Wikisource:Maintenance of the Month/Base Pages

The purpose of this task is to properly categorize the works on Wikisource, so readers and editors can find the works they wish to read, edit, or maintain.

The following is a list of base pages in the main namespace on Wikisource. Each letter or number links to a further list of base pages beginning with that character, covering the entire library as of 7/15/2012. Our aim is to make sure they are all properly categorized.

August's Goal: To check and categorize as many works as possible. The aspirational goal is to have all of the works on Wikisource fully and correctly categorized. Wikisource is large, so this is likely to take more than one month, so this task may continue on after August and may be revisisted later, especially as new works are added all the time. In one month, however, we can get a lot done and improve the wikisource's collection of works.

Process

 * 1) Check a work in one of the subpages.
 * 2) * Some may already be fully categorized.
 * 3) * Some may be uncategorized.
 * 4) * Some may be partially but not fully categorized.
 * 5) Add categories to the work if necessary.
 * 6) * Categories can be added to works:
 * 7) *# By editing the page to add  to the bottom of the page.
 * 8) *# By editing the page to add  to the header.
 * 9) *# By using the HotCat gadget.
 * 10) Strike out the work on the subpage when you are done (including if you checked and it was fully categorized already).
 * 11) * This is done by adding  around the link (available in the standard suite of characters).
 * 12) * For example:
 * A Baby Tramp
 * 1) * Optionally, notes and signatures can added after the wikilink.
 * 2) * For example:
 * A Baby Tramp all done, YourSignature
 * A Baby Tramp all done, YourSignature
 * A Baby Tramp all done, YourSignature

Categorization
Usually, each work will have a few different categories.

Four basic types of category:
 * 1) What it is: Category:Works by type.
 * 2) * ie. poems, essays, novels, executive orders, speeches, etc...
 * 3) What it is about: Genre (for fiction) or Subject (for non-fiction)
 * 4) * Category:Works by genre‎, ie. drama, erotica, satires, etc...
 * 5) ** See also Category:Fiction by genre, ie. Horror, Mystery, Romance, etc...
 * 6) * Category:Works by subject‎, ie. Physics, Art, History, etc...
 * 7) ** See also Category:Works by country‎, if the country is the subject, ie. United States, Australia, China, etc...
 * 8) When was it published: make sure the date is in the header, if it's known. Otherwise find the nearest fit in Category:Works by date‎.
 * 9) * This category is added by the  parameter in the header.  You only need to add it there.  You do not need to add it with the rest of the categories at the bottom of the page.
 * 10) Why it is free.  If it is in the public domain, and why, or the free licence under which it has been released. Category:Works by license
 * 11) * This category is added by the licence template. For a list of licences, see Help:Copyright tags.
 * 12) * If there is no licence and you are unsure which one should apply, add the no licence maintenance tag instead.

Other, more specialised, categories are available. These do not apply to all works and will only sometimes be appropriate. The complete tree of categories for works starts here: Category:Works. It includes the following, which are slightly more common but still rare:
 * Category:Works by award‎ (if the work won an award)
 * Category:Works by language‎ (for the original language of translations or for language as the subject)
 * Category:Works by series‎ (if the work is part of a series)

Sometime these categories may be combined into one category (eg. Category:Horror short stories). Categories may also cover the era (eg. Category:1910s plays), the country of origin (eg. Category:American poetry) and other identifiable groups.

Bonus
While you are editing a base page you have the option to do some other maintenance if you want. These include:


 * Add portals to the header, using the  parameter.
 * Add links to pages on sister projects such as Wikipedia, using (for example) the  parameter in the header.
 * Add other maintenance tags if necessary:
 * If there is no source, either scans or described on the talk page, add unsourced
 * If it needs better formatting, add standardise
 * If is unfinished, whether scan-based or not, add incomplete.
 * More tags can be found at Help:Maintenance tags.

HotCat
HotCat is a useful gadget for quickly adding, changing or removing categories to a page.

To turn it on, go to the your preferences and, under Editing tools, check the box with the description "easily add / remove / change a category on pages, with dynamic suggestions". Then save.

Documentation for using HotCat can be found at Help:Gadget-HotCat.