Towns Name Study Profile Improvement Hints

Date: 2019 [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: towns_name_study Towns

This page is a part of the Towns Name Study Helpful Hints section.

Contents 1 Purpose 2 Criteria for Creating WikiTree Profiles 3 Types of Biography Styles 4 Parts of the Biography 4.1 Data Section 4.2 Categories/Boxes/Stickers 4.3 Biography 4.3.1 Summary of Data 4.3.2 Life Events 4.3.3 Research Notes 4.3.4 Links 5 Resources 6 Sources

Purpose

The purpose of this page is to provide a guide to building better biographies and improving profiles for simple Towns family profiles. More comprehensive biographies can be written, if desired

Criteria for Creating WikiTree Profiles

• Profiles can only be created for "real individuals". The person must have been born in the world, or proven to be in existence. See Help: Person Profiles, Real Individuals Only.
• Biography and Sources section are required for WikiTree profiles. See Help: Biographies, Proper_order.

Types of Biography Styles

There are two types of biography styles that, in my opinion, are the best in regards to readability and providing key information on the profile.

• Timeline. See Elias Fiscus
• Narrative Style.
  • Simple Narrative. See Arthur Jackson Towns.
  • Extensive Narrative. See George Washington.
  • Obituary. See Mary Frances Broyles.

Parts of the Biography

This is a list of the basic sections of a profile.

1. Data
2. Categories/Boxes/Stickers
3. Biography
4. Photos
5. Sources

Data Section

The "data" section includes the information entered at the time the profile is created. Such as name, date of birth/location and date of death/location.

Review/edit the following information:

1. Format the dates to standard. For example: 1/1/1920 should be 1 Jan 1920. Selections can be made regarding "uncertain," "certain," "before," "after," "exact," and "blank." Do the dates appear to match the time periods? The sources cited?
2. Format the locations. WikiTree has a drop-down menu for the location boxes and the appropriate location for the appropriate time period can be selected.
3. Extra words in the name fields can be removed (such as "or").
4. Be careful not to change the spelling of a name that may look unusual. A review of the sources or content of the biography should provide enough information to verify the name spelling.

Review [[[Space:Biography_Builders|Space: Biography Builders]] for items to consider when working on profile improvement.

Categories/Boxes/Stickers

1. Review the Helpful Hints Section of the Towns Name Study for categories specific to the Study.
2. Categories are written in the text section in "wiki markup". For example: [[Category:Telfair County, Georgia]]. See also Help: Categorization Suggestions.

Biography

The following items should be written in complete sentences, in your words, not copied. See Biography Builders, The List. They should also be written in passive voice.

Summary of Data

A summary of their vital data should be written first. For instance, "Mary was born in 1920 to John and Susan. She died in 1955."

Life Events

1. Marriage: The spouse can be listed with a marriage date and location.
2. Children: List the children, possibly with a relevant fact.
3. Timeline: Residences can generally be pulled from census records.
4. Military
5. Occupation
6. Obituary: See Copyright and the Obit. This is not a WikiTree link. It was found in the forum.
7. Death: Details of death, burial date, and location.
8. Historical Context: Include items of interest during the time period the person lived, such as living conditions, or war time efforts, or the geography of the local area.

See Help: Bio Ideas and Biography Builders for more ideas.

Clean up of existing text for profiles not managed by you is acceptable. A courtesy private message could be sent to the owner before making changes. If no reply, a message in the forum requesting advice could be placed. The biggest thing to clean up is GEDCOM "junk" that gives no value to sources or history for the profile. See Help: GEDCOM-Created Biographies and Biographies: Editing Text that Someone Else Wrote.

Research Notes

Notes can be included here to describe a brick wall in the research, or to comment on disputed items or discrepancies. Possibly posing a question or a theory about the individual or their family. A note could also be included that additional research is needed.

Links

Add additional links:

• FamilySearch
• Wikipedia
• FindaGrave

Resources

• Space: Biography Builders
• Biography Ideas
• WikiTree Help: Biographies
• Help:Person_Profile
• Styles and Standards
• [[[Help:HTML_and_Inline_CSS|HTML and Inline CSS]]
• GEDCOM-Created_Biographies
• Wiki Markup Examples
• Wiki Cheatsheet

Sources

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Project Page | About the Study Coordinator | Task List | Helpful Hints

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The text on this page was last updated by Karen Herndon on 3 Mar 2019.