Star Trek Expanded Universe:Style

Manual of Style
The purpose of this page is to provide brief guidelines in writing articles for the Star Trek Expanded Universe Wiki Database (or STEU, for short). Style is not the most important factor when writing articles, but it is important in the writing of good articles. Good style makes articles easier to read, comprehend, better organized and easier to edit. 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.

Note, these are guidelines, not "rules" set in stone. If you think you know a better way to write an article, or have what you think is an important guideline to add here, feel free. Please don't remove any of these guidelines; simply add your own.

Introduction
At the beginning of an article, the title of the article (in the main body of text) should always be bold.
 * Ex.: "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. Though you may have a story where Captain Kirk was actually 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. If you decide to list these on the same article page--for example, the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance--please separate them and place them under their own headers, 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 ', as these will have no bold or italic effect.

Class names
Ship classes should be italicized in the following manner:
 * Constitution-class starship.

If referring to a class but not a ship, italicize:
 * Ex.: "The Constitution class was a new achievement in starship design"....

Characters
If there should happen to be more than one character of the same name, as the title of an article, add an extension in parentheses to differentiate.
 * Ex.: Jean-Luc Picard
 * vs.: Jean-Luc Picard (mirror)

Canon episodes
Episodes of the show may be used as reference; however we do not link them. If you wish to peruse information about an episode or movie, visit Memory Alpha, which features synopses for official productions. When including an episode/movie reference:
 * Ex.: Episode ref. - (TNG "Heart of Glory")
 * Ex.: Movie ref. - (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

Images
Before uploading an image, always check its file size. Images should generally be of good quality, yet never exceed 50kb or be overly huge. This saves bandwidth and temporary file space on users' computers.

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 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 quality wikis ever!