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 Memory Gamma wiki database (MG, 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.

Contents 1 Stories 2 Articles 2.1 Titles 2.1.1 When to capitalize? 2.2 Main body 2.2.1 Content 2.2.2 Headlines 2.2.3 Bullets 2.2.4 Indent 2.2.5 Links 2.2.6 Sidebars 2.2.7 Templates 2.3 Categories 3 Introduction 4 Ships 4.1 Class names 4.2 See Also 5 Copyrighted material, other wikis 6 Images 6.1 Example 6.2 External links 7 Summary 8 Keep it simple 9 Proofread 10 Review 11 Ask questions

StoriesEdit

For editing stories see Stories Editing Policy.

ArticlesEdit

TitlesEdit

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

When to capitalize?Edit

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 bodyEdit

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.

ContentEdit

Remember, the articles of MG is like an encyclopedia. The same rules of content found on Wikipedia apply. Make sure your work reads like an encyclopedia article (this does not apply to Stories).

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.

HeadlinesEdit

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==

BulletsEdit

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

• First line
• Second line
• Third line

IndentEdit

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.

LinksEdit

Linking options:

[[Martha Mcbeath]]

(result) Martha Mcbeath

The [[Martha Mcbeath|previous captain of the ''Discovery'']]

(result) previous captain of the Discovery

SidebarsEdit

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.

TemplatesEdit

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.

CategoriesEdit

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.

IntroductionEdit

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 Arella (NCC-1062-D) was a Galaxy class starship in service to Starfleet in the late 24th century"....

ShipsEdit

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 Arella (NCC-1062-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 Arella (NCC-1062)

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

Class namesEdit

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 Arella (NCC-1062-E)|USS ''Arella''-E]]

(result) USS Arella-E

See AlsoEdit

• {{class}}
• {{USS}}

Copyrighted material, other wikisEdit

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.

ImagesEdit

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 [[Image:{{{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.

ExampleEdit

Using the MG logo:

[[Image:Memory Gamma.png|thumb|This is a thumbnail]] creates the "thumbnail" seen to the right.

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

External linksEdit

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.)

SummaryEdit

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 simpleEdit

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).

ProofreadEdit

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.

ReviewEdit

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 questionsEdit

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!