A set index article (SIA) is a list article about a set of items of a specific type that also share the same (or similar) name. For example, Dodge Charger describes a set of cars, List of peaks named Signal describes a set of mountain peaks, and List of ships of the United States Navy named Enterprise describes a set of ships.
Being a set of a specific type means that the members of the set have some characteristic in common, in addition to their similarity of name. A list is an SIA only if both criteria for inclusion of an item in the list are met. For example, every entry in a list of earthquakes might include the word "earthquake", but that alone does not mean that the list is an SIA. If earthquakes were assigned names similar to how tropical storms are named, then List of earthquakes named X could be a set index (assuming of course that there are multiple earthquakes with the same name).
Fundamentally, a set index article is a type of list article. The criteria for creating, adding to, or deleting a set index article should be the same as for a stand-alone list. The style of a set index article should follow the style guidelines at Wikipedia:Stand-alone lists. A set index article can be tagged with {{Set index article}}.
Place one of the following templates at the bottom of the page, using the most specific template available. If there is no specific template, you can, as {{Set index article}} explains, use the most generic template with certain sort keys to more specifically categorize articles; the template's page also explains that you can use it to place pages into child categories of Category:Set indices.
For more information about set index articles for ships, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships/Guidelines § Index pages.
Place one of the following templates at the bottom of the page, using the most specific template available. If there is no specific template, you can, as {{Set index article}} explains, use the most generic template with certain sort keys to more specifically categorize articles; the template's page also explains that you can use it to place pages into child categories of Category:Set indices.
| Disambiguation | ||
|---|---|---|
| WP:DAB | Wikipedia:Disambiguation | How to give articles unique names, link to the right article, and ensure readers can quickly find what they are looking for. |
| WP:PRIMARYTOPIC | Wikipedia:Disambiguation#Is there a primary topic? | How to choose whether a term should be the title of an article or of a disambiguation page. |
| WP:MULTIDABS | Wikipedia:Disambiguation#Disambiguation page or hatnotes? | When to use a disambiguation page versus a hatnote in the article on the primary topic. |
| Lists | ||
| WP:LISTPURP | Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lists#Purposes of lists | Lists may provide information, support navigation or support Wikipedia development. |
| WP:SAL | Wikipedia:Stand-alone lists | Guidelines for content, style, and names of list articles. |
| WP:SALAT | Wikipedia:Stand-alone lists#Appropriate topics for lists | Lists should not be too general, too broad, too specific, or contain only trivial, non-encyclopedic content. |
| Notability | ||
| WP:GNG | Wikipedia:Notability#General notability guideline | If a topic has received significant coverage in reliable independent sources, it is suitable for an article or list. |
| WP:LISTN | ||