CivilWarWiki:Manual of Style
From CivilWarWiki
The Manual of Style contains standardized information regarding how to edit pages on CivilWarWiki. This helps keep a consistent tone in most articles.
Contents |
Content Articles (Main Namespace)
Content articles are any and all pages which are not preceded by a colon and a prefix. For example, the article Robert E. Lee would be a content article (article in the main namespace), and the article CivilWarWiki:Regulations would not.
Layout
The layout of each article needs to be uniform across all of CivilWarWiki.
- Introductory paragraph
- Bulk content of the article
- Summary
- Internal links (with related articles within the site)
- External links
- References
- Category
Creation of a new article
| |
| Edwin McMasters Stanton | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Date & Place of Birth | December 20, 1860 Steubenville, Ohio |
| Parents | David Stanton Lucy Norman Stanton |
| Religion | Methodist |
| Spouse | Mary Lamson Stanton (d. March 13, 1844) Ellen Hutchison Stanton |
| Children | Lucy Lamson Stanton (with Mary) Edwin Lamson Stanton (with Mary) Eleanor Adams Stanton James Hutchinson Stanton Lewis Hutchinson Stanton Bessie Stanton |
| Date & Place of Death | December 24, 1869 Washington, D.C. |
| Place of Burial | Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, DC |
| Education | Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio |
| Office of Service | United States Secretary of War January 20, 1862 – May 28, 1868 |
| Post-war career | Appointed to U.S. Supreme Court December 20, 1869 |
Article Names
Article names should generally be written in lower case, which makes linking with other articles easier. The first letter may be either lower case or upper case. In either case, the Wiki software will automatically display the first letter in upper case, i.e. Ironclad warship. For proper nouns, such as the name of a person, capitalize the full name: "Thomas Jackson", not "Thomas jackson".
The article name should be used at or very close to the start of the article, and this use of it should be in bold. See the first line of this page above for an example.
Date style
Articles here pertain to written events in history, so the formats "July 4, 1864" and "04 July 1864" (military style) are correct to use.
- Do not wikilink dates!
Spelling, Grammar, Style
American English is standard on this site, however, there may be editors from Great Britain and Australia who clearly write in their versions of English; the differences are minor, but they are subject to correction.
- Do not correct the spelling, grammar, or style of any document cut and pasted within CivilWarWiki; this is done to preserve the historical context of the document itself.
Check Spelling
Always use correct spelling. All recent browsers, as with Google, can be equipped with spelling checkers that integrate directly into the browser. If you have one of the following browsers, please download the spelling checker at the link provided:
- Internet Explorer - download at iespell
- Opera - download at GNU Aspell
- Mozilla Firefox - download at Spellbound or update to the latest version of Firefox, which has a built-in spelling checker.
- Safari - See directions on how to enable built-in spell checker at tuaw.
Do not rely on just your spelling checker; use your eyes as well. Go over it carefully, and if you have to, re-write it over and over again until you feel it is right, then post it.
There are a number of software programs that assists writers when it comes to spelling, grammar, and writing style. Two of the more notable software packages are the WhiteSmoke Writing Software and the StyleWriter English usage editor software packages.
Country Names
When countries are first mentioned in articles, abbreviations are not to be used, but may be used for subsequent references. For example, use "United States" or "United States of America" and "United Kingdom", not simply "US", "U.S.", "UK", etc. After the first occurrence, it is acceptable to use "U.S." or "U.K." for example, but do not link such uses.
Names of ships
Numerous articles will be posted here on the many warships and others which served in the Civil War. Using standard U.S. Navy terminology, these ships are to be referred to with the third-person possessive "she"; never affix the word "the" in front of a ship's name, i.e. H.L. Hunley, not "the" H.L. Hunley. Italicize all ship's names.
Infobox
To the right of many articles you will see an infobox template (see example at right), giving "bullet-style" details on the subject of the article; these templates are found at Category:Templates. Select the proper infobox, insert the necessary information, and post it within the article.
Since the infobox contains an image, this image is considered "introductory" to the article. Preference is given to a good painting of the subject for the infobox, preferably one painted by an individual who was a witness to the events or had first-hand knowledge; if a person, then the artist must have painted the subject while sitting before him. If no painting is available, then a good, unretouched photograph taken during the time period in question (i.e those by Matthew Brady)
Citing Sources and Using Footnotes
Always cite and give credit to your sources, even if in the public domain. Do not use and cite another wiki as a source; all wikis are subject to change at a moments notice, and usually by non-professionals.
When writing articles it is necessary to use primary and secondary source material as references. All source material should be properly cited as to work, author, publisher, and date published. The Harbrace Manual, used in many colleges and universities as a standard of style, is recommended as a guide; this website [1] is also recommended.
Primary Sources
Original, primary-source documents consist of: diaries; autobiographies; memoirs; interviews with journalists; minutes of meetings; private and public letters; speeches; official records; photographs and film. When citing these sources, write in this manner:
- Author. Name of work in italics; publishing company; location where published. Page number(s), (date, published in parenthesis)
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources consist of interpretation and analysis of published material, history, and other primary source data. These sources consist of: biographies; encyclopedias; newspapers, news magazines, and news-related websites; journalistic and political commentaries or opinions (this includes web-blogs); literary criticisms of film, books, or poetry (such as Cliff's Notes); scientific journals and papers; textbooks. When using these sources, the same citation rule as above applies.
Newspaper reports should be considered only as fleeting moments of history as given by a reporter; they can be notoriously one-sided with a perspective that leaves out pertinent facts. They should be used only if the article requires it. When citing a newspaper source, write in this manner:
- Author. "Title of the article in quote marks"; Newspaper name in italics; Complete day-month-year article published. You must still write this complete reference line regardless of whether or not the newspaper source was retrieved online; online links to most newspapers go dead after a short period of time.
Uncited Material
Completely uncited article, section, or sentence
If you see an article or section of an article that is completely uncited please feel free to put an "citation needed" on that particular article or section of an article, send the person or persons who wrote that section a friendly and gentle reminder regarding the uncited material plus a friendly thank you for contributing. If necessary, you may have to help find such a citation; never act as though it's "someone else's job".
Re-Directs & Name Changes
Check with an Administrator first before suggesting a re-direct or name change to an article page; it keeps the administration in the loop, as well as keeping intact the page edit and talk histories.
Categories
Unlike articles, categories are to be in title case (e.g. Alabama Cities and Towns, not Alabama cities and towns), and are to be plural where applicable (e.g. Rifles, not Rifle).
