Manual of Style

The **Manual of Style**is a style guide that sets the standard practices for all TWRP Wiki articles. It helps editors produce articles with consistent, clear, and precise language, and with consistent and predictable layout and formatting.

## Article Names, Sections, and Headings

### Article Names

Every article in the TWRP Wiki must have a name, chosen according to the **Naming Policy** of the wiki.

The following points are critical to formatting article titles:

* **"Title Case"**: The first letter of every word in a title must be capitalized, except for articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, prepositions and the "to" in an infinitive.
* **Avoid definite or indefinite articles**: The definite article (the) and indefinite articles (a/an) should be avoided in article titles except if they are used as the official title.

### Article Sections

As a general guide, all articles should follow the structure outlined below:

1. Infobox
2. Description
3. Main Sections
4. Track Listing
5. Episode Listing
6. Personnel
7. Trivia
8. References
9. External Links
10. Categories

Not every article will use all of the following sections. If there is no content for a section, do not create an empty section.

### Headings

#### Heading Format

In order to create Sections for an article, the `==` (heading) markup must be used headings, not the `'''` (**bold**) markup.

Example:

`===This is a heading===`
which produces:

Using headings automatically generate a table of contents. Headings also help readers by breaking up the text and outlining the article alolwing for easy navigation.

#### Heading Rules

* The TWRP Wiki uses the Title Capitalization rules

1. Capitalize from the first to the last word.
2. Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.
3. Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions.
4. Lowercase the "to" in an infinitive.

* Links within headings should only be applied to the full title of the heading, never to a part of it. For example Doctor Sung's Seven Steps For So You Can Be a Better High Kicker, not Doctor Sung's Seven Steps For So You Can Be a Better High Kicker
* Headings must not contain images.

## Article Bodies

### Links

* **Internal Links**: Any internal article should be linked in every mention in another article's infobox, once upon its first mention in another article's intro, and once upon its first mention in each of other articles' sub-sections.
* **Unnecessary Punctuation**: Avoid including punctuation in links except in titles with punctuation. Letters or words touching the link will be included in the link and should avoided as well (e.g. use [[Doctor Sung]]'s instead of [[Doctor Sung|Doctor Sung's]]).
* **Do not add external links to other sites without permission.**
* **Do not use external links in the body of an article**: External Links must be reserved for the trivia, external links, and references sections.

### Images

* Avoid sandwiching text between two or more images or between an image and an infobox.
* Thumbnails shown in the article should generally be 200px/250px. A large image size may be required if an image contains text or fine details.

### Infoboxes

Infoboxes are helpful for displaying important information that can be viewed at a glance. Infoboxes should be used in articles about complex works such as Albums, EPs, and Video Series

* Infoboxes should always be at the top of the article.
* Infoboxes should include links to relevant internal articles.

### Personnel

In an effort to maintain consistency across articles, personnel should always be written in the same order: Doctor Sung, Lord Phobos, Commander Meouch, and Havve Hogan.

* Each personnel member should include their respective instruments.
	+ Doctor Sung - Talk box, Keyboards
	+ Lord Phobos - Guitar
	+ Commander Meouch - Bass
	+ Havve Hogan - Drums
* Guest artists should be listed in the order in which they appear in the album. Their contributions by track should be included in parenthesis. For example: Ninja Sex Party - Voice (tracks: 4).

### Trivia

Trivia helps readers learn more facts about the subject that is not originally in the main body of the article.

* Avoid opinions (even general opinions), such as "It is widely believed by fans...", as they are not true trivia facts.
* Avoid including headcanons (even popular headcanons) in trivia.
* Avoid redundancy. Always check to see if the article has the fact before adding.
* Decide whether the fact is more relevant in the body or trivia. If the fact is important, or there is a specific section to note it, it should belong in the body of the article. If it is only worth noting, it should belong in the trivia.
* Only post **relevant** information to the subject of the article. If it belongs on a more specific article or another topic, post it on the other article.
* If a trivia item is related to another trivia, add an indented list below the parent trivia. If that should be the case, however, decide whether the facts are enough to generate their own main body paragraph.

### Categories

Every article must be categorized. Most of the time, if a category does not exist, it is not intended to exist, or there is already an existing category that covers its purpose. Please ask the Administrators before creating a category.

## Bold and Italic Fonts

### Bold

Bold text should be used for the following items:

* The first mention of the name of the subject of the article.
* Alternate names for the subject of the article must be bolded in their first mention. This includes names of titles that redirect to said article.

### Italics

Italics should be used for the following items:

* Titles of long works of art and literature, such as albums, extended plays, films, short films, television series, and comics.
	+ Shorter works, such as songs and episode should be encapsulated by quotes.

## Dates

### Format

Dates should be written with the month completely spelled out, followed by the numeric date and year except when in citations. Using this method prevents ambiguity. For example: July 12, 2019.

* Do not use superscript, such as July 12th when writing dates.

## Grammar

Grammar is a writer's toolbox. You can't build good sentences without knowing how to use your tools. Since a wiki article must be as clear as possible for all the people reading it, editors must keep close to correct grammar standards to ensure clear communication.

### Three C's

To best achieve a Good Article, writers here generally apply this rule of thumb: language should be **clear**, **consistent**, and **concise**.

* **Clarity** mandates that the language relay its message sharply, unambiguous, and be wholly self-evident. It is important to be as clear and neutral as possible so as to communicate the idea of a sentence effectively to the reader.
* **Consistency** ensures article *flow*, an important aspect of being *clear*. The article should be easy to read and predictable while assuming a reasonable comprehension level.
* **Concision**, or **brevity**, is the art of using no more words than necessary to convey an idea, though it should not be misunderstood with "leaving out information". It is an important practice when writing so that you do not lose your audience — try to think "get to the point" as much as possible.

### Capitalization

Despite **unnecessary capitalization should be avoided**, it should not be reserved for proper names only.

#### Links

According to the **Naming Policy** of the TWRP Wiki, every word in an article's name, with few exceptions, must be capitalized. As such, all links must be capitalized even though they describe common names (e.g. "Body Image" instead of "body image") either in the first mention and every other subsequent mention. On the other hand, words included in a title must not be capitalized in subsequent mentions (e.g. "The song is about improving one's self-image of their body.")

#### Capitalization of "The"

In general, do not capitalize the definite article in the middle of a sentence. However, some idiomatic exceptions, including most titles of artistic works, should be quoted exactly according to common usage.

#### Ranks and Titles

Ranks and titles are to be capitalized when they immediately precede an individual's name. Do not capitalize ranks or titles when used as a substitute for the name or in a sentence. (e.g. "Commander Meouch" or "Lord Phobos", but "the commander" or "the good lord")

#### Locations

Political or geographical units, such as cities, towns, and countries, follow the same rules: as proper nouns, they require capitals (New York City); but as generic words, they do not.

### Spelling and Punctuation

This Manual of Style is not intended to be a detailed English guide. Knowledge of basic spelling and punctuation is automatically assumed.

#### Run-on Sentences

Aside from obvious, common rules for using full stops (.) and commas (,) there are some instances where you should review a sentence you wrote in "preview mode" to determine whether or not your sentence is a run-on sentence. Run-on sentences aren't good for several reasons, particularly when two separate thoughts (clauses) are not differentiated from each other thus causing a considerable amount of confusion. Similarly, some sentences are a single thought but are really long. Full stops, or periods, can be used to give the reader a resting spot.

However, **randomly adding a period or comma** in the middle of a sentence does not "fix" a run-on. A clause must still be an independent thought that above all, **makes sense**. Some users may request peer-review if they are unsure.

### Formal Vocabulary

**Formal use of language** is mandatory in all encyclopedia articles.

* **Contractions**: Uncontracted forms such as *Did not* or *He would* are the default in encyclopedic style; *don't* and *he'd* are too informal.
* **Contested vocabulary**: In encyclopedia articles, avoid such phrases as *remember that* and *note that*, which address readers directly in a less-than-encyclopedic tone. Similarly, phrases such as *of course*, *naturally*, *obviously*, *clearly*, and *actually* make presumptions about readers' knowledge, and call into question the reason for including the information in the first place. Do not tell readers that something is ironic, surprising, unexpected, amusing, coincidental, unfortunate, etc. This supplies a point of view. Simply state the sourced facts and allow readers to draw their own conclusions.
* **Familiar names**: Some characters are often referred to using familiar names or nicknames. However, their use in encyclopedic articles must be strictly avoided, and a character must always be referred to by its full name when first mentioned, and surname only in subsequent references. There are two general exceptions to this rule:
	+ For characters that use a "codename", the full codename may be substituted for the full name or surname wherever they are mentioned.
	+ When a paragraph or section refers to at least two members of the same family, characters can be referred to by their first name, in order to clarify which one of the characters is being discussed.

### Language and Spelling

The TWRP Wiki uses standard American English spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Direct quotes should never be altered, even if they do not use American spelling or the English language at all.

### Tense

As a general rule, every article must be written in the past tense, as they are considered to narrate past events. Though there could be some exceptions, such as articles about upcoming content or the initial description of TWRP articles.

### Paragraphs and Formatting

Inexperienced writers have a tendency towards "run on" paragraphs. Some of these may number dozens of lines and many column inches without a break. This makes the articles difficult to read as everything seems to flow together. It also makes it tough to quickly skim articles for data points.

A good paragraph (grammatically speaking) is two to five sentences in length on average. It covers *one* thought or idea or piece of information. Any time there is a change in the thought, idea, or piece of information, there should also be a paragraph change.

When formatting paragraphs, adding an empty line between paragraphs looks better in the articles than the traditional "paragraph indent" on the first line. It makes for a more definite "breakpoint" visually, and allows the reader to more easily see that they are reading a *new* paragraph at that point.

Also, many writers tend to start paragraphs using the format "After (*insert event here*)", "When (insert character here)", "During (*insert event here*)" or similar choices of words. Those formats are greatly discouraged in the TWRP Wiki, as the initial context of the event must be referred to in the title of the specific subsection in the main Biography / History section. Simply put, do not start any paragraphs with a sentence beginning with "After", especially if it is the first paragraph of a section.