Misplaced Pages:Television episodes

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This page documents an English Misplaced Pages content guideline.
Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.

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WP:EPISODE

Misplaced Pages contains many articles on television episodes. The following guideline aims to promote the creation of high-quality articles about television shows and their episodes.

Process for creating articles on television episodes

ALL articles on Misplaced Pages must meet notability guidelines, which state that: A topic is presumed to be notable if it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject. It is important to bear this in mind when creating articles, and it is likely that each individual episode of a television series will not be notable on its own, simply because there are not enough secondary sources available. Misplaced Pages: Notability (fiction) explains this further: Misplaced Pages articles on works of fiction should contain real-world context and sourced analysis, offering detail on a work's achievements, impact or historical significance.

While each episode on its own may not qualify for an article, it is quite likely that sources can be found to support a Series or Season page, where all the episodes in one season (or series) are presented on one page. (See examples listed below). Such pages must still be notable, and contain out-of-universe context, and not merely be a list of episode titles or cast and crew: Misplaced Pages is not a directory.

Over time, you might find that some episodes have enough real-world information to warrant their own article. Such an episode can be broken out into its own page.

Process

Create page for the television PROGRAMME

Once there's enough verifiable information independent of the show itself, then:

Create page for each series/season, or a 'List of episodes' page.

if there is enough verifiable information from secondary sources about individual episodes, then:

Create pages for outstanding episodes.

How to write a good season or episode page

All Televison pages must conform to Misplaced Pages content policies, including but not limited to Misplaced Pages:Verifiability and Misplaced Pages:No original research. In addition, writing about fiction has its own requirements, most particularly since: Misplaced Pages is an out-of-universe source, and all articles about fiction and elements of fiction should take an overall out-of-universe perspective. In other words, the articles do not exist merely to retell the story (which is classed as a Derivative work or a copyright violation) but to provide encyclopaediac information about the creation, production and reception of television programmes. Remember, the article should not attempt to be a replacement for watching the show itself, it should be about the show.

What a page should contain

A brief summary of the episode's plot (but see below)
The episode's relevance in ongoing story arcs, if any
How the episode was received by critics
Information on production and broadcasting of the episode

Plot summaries

The ONLY purpose of plot summaries is provide context for the rest of the information. The Manual of Style for fiction states: As the Misplaced Pages servers are located in the U.S. state of Florida, Misplaced Pages articles must conform to U.S. copyright laws. It has been held in a number of court cases that any work which re-tells original ideas from a fictional source, in sufficient quantity without adding information about that work, or in some way analysing and explaining it, may be construed as a Derivative work or a copyright violation...Information about copyright fictional worlds and plots of works of fiction can be provided only under a claim of fair use, and Misplaced Pages's fair-use policy holds that "the amount of copyrighted work used should be as little as possible." As a rough guide, this amounts to no more than ten words per minute of screen time (ie. a 45-min episode would warrant no more than 450 words).

Reliable sources

Misplaced Pages is not the place to record original research or speculation. All discussion and interpretaion of television episodes must be supported by reliable, published sources. The Guideline on Reliable Sources states that: Reliable sources are credible published materials with a reliable publication process; their authors are generally regarded as trustworthy, or are authoritative in relation to the subject at hand...Using reliable sources assures the reader that what is being presented meets the Misplaced Pages standards for verifiability and originality. Accurate citation allows the reader to go to those sources and gives appropriate credit to the author of the work.

An actual episode may be used as a source for information about the episode and constitutes a No original research: Primary, secondary, and tertiary sources|primary source. Such use does not constitute original research if it is used to verify a fact but not when used to justify an interpretation.

Fair-use of images

The primary purpose of images on Misplaced Pages is for information rather than decoration. Copyrighted images (such as screen shots, DVD covers or publicity posters) must meet the fair-use guidelines which allows them to be used only to aid critical commentary or discussion. Do not attempt to add images until you are familiar with Misplaced Pages's Image Use Policy

Using an Out-of-Universe approach

The Manual of Style for fiction states: Misplaced Pages is an out-of-universe source, and all articles about fiction and elements of fiction should take an overall out-of-universe perspective. This means writing about television programmes from a real-world perspective (ie. discussing the piece as fiction, rather from the perspective of one of the characters, or as if the events had really happened).

Things to avoid

Trivia sections:

Trivia sections are unencyclopaediac. Misplaced Pages is not an indiscriminate collection of information.

Quotations:

Extensive use of these may breach copyright. Also, Misplaced Pages is not an indiscriminate collection of information.

Lists of featured music or song lyrics:

Original song lyrics for a television episode breach copyright. References to featured music should be supported by reliable sources to establish notability. Do not just list music: Misplaced Pages is not a directory.

Goof sections:

Unsourced goof sections should generally be avoided. If there is a major goof that is discussed by a reliable source it can become a part of the production section.

Dealing with problem articles

If the articles contain little content, consider merging or redirecting them into another article (e.g. an article about the show itself, an article that is a list of episodes of the show, or an article that summarizes the plot for one season of the show).
If the same editor appears to have created a large number of problematic articles, please refer them to this page.
Avoid listing episodes for AfD unless they are completely unverifiable and original research.

Note: Stubs are allowed on Misplaced Pages and many articles are stubs. It may be inappropriate to merge or redirect an article about a television episode just because it is a stub. Before executing a merge, ask yourself:

Will the merge reduce the quality or coherence of the target article?

Also do some basic looking for additional source material that could be used to improve the article.

Are more sources available?

If the answer to either of these questions is 'yes', it is probably better to forgo merging or redirecting. Instead, leave the article as it is or consider improving it.

Misplaced Pages

:Television episodes - Misplaced Pages