should point to the disambiguation page (the broader category). In the rare case where the set index article is considered the primary topic, it may be named with just the term itself, the disambiguation page being called "YYY (disambiguation)".
Set index articles are categorized at Category:Set indices.
For more information about set index articles for ships, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships/Guidelines#Index pages.
Tagging an article as a SIA[edit]
If an article is a SIA then one of the following templates should be placed near the end of the page.
- {{Set index article}} for any set index article – Category:Set indices
- {{Mountain index}} for mountain names – Category:Set indices on mountains
- {{Road index}} for roads, streets, or highways – Category:Lists of roads sharing the same title
- {{Ship index}} for ship names – Category:Set indices on ships
- {{Sport index}} for sport names – Category:Set indices on sports
- {{Surname}} for people's surnames – Category:Surnames
- {{Given name}} for people's given names – Category:Given names
