From Coronation Street Wiki

The Manual of style is designed to be a rough guide to how to write articles for Corriepedia. If you're new to Wikia editing in general, you might want to look at this page first for a beginner's guide.

It is felt that Corriepedia will be most efficient if it is consistent and uniform. Wikipedia has its own Manual of style here, but there are some important differences between formatting styles here and there. Note that this is not a complete list, and suggestions are welcome.

Article names

When creating a new page, the following conventions should be observed.

People's names

• If both known, characters' first names and surnames should be included in the title (no middle names). Exceptions are if the character is credited on-screen using a shortened form of their first name or a nickname (for example, Norman Watts is lited under Curly Watts). Likewise, articles on actors or production crew, or any individual, are listed under the name for which they receive on-screen credit.
• For characters who changed their surnames through marriage, their most recent known surname takes precedence. Redirect pages can be created for previous surnames.
• Both first name and surname should be capitalised.
• If characters are only given one name, such as a first name, the article title should be given a qualifier to differentiate it from articles on people with the same name. Possible examples include John (Episode 3135) and Lucy (Rovers customer). If the character's name is not known at all and they are credited by their occupation or something else, a similar convention should be observed, for example Police Officer (Amy Searles) or Woman (Episodes 1436/7).
• Titles (eg. Mr, Mrs, Dr) are only a first name or surname, or neither, are known.

Episode titles

• Coronation Street episodes do not have titles, so they are listed according to episode number and date they were first broadcast in the United Kingdom. For example Episode 8 (4th January 1961). Both episode number and date are needed as occasionally two episodes of the show are broadcast on the same day, and there are two Episode 5999s.
• Spin-off productions, including episodes of Pardon the Expression, usually have individual titles so articles should be named accordingly.

Other

• Article names should be in singular form (unless there is none).
• For article titles with more than one word, only the first word and proper nouns should be capitalised.

Perspective

There are two ways to write a content page: in-universe and out-of-universe. The difference between these depends on the subject of the article; if it exists in the fictional world depicted in Coronation Street then it should be in-universe, otherwise it is out-of-universe. Although Coronation Street is set in the fictional Weatherfield, it is grounded in the real world and so many real places and people have been referred to in the show over the years. These articles should be written in-universe with a subsection containing any relevant real life information.

In-universe

When writing an in-universe article the subject material should be treated as real (even though it obviously isn't). For example, the Ken Barlow article begins Ken Barlow is a longtime resident of Coronation Street, not Ken Barlow is the longest running Coronation Street character. Although these articles will contain some behind-the-scenes information, this should be under a heading such as 'behind the scenes' or another if there are a lot of supplementary out-of-universe details, and such a section should be written out-of-universe. Pages written in-universe include those on the characters, places and businesses seen in the show and the plot sections of episode articles.

Out-of-universe

This is when an article is written from a real-world perspective, and acknowledges that the show is fictional. When writing an article from this perspective, editors should use the Real World template to mark the page as out-of-universe. Pages written this way include those on production staff and overall articles on Coronation Street and the making of it.

Page layout

Some categories of article differ, but most follow this basic layout:

1. Content
2. Behind the scenes
3. See also
4. External links
5. Categories

All articles should belong to at least one category and all articles should have content. The other sections are not necessary, but if they are included, they should be in that order. Distinct content and behind the scenes sections should only be included in articles written in-universe, otherwise they are the same thing. The content section should not use a Content heading. Longer articles should have several headings and subheadings in the content section to make for better reading, but smaller articles should not have any heading for the content.

For more information on how specific types of pages should be laid out, see the following:

• Template:Main character
• Template:Individual
• Template:Episode

Grammer and spelling

It is felt that although Wikipedia conforms to American English, Corriepedia editors should be written in English English, mainly because Coronation Street is made and first broadcast in the United Kingdom where that variety of English is the most common, and is used by the characters in the show (usually). Sometimes speakers of other varieties of English may edit pages other than in English English, and for uniformity it is preferred if these pages are edited to conform to the standard of this wikia.

Dates

• Calendar dates are written e.g. 9th December. This is the most common way of dating in the UK.

Tense

As a rule of thumb, in-universe articles should be written in past tense, because from an outside perspective, all events depicted in Coronation Street episodes are history once the episode is broadcast in the UK. However, there are exceptions. The series, and Corriepedia, are rooted in the present day, so anything that is still true as of the most recent episode should be in present tense. For example, The Rovers Return Inn is owned by Steve McDonald.

Out-of-universe articles should also follow this rule. Examples of sections written in present tense are events described in calendar date pages and episode plot synopses.

Other

• Links to other episodes within pages should not be in italics or inside inverted commas, as the article titles here are not proper episode titles.
• Note Coronation Street and Coronation Street, the first of which links to the article on the series itself and is in italics, and the second of which links to the article on the fictional street and is not in italics.
• Be aware that articles which exist on Wikipedia will not necessarily be created on this Wikia, even if they are mentioned in an article here. An article should only be created on Coronation Street Wiki if the topic is relevant to Coronation Street. If it is deemed useful to give a reader access to more information on something, it is preferable to link directly to the article on Wikipedia.

Headings

Headings should be used within longer articles to make for easier reading.

Main headings should be bracketed by double equal signs. Subheadings should be bracketed by triple equal signs.

• Similar to the naming conventions of article pages, headings should only have the first word and proper nouns capitalised.
• Avoid links in headings.
• Beware of too many headings for too little information. It is messy and makes the article look like a stub.

From Lostpedia

This page is an official policy on Lostpedia. It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that all users should follow. When editing this page, please ensure that your revision reflects consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcut: LP:STYLE LP:MOS

The below are guidelines attempting to describe the style with which articles and article content should be made. For a more general guide to editing and interacting on Lostpedia, see the Lostpedia:General usage guide.

New article titles

If the information merits a new article, following existing convention is a good rule of thumb:

Singular vs plural

• When an object or theme occurs once, leave the article in the singular form.
• If the plural is significant to the show, like in flashbacks or stations, use plural rather than singular.
• To link to Flashbacks, for example, one can use [[flashbacks]] or [[flashbacks|flashback]]. If the article name was plural, one would have to use [[flashbacks|flashback]] to change it to the proper sentence form a lot of the time.
• Category names should always be plural.

Capitalization

• Use lower-case, except for titles and proper names, for which a capital letter should be used. Like singular names, this reflects the most common way one would use the term in a sentence; for example - Walt saw a polar bear in the comic book.
  • There are exceptions to this; mainly acronyms. DHARMA is an acronym, for example.

A/An/The in page titles

• Avoid using A/An in page titles, except for proper names when you should use a "The"
  • Almost every simple noun related to the show could be described with a "a/an". For consistency, and for making it easier to link to these subjects in a sentence, avoid using "a/an";
  • Use "The" if that is part of the proper name of the item. For example, use comic book, distress signal, and crash (simple nouns), as opposed to The Swan, The Arrow, and The 23rd Psalm (proper names).
  • Very short words confuse the search engine as well: see Lostpedia:Searching for tips on making the most of the search engine on Lostpedia.

Proper names (people)

• Whenever possible, use the full name of the character.

• Use noncanon nicknames only as a last resort, when canon names are not known.
• If part of the name is discovered at a later date or corrected, the article may be nominated for renaming (see below).

• If the character goes by a very common nickname, maintain it in quotes (").

• Add a redirect by the nickname as well (see below).

Symbols

• Wikitext does not read symbols well--whenever possible, spell these titles out.
  • For example: Instead of "&" (an ampersand), use "and".

Simplify

• Generally, the simpler the title, the better. For example, rather than "List of all the animals that make an appearance on or are referenced in Lost", the title Animals says it all and is easier to find on doing a search. Exclude unnecessary words such as "List of", "Appearances of", etc. for this reason. If the specific purpose or significance of an article needs further explanation, go into detail in the body of the article.
• Use "Lost" in page titles only when absolutely necessary; This is Lostpedia--everyone knows what show you're referring to. One exception is differentiating locations within the Lost universe from real-life locations; drawing a distinction between Australia in Lost and Australia as a real-life location where Lost airs, is important.

Conventions within articles

Headings

• All headings should use the same capitalization rules used for article titles.
• Italics, bold, and links should be avoided in headings. Links in particular may be difficult for some users to see within headings.

Use bold or italics for emphasis

• Create bold text by wrapping the title in three single quotes; i.e. '''Locke''' results in Locke.
• Create italicized text by wrapping the title in two single quotes; i.e. ''Kate'' will result in Kate.

Links

• Wikify text where appropriate; i.e [[Hurley]] will result in Hurley.
• Not every word in an article needs to be wikified; it is fine just to wikify the first mention of a word in that section of the article.

Use existing conventions

• When referring to a specific title of a book, film, or other such major work, it is good practice to use italics. For example, ''[[The Third Policeman]]'' (double apostrophes, not quotation marks) becomes The Third Policeman.
• When referencing the title of Lost, use italics as well. However, episodes are considered subheading works, like chapters, and thus should be put in regular quotes. The template {{ep|#x##}} automatically takes care of quoting and wikification, for example, {{ep|1x20}} will display as "Do No Harm".
• A shortcut that works for all words is {{link|WORD(S) HERE}}. This will automatically wikify, add quotes or italics where dictated by this guide; otherwise, it will link to the Wikipedia article, when there is none on Lostpedia.

Categorize

Please place the article in any of our categories with the following line of code: [[Category:Unsolved]] at the very end of the article. For the complete list of categories, see Special:Categories. Be as specific as you can with the categories. Remember that sometimes articles will fit into more than one category. Do not categorize user blog posts or theory tab articles.

• If you are unsure what category your article fits in, you can leave it uncategorized. Sysops and others can use a special page for uncategorized pages to see a list of pages that have no category. The goal is to keep this list empty.

Never sign your contributions to articles

The wiki concept is not single authorship, but rather a collaborative effort. You might be extra proud of your article, but it will be mercilessly ripped apart by the rest of us. Signatures found in the articles are to be deleted, with the singular exception of long transcript articles (see below). (For any questions of authorship, refer to the Creative Commons license.)

Always sign your contributions to talk pages

While there is a log entry left for your edit, please sign comments on a talk or discussion page using the signature button () on the edit toolbar, or with four tildes:~~~~

It's easy to link to wikipedia articles if information is beyond the scope of an article, using the syntax [[wikipedia:article|Title]].

Present versus past tense

• Except for within episode articles, descriptions of events in the Lost storyline should be written in the past tense. Within episode articles, see Lostpedia:Episode Manual of Style.
• Article biographies of living characters should begin in the present tense; biographies of deceased ones should begin in the past tense.
• Picture captions should be written in the present tense, and should end with periods if they constitute complete sentences.

No personal pronouns

The second person pronoun "you", and the first person pronouns "I" and "we" as well as "one" should not be used in articles. The implicit second person pronoun "you" should not be used in imperative sentences. Examples:

• Incorrect: When we saw Kelvin's blood, we knew Desmond had accidentally killed him.

• Correct: Desmond apparently killed Kelvin accidentally.

• Incorrect: The following details would lead you to believe that Lost is about Purgatory.

• Correct: The following details are supportive of the Purgatory theory.

• Incorrect: See this video for yourself!

• Correct: This is a video about ____.

Spelling and grammar

Before submitting, use the Show preview button and read again what you wrote. You might find that you did not convey your idea as you wanted. Hit the preview button until you are happy and proud with your submission.

• If you don't feel confident with your writing style, spelling and grammar, include the message "Proofread Me" in the edit summary, encouraging another active user to read and edit your contributions.
• Utilize US English spellings. If British English spellings are used it is not a major priority to correct them but you may.
• Do not change US English spellings into British English. The show is made in the US, and the site is updated to US airings.

A picture is worth a thousand words. If you can, put an image in your article. An image helps clarify the subject at hand. Presentation goes a long way. Wikisyntax makes it very easy to edit and categorise information. One extremely useful tool is multiple, nested layers of headings (see example)

Episode articles

Articles about episodes of Lost carry their own set of conformity conventions described in Lostpedia:Episode Manual of Style. Conventions agreed upon in the Episode Manual of Style supercede those listed here for episode pages only.

Redirection and list conventions

Duplicate or redundant articles should not be created. A redirection page is one that automatically shunts a search for a particular keyword into another existing page; they can be created by typing only #REDIRECT [[Page name here]] in that article.

Do not create pages with just lists of article links that duplicate existing categories. These should be redirected to the category in question by typing #REDIRECT [[:Category:Name here]] (adding the first ":" is necessary to avoid categorizing the redirect page back into itself). Ex: Director

List articles should have some limited info aside from just listing links (such as episode info, etc), however, they should not go into a huge amount of detail of each item, rather linking to the main page where necessary. Some portals are list pages (that are aesthetically arranged to help aid the viewer in navigation); see Ex. Portal:Locations.

Disambiguation page conventions

The purpose of a disambiguation page is to assist a user who has searched with an ambiguous term in quickly finding the article actually being sought.

Begin a disambiguation page with the ambiguous term or terms in bold and a brief disambiguating phrase such as "may refer to" or "can mean", followed by a colon. This should be followed by a bulleted list of links to the various applicable unambiguous pages.

• No bold should be found anywhere in the bulleted list.
• Only one wikilink should appear in each item in the bulleted list. More than one wikilink per line defeats the purpose of disambiguation.
  • Exception: if the main link in the disambiguation line is a redlink (i.e., if an article has not been created for it yet), other items in the line may be wikilinked, in order to assist a user interested in initiating an article for the redlinked subject with starting points for his or her research.
• Be succinct with each line, assisting in quick disambiguation. Do not place periods at the end of the lines. If a line needs a period because it has more than one sentence, be merciless in editing the line down until no period is required. A disambiguation page is not an encyclopedia article; its function is merely to provide a bridge to the encyclopedia article being sought by the user who searched for the ambiguous term.
• Do not use crossref templates in the bulleted list; instead use wikilinks or the episode template.

The {{disambig}} template tag should be placed at the top of the disambiguation page to categorize it as such.

Transcript conventions

A transcript page is a special page which records one listener's version of what is heard in an episode or Lost-related broadcast, podcast, or featurette. The navigation template used at the top is {{Nav-Transcript}}, which forces the following disclaimer into the top field (along with a navigation bar):

Disclaimer: These transcripts are intended for educational and promotional purposes only, and may not be reproduced commercially without permission from ABC. They represent one viewer's secondhand experience of ABC's LOST (executive producers J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof), and have no connection with ABC television or its affiliates.

Transcripts should be crafted meticulously to record dialogue in a painstakingly accurate manner. However, in order to preserve the above disclaimer that they are unofficial and not associated with ABC (and due to the fact that complete fan-created transcripts are very time-consuming to generate), the author (if there is one primary author) may request page protection and indicate his or her name in small script below the header as follows:

XXXX is responsible for this transcription.

Transcript pages generally do not include wikification links, except for episode name, episode writer(s) and director(s), as seen at the top of episode transcripts (see example). In the case of special DVD featurettes, members of the Lost writing and production team which are speaking in interviews may be bolded and linked (see example).

The Star Trek Expanded Universe Database is for fanon and related content. See Memory-Alpha.org for the canon Star Trek wiki.

Style is an important factor in the writing of good articles. Good style makes articles easier to read, comprehend, better organized and easier to edit.

This page provides brief guidelines in styling articles for the Star Trek Expanded Universe wiki database (STEU, for short).

If you have not done so already, it's a good idea to consult the Wikipedia Manual of Style, which explains many of the finer details and "how-to" of wiki markup. It's recommended that you be familiar with wiki markup and HTML before editing or creating articles. At the same time, don't be afraid to experiment and learn.

Articles

Titles

The title of an article should be kept simple. Omit hyphens as a rule, uses of the word "the", apostrophes ( ' ) and other special typographical characters (#, *, _, etc.).

Ex.: (use) Constitution class

(not) ''Constitution''-class

(proper) Battle of Wolf 359

(not) The_Battle_of_Wolf_359

Generally, only the first letter of an article title is capitalized, unless pertaining to a character or proper place-name:

warp drive (not Warp Drive)

mirror universe (not Mirror Universe)

Jean-Luc Picard (not Jean-luc picard)

Note: Unless a proper noun (e.g., "Jean-Luc Picard", as above), when redlinking a new article in the text of a pre-existing article, it is not necessary to capitalize the first letter. The software does this automatically.

If there happens to be more than one character or place of the same name, as the title of an article, add an extension to differentiate:

Jean-Luc Picard (mirror)

First Battle of Chin'toka, Second Battle of Chin'toka

Rigel X, Rigel XI, Rigel XII

Vulcan (planet), Vulcan (species)

Star Trek: Lexington (fan fiction), Star Trek: Lexington (fan film series)

See also: Category sort keys

When to capitalize?

Many contributors misunderstand or don't know when & how to properly capitalize titles.

These words should be capitalized

1. The first and last words of the title
2. All nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives
3. Any conjunction or preposition of five letters or more  (Optional. An older rule says not to capitalize prepositions or conjunctions regardless of length. Just be consistent.)

Words that should not be capitalized

1. Articles (the, a, an), unless the article is the first or last word of the title
2. Prepositions of four letters or fewer (unless the preposition is the first or last word of the title)
3. Conjunctions of four letters or fewer (unless the conjunction is the first or last word of the title)
4. The particle "to" used with an infinitive (unless the "to" is the first or last word of the title)

Main body

Use paragraphs (separated by hitting "Enter" twice on your keyboard) to separate large chunks of text, or when switching time-frame. This makes the article easier to read.

Content

Remember, this is an encyclopedia. The same rules of content found on Wikipedia apply. Make sure your work reads like an encyclopedia article.

NOTE: We are not an advertising service or a scratchpad.

Refrain from inserting POV (point-of-view) references ("I", "me", "you", "we"; talking about yourself or to the readers). Maintain neutrality.

Headlines

Include headlines (such as the one above) to separate important sections of an article, using two or more = signs on each side of the section title:

==Section Headline==

===Sub-section headline===

====Sub-sub-section headline====

Make headlines suited to the content of the following paragraph(s). For example, you might headline the introductory paragraph as Introduction or Overview. (While Background is acceptable in a pinch, if your article contains background information, production notes or "behind-the-scenes" material, then that header should go on that section, at the end, requiring a different opening headline.)

Unless a proper noun, only the first word in a headline needs to be capitalized.

==Crew manifest==

(not) ==Crew Manifest==

==Starfleet Academy years==

(not) ==Starfleet Academy Years==

Bullets

Use bullets (* on your keyboard) for lists of characters, ships, dates, timeline events, etc.:

• First line
• Second line
• Third line

Indent

Indent with : (colon) to provide a "blockquote" effect.

Ex.: This is indented.

Indents (with italics) are often used for minor, "real-world" perspective notations on an article or section of an article.

In the original TNG premise, Wesley Crusher was supposed to be a girl.

Links

Linking options:

[[Benjamin Sisko]]

(result) Benjamin Sisko

The [[Benjamin Sisko|previous captain of the ''Defiant'']]

(result) previous captain of the Defiant

[[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)#Alternate Enterprises|Different versions of the ''Enterprise''-D]]

(result) Different versions of the Enterprise-D

In the above case, # links to a section within an article.

It is not necessary to [[link]] every noun or reference -- only when more information may be useful to the subject of the article. When linking (or creating a needed article by placing a link), use lower case (ex.: [[mirror universe]]), unless the article title is a proper noun or name which contains capital letters (ex.: [[James T. Kirk]], [[USS Voyager (NCC-74656)|USS ''Voyager'' (NCC-74656)]]).

Link to a pre-existing article whenever possible. Search for the article title first to see if it has already been written.

Episode linking

If an article set within one continuity or series contains links to multiple episodes or chapters in that series, you only have to provide the series name once. It is not necessary to spell out the name of that series repeatedly with every episode link (nor are repeat series abbreviations required). For example:

At the end of the article's first paragraph, put: (Series name)

For the first episode/chapter link: ("[[Episode (or chapter) title|Episode title]]"), rendered as: ("Episode title").

Next episode link: ("[[Next link|Episode title]]"), rendered as: ("Episode title").

And so on. If more than one of the same episode title exists, add an extension in the article namespace, in order to differentiate: "To Boldly Go (PDN)" vs. "To Boldly Go (Cantabrian)".

NOTE: The above applies only to fanon series. For canon series (TNG, DS9, etc.), series abbreviatons before episode links are allowable:

TOS: "The Cage", "Turnabout Intruder"
TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint", "All Good Things..."
DS9: "Emissary", "What You Leave Behind"

Sidebars

Major characters, ships and other subjects may (and should in many cases) be accompanied by tables called "sidebars", which contain corollary, "at-a-glance" information such as personal or factual statistics. Sidebars are created and generated through the use of templates.

Templates

Templates help an article to make a good impression, as well as save time when creating references.

To make use of a template, insert {{template}} into the article page approximately where you would like it to appear, substituting the name of the template inside the {{ }}.

Ex.: {{timeline}}

Templates may involve complex wiki markup; therefore it's wise to let only experienced wiki editors handle their elements. If you wish to experiment, click "Edit" and "Show preview" without saving, until you are comfortable with changing the parameters.

Note: Changing parameters of any template will affect every page on which that template is displayed. Use this feature responsibly. Be sure you know what you are doing before you alter the markup.

For a full listing of all available templates, see Category:Templates.

Please use the {{character}} template for all character sidebars. (For rank images used in character sidebars, see Category:Ranks.)

Categories

Articles in a similar vein can be linked by categories, such as Category:Federation starships. You may create a category to link articles under a collective heading, such as crew-members of a certain vessel or episodes in a fan-film series. Simply type

[[Category:(name)]]
(at the bottom of the article in the edit field),

with "(name)" being the name of the category by which all articles are grouped.

See also: Category sort keys

Introduction

The title of the article should always be included at or near the beginning of an article (in the main body of text), in bold letters:

"The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) was a 24th century Federation starship"....

Fanon vs. canon

Though fanon information is our focus, canon is still canon. Include canon information where appropriate, when dealing with subjects/characters from the shows. If you have a story where Captain Kirk was a shapeshifting agent of the Dominion, it cannot contradict the canon fact that he was the (human) captain of the Enterprise. If it conflicts with canon, mark it as an alternate reality.

Continuities

Often there are different interpretations or stories dealing with the same people and/or events, in the same time period, and these sources may conflict with one another (for example, see: Klingon-Cardassian Alliance). List these on the same article page, separated under their own ==headlines==, to show the difference.

Ships

Ship names should be in italics. Preceding letters ("USS", "IKV", etc.) are not italicized.

Ex: USS Enterprise

At the beginning of a Starfleet ship article, the ship's registry (serial number) (NCC-xxxx) should be included in bold.

Ex.: USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)

When composing a new article about a ship, if there is more than one ship of the same name, include the registry in the title namespace. This distinguishes each ship and helps to avoid confusion.

Ex.: USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

When composing a new ship article, omit all ' from the title namespace, as these have no bold or italic effect.

Class names

Ship classes should be italicized in the following manner:

The Enterprise was a Constitution-class starship.

If referring to a class but not a ship, italicize without the hyphen:

Ex.: "The Constitution class was a new achievement in starship design...."

When linking ship names or classes, use | (a pipe symbol) to separate the article title from the text reference.

[[Constellation class|''Constellation''-class]]

(result) Constellation-class

[[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)|USS ''Enterprise''-E]]

(result) USS Enterprise-E

The templates {{uss}}, {{class}}/{{class1}} and {{pre}} make this much easier, eliminating the need to double-type ship-names and registries. Please make use of them.

• {{uss|Voyager|NCC-74656}} produces USS Voyager
• {{pre|USS|Enterprise|NCC-1701-D|-D}} produces USS Enterprise-D
• {{class|Defiant}} produces Defiant-class
• {{class1|Defiant}} produces Defiant class

References

"Fanon" information, by its very nature, may not always be citable. However, if a source exists (even if it is not online or readily available elsewhere), try to cite it in those sections from which it originates -- italicized, in parentheses, at the end of the paragraph or article.

Ex.: (Tales of the Seventh Fleet)

Ex.: (Star Trek: Pendragon)

References in some cases can be abbreviated. This applies only to commonly recognized sources (TOS, TNG, DS9, etc.). It's encouraged that you spell out the reference in all other cases.

Canon episodes

Episodes of the show(s) may be used as reference. We prefer original material (not copies of articles from other wikis such as Memory Alpha). If you wish to peruse information about an episode or movie, visit Memory Alpha, which features synopses for official productions, or Memory Beta for licensed novels. For certain canon productions or reference sources which don't meet our criteria, you may link to those sources (off-site).

When including an "official" reference:

• Episode: ({{TNG|Heart of Glory}}) produces (TNG: "Heart of Glory")
• Film: ({{film|6}}) produces (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
• Book: ({{mb|TNG}} novel: ''{{mb|A Time to Be Born}}'') produces (TNG novel: A Time to Be Born)

Copyrighted material, other wikis

Never copy copyrighted material. Period. Our goal is to write original material.

The same goes for material from other wikis, such as Memory Alpha or the non-canon Star Trek wiki (Memory Beta). While we have some articles adapted from these sources, freely available under the GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons, their purpose is reference only, and will conceivably be re-written over time, until they no longer resemble the original articles.

Likewise, and once again, "fanon" is our focus, so kindly do not submit articles about episodes, movies, or books. The above-mentioned wikis focus on those areas.

Images

Before uploading an image, always check its file size. Images should be of good quality yet never overly huge (50-150kb is acceptable). This saves bandwidth and temporary file space on users' computers.

Featuring an image on a page: Use [[File:{{{filename}}}|thumb|caption]] to generate a thumbnail (with caption) of the image, or include it in a sidebar (omitting "thumb"). Instructions for using images in sidebars can be found on the template page for each specific sidebar.

Example

Using the STEU logo:

This is a thumbnail

[[File:Expanded.png|thumb|This is a thumbnail]] creates the "thumbnail" seen to the right.

Categorize images by including Category:Images or {{catim}} in the description field. Character images may be tagged with {{charim}}. This should be done when uploading, if possible. Check Category:Images before uploading to see if an appropriate sub-category exists.

If you have several images in a specific range or "theme", you may create an image subcategory:

Category:Images (Pendragon)

Category:Images (Tamerlane)

Background

Include "background" material (if available), such as production notes or behind-the-scenes, "real world" information, at the end of the article, under the above headline ("Background"). For each separate item, add a bullet (*).

• First paragraph
• Second paragraph

Note: For articles with an intense "real-world" perspective, apply {{realworld}} (which utilizes the {{realworld}} template).

External links

Cite your sources on the web with external links, in the format:
==External links==

• [http://link name_of_first_link]
• [http://link name_of_second_link]

which produces:

• name_of_first_link
• name_of_second_link

If there is only one external link, use singular "link" (not "links") in the header:

==External link==

• one link

==External links==

• first link
• second link (etc.)

Summary

When saving an edit, please make a brief note in the "Summary" field concerning the nature of the edit. If a minor edit, this is not always necessary, although it is still helpful, so others know what you have done. If it is a major edit, you should always note the change.

Ex.: (Minor edit) sp. (This would mean you corrected a misspelling)

Ex.: (Major edit) Rewrote article to include new information (This is just an example)

Keep it simple

Above all, keep the article as neat, clean and simple as possible. Try to avoid excessive use of images, tables, or complicated wiki markup, which might not always turn out as planned (and can make it frustrating for others to edit pages).

Proofread

Always remember to check your spelling and proofread your work for typos, incorrect punctuation, missing capitalization, grammar, etc. Quality should always be the goal. A properly written, properly formatted article shows care, and stands out as the mark of good work.

Review

These guidelines may be expanded or amended, or new guidelines may be added from time to time, so be sure to check back every once in a while and see what's happened. You may learn something new!

Ask questions

There is a saying: "There are no stupid questions." As always, if you have questions or are unsure of how to do something, don't be afraid to ask. We have regular contributors here who are experienced editors, and we're generally a pleasant bunch. Remember, we're all in this together, to make this one of the best encyclopaedic resources ever!

From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars wiki.

We here at Wookieepedia like things to be uniform and everything, so this Manual of Style is here to set things straight.

For information on the most basic writing techniques and styles, which are used here, see Wikipedia's Manual of Style.

Below are some basic Star Wars formatting do's and don't's.

Layout guide

In-universe

All in-universe articles should be structured as follows:

1. Title/Eras/Infobox
2. Main article
3. Stub
4. Behind the scenes (notice the capitalization)
5. Appearances
6. Sources
7. Succession box
8. Notes and references
9. See also
10. External links
11. Category
12. Interwiki links

For more details as to what each section of an article should contain, see the Layout Guide. Please note that not all articles use every section.

OOU articles on reference works

All out-of-universe articles on books, comics, etc. should generally be structured as follows. This list is typically more flexible than main articles.

1. Title/Eras/Infobox
2. Introduction
3. Stub
4. Editions
5. Publisher's summary
6. Plot summary
7. Excerpts
8. Appearances
9. Behind the scenes
10. Cover gallery
11. Succession box
12. Notes and references
13. See also
14. External links
15. Category
16. Interwiki links

List for "Appearances"

Use {{App}} for the list of characters, creatures, etc. under the "Appearances" heading. If an official "Dramatis Personae" is provided, substitute |dramatis personae= and |other characters= for the current |characters= parameter. For additional subsections such as "Languages", use '''bold-formatted headers''' under |miscellanea=. See the usage notes on Template:App for more information.

→ See Forum:CT Archive/"Characters" or "Dramatis personae"?, Forum:CT Archive/New continuity section, Forum:CT Archive/Characters to Individuals (Again?), Forum:CT Archive/Appearances lists and Forum:CT Archive/Appearances revamp project.

==Appearances==
{{App
|characters=
|creatures=
|droids=
|events=
|locations=
|organizations=
|species=
|vehicles=
|technology=
|miscellanea=
}}

OOU articles about real people

Naming articles

There are some rules regarding how articles on Wookieepedia should be named. For more details, see the naming policy.

The name of the article should be bolded in its first usage in an intro, as should any alternate names mentioned in the intro. These bolded titles should not have links within them.

→ See Forum:CT Archive/Links in in-article titles

Using the #

Do not use the # in a link unless you intend to direct to a section of that article with the title after the # as a section. When linking to articles, particular books and guides with numbers denoting their order, omit the # and simply put the number. Otherwise the software will look for that number as a section title on the page.

e.g. Star Wars Adventure Journal 4, not Star Wars Adventure Journal #4

You can use piped links to account for this. For example, [[Star Wars Adventure Journal 4|''Star Wars Adventure Journal'' #4]] would give you Star Wars Adventure Journal #4.

Perspective

In-universe

If something is in-universe, or is described as such, it belongs to the Star Wars universe exclusively and not to the real world. Characters, for example, are in-universe, but the actors who play them are out-of-universe. Another example is that the correspondent in-universe term for the English language is Galactic Basic, which is the common language in Star Wars. Pseudohistory is an integral part of in-universe treatment of canon material.

The only section where out-of-universe information is appropriate is the "Behind the scenes" section and its subsections of an in-universe article. See below for more details.

Out-of-universe

Out-of-Universe refers to the perspective in which an article is written; it is the opposite of in-universe. Something written from an out-of-universe (OOU) perspective is written from a real life point of view. It will refer, for example, to real life publications, actors, authors, events, and so on, acknowledging that its subject is fictional. In contrast, an in-universe perspective will strive for verisimilitude; that is, it will be written as though the author existed within the Star Wars universe. Articles about any in-universe things, such as characters, vehicles, terminology, or species, should always be written from an in universe perspective. If a section in the article is not, such as the listing of a character's published appearances or behind the scenes details, it should be tagged as such. In contrast, articles about books, movies, games, or other real-life Star Wars material should obviously be written from an out-of-universe perspective, but should still be noted as such. Basically, in-universe articles should never refer to Star Wars by name, or any other real life things such as publications, actors, or the like.

This is similar to wookification.

Headings

Use the == (heading) markup for headings, not the ''' (bold) markup. Example:

===This is a heading===

which produces:

If you mark headings this way, a table of contents is automatically generated from the headings in an article. Sections can be automatically numbered for users with that preference set and words within properly marked headings are given greater weight in searches. Headings also help readers by breaking up the text and outlining the article.

• Capitalize the first letter only of the first word and of any proper nouns in a heading, and leave all of the other letters in lower case.
• Avoid links within headings.
• Avoid overuse of sub-headings.

Usage and spelling

Though the readers and editors of Wookieepedia speak many varieties of English, we mandate standard American English spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word usage. This is the variety of English used in the first printings of most primary sources.

If a word has two acceptable variants in American English, the one that is considered "more American" is to be used. Such example is the spelling of judgement as judgment. The only exception of this rule is the spelling of words ending in -ogue: while dialog is an acceptable version of dialogue, the latter is preferred.

If the title of an article differs in different varieties of English, the American title should be the article title, with alternate names being used as redirects (for example, Lightsabre redirects to Lightsaber).

If a source's title is in British English, it must not be converted into American English. The Travelling Jindas must always be referred to as such. Also, if a direct quotation from a British source has a word which is spelled differently in American English, the original British spelling must be preserved. However, a [sic] sign may be put after the word.

Tense

All in-universe articles should be in past tense, per the quote above.

The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, the articles on Wookieepedia are presented as historical recordings that have been pieced together from scraps of information left over from the Star Wars era. As such, all details pertaining to this history have not yet been uncovered, and more information may be added at a later date. Keeping articles written in past tense provides consistency and flavor. Secondly, the Star Wars universe takes place a long, long time ago, in the past (at least compared to the time the narrative is set in). Writing in-universe articles in past tense properly relates the timeline of that universe with our own perspective.

Despite this, do not include phrases like "his ultimate fate is unknown" or "what happened to the ship after that is a mystery."

Capital letters

Galaxy, sector and system

When the galaxy is linked to, it not to be capitalized. Similarly, when we name systems and sectors, and when we link to them, the words "system" and "sector" should remain in lower case, unless canon dictates otherwise (e.g. Corporate Sector).

Examples: Corellian sector and Corellian system

→ See Forum:CT Archive/Capitalizing "galaxy" - arguments against, and request for revote

→ See Forum:CT Archive/Capitalizing "sector"

Jedi and Sith

The words "Jedi" and "Sith" must always be capitalized. "Jedi" and "Sith" are metonymies that refer to "a member of the Jedi Order" and "a member of the Sith Order," respectively.

The Force

While "the Force" is a proper noun and therefore must be capitalized, the light and dark sides of the Force are not capitalized in the vast majority of official sources. Therefore, they must not be capitalized on Wookieepedia. For example: "Anakin Skywalker fell to the dark side," not "...to the Dark Side."

Please note that this does not apply if force refers to any other meanings of the word: A strike force of stormtroopers entered the system, not A strike Force...

Rebel and Imperial

If these adjectives refer to the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire, they should always be capitalized. "Mon Calamari supported the Rebel cause" and "The Imperial base on Kejim was..."

However, note that if the referent of these forms are not either of these organizations, there is no reason to capitalize: "The galaxy was in turmoil by a series of rebellions and civil wars."

Human and other sentient species

In all sections of in-universe articles, the words "Human" and "Near-Human" should be capitalized, just as the name of any other sentient species (Twi'lek, Rodian, Wookiee) in the Star Wars universe would be. The word "humanoid," however, should not be capitalized.

→ See Forum:CT Archive/Capitalization of Human, and Forum:CT Archive/Capitalizing "human" -- some more details

Please note that semi-sentient or nonsentient creature names must not be in capitals unless dictated otherwise by canon. Hence, writing "Rancor" instead of "rancor" is agrammatical. As much as we don't capitalize "Dog" or "Cat" in real-life, we shouldn't capitalize fictional creature names.

Ranks and titles

A rank's name is not to be capitalized if it refers to the rank, not a person. "Ackbar was a well-known admiral." or "As a captain, he had many responsibilities."

However, if the word refers to a person, it should be in capitals. "As an experienced leader, Admiral Ackbar..." or "He never liked telling jokes to the Admiral."

There are some ranks the name of which should always be capitalized, no matter the semantics. Such titles are Padawan, Vice Admiral, Flight Leader, and so on.

Italics and miscellaneous grammar

Class and ship names

Names of specific spaceships should be:

• Capitalized
• Italicized
• Referred to by neutral pronouns (it, its)

e.g.

"The Chimaera was a Star Destroyer. Its commanding officer was Captain Pellaeon."

The use of the definite article should follow the most common use for that ship in canonical sources.

→ See Forum:CT Archive/"The" in front of ship names - another vote and Forum:CT Archive/"the" ship names

Class names are italicized only when a spaceship in the class bears the same name. The definite article may be used, but it is not required.

• When a ship's class is a modifier, use a hyphen:

"Quasar Fire-class bulk cruiser"

• When it is a noun, do not use a hyphen:

"Ships of the Victory class were often overlooked"

e.g.

An Executor-class Star Dreadnought

Do not italicize a class name when:

• Using the class name and type, but without "-class"

"Venator Star Destroyer"

• It is being used alone as a noun

"Most models of the Broadside were lightly armored and ran with a small crew."

Starfighter, missile, and other craft types where a specific spaceship does not bear the class name should be

• Capitalized
• Un-italicized
• Preceded by the full technical designation in the first instance, and may be referred to solely by type name or common name in all succeeding instances.
• Referred to with neuter pronouns (it)

e.g.

The T-65 X-wing, or X-wing in all further instances

Apostrophes and possessives ending in "s"

While plural nouns ending in "s" should be made possessive by adding only an apostrophe, singular nouns ending in "s" can be made possessive by adding either an apostrophe followed by another "s" or simply an apostrophe, providing each article is consistent throughout. Users are encouraged, but not required, to use only an s' for possessive nouns ending in a Z-sound. For example, while discussing the armor of multiple Mandalorians, one would write "Mandalorians' armor"; but while discussing the armor of Darth Nihilus, one could write "Nihilus's armor" or "Nihilus' armor."

→ See Forum:CT Archive/Punctuation and Forum:CT Archive/Re-evaluating the S apostrophe issue

Quotations

Quotations should follow this general format:

• If the quote is less than a paragraph long, simply including it in the article's body with "quotation marks" will suffice.
• If the quote is at least a paragraph in length, or a dialogue, insert as a block quote:

"Block quotes are indented with a colon at the beginning of each new paragraph. Each paragraph needs only one colon, not a new colon for each line (word wrap will accomplish this automatically).

New paragraphs, however, do require their own colon."

Please be sure to provide as much information as possible (for instance: source, page if applicable, and characters speaking if applicable).

• Users should not correct the capitalization, spelling, grammar, or word usage within direct quotes taken from copyrighted sources as such modifications jeopardize our Fair use claim on that material. Article quotes ought to be verbatim and any changes, edits, or exclusions should be explicitly noted by using square brackets ("[ ]"). Any errors made by the author may be noted by using "[sic]." This includes words such as Human, which the community has decided to capitalize in all other contexts, and the word galaxy, which is to be de-capitalized in all other contexts.
• However, the community has decided that quotes taken from comics should not mimic emphasized boldfaced wording. Instead, only italics are to be used for emphasis.
• Quotes that serve as introductions to article subsections should not contain internal links because they appear unprofessional and are generally distracting. The only exception to this rule would be in-universe words or phrases of an obscure nature (ie. blue milk).
• Redundant internal links should not be added to quotes because they serve little purpose beyond making the quotes appear cluttered and messy. Links should only be added to quotes if they contain a specific article's ONLY mention of a particular concept, but even then, it is better to integrate the internal link into the body of the article's text.
• Piped links should be avoided as much as possible. If the context of the quote is not readily apparent, it is best to add appropriate information to the quote attribution field of the quote template rather than adding piped links to ambiguous pronouns such as "you," "he," or "they."

→ See Forum:CT Archive/Quotes

Per standards of American English, double quotation marks (" ") should be used and the period (full stop), comma, question and exclamation marks should be within the quotation.

Single quotation marks (' ') should only be used when there is a quotation inside a quotation: "I never liked 'May the Force be with you.'"

A quote used in a Wookieepedia article should only include:

1. Text that is presented within actual quotation marks, or otherwise clearly marked as spoken dialogue.
2. Text that is clearly presented within the confines of someone's memoirs, journal, or diary. This includes in-universe written works, such as catalogs, news reports, historical chronicles, government documents, personnel dossiers, and the like.

A quote is NOT:

1. Narrative prose that is not actual spoken dialogue or a character's personal memoirs, journal, or diary. This means that thoughts are not considered quotable material.

→ See Forum:CT Archive/Making an official policy for "What a Quote is" and Forum:CT Archive/Quote policy addendum

Examples

• Single speaker

• Two speakers

• For more than two speakers, dialogue templates can be used.

→ See Forum:CT Archive/Quotations

Units of measurement

For consistency, all in-universe articles should use metric units of weight, mass, length, and other measurements. This follows the practice in most sources of official Star Wars canon. (See also List of measurement units.)

From Traveller Wiki - Science-Fiction Adventure in the Far future

Traveller Wiki Manual of style For an introduction to Wiki editing, please see the Introduction to editing page on wikia.

For information on the most basic writing techniques and styles, which are used here, see Wikipedia's Manual of Style.

Naming articles

There are some rules regarding how articles on the Traveller wiki should be named.

• Article names should be in singular form, not plural.

• The titles of articles about individual people should be the name by which the person was most commonly known in the the Traveller universe, with later names preferred to earlier names, and full names preferred to partial names or nicknames. Titles, such as military ranks or titles of nobility, should be omitted. Articles titles about people should be in the form of "Family Name, Personal Name(s)".

• Unless the name of the article contains a proper noun, only the first word should be capitalized.

• Articles about a world (like Regina, or Terra) should have the text "(world)" appended to their article title. This is so we can distingush between (for example) the Domain of Antares, Antares Sector, Antares Subsector, Antares (system), Antares (star) and Antares (world).

• Similarly, articles about Sectors or Subsectors should be name "X Sector" (e.g. Antares Sector) or "X Subsector" (e.g. Antares Subsector).

Headings

Use the == (heading) markup for headings, not the ''' (bold) markup. Example:

===This is a heading===

which produces:

If you mark headings this way, a table of contents is automatically generated from the headings in an article. Sections can be automatically numbered for users with that preference set and words within properly marked headings are given greater weight in searches. Headings also help readers by breaking up the text and outlining the article.

• Capitalize the first letter only of the first word and of any proper nouns in a heading, and leave all of the other letters in lower case.
• Avoid links within headings.
• Avoid overuse of sub-headings.

Sources

For all library articles, include a Sources template, even if you are the author. For an article published here, or other website on the internet, include the author's name in a link to the author's page. Example:

{{Sources|S1=[[Marc Miller]]}}

which produces:

If the article comes from a book, include a link to the book. Example:

{{Sources|S1=[[GURPS Traveller: Alien Races 1]]}}

which produces:

If the article comes from a magazine article, include both the magazine, the issue and the author of the article. Example: (Also see Templates)

{{Sources|S1={{JTASref|11}}, [[Marc Miller]] }}

which produces:

If the article has multiple sources, that is has been republished in several places, include all (or as many as you are sure of). Example:

{{Sources|S1={{TDref|11}}, [[Joe Fugate]]| S2=[[Alien - Vilani & Vargr]] }}

which produces:

Links

External links can be made to wikipedia or other wikias (as they are all part of the same development and not likely to vanish). Links to less than common terms, or articles on TL8 or less technologies would be appropriate. Links to any other web site should normally be in a section labeled as such.

Internal links should be made to any traveller-specific term (e.g. Vargr) this should include races, places, historical events, people, etc. Link to all current articles, and everything that you think should be an article. This includes all references to authors, elements, books, magazines, high technology, even if they don't exist yet as we can use the most wanted list to determine articles to research. Links should be made once on the page for each term, the first time the term is used. (e.g. Aslan should be linked the first time it is used, and not linked afterwards).

Links to worlds should use the WorldS template. This gives a consistent look and feel (and link standard) for all the world articles.

Templates

We have developed a number of templates for the site which fall into several categories. These can all be seen on the Template List page.

Wikipedia template is used when the majority of the text is copied from wikipedia, if the article is significantly different (more comprehensive) than a similar article about traveller on Wikipedia, please add the Travellerwiki template to wikipedia.

The templates: Stub, Incomplete, Detail, Complete, Language, Source and Infoboxneeded are to be used to signify that the article has issues, and needs to be addressed. Obviously it is preferable to fix the issue, but labeling it will allow others to identify the articles that need work easily.

There are a number of infobox templates that put a box with information at the side of the page (as yet we do not have bottom boxes linking similar pages as in wikipedia. Articles that fit the type should use these templates, which include: Book, Domain, Sector, Subsector, (Planet), Ships, (Vehicles), (Weapons), Race, VIP , and Date.

There are templates to expand text and possibly reference one or more other pages. The World and WorldS for example will reference the World, Sector, (Subsector) and present the format for world references in a common format. Others include TDref and JTASref to make reference to articles for those publications (others will likely follow), and short forms Imperium and Imperial (both link to Third Imperium), HIWG, sm and GDW which refer to their longer named pages.

Finally there are library templates. Each article in the library section should use either the LE (Cannon) or the LEN (non-cannon) template. This no longer needs the first letter of the article as a category.

Dictionary entries

In addition to the library entries, the Traveller wiki contains a dictionary of terms specific to the Traveller universe and translations of words from the numerous alien languages. The Traveller wiki follows the Wiktionary's manual of style for entry layout. The fundamental elements of an article:

1. a word’s language (as a level 2 heading),
2. its part of speech or "type" (as a level 3 heading),
3. the inflection word itself, including pluralization for nouns, comparatives for adjectives and the verb tenses,
4. a definition (preceded by "#", which causes automatic numbering), and,
5. links in the definition for key words

The entry layout article goes into more depth about additional information to be included in each dictionary entry.

World Articles

These are articles about the mainworld of a system, usually the largest and most important one.

As stated above, the article should be the name of the world followed by the text " (world)". This is to distinguish the world articles from other astrographic features with the same name. Also many of the templates assume this text is part of the article name.

The article must include the {{World|...}} template with the full name and location of the world. Usually the best place for this is in the {{UWP|...}} template as the name parameter.

Multiple Worlds with the same name

In looking over the list of names for the database that I am building I have noticed that the simple use of the first two letters of the sector (along with the 4 digit location) may confuse the exact spelling of world name (for example “Shela An 0732” could be confused with “Shela An”; if there were a world name of “Shela An”).

Therefore, I propose that we include the parentheses to differentiate between world name and sector abbreviation; as in the example below:

Shela An 0732 - - > Shela (An 0732).

The simple link for this would then be shown in this wiki as [[Shela (An 0732) (world)]].

There should also be an (e.g. Shela (world)) article with a {{Disambig}} template and links to each of the duplicate named world articles.