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Adding Events

Should this be a single event or a date range?

Use ranges for longer chapters and single dates for milestones.

Use ranges for life chapters

Jobs, schools, places lived, relationships, and memberships usually read best as spans over time.

Ranges make the timeline more truthful because they show duration instead of compressing a chapter into a single moment.

Use points for milestones

Graduations, weddings, births, awards, and similar moments usually work best as single dates.

Rules of Thumb

  • If it lasted months or years, start by considering a range.
  • If it happened on one memorable occasion, use a point.
  • Leaving the end date blank can represent an ongoing chapter.

Common Mistakes

  • Using a single date for an entire job or degree.
  • Creating separate point events for a chapter that really spans time.
  • Avoiding ranges because the exact end month is unknown.
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