Changes: Memory Beta:Style

Revision as of 02:40, 7 May 2007

This page is meant to be specific to the style of the Memory Beta. Wikipedia:Style should also serve as a guideline, but it is not required reading before contributing to this wiki. It is also a good idea to consult similar existing pages for typical layouts headings and templates. See Featured Articles for examples of what the community considers to be well made articles.

Citing sources

Please use the following format:

([[Full Series Name|''Abreviation'']] [[format]]: [[Title]])
 ex: ([[Star Trek: The Next Generation|''TNG'']] [[novel]]: ''[[A Time to Be Born]]'')
     (TNG novel: A Time to Be Born)

 ex: ([[Star Trek: The Original Series|''TOS'']] [[short story]]: "[[A Test of Character]]")
     (TOS short story: "A Test of Character")

 ex: ([[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|''DS9'']] [[episode]]: "[[Tears of the Prophets]]")
     (DS9 episode: "Tears of the Prophets")

 ex: ([[Star Trek: Corps of Engineers|''CoE'']] [[eBook]]: ''[[Turn the Page]]'').
     (CoE eBook: Turn the Page).

Using canon information

Though the emphasis is of course on non-canon material, it is encouraged to include canon information where approprate. For example, "USS Bozeman" includes a brief synopsis of the TNG episode Cause and Effect to explain the Bozeman's history, but the purpose of making the article was to note that she later appeared in The Return.

Linking to other sites

While researching using other sites is encouraged for completeness, plagiarism is forbidden. If another site, such as Memory Alpha, has a more complete article, link to it at the bottom of the article.

Do not link to a page about another topic within the main text of an article. Instead, make a wikilink to that topic, even if it doesn't exist yet.

Stories

In an attempt to standardize articles on the episodes, novels, and other sources, the following format should be used.

Sidebar

Novels (including eBooks) should always include the the template {{novel}}. The template below generates the box at the right. When creating an article for a novel, use this example as a guide. Here are some tips:

Tags (such as "title" and "author") are case-sensitive
Separate tags with |
For simplicity, only list the first publication here. Additional publications such as audiobooks can be listed in the main body of the article.
Include "ISBN" in the ISBN number.

{{Novel|
type=novel|
title=A Time to Kill|
cover image=[[Image:a_time_to_kill.jpg|250px]]|
series=[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|The Next Generation]]|
miniseries=[[A Time to...]]|
minino=7|
author=[[David Mack]]|
date=[[2379]]|
published=[[Paperback]] - [[2004|August 2004]]|
pages=344|
ISBN=ISBN 0743491777|
|}}

Making article for short stories is much like those for novels. The template {{short story}} is similar to {{novel}}.

There are a number of other templates which can be found here. Many templates include instructions on their use on the template page so that you might make full use of the flexibility of the optional fields many templates include.

{{Short story|
 title="Adventures in Time and Jazz"|
 author=[[Kelly Cairo]]|
 anthology=''[[Strange New Worlds VII]]''|
 series=''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''|
 pages=96-102|
 |}}

Introduction

A description of the story including a brief summary Please no spoilers here. This will typically be the blurb for novels.

Summary

A longer summary highlighting the key elements of the story, the most specific details should be written about in individual articles, remember a summary is intended to summarise.

Characters

A listing of characters, under appropriate subheadings if necessary.

References

A bulleted listing of references, subdivided under the following headings:

Starships and vehicles
Locations
Races and cultures
States and organizations
Other

If the others sections becomes extremely numerous then you may wish to add additional subcategories to break it up, foods and drinks, or technology, for example.

If the bulleted lists get excessively long then they should be placed horizontally instead, with lines | dividing the entries.

It should be noted whether or not references were actually featured in the story or just referenced within the story. For instance "The strange new alien rather reminded the Captain of a Gorn", references a Gorn without one actually appearing in the story. In the bulleted lists the template {{ref}} should be placed after each referenced reference which generates this text

Referenced only: . If there are more than five referenced references they should be listed horizontally like so at the bottom of the sub-section:

Information

This section should be a bulleted list (add * to every line) of facts and information not included elsewhere on the page. Information on reprints, availability, continuity problems and any other facts relevant to the page should be listed here.

Interesting quotes can also be listed as a sub-section of information.

Images

For episodes, comics and games there might well be images on the wiki; these can be displayed in a gallery on the page. For instance from The Fires of Pharos, this generates the gallery below:

 <gallery>
 Image:Hal Wyeth.jpg|[[Commodore]] [[Hal Wyeth]]
 Image:Raeger.jpg|[[Ensign]] [[Raeger]]
 Image:Cayman.jpg|[[Cayman]]
 </gallery>

Note, appropiate images should be placed within the body of the summary with the Images section giving a place for any additional images.

Connections

A bulleted list of external links with brief descriptions. Some suggested sites for linking to are:

Memory Alpha, the wiki of Star Trek canon.
Psi Phi, a reference site for the Pocket Books novels. (with covers!)
The Complete Starfleet Library, a complete list of all Star Trek-related books. Note that many of these are not licensed, and so should not be included in this wiki until further notice.

The timeline box should also go here. See {{timeline}} for instructions on its use. As should other navigation boxes.

@@ Line 91: / Line 91: @@
 ===Summary===
+A longer summary highlighting the key elements of the story, the most specific details should be written about in individual articles, remember a summary is intended to summarise.
-A longer summary.
 ===Characters===
@@ Line 97: / Line 97: @@
 ===References===
-A listing of references; Starships, Locations, Species, States and organizations, etc.
+A bulleted listing of references, subdivided under the following headings:
+*Starships and vehicles
+*Locations
+*Races and cultures
+*States and organizations
+*Other
+If the others sections becomes extremely numerous then you may wish to add additional subcategories to break it up, foods and drinks, or technology, for example.
+If the bulleted lists get excessively long then they should be placed horizontally instead, with lines '''|''' dividing the entries.
+It should be noted whether or not references were actually featured in the story or just referenced within the story. For instance "The strange new alien rather reminded the Captain of a Gorn", references a Gorn without one actually appearing in the story. In the bulleted lists the template <nowiki>{{ref}}</nowiki> should be placed after each referenced reference which generates this text {{ref}}. If there are more than five referenced references they should be listed horizontally like so at the bottom of the sub-section:
+'''Referenced''': Bolian | Catian | Gorn | Human | Tholian | Vulcan
 ===Information===
 This section should be a bulleted list (add * to every line) of facts and information not included elsewhere on the page.  Information on reprints, availability, continuity problems and any other facts relevant to the page should be listed here.
+Interesting quotes can also be listed as a sub-section of information.
 ===Related Stories===

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki