| Revision as of 10:23, 12 May 2011 editJerry (talk | contribs)19,297 edits remove statement that has no basis in policy or practice← Previous edit | Revision as of 19:36, 17 June 2011 edit undoWhatamIdoing (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers122,149 edits →Finding sources: ExpandNext edit → | ||
| Line 13: | Line 13: | ||
| In English-speaking developed countries, many ] about high schools can be found on the Internet, beyond the scope of the trivial. However, outside the ], particularly for countries in Asia and Africa, Internet coverage is very poor. Where this is the case then, to avoid ], local sources should be sought. This may involve researching local media, for example at a neighbouring library. There is no time limit for such research to be carried out. | In English-speaking developed countries, many ] about high schools can be found on the Internet, beyond the scope of the trivial. However, outside the ], particularly for countries in Asia and Africa, Internet coverage is very poor. Where this is the case then, to avoid ], local sources should be sought. This may involve researching local media, for example at a neighbouring library. There is no time limit for such research to be carried out. | ||
| ] and similar search services are not comprehensive. To find more sources, look for the local newspaper or other media outlets. They may be listed in the city's Misplaced Pages article, or you may be able to find them through a web search. These sources frequently have a web presence that doesn't appear at Google News, but which might allow you to find sources. | |||
| Watch out for unreliable and non-independent sources: There are dozens of advertising-driven websites, like privateschoolreview.com, that merely repeat information provided by the school's administration. Such sources do not count towards the requirement for ]. | |||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
Revision as of 19:36, 17 June 2011
Essay on editing Misplaced Pages | This is an essay on notability. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Misplaced Pages contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Misplaced Pages's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. | Shortcut |
 | This page in a nutshell: All high schools can be assumed to be notable. |
Our normal practice is to retain articles on high schools. This is for pragmatic reasons, as there is almost always suitable sourced material available, and it is more sensible to consistently accept them rather than argue about each one to try to eliminate the very occasional school for which coverage is hard to find. This default acceptance allows editors to turn their attention to more productive tasks.
Defining a high school
The designation of a high school varies between countries. In some countries they are called secondary schools, grammar schools, comprehensive schools, and gymnasiums. Some countries have multiple types of high schools. In the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and other Commonwealth countries, the term 'college' often refers to secondary schools; rather than being a synonym for a university (although constituent schools within universities are sometimes known as 'colleges').
The key criterion is that they provide the earliest recognized certification of educational attainment, whether referred to as a school leaving certificate, high school diploma, High School Leaving Certificate, General Certificate of Secondary Education, or IB Diploma Programme.
Finding sources
With suitable research, independent sources that meet WP:GNG and WP:ORG can almost always be found for any government-run high school, and for all but the smallest private high schools. This is because high schools are usually prominent and significant in their local communities, and consequently feature in the local media (particularly in smaller towns). As with other types of articles, we do not delete an article because editors have not yet cited their sources, but only if there is no evidence that independent, reliable sources exist. In the isolated instances where such schools have been deleted at WP:AfD, editors were unable to independently verify more than the school's existence, and sometimes not even that much.
In English-speaking developed countries, many independent, reliable sources about high schools can be found on the Internet, beyond the scope of the trivial. However, outside the Anglosphere, particularly for countries in Asia and Africa, Internet coverage is very poor. Where this is the case then, to avoid systemic bias, local sources should be sought. This may involve researching local media, for example at a neighbouring library. There is no time limit for such research to be carried out.
Google News and similar search services are not comprehensive. To find more sources, look for the local newspaper or other media outlets. They may be listed in the city's Misplaced Pages article, or you may be able to find them through a web search. These sources frequently have a web presence that doesn't appear at Google News, but which might allow you to find sources.
Watch out for unreliable and non-independent sources: There are dozens of advertising-driven websites, like privateschoolreview.com, that merely repeat information provided by the school's administration. Such sources do not count towards the requirement for independent sources.