Document Template (How to say the name)

For records of various kinds

Written by Lyraine Alei

A document is a written, drawn, printed or electronic record that provides information. This template may be used for more than "traditional" documents, however.

Example types of documents you can use this template for:

• Academia: documents related to research, education, or scholarship (manuscript, thesis, paper, journal, etc.)
• Art: a work or piece of art (sketch, drawing, painting, video etc.)
• Business: documents related to business (bill, contract, invoice, financial statements, etc.)
• Literary/Musical: a work or piece of literature/music (book, poem, ballad, sheet music, etc.)
• Goverment/Legal: a government or legal document (constitution, treaty, subpoena, court order, etc.)
• Personal: a document usually handwritten containing personal thoughts (diary, journal, letter, note, etc.)

The template has many prompt boxes which can be filled in. Use them for inspiration and to help format your article. Do not feel like you have to fill out all of them!

The terms in the braces below each heading tell you under which tab this prompt appears and what the title of the box is.

Purpose

(GENERIC > PURPOSE)
What is the purpose of the document? What prompted its creation? What is it trying to achieve?
Martin Luther's 95 Thesis have been read as a criticism of the Catholic Church and to describe flaws within the system. When considering the purpose of your document, you can also consider how people over time have reinterpreted the documents since their draft, and the time period the document was created in.

Document Structure

Clauses

(STRUCTURE > CLAUSES)
How is your content divided and catagorised in the document? What is contained within each section?
You can consider this as a way others refer to specific sections of the document. In the US, the Constitution is divided into nine sections - Preamble, Articles I - VII, and the Conclusion. Each Article is further broken down to Sections, so people citing lines within the Constitution may refer to the whole document, or "Article II, Section I, Paragraph III".
You can also use this section to summarize the document by how it's broken up

• Introduction/Preamble
• The famous "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." section
• Article I
• Creating Congress
• Section I
• Says all Congress has all the powers described in the following nine sections

— The United States Constitution, as partially summarized by Lyraine Alei

Caveats

(STRUCTURE > CAVEATS)
Caveats define the perametres and consequences of certain actions relevant to the document: e.g. "this agreement will last for 10 days", or "we will break your leg if the money isn't returned in two weeks".

"We established the all-or-nothing model when we launched in 2009 as a measure to protect creators, and to minimize risk for everyone. By not releasing funds unless a project meets its goal, this ensures that creators have enough money to do what they promised and they’re not expected to complete a project without the funds necessary to do so. This also assures backers that they’re only funding creative ideas that are set to succeed."

— Kickstarter on their All or Nothing practice

References

(STRUCTURE > REFERENCES)
Which other documents are referenced within this one, and in which capacity?
This can include easter eggs such as R. A. Heinlein referencing his real-life friend and fellow author Isaac Asimov in a book where characters can travel to other book settings the characters had read (the characters hadn't gotten around to reading "the good doctor's" books).
You can also consider this as a place to make an in-world bibliography for the document, or list specific lines of the document as referring to other documents by other authors within the setting.

Publication Status

(STRUCTURE > PUBLICATION STATUS)
Is the document publicly accessible, private, or completely clandestine?
How can people access this document? Is it an article on some weird website claiming to help "worldbuilders," authors, game designers, and other creative minds called World Anvil? Is this document only kept in a museum basement where a viewer needs to pass fifteen levels of government security? How many times has the document been republished? What has changed in each edition?

Legal status

(STRUCTURE > LEGAL STATUS)
Under which laws, and whose juristiction, is the document valid?
Build up some conflict here - Are robots citizens in Country A but not considered citizens in Country B just fifty miles north? Is this book banned all around the world, leading to a black market for banned books? Does this high school legalise a popular brand name pen that students can't use anywhere else?

Historical Details

Background

(HISTORICAL DETAILS > BACKGROUND)
What is the cultural, historical and political background for this document? Does it end a war, mark the subjugation of a people or define a contract between two entities?
What was going on when the document was being written? Is this a song being written in a time of an unpopular war? Who wrote it, and what was their known or speculated state of mind at the time?
How has it changed minds at the time or after?

History

(HISTORICAL DETAILS > HISTORY)
What relevant history preceeds or is attached to this document? Did it start a magical revolution (e.g. the banning of Necromancy), or change the power that a King holds over his barons (e.g. Magna Carta)?
Have other documents influenced this one, or been influenced by it instead? You can also discuss what had happened to the document itself here.

Public Reaction

(HISTORICAL DETAILS > PUBLIC REACTION)
How did the public react? Were they thrilled, excited, angry, or bananas?
Did this document get an unreasonable number of likes, leading into a investigation of algorithm manipulating programs? Is the document considered "too dangerous" or "too controversial" for students and is banned from public education institutions? Was it published once, hidden away, and then rediscovered to be a major discovery? Was this document met with acclaim and the foundation of a new society?

Legacy

(HISTORICAL DETAILS > LEGACY)
What are the long-lasting repercussions of the document? Is it a national embarassment or treasure? What kind of precedent did the document set?
This is a wonderful prompt to consider how older documents in your setting change things. As a reminder, your document doesn't neccessarily have to be a document-document made of paper, it could be a visual medium, like Star Trek.

According to an anecdote told by Nichelle Nichols in Trekkies (1997), a young Goldberg was watching Star Trek, and upon seeing Nichols's character Uhura, exclaimed, "Momma! There's a black lady on television and she ain't no maid!" This spawned lifelong fandom of Star Trek for Goldberg, who eventually asked for and received a recurring guest-starring role as Guinan on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

— Whoopi Goldburg article on Wikipedia

Term

(HISTORICAL DETAILS > TERM)
What is (or was) the effective duration of the document's content? Did it last a day, a week or a hundred years?
In World War I, there was the 1914 Christmas Day cease fire where the battlefield became a football field. The truce was about a week long, but had not been repeated to the same extent in 1915 and was ended by 1916.
On the other hand, also in real-life, there is the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373 which is the longest held treaty in the world (though was suspended from 1580-1640) to this day.
What efforts have gone into breaking the terms of your document? What measures were taken in preserving the terms?

Read the Document

Document Template

(ACTUAL CONTENTS > CONTENTS)
Describe the contents of the document here.
What's the actual content/display of the document? Feel free to write the whole document or display an image or video of the document. You can use [img:ID] like in Guide to Images and don't forget of the [youtube:URL] like in World Anvil BBCode Command.

Close

Document Type - Click to Expand

Announcement, Invitation
Announcement, RSVP
Certificate, Civil
Certificate, Professional
Certificate, Education (Degree)
Contract, Private
Contract, Civil
Decree, Royal
Decree, Religious
Decree, Governmental
Guide, Generic
Guide, Survival
Guide, How-To
Identification, Private
Identification, Civil (ID Card/Passport)
Imagery, Artistic
Imagery, Religious
Imagery, Graphic Novel/Comic Book
Journal, Personal
Journal, Scientific
Journal, Medical
Licence, Civil
License, Professional
License, Private (Letter of Marque)
Manual, Professional Skills
Manual, Military
Manual, Artistic
Manual, Martial Art/Combat
Manual, Culinary
Manual, Magical/Occult
Manual, Scientific
Manual, Technical/Blueprint
Manual, Musical
Manual, Linguistic (Lexicon)
Manuscript, Religious
Manuscript, Historical
Manuscript, Legal
Manuscript, Magical (Tome, Scroll)
Manuscript, Musical
Manuscript, Artistic
Manuscript, Literature
Other, Flyer
Other, Poster
Record, Patent
Record, Culinary (Menu)
Record, Judicial
Record, Public
Record, Financial (Bill, Invoice, Fine, etc.)
Record, Deed
Record, Title
Record, Employment
Record, Historical
Record, Musical (Music, Sheet)
Record, Memo
Record, Transcript (Communications)
Report, Civil
Report, Military
Report, Scientific
Report, Intelligence
Report, Financial
Report, Manifest
Report, Incident
Statement, Political (Manifesto)
Statement, Financial
Statement, Inscription/Graffiti
Statement, Artistic
Study, Scientific
Study, Artistic
Text, Religious
Text, Philosophical
Text, Literary (Novel/Poetry)
Text, Legislative
Text, Letter
Text, Literature
Text, Newspaper
Text, Magazine
Treaty, Diplomatic
Treaty, Trade
Warrant, Royal
Warrant, Civil
Warrant, Arrest
Warrant, Wanted/Search

Document Medium - Click to Expand

Analog Recording, Audio
Analog Recording, Video
Canvas
Clay
Collage/Various
Crystal, Photonic
Crystal, Magical
Crystal, Psionic
Digital Recording, Text
Digital Recording, Audio
Digital Recording, Video
Digital Recording, Various
Digital Recording, Holographic
Embroidered
Glass/Stained Glass
Invisible
Metal
Organic
Oral Tradition/Word of Mouth
Paper
Papyrus
Psionic
Stone
Vellum/Skin
Wood

Type

Announcement, Invitation

Medium

Analog Recording, Audio

Authoring Date

When was the document written?

Ratification Date

When was the document ratified, if ever?

Expiration Date

Small box, insert date, if any terms expire

Myth

Myths & Legends Template

Location

Buildings & Landmark Template

Authors

• Character Template

Signatories (Organizations)

• Organization Template
• Thunder Basil

Related Prompts

The prompts listed below are part of the Worldbuilding Prompts that can be found under the Community menu. These prompts use the template discussed in this article. Using these prompts is a great way to expand your worldbuilding!

• Religious Text
• Secret Love Letter
• Famous Art Piece

Templates Mentioned

Myths & Legends Template
Buildings & Landmark Template
Character Template
Organization Template