UniWiki:Manual of Style: Difference between revisions

{{UMoS guideline}}

The UniWiki Manual of Style presents the UniWiki's house style. The goal is to make using the UniWiki easier and more intuitive by promoting clarity and cohesion, while helping editors write articles with consistent and precise language, layout, and formatting. [[Wikipedia:Plain English|Plain English]] works best. Avoid ambiguity and vague or unnecessarily complex wording. Any new content added to the body of this page should directly address a style issue that has occurred in a significant number of instances.

When choosing an article's title, refer to the [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Article titles|article titles]] policy. A title should be a recognizable name or description of the topic that is natural, sufficiently precise, concise, and consistent with the titles of related articles. If these criteria are in conflict, they should be balanced against one another.

* Do not use {{notthis|A}}, {{notthis|An}}, or {{notthis|The}} as the first word ({{dothis|Economy of the Caldari State}}, not {{notthis|The economy of the Caldari State}}), unless it is an inseparable part of a name ({{dothis|The Kalevala Expanse}}) or it is part of the title of a work (''{{dothis|The Seven Events of the Apocalypse}}'', ''{{dothis|The Scope}}'').

* Titles should normally be [[Wikipedia:Noun|nouns]] or [[Wikipedia:Noun phrase|noun phrases]]: {{dothis|Early life}}, not {{notthis|In early life}}.<ref>Using phrases like {{dothis|In early life}} is acceptable for section headings.</ref>

The guidance contained elsewhere in the UMoS, particularly {{section link||Punctuation}} (below) applies to all parts of an article, including the title.

{{main|UniWiki:Manual of Style/Layout}}

An article should begin with an introductory ''lead section'', which should not contain section headings ''(see [[UniWiki:Manual of Style/Lead section]])''. The remainder of the article may be divided into sections, each with a section heading (see below) that can be nested in a hierarchy.  

* [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Categorization|Categories]].

{{see also|UniWiki:Manual of Style/Accessibility#Headings|UniWiki:Manual of Style/Layout#Order of article elements}}, ''[[Wikipedia:Help:Section]]''

The provisions in {{section link||Article titles}} generally apply to section headings as well (for example, headings are in sentence case, not title case). The following points apply specifically to section headings:

Several of the above provisions are also applicable to table headers, including sentence case and redundancy. Table headers are often useful places for citations (e.g., the source of all the data in a column), and many do begin with or are numbers. Table headers do not automatically generate link anchors. ''(For more information see {{Section link|UniWiki:Manual of Style/Tables|Captions and headers}}.)''

For some elements of style, there is more than one format that is acceptable.  In general, editors should not change articles between acceptable formats unless there is some substantial reason for the change (unrelated to the choice of style or the preference of the editor), and edit-warring between optional styles is unacceptable.

* [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Citing sources#WP:CITEVAR|Variations of citation style]] (where applicable)

The UniWiki prefers no major national variety of the language over any other. These varieties (e.g., [[Wikipedia:American English|American English]], [[Wikipedia:British English|British English]], etc.) differ in many ways, including vocabulary (''elevator'' vs. ''lift''), spelling (''center'' vs. ''centre''), date formatting ("April 13" vs. "13 April"), and occasionally grammar (see {{section link||Plurals}}, below). The following subsections describe how to determine the appropriate variety for an article. (The accepted style of punctuation is covered in {{section link||Punctuation}}, below.)

{{hatnote|See also [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Consistency|Wikipedia:Consistency]] for additional policies and guidelines on consistency.}}

* '''URLs:''' Changing the spelling of part of an external link's URL will almost always break the link.

{{main|UniWiki:Manual of Style/Capital letters}}

* '''In generic use''', apply lower case to words such as ''president'', ''king'', and ''emperor'' ({{dothis|Souro Foiritan was a Gallentean president}}; {{dothis|Jamyl Sarum was an Amarrian empress}}; {{dothis|Three directors attended the conference}}).

* '''Directly juxtaposed with the person's name''', such words begin with a capital letter ({{dothis|Empress Catiz}}, not {{notthis|empress Catiz}}). Standard or commonly used names of an office are treated as proper names ({{dothis|Maleatu Shakor is Matari Sanmatar}}; {{dothis|Jamyl Sarum was Empress of the Amarrian Empire}}; {{dothis|Jacus Roden is President of the Gallente Federation}}). Royal styles are capitalized ({{dothis|Her Majesty}}; {{dothis|His Grace}}); exceptions may apply for particular offices.

=== Religions, deities, philosophies, doctrines ===

* The words '''<nowiki />''sun'', ''earth'', and ''moon''<nowiki />''' do not take capitals in general use ({{dothis|The sun was peeking over the mountain top}}; {{dothis|The tribal people of Matar thought of the whole earth as their home}}). They are capitalized when the entity is personified ({{xt|Sol Invictus ("Unconquered Sun") was the Roman sun god}}) or when used as the name of a specific body in a scientific or astronomical context ({{dothis|The Moon orbits the Earth}}; but {{xt|Kileakum is a moon of Eclipticum}}).

* Words such as '''<nowiki />''comet'' and ''galaxy''<nowiki />''' should be capitalized where they form part of an object's proper name ({{dothis|New Eden Cluster}}).

The word ''the'' at the start of a title is usually uncapitalized, but follow the institution's own usage ({{dothis|a degree from the University of Caille}}; but {{dothis|researchers at The Leisure Group}}).

{{main|UniWiki:Manual of Style/Abbreviations}}

=== Write out both the full version and the abbreviation at first occurrence ===

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| ''Incorrect'': || {{notthis|He used a MicroWarpDrive (MWD)}}

=== Ampersand ===

:''Further information: [[UniWiki:Manual of Style/Text formatting]]''

:''Correct'': {{dothis|<code><nowiki>The [[USS Adder (SS-3)|USS ''Adder'' (SS-3)]] was a submarine.</nowiki></code>}}

{{see also|Wikipedia:Line-break handling}}

Always insert hard/thin spaces symbolically (<code>&amp;nbsp;</code>, <code>&amp;thinsp;</code>), never by entering them as literal Unicode characters entered directly from the keyboard.

* Consistent use of the ''straight'' [[Wikipedia:Apostrophe|apostrophe]] ({{xt|&nbsp;<big>'</big>&nbsp;}}) is recommended, as opposed to the ''curly'' apostrophe ({{!xt|&nbsp;<big>‘ ’</big>&nbsp;}}). For details and reasons, see {{section link||Quotation marks}}, below.

:* Quotation marks ''not'' part of the article title should not be bolded (from [[Wikipedia:Jabberwocky|Jabberwocky]]: {{xt|"'''Jabberwocky'''" is a nonsense poem&nbsp;...}}; from [[Wikipedia:Bill Clinton|Bill Clinton]]: {{xt|'''William Jefferson''' "'''Bill'''" '''Clinton''' is an American politician&nbsp;...}}).

; Block quotations

; Punctuation before quotations

: The use of a comma before a quotation embedded within a sentence is optional, if a non-quoted but otherwise identical construction would work grammatically without the comma:

: Do not use [[Wikipedia:grave accent|grave]] and [[Wikipedia:Acute accent|acute accents]] or backticks ({{!xt|<big>'''`'''</big>text<big>'''´'''</big>}}) as quotation marks (or as apostrophes). Likewise, avoid using the low-high ({{!xt|„&nbsp;“}}) or [[Wikipedia:Guillemet|guillemet]] ({{!xt|«&nbsp;»}}) quotation marks that are common in [[Wikipedia:Non-English usage of quotation marks|several foreign languages]]. Editors may see {{!xt|′}} and {{!xt|″}} under the edit window as characters available for insertion; however, these are [[Wikipedia:prime (symbol)|prime]] and double-prime symbols, used to indicate subdivisions of the [[Wikipedia:degree (angle)|degree]], and should not be used to mark quotations.

Typographical, or curly, quotation marks and apostrophes might be read more efficiently, and many think they look better. However, for practical reasons the straight versions are used on the UniWiki.

: {{dothis|"Why", asked Darla, "are you sleeping?"}}

The rules in this section apply to both round brackets {{xt|(&nbsp;)}}, often called [[Wikipedia:Bracket|parentheses]], and square brackets {{xt|[&nbsp;]}}.

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* To make the grammar work. (Referring to someone's statement {{xt|"I hate to do laundry"}}, one could properly write {{xt|She "hate[s] to do laundry"}}.)

:: {{xt|She refused all requests (except for basics such as food, medicine, etc.).}}

* However, if the entire sentence is within brackets, the closing punctuation falls within the brackets. (This sentence is an example.) This does not apply to matter that is added (or modified editorially) at the beginning of a sentence for clarity, which is usually in square brackets:

:: {{xt|Clare demanded that he drive to the supermarket; she knew he hated driving.}}

Brackets inside of links require special handling:

If a URL itself contains square brackets, the wiki-text should use the [[Wikipedia:URL encoding|URL-encoded]] form <code><nowiki>http://</nowiki>example.site/foo.php?query={{xt|%5B}}xxx{{xt|%5D}}yyy</code>, rather than ...<code>query={{xt|&#91;}}xxx{{xt|&#93;}}yyy</code>.  This will avoid truncation of the link after <code>xxx</code>.

Use an ''[[Wikipedia:Ellipsis|ellipsis]]'' (plural ''ellipses'') to indicate an omission of material from quoted text or some other omission, perhaps of the end of a sentence, often in a printed record of conversation. The ellipsis is represented by ''ellipsis points'': a set of three dots.

; Style

: Ellipsis points, or ellipses, have traditionally been implemented in three ways:

; Function and implementation

; With square brackets

[[Wikipedia:Comma|Commas]] are the most frequently used punctuation marks and can be the most difficult to use well. Some important points regarding their use follow below and at {{section link||Semicolons}}.

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* A comma may be included before a quotation embedded within a sentence (see {{section link||Quotation marks}} above).

A [[Wikipedia:Serial comma|serial comma]] (also known as an ''Oxford comma'' or a ''Harvard comma'') is a comma used immediately before a conjunction (''and'' or ''or'', sometimes ''nor'') in a list of three or more items: the phrase {{xt|ham, chips, and eggs}} includes a serial comma, while {{xt|ham, chips and eggs}} omits it. Editors may use either convention so long as each article is internally consistent; however, there are times when the serial comma can create or remove confusion:

**: Clearer: {{xt|The author thanked President Obama, Sinéad O'Connor, and her mother}}; or {{xt|The author thanked President Mary McAleese, Sinéad O'Connor, and her mother}}.

A [[Wikipedia:Colon (punctuation)|colon]] ({{xt|:}}) informs the reader that what comes after it demonstrates, explains, or modifies what has come before, or is a list of items that has just been introduced. The items in such a list may be separated by commas; or, if they are more complex and perhaps themselves contain commas, the items should be separated by semicolons:

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No sentence should contain more than one colon. There should never be a hyphen or a dash immediately following a colon. Only a single space follows a colon.

:''For usage in marking up description (definition) lists, see [[Wikipedia:Help:List#Description lists|Wikipedia:Description lists]]''.

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As seen in the examples above, a semicolon does not automatically require the word that follows it to be capitalized.

The meaning of a sentence containing a trailing clause that starts with the word "however" depends on the punctuation preceding that word. A common error is to use the wrong punctuation, thereby changing the meaning to one not intended.

| || {{xt|It was obvious they could not convert these people; however, they tried.}}

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| || {{xt|It was obvious they could not convert these people, however they tried.}}

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| || {{xt|However they tried, it was obvious they could not convert these people.}}

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| || {{xt|He did not know, however, that the venue had been changed at the last minute.}}

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[[Wikipedia:Hyphen|Hyphens]] ({{xt|-}}) indicate conjunction. There are three main uses:

#* Hyphens can help with ease of reading ({{xt|face-to-face discussion}}, {{xt|hard-boiled egg}}); where non-experts are part of the readership, a hyphen is particularly useful in long noun phrases, such as those in Wikipedia's scientific articles: {{xt|gas-phase reaction dynamics}}. However, hyphens are never inserted into proper names in compounds ({{xt|Middle Eastern cuisine}}, not {{!xt|Middle-Eastern cuisine}}).

#* A hyphen can help to disambiguate ({{xt|little-celebrated paintings}} is not a reference to little paintings; {{xt|a government-monitoring program}} is a program that monitors the government, whereas {{xt|a government monitoring program}} is a government program that monitors something else).

#* Avoid using a hyphen after a standard ''-ly'' adverb ({{xt|a newly available home}}, {{xt|a wholly owned subsidiary}}) unless part of a larger compound ({{xt|a slowly-but-surely strategy}}). In rare cases, a hyphen can be added to improve clarity if a rewritten alternative is awkward. Rewording is preferable: {{!xt|The idea was clearly stated enough}} can be disambiguated as {{xt|The idea clearly was stated often enough}} or {{xt|The idea was stated with enough clarity}}.

#* A few words ending in ''-ly'' function as both adjectives and adverbs ({{xt|a kindly-looking teacher}}; {{xt|a kindly provided facility}}). Some such dual-purpose words (like {{xt|early}}, {{xt|only}}, {{xt|northerly}}) are not standard ''-ly'' adverbs, because they are not formed by addition of ''-ly'' to an independent current-English adjective. These need careful treatment: {{xt|Early flowering plants appeared around 130&nbsp;million years ago}}, but {{xt|Early-flowering plants risk damage from winter frosts}}; {{xt|only child actors}} (no adult actors) but {{xt|only-child actors}} (actors without siblings).

:::{| style="background:transparent"

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'''Image filenames and redirects:''' Image filenames are not part of the encyclopedic content; they are tools. They are most useful if they can be readily typed, so they always use hyphens instead of dashes. Similarly, article titles with dashes should also have a corresponding redirect from a copy of the title with hyphens: for example, {{xt|[[Wikipedia:Michelson-Morley experiment|Michelson-Morley experiment]]}} redirects to {{xt|[[Wikipedia:Michelson-Morley experiment|Michelson–Morley experiment]]}}, because the latter title, although correct, is harder to search for.

:<code><nowiki>{{shy|This al|ter|na|tive syn|tax im|proves read|a|bil|ity}}</nowiki></code>

Hyphenation involves many subtleties that cannot be covered here; the rules and examples presented above illustrate the broad principles.

Two forms of dash are used on the UniWiki: '''[[Wikipedia:En dash|en dash]]''' ({{xt|–}}) and '''[[Wikipedia:Em dash|em dash]]''' ({{xt|—}}). Enter them as <code>&amp;ndash;</code> or <code>&amp;mdash;</code>. Do not substitute a double hyphen (<code>--</code>).

Sources use dashes in varying ways, but for consistency and clarity the UniWiki adopts the following principles.

Dashes are often used to mark divisions within a sentence: in pairs (''parenthetical dashes'', instead of parentheses or pairs of commas); or singly (perhaps instead of a colon). They may also indicate an abrupt stop or interruption, in reporting direct speech.

:: {{xt|Another "planet" was detected—but it was later found to be a moon of Saturn.}}

*An en dash is ''spaced'' (that is, with a space on either side) when used as sentence punctuation:

Dashes can clarify the sentence structure when there are already commas or parentheses, or both.

* Avoid: {{!xt|First—and most spectacularly—came the bishops—then the other clergy.}} Better: {{xt|First—and most spectacularly—came the bishops, who were followed by the other clergy.}}

{{hatnote|Here the ranges are ranges of numbers, dates, or times. For other ranges, such as ranges of physical locations, see {{section link||In compounds when the connection might otherwise be expressed with to, versus, and, or between}}.}}

* {{xt|wavelengths in the range 28 mm – 17&nbsp;m.}}

* {{xt|boyfriend–girlfriend problems}};&nbsp;&nbsp; {{xt|the Paris–Montpellier route}};&nbsp;&nbsp; {{xt|a New York–Los Angeles flight}}

* {{xt|an Italian–Swiss border crossing}};&nbsp;&nbsp; but {{xt|an Italian-Swiss newspaper}} for {{xt|Italian-speaking Swiss}}

* {{xt|France–Britain rivalry}};&nbsp;&nbsp; {{xt|French–British rivalry}}

A slash or some other alternative may occasionally be better to express a ratio, especially in technical contexts ''(see {{section link||Slashes}}, below)''.

Do not use spaces around en dash in any of the compounds above.

* {{xt|ex–prime minister Thatcher}};&nbsp;&nbsp; {{xt|pre–World War II aircraft}}

The en dash in all of the compounds above is unspaced.

Spaced en dashes are sometimes used between parts of list items. Below are two examples.

** {{xt|"Bird on the Wire"&nbsp;– 6:14.}}

Do not use substitutes for em or en dashes, such as the combination of two hyphens ({{!xt|--}}). These were [[Wikipedia:Typewriter#Typewriter conventions|typewriter approximations]].

For a negative sign or subtraction operator, use a minus sign: {{xt|−}}. Input by clicking on it in the insert box beneath the edit window or by typing <code>&amp;minus;</code>.

Generally, avoid joining two words with a [[Wikipedia:Slash (punctuation)|slash]], also called a forward slash or ''solidus'' ({{xt|&nbsp;/&nbsp;}}), because it suggests that the words are related without specifying how. Replace with clearer wording.

Do not use the [[Wikipedia:Backslash|backslash]] character ({{!xt|&nbsp;\&nbsp;}}) in place of a slash.

Avoid writing {{!xt|and/or}}: Instead of {{!xt|Most suffered trauma and/or smoke inhalation}}, write simply {{xt|trauma or smoke inhalation}} (which would normally be interpreted to imply ''or both''); or, for emphasis or precision, write {{xt|trauma or smoke inhalation or both}}. Where more than two possibilities are present, instead of {{!xt|x, y, and/or z}} write {{xt|one or more of x, y, and z}} or {{xt|some or all of x, y, and z}}.

:{| style="background:transparent"

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* In some contexts, no terminal punctuation is necessary. In such cases, the sentence often does not start with a capital letter. See {{section link||Quotation marks}}, and {{section link||Sentences and brackets}}, above. [[Wikipedia:Sentence fragment|Sentence fragments]] in captions or lists should in most cases not end with a period. See {{section link||Formatting of captions}} and {{section link||Bulleted and numbered lists}}, below.

* For the use of three periods in succession, see {{section link||Ellipses}}, above.

** {{xt|The door flew open with a BANG! that made them jump.}} (Not encyclopedic, but acceptable in transcription from audio, or in direct quotation.)

The number of spaces following the terminal punctuation of a sentence in the wiki markup makes no difference on the UniWiki; the MediaWiki software condenses any number of spaces to just one when rendering the page (see [[Wikipedia:Sentence spacing|Sentence spacing]]). For this reason, editors may use any spacing style they prefer on the UniWiki. Multiple spacing styles may coexist in the same article, and adding or removing a double space is sometimes used as a [[Wikipedia:Help:dummy edit|dummy edit]].

Where a word or phrase that includes terminal punctuation ends a sentence, do not add a second terminal punctuation mark. If a quoted phrase or title ends in a question mark or exclamation mark, it may confuse readers as to the nature of the article sentence containing it, and so is usually better reworded to be mid-sentence. Where such a word or phrase occurs mid-sentence, new terminal punctuation (usually a period) must be added at the end.

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:''See also: [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Citing sources|Wikipedia:Citing sources]]''

When ref tags are used, a [[Wikipedia:Help:Footnotes#Creating the footnote list|footnote list]] must be added, and is usually placed in the [[UniWiki:Manual of Style/Layout#Notes and references|Notes and References]] section near the end of the article in the [[UniWiki:Manual of Style/Layout#Standard appendices and footers|standard appendices and footers]].

=== Punctuation after formulae ===

A sentence that ends with a formula should have terminal punctuation (period, exclamation mark, or question mark) after the formula. Within a sentence, place other punctuation (such as commas or colons) after the formula just as if the text were not a formula.

{{main|UniWiki:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers#Chronological items}}

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{{main|UniWiki:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers#Numbers}}

* [[Wikipedia:Fewer vs. less|Fewer vs. less]]: In most cases, use ''fewer'' with [[Wikipedia:count noun|countable]] nouns and ''less'' with [[Wikipedia:mass noun|non-countable]] ones. However, ''less than'' (not ''fewer than'') is recommended before nouns that denote distance or time. For example, {{xt|I picked fewer than one hundred apples}}, but {{xt|we go on our trip in less than four weeks}}, and {{xt|he can run the 100 m in less than ten seconds}}, because the word ''time'' can be understood to be implied after ''less''. In short, if you'd count it, say ''fewer''. If you'd measure it, say ''less''.

{{main|UniWiki:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers#Currencies and monetary values}}

* Use only one symbol with ranges, as in {{xt|$250–300}}.

* In articles that are not specific to a country, express amounts of money in [[Wikipedia:United States dollars|United States dollars]], [[Wikipedia:Euros|euros]], or [[Wikipedia:Pounds sterling|pounds sterling]]. Do not link the names or symbols of currencies that are commonly known to English-speakers ({{xt|$}}, {{xt|£}}, {{xt|€}}), unless there is a particular reason to do so; do not use potentially ambiguous currency symbols, unless the meaning is clear in the context.

* In the context of the UniWiki, ISK is understood to mean "InterStellar Kredits", the in-game currency of EVE, as opposed to the Icelandic krona.

{{main|UniWiki:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers#Units of measurement}}

* In a direct quotation, always keep the source units. If a conversion is required, it should appear within square brackets in the quote, or else an obscure use of units can be explained in a [[Wikipedia:Footnotes|footnote]].

* Where space is limited (such as tables, infoboxes, parenthetical notes, and mathematical formulas) use unit symbols. In main text it is usually better to spell out unit names, but symbols may also be used when a unit (especially one with a long name) is used repeatedly. However, spell out the first instance of each unit in an article (for example, {{xt|the typical batch is 250 kilograms&nbsp;... and then 15&nbsp;kg of emulsifier is added}}), except for unit names that are hardly ever spelled out (e.g., the degree Celsius). Most unit names are not capitalized. Use "per" when writing out a unit, rather than a slash: {{xt|meter per second}}, not {{!xt|meter/second}}. (For spelling differences, follow {{section link||National varieties of English}}, above.)

* When dimensions are given, each number should be followed by a unit name or symbol (e.g., write {{xt|1&nbsp;m × 3&nbsp;m × 6&nbsp;m}}, not {{!xt|1 × 3 × 6&nbsp;m}}).

* When they form a compound adjective, values and spelled-out unit names should be separated by a hyphen: for example, {{xt|a five-day holiday}}. An exception is when the hyphenated construction has another meaning in the context.

* Standard unit symbols do not require a [[Wikipedia:Full stop|full stop]] (period). However, non-standard abbreviations should always be given a full stop.

* No ''s'' is appended, e.g., {{xt|km}}, not {{!xt|kms}}.

* Write powers of unit symbols with HTML, e.g., {{xt|<nowiki>5&nbsp;km²</nowiki>}} not [[Wikipedia:Unicode subscripts and superscripts|Unicode superscripts and subscripts]].

** When discussing computer equipment and other real life hardware concepts, units should be specified as stated above.

** When discussing in-game concepts (particularly drones), megabits (Mbits) should be used.

* For a negative sign or subtraction operator, use a minus sign ({{xt|−}}, Unicode character U+2212 <small>MINUS SIGN</small>). Input by clicking on it in the insert box beneath the edit window or by typing <code>&amp;minus;</code>.

* [[Wikipedia:Exponentiation|Exponentiation]] is indicated by a superscript, {{xt|''a''^''n''}} (typed as <code><nowiki>''a''^''n''</nowiki></code>. [[Wikipedia:Exponential notation|Exponential notation]] can be spaced or unspaced, depending on circumstances.

* Do not use programming language notation outside computer program listings. In most programming languages, subtraction, multiplication, and exponentiation are respectively represented by the [[Wikipedia:Hyphen-minus|hyphen-minus]] <code>-</code>, the [[Wikipedia:Asterisk|asterisk]] <code>*</code>, and either the [[Wikipedia:Caret|caret]] <code>^</code> or the double asterisk <code>**</code>, and [[Wikipedia:Scientific notation|scientific notation]] is replaced by [[Wikipedia:E notation|E notation]].

* Variables are italicized, but digits and punctuation are not; only ''x'' and ''y'' are italicized in {{xt|2(5''x''&nbsp;+&nbsp;''y'')²}}. The [[Wikipedia:Semantic HTML|semantic HTML]] element {{tag|var}} can be used to distinguish variables from other uses of italics, as illustrated in the code example above.

{{hatnote|For thorough treatment of the English possessive, see [[Wikipedia:Apostrophe|Apostrophe]].}}

* For the possessive of most singular nouns, including proper names and words ending with a double-s, add ''<nowiki />'s'' ({{xt|my daughter's achievement}}, {{xt|my niece's wedding}}, {{xt|Cortez's men}}, {{xt|the boss's office}}, {{xt|Glass's books}}, {{xt|Illinois's largest employer}}, {{xt|Descartes's philosophy}}, {{xt|Verreaux's eagle}}).

: '''Exception:''' Abstract nouns ending with an /s/ sound, when followed by ''sake'' ({{xt|for goodness' sake}}, {{xt|for his conscience' sake}}).

*#* Add ''<nowiki />'s'' if the possessive has an additional 'z' sound at the end: {{xt|Jan Hus's life}}, {{xt|Morris's works}}.

*#* Some possessives have two possible pronunciations: {{xt|James's house}} or {{xt|James' house}}, {{xt|Brahms's music}} or {{xt|Brahms' music}}, {{xt|Vilnius's location}} or {{xt|Vilnius' location}}, {{xt|Dickens's novels}} or {{xt|Dickens' novels}}.

* For a normal plural noun, ending with a pronounced ''s'', form the possessive by adding just an apostrophe ({{xt|my sons' wives}}, {{xt|my nieces' weddings}}).

While certain topics and articles found on the UniWiki will be based on opinion, such as fittings or guides, UniWiki articles should be written in an impersonal voice and style, so never use ''I'', ''my'', or similar forms (except in quotations). This restriction does not apply to talk or user pages.

* The author's ''we'' found in scientific writing: {{xt|We are thus led also to a definition of "time" in physics}} (Albert Einstein); {{xt|Throughout the proof of this theorem we assume that the function ƒ is uniformly continuous}}. Often rephrasing using the [[Wikipedia:English passive voice|passive voice]] is preferable: {{xt|Throughout the proof of this theorem it is assumed that the function ƒ is uniformly continuous.}}

In general, writers should avoid addressing the reader directly by using the second-person [[Wikipedia:Generic you|generic ''you'']] or ''your''; it is often ambiguous, and contrary to the tone of an encyclopedia (see also {{section link||Instructional and presumptuous language}}, below).

* The [[Wikipedia:English passive voice|passive voice]] may sometimes be used instead: {{xt|Impurities are removed before bottling}}.

:''See also: [[Wikipedia:English plurals#Collective noun|Collective nouns]]

Some [[Wikipedia:Collective noun|collective nouns]]—such as ''team'' (and proper names of them), ''army'', ''company'', ''crowd'', ''fleet'', ''government'', ''majority'', ''mess'', ''number'', ''pack'', and ''party''—may refer either to a single entity or to the members that compose it. In British English, such words are sometimes treated as singular, but more often treated as plural, according to context. Exceptionally, names of towns and countries usually take singular verbs (unless they are being used to refer to a team or company by that name, or when discussing actions of that entity's government). For example, in {{xt|[[Wikipedia:England national football team|England]] are playing [[Wikipedia:Germany national football team|Germany]] tonight}}, ''England'' refers to a [[Wikipedia:Association football|football]] team; but in {{xt|England is the most populous country of the United Kingdom}}, it refers to the country. In North American English, these words (and ''the United States'', for historical reasons) are almost invariably treated as singular; the major exception is when sports teams are referred to by nicknames that are plural nouns, when plural verbs are commonly used to match. See also {{section link||National varieties of English}}, above.

:''See also: [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Writing better articles#Tense|Tense]]

Tense can be used to distinguish between current and former status of a subject: {{xt|Dún Aonghasa '''is''' the ruin of a prehistoric Irish cliff fort. Its original shape '''was''' presumably oval or D-shaped, but parts of the cliff and fort have since collapsed into the sea.}} (Emphasis added for clarity.)

=== Contractions ===

This guideline is relaxed in the case of guides, syllabi, and articles describing PvE encounters. In these cases, such language can and should be used when necessary to draw the reader's attention to important pieces of information.

=== Subset terms ===

When the notions named by jargon are too complex to explain concisely in a few parenthetical words, [[Wikipedia:Make technical articles understandable#Write one level down|write one level down]]. For example, consider adding a brief background section with <code><nowiki>{{|main}}</nowiki></code> tags pointing to the full treatment article(s) of the prerequisite notions; this approach is practical only when the prerequisite concepts are central to the exposition of the article's main topic and when such prerequisites are not too numerous. Short articles like [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Stub|stubs]] generally do not have such sections.

:''See also: [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Creation and usage of media files|Wikipedia:Creation and usage of media files]]

* Use captions to clarify the relevance of the image to the article (see {{section link||Captions}}, below).

* Each image should be inside the major section to which it relates (within the section defined by the most recent level 1 level 2 heading or at the top of the lead section), not immediately above the section heading.

* It is often preferable to place images of faces so that the face or eyes look toward the text. However, it is not necessary to reverse an image simply to have the subject facing the text.

* Multiple images in the same article can be staggered right-and-left (for example, [[Wikipedia:Timpani|Timpani]]).

* Avoid referring to images as being on the left or right. Image placement is different for viewers of the mobile version of Wikipedia, and is meaningless to people having pages read to them by assistive software. Instead, use captions to identify images.

* [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Alternative text for images|Alt text]] takes the place of an image for text-only readers, including those using [[Wikipedia:Screen Reader|screen readers]]. Images should have an alt attribute added to the 'alt' parameter. See [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Alternative text of images|Wikipedia:Alternative text of images]] for more information.

=== Other media files ===

* Captions for technical charts and diagrams may need to be substantially longer than those for other images. Captions for technical images should fully describe all the elements of the image and indicate the image's significance.

{{main|UniWiki:Manual of Style/Lists|UniWiki:Manual of Style/Embedded lists}}

*** '''Other elements''', they are formatted consistently in either sentence case or lower case.

=== Wikilinks ===

{{main|UniWiki:Manual of Style/Linking}}

:''See also: [[Wikipedia:Help:Link|Wikipedia:Links]]''

'''Linking to sections''': A hash sign&nbsp;(<code>#</code>) followed by the appropriate heading will lead to a relevant part of a page. For example, <code><nowiki>[[EVE University Management#Director of Operations]]</nowiki></code> links to a particular section of the article [[EVE University Management]].

External links should not normally be used in the body of an article. Instead, articles can include an ''External links'' section at the end, pointing to further information outside the UniWiki as distinct from citing sources. The standard format is a primary heading, <code>==External links==</code>, followed by a bulleted list of links. Identify the link and briefly indicate its relevance to the article. For example:

: <code><nowiki>* [https://www.eveonline.com/ EVE Online homepage]</nowiki></code>

These will appear as:

:* [https://www.eveonline.com/ EVE Online homepage]

One major exception to this guideline is when referencing in-game items that do not have an entry on the UniWiki. As of this writing, the UniWiki does not have an internal item database, nor does it have pages for most in-game items. Thus, in the event that a particular item must be referenced explicitly, it is acceptable to link to an available public database of items for this purpose. This should be done sparingly&mdash;most item references do not need to be linked.

=== Keep markup simple ===

* cause disputes, since other editors may disagree aesthetically with the choice of style.

==== Color coding ====

{{main|UniWiki:Manual of Style/Accessibility#Color}}

=== Scrolling lists and collapsible content ===

This notation can be inserted with a single click in ''Wiki markup'', just under the edit pane in edit mode.

{{Reflist}}