Wikipedia:Manual of Style (lists of works)
This style guideline aims to create a consistent method of displaying lists of works, such as lists of texts, discographies and filmographies.
Contents |
Ordering
Items should be listed in chronological order of production, earliest first.[1]
In the case of a complex series of works, items can sometimes be split into groups based on internal-series order, e.g. Isaac Asimov or based on series chronology.
Linking years
Years should either remain unlinked (preferred), or can link to their sub-topic year page if it exists.[2] e.g. [[1989 in literature|1989]]
List styles
Basic unordered lists are used in the majority of articles, e.g. Henry James or Illuminatus! Trilogy or The KLF. It's also the easiest style to add to and edit, for wikicode-newcomers.[3] See wikicode examples further below.
- Advanced list styles
- Where a series grows complex, tables can be used, e.g. Diane Keaton or Mandy Moore.
- When free license artwork is available, a gallery form may be more suitable (combined with any of the options above). Fair use imagery used in such gallery form is not supported by policy and will be removed.
Basic list style - examples
Lists of works
Lists of published works should be included for authors, illustrators, photographers and other artists. If an article already exists on an author or artist, then a separate article for a list of his or her works (such as Bibliography of Jorge Luis Borges or Robert A. Heinlein bibliography) is warranted if the list becomes so long that its inclusion in the main article would be unsuitable. The individual items in the list do not have to be sufficiently notable to merit their own separate articles. Complete lists of works, appropriately sourced to reliable scholarship (WP:ATT), are encouraged, particularly when such lists are not already freely available on the internet. If the list has a separate article, a simplified version should also be provided in the main article.
Books in English
For works created and first published in English, vital information is the title and year of first publication. Provide the subtitle too, unless it is painfully longwinded. Thus within Max Beerbohm:
- The Works of Max Beerbohm, with a Bibliography by John Lane (1896)
- More (1899)
- Yet Again (1909)
- Zuleika Dobson; or, An Oxford Love Story (1911)
These should be supplemented with publication details where helpful. (The standard form is "Place: Publisher, Year.") Thus within the article on the cartoonist and illustrator John Glashan:
- Sex and the Single Girl. By Helen Gurley Brown. London: Four Square, 1964. (This edition has "£ove $tory", an unpaginated 32-page supplement by Glashan, between pages 128 and 129.)
- The Good Loo Guide: Where to Go in London. By Jonathan Routh with Brigid Segrave. London: Wolfe, 1965. Second (expanded) edition: Wolfe, 1968.
Other editions, perhaps all other editions, of Sex and the Single Girl lack this supplement, so the publication details are likely to be useful to the Glashan hunter. And the reader learns not just that there were two editions of The Good Loo Guide but that the second is bigger than the first. (ISBNs (see section below) are useful in examples similar to these; however, all three of these Glashan editions predate their introduction.)
ISBNs
Provide the ISBN of one or more editions when doing so seems to be helpful. ISBN numbers are unlikely to be helpful for books that either have had or are to have many editions: a reader looking for Zuleika Dobson can easily type "zuleika dobson" into a web interface; and likewise for The God Delusion. Given a single ISBN number, a reader may instead only copy this in and thereby miss other editions.
When you provide an ISBN for an edition, complement this with the precise publication details: this will help point out exactly what the ISBN denotes, and so for example a reader in the US will not waste time searching for an edition restricted to the British market. Thus from the article on Nicholson Baker:
- The Mezzanine: A Novel (1988, Weidenfeld & Nicolson; ISBN 1-55584-258-5 / 1990, Vintage; ISBN 0-679-72576-8)
- Room Temperature: A Novel (1990, Grove Weidenfeld; ISBN 0-8021-1224-2 / 1990, Vintage; ISBN 0-679-73440-6 / 1990, Granta; ISBN 0-14-014212-6 / 1991, Granta; ISBN 0-14-014021-2)
-- although the places of publication would be useful here, and anyway perhaps this pair would better be rendered simply as
- The Mezzanine: A Novel (1988)
- Room Temperature: A Novel (1990)
until a substantively different edition of either book appears (one with a corrected text, afterword, etc.).
Books in languages other than English
When a book is in a language other than English, make this clear. Add an English translation of the title where helpful (and the title of the English translation where it exists), but don't substitute a translation for the original. If the original title is not in roman script, provide it in roman script and in the original. Thus within the article on Vladimir Nabokov:
- (1932) Podvig (Подвиг (Deed)); English translation: Glory (1971)
- (1932) Kamera Obskura (Камера Обскура); English translations: Camera Obscura (1936), Laughter in the Dark (1938)
- (1936) Otchayanie (Отчаяние); English translation: Despair (1937, 1966)
The reader of Russian is told, and can use, the Cyrillic script; the non-reader of Russian learns the original title and what it means.
Parallel texts, alternative titles
If the book has parallel texts or otherwise is directed to people reading two or more languages, provide the various titles, unless perhaps it has an English title that you are certain will show up in any search, anywhere. In the article on the photographer Kęstutis Stoškus:
- Vilnius: Senamiesčio fotografijos / Photographs of the Old Town. Vilnius: E. Karpavičiaus leidykla, 2004. ISBN 9955-9650-3-7 (Text in Lithuanian and English.)
(However, accuracy is very important. If, say, you're confronted with a book with texts and titles in English and Chinese but are not confident of your ability to type in the Chinese correctly, skip the Chinese and say so in the article's talk page; somebody else can later add the Chinese correctly.)
Other second-language titles
In Japan and elsewhere, a title in a second language is often added to the main title of a monolingual book. Particularly if the second language is English, provide the second title, but also provide the main title. From the article on the photographer Bishin Jumonji:
- Ran no fune (『蘭の舟』) / Orchid Boat. Tokyo: Tōjusha, 1981. The title alone is in English as well as Japanese: all the text is in Japanese only.
Discographies
These are included for musical acts (solo or group), composers and other people who have a list of contributions to music. Ordered from oldest to newest. Vital information is the title and year; label and notes are optional. Items may also be divided into sub-sections, e.g. singles, albums, dvds.
- Title (year), label - notes
e.g.:
- Smeared (1993)
- Twice Removed (1994), Geffen
- One Chord to Another (1996), murderecords - Canada label
Filmographies
These are included for actors, directors, producers and other people who have a list of contributions in film. Ordered from oldest to newest. Vital information is title, year and, for actors, role; notes are optional. When the person has different types of film-related jobs (e.g. acting and directing), the filmography can be split into separate subsections for each.
- ''[[Title]]'' (year), role - notes
An example, using actor Keira Knightley's film roles:
- The Hole (2001), Frances 'Frankie' Almond Smith
- Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Juliette 'Jules' Paxton - Knightley's break-out performance
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Elizabeth Swann
See also
- Wikipedia:Embedded list
- Wikipedia:Manual of Style (titles)
- Wikipedia:Naming conventions (books)
- Wikipedia:Naming conventions (films)
- Wikipedia:Naming conventions#Music
- Wikipedia:Citation templates
Notes
- ^ Disputed by some editors, just for filmographies, who prefer the IMDB "most recent first" ordering (for living actors only)
- ^ See Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers) and Wikipedia:Make only links relevant to the context
- ^ see Wikipedia:Categories, lists, and series boxes#Lists